Need a new laptop for COH

[Andreah]

15 hours ago, tidge said:

On the subject of "office employees" requesting "gaming laptops" from their corporate IT departments... years ago I would have always rolled my eyes at such a request, but no longer. There are a wide variety of business applications that otherwise "casual" PC users will find become much easier for them if they have laptops with healthy amounts of video resources typically associated with "gaming laptops".

My old company (I am retired now) was a large aerospace company, and our IT provided gaming laptops to engineers and developers as a standard higher tiers, although they were called engineering and developer workstations.

[Troo]

On 11/25/2020 at 11:43 PM, Jawbreaker said:

I know I know, you can run it on a toaster.

The laptop I have now is on it's way out. It runs the game fine, but If I run with graphics settings maxed, it gets super hot. Also, even my max graphics setting don't look as nice as some other folk's screenshots. I'd like a new laptop that I can; 
1. Run at maxed out graphics settings without it cooking the finish off my table ( again.)
2. Run multiple instances without heating up at moderate graphics settings for farming, RP and screenshot/video projects

3. cost under $1000 on Amazon as I will be using a gift card to pay for a good chunk of it.

I'm computer illiterate with hardware so any suggestions would be best made with a link to an actual suggestion instead of a list of specs/graphics cards etc.

Thank you so much in advance!

 

$1000 is a good chunk of change to run CoX.

 

Key, as others have said, Ram + SSD.

(16gb ram and a 512 SSD drive paired with a higher speed i5, is plenty)

 

When looking for a good dea I don't shy away from the refurbs or scratch-n-dents from the actual companies. Dell outlet or HP outlet can make this path easy.

 

When you want:

$1,199.00 (25%off) OMEN by HP Gaming Laptop NB Refurbished 15-en0012AX

https://www.hp.com/au-en/shop/omen-by-hp-nb-refurbished-15-en0012ax-1a7b0par.html

Spoiler

• AMD Ryzen™ 7 processor
• Windows 10 Home 64
• 15.6" diagonal FHD display
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650
• 512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ TLC M.2 SSD
• 16 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)
• 2.37 kg

 

But can afford:

$899 (25%off) HP Pavilion Gaming NB Refurbished 15-ec0102AX

https://www.hp.com/au-en/shop/refurbished-products/outlet-laptops/hp-pavilion-gaming-laptop-15-ec0102ax-18h45par.html

Spoiler

• AMD Ryzen™ 7 processor
• Windows 10 Home 64
• 15.6" diagonal FHD display
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650
• 256 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD
• 8 GB DDR4-2400 MHz RAM (1 x 8 GB)
• 1.98 kg

nearly the same specs.. but a step down.

 

 

When you want:

$1,750.00 $1,260.00 Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5

Spoiler

https://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UdXCqkgln10Sc8qNhKMbMv%2far3gavd25pvDexKLFh1OBKHWPt2YsZyhBrsjeqQlEw4qQ3INFjZKAa9GVGPRGFkz9z3nkxYhpO9KXcc62%2fawjHtkcu%2flTIC12iw6r3wSQ8I6Ce06am%2bOeD9%2bhCvxTw9j0fGdhcxbgNu9q2csXqBCL54HtnJysRcVE%2biZREgFV%2fwQ%3d%3d

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Processor (8 Core, Up to 4.40GHz, 20MB Cache, 45W)
• Windows 11 Home
• 512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 35 Solid State Drive
• 16GB (2X8GB) Up to 3200MHz DDR4 SoDIMM Non-ECC
• 15.6 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) 165Hz 3ms with ComfortView Plus Non-Touch Display
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6
• Dark Side of the Moon with High Endurance Clear Coat and Silky Smooth Finish

 

But can afford:

$1,103.00 $728.49 Dell G15 Ryzen Edition 15” Gaming (this might be my pick if I needed a laptop)

Spoiler

https://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UdeEJCvjoH6Vkn%2fk%2fpuPCOUko0SgWI5V3Ey11wdX8Q7UmYi0m2LPwMPHpyz0rkIi2LYy6Oq23Zskwg3b8izXlyoduGZvOUvGk4C55YYDUs5DI4IBWGbVKnbYHNXbi5ZJh4lgGE7PAF2kth3Hv7guEKUiZwcnEbiL3%2b5at9KcqKQ0nR%2f4ESI1TA%2fU29R9W9FCx7g%3d%3d

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Processor (8 Core, Up to 4.40GHz, 20MB Cache, 45W)
• Windows 10 Home
• 512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 35 Solid State Drive
• 8GB (1X8GB) Up to 3200MHz DDR4 SoDIMM Non-ECC
• 15.6 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Wide View Angle Anti-Glare 120Hz 250-nits LED-Backlit Non-Touch Narrow Border Display
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4GB GDDR6
• Phantom Grey with Speckles - LCD Back Cover

 

Ports & Slots

1. USB 2.0 | 2. USB 2.0 with PowerShare | 3. USB Type-C® | 4. SuperSpeed USB 3.2 | 5. HDMI | 6. Power In | 7. RJ45 Ethernet | 8. Headphones/Microphone

 

Guaranteed power: Experience powerful performance whether you're gaming or streaming thanks to AMD Ryzen™ 5000 H-Series Mobile Processors.

 

Keep cool: Our thermal systems utilize copper piping to dissipate heat as it’s pulled through the top of the keyboard and bottom of the system via four large exhaust vents.

Improved power: The latest improvements to our thermal design gives your system the thermal headroom to deliver ample power while adapting to a changing system load. This allows clock speeds to remain higher for longer, while keeping component temperatures cooler as well.

Storage makes all the difference: More storage means a faster start-up time which means you can get straight into gaming.

Full speed ahead: Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 supports 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 technology, delivering data rates of up to 2.4Gbps and increased network capacity as well as Bluetooth® 5.1 support, for fast uploads and downloads, low latency and lasting battery life.

 

 

all should be pretty good, all better than my box:

Spoiler

Device name    DESKTOP
Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400F CPU @ 2.90GHz   2.90 GHz
Installed RAM    32.0 GB (31.9 GB usable)
HD    256 SSD

Graphics    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by Troo

[huang3721]

Does CoH run on an Intel Celeron N4020? A friend of mine offered me a low-end notebook. It has 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, and the aforementioned processor. Assuming it would run, what problems should I expect?

[Hyperstrike]

2 hours ago, huang3721 said:

Does CoH run on an Intel Celeron N4020? A friend of mine offered me a low-end notebook. It has 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, and the aforementioned processor. Assuming it would run, what problems should I expect?

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/197310/intel-celeron-processor-n4020-4m-cache-up-to-2-80-ghz.html

Low graphics performance due to the Intel UHD graphics.  You're probably going to be limited to 1024x768 and low quality settings to get any sort of acceptable performance.

It also only has 2 single-thread cores, for a maximum of 2 threads.  So you could see some transient speed issues as other applications need to steal CPU time.

[tidge]

I thought I'd add this bit of hardware information; I was yesterday days old when I (re)learned this: Power Supplies/Chargers matter!

 

The short version of the story starts that a (older, upgraded) Lenovo gaming laptop I've been using has an off-brand, wide-input AC-DC power supply for years with no issues. It is a little bulky, so I played around with a new OEM charger (from Lenovo), with identical input/output ratings. Basically I wanted a spare charging brick, and was looking for something with a slightly smaller footprint. HOWEVER, the OEM supply was making my laptops input/charging circuit run VERY HOT, even without doing much. The laptop takes a rectangular slim-tip input.

 

This specific problem is relatively well-reported... with the consensus being that the (internal to laptop, mating part for the) rectangular slim-tip connectors is not making a good connection. This is completely believable, as voltage drops (due to reduced current-carrying capacity... typically this is conductor cables being too small/too long) can cause the receiving circuits to work harder... I used to obsevre this is distributed DC-DC systems. Yet the laptop doesn't run hot with the 'off-brand' charger, and the weak-point in this scenario is usually identified as the internal laptop connector. Calipers (checking dimensions) and DMM (checking output) don't reveal anything different about the output end of the charger Full disclosure, I could not test the outputs under load... nor did I bust out the o-scope... which really ought to be the test approach, but there is only so much effort I'll go through to debug somebody else's electrical design.

 

The main differences between the branded OEM charger and my perfectly good 'off-brand' are:

• The OEM charger lacks a ground plug on the input
• The OEM charger lacks a ferrite bead on the output

Generally, I'm less concerned about the EMI choke (ferrite bead) for personal use... but the lack of a ground plug really bothers me. With the OEM charger lacking BOTH of these, it makes me wonder how serious the design and manufacturing tests of the charger actually were. Ferrite beads are often added to power cables as a result of a 3rd-party testing lab, so while by themselves they don't indicate a whole lot... leaving them off is a cost-cutting move... as is not including a grounding plug as well as eliminating all the conductive material that goes with it, along with whatever it would be used for inside the "brick".

 

I decided to post this here, as my gut instinct would always be to go with OEM components... but this appears to be a case where the OEM is cutting corners. I agree that the design of the slim-tip connector mates is rather peculiar (for current carrying) but I think there is more going on than just flagging the connection at the laptop as the weakest point. There is absolutely no reason to add to the heat load of a laptop, and running the internal DC-DC circuit hot is only going to degrade the life of that circuit.

[Without_Pause]

On 6/23/2022 at 1:04 AM, Troo said:

Key, as others have said, Ram + SSD.

And a dedicated graphics card. I don't how much percent wise one wants to avoid Intel, but any time I have asked in support about whatever computer I am using to run the game, I am reminded that CoH isn't kind to Intel. However, I can have issues with the game running smooth with a SSD drive and 16 GB RAM, but using an integrated graphics card on my work laptop. Less than my non-SSD and 8 GB RAM personal laptop mind you, but yeah. I even put the settings on minimum for the crappier one and can still have issues depending on what map and what is going on. I eagerly await the day my personal laptop finally decides it die just not too eagerly as I prefer not spending the money. 

[Hyperstrike]

4 hours ago, tidge said:

I thought I'd add this bit of hardware information; I was yesterday days old when I (re)learned this: Power Supplies/Chargers matter!

 

The short version of the story starts that a (older, upgraded) Lenovo gaming laptop I've been using has an off-brand, wide-input AC-DC power supply for years with no issues. It is a little bulky, so I played around with a new OEM charger (from Lenovo), with identical input/output ratings. Basically I wanted a spare charging brick, and was looking for something with a slightly smaller footprint. HOWEVER, the OEM supply was making my laptops input/charging circuit run VERY HOT, even without doing much. The laptop takes a rectangular slim-tip input.

 

This specific problem is relatively well-reported... with the consensus being that the (internal to laptop, mating part for the) rectangular slim-tip connectors is not making a good connection. This is completely believable, as voltage drops (due to reduced current-carrying capacity... typically this is conductor cables being too small/too long) can cause the receiving circuits to work harder... I used to obsevre this is distributed DC-DC systems. Yet the laptop doesn't run hot with the 'off-brand' charger, and the weak-point in this scenario is usually identified as the internal laptop connector. Calipers (checking dimensions) and DMM (checking output) don't reveal anything different about the output end of the charger Full disclosure, I could not test the outputs under load... nor did I bust out the o-scope... which really ought to be the test approach, but there is only so much effort I'll go through to debug somebody else's electrical design.

 

The main differences between the branded OEM charger and my perfectly good 'off-brand' are:

• The OEM charger lacks a ground plug on the input
• The OEM charger lacks a ferrite bead on the output

Generally, I'm less concerned about the EMI choke (ferrite bead) for personal use... but the lack of a ground plug really bothers me. With the OEM charger lacking BOTH of these, it makes me wonder how serious the design and manufacturing tests of the charger actually were. Ferrite beads are often added to power cables as a result of a 3rd-party testing lab, so while by themselves they don't indicate a whole lot... leaving them off is a cost-cutting move... as is not including a grounding plug as well as eliminating all the conductive material that goes with it, along with whatever it would be used for inside the "brick".

 

I decided to post this here, as my gut instinct would always be to go with OEM components... but this appears to be a case where the OEM is cutting corners. I agree that the design of the slim-tip connector mates is rather peculiar (for current carrying) but I think there is more going on than just flagging the connection at the laptop as the weakest point. There is absolutely no reason to add to the heat load of a laptop, and running the internal DC-DC circuit hot is only going to degrade the life of that circuit.

Sorry, I won't TOUCH a laptop where the brick is 2-prong.
It's e-waste waiting to happen.

On top of that, I toss one of these in-line.
https://www.apc.com/us/en/product/PNOTEPROC6/apc-notebook-surge-protector-for-ac-phone-and-network-lines-3-pin-connection-100240v/

 

And for those who don't know what the ferrite bead is?



The big thing on the right.

 

[Hyperstrike]

1 hour ago, Without_Pause said:

And a dedicated graphics card. I don't how much percent wise one wants to avoid Intel, but any time I have asked in support about whatever computer I am using to run the game, I am reminded that CoH isn't kind to Intel. However, I can have issues with the game running smooth with a SSD drive and 16 GB RAM, but using an integrated graphics card on my work laptop. Less than my non-SSD and 8 GB RAM personal laptop mind you, but yeah. I even put the settings on minimum for the crappier one and can still have issues depending on what map and what is going on. I eagerly await the day my personal laptop finally decides it die just not too eagerly as I prefer not spending the money. 

AMD's Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics can be perfectly playable.
Again, recommend an SSD and 16GB RAM.
And there are some eminently affordable options.

And with the Radeon graphics, it's not an RTX 3090 beater.
But it'll result in playable framerates in the 50's and 60's in most games.
Though if you want to nearly double the price, you can get a discrete GPU.

[Wageslave94]

Is there a page for minimum specs on this and computer space?   I have an older machine I may be traveling with and I'm trying to figure out options.

[Greycat]

1 hour ago, Wageslave94 said:

Is there a page for minimum specs on this and computer space?   I have an older machine I may be traveling with and I'm trying to figure out options.

 

"Pretty much anything?"

 

I mean, I could reinstall it on a 13 year old i7-860 with a 2 Gb ... something-Radeon-when-it-was-ATI and it'll run all right.  Integrated graphics would be fairly meh for the most part.

[MistressOhm]

Something else to consider with the migration to USB-C ports:  Thunderbolt Docks.

 

These are basically docking stations or port replicators (or even GFX cores) that use the Thunderbolt standard to offload storage, processing, and graphics capability from the laptop to a peripheral. 

 

Before I retired, I was using a Dell laptop with a Thunderbolt port replicator that powered three screens (2 monitors via DVI connectors, and a HDMI cable to an older flatscreen TV) and also acted as my hub for keyboard, mouse, and Ethernet.  It worked great, so upon retirement I purchased a Razer Thunderbolt dock for my gaming system (an ROG Strix with a dedicated GFX1070 inside) to let me set it up as a second system.  Um, yeah, no.  It drove the screens just fine, but it couldn't hold the USB connections steady at all.  So my gaming laptop is still festooned with connecting cables, as I was unable to go to just "power" and USB-C/Thunderbolt.  I suspect this is actually my laptop's fault, as it is new enough to have a USB-C connection, but that connection is likely NOT Thunderbolt-compatible.  

 

That said, these days you don't necessarily need a complete gaming system in a laptop, if you're willing to sacrifice some performance when the laptop is used on its own, as opposed to when it's a mini-desktop via a Thunderbolt dock.  (That, and you do have to pay extra for the docks themselves.)

[Hyperstrike]

6 hours ago, Wageslave94 said:

Is there a page for minimum specs on this and computer space?   I have an older machine I may be traveling with and I'm trying to figure out options.

https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/The_Players'_Guide_to_the_Cities/System_Requirements
 

The minimums pretty much aren't much higher than this.

And, due to the way the game is built, simply throwing God-level hardware at a 17 year old game doesn't really make a HUGE difference.
The only recommendation I would give is "use a solid state drive".  It makes client-end loads MUCH faster.

Also, Here's an update of my sub-$700 desktop screamer.
https://newegg.io/ed09777

Basically the only major difference is a larger SSD from its previous iteration.

You don't need some hugely expensive 3rd party graphics.

I actually had one of my clients use this as the basis for a new small business server.
The thing's got MASSIVE grunt.

[agentx5]

On 6/20/2022 at 3:41 PM, DoctorDitko said:

I'd definitely go with Asus over Acer, if all else is similar. Better QA, for one thing, and better construction.

 

(If it wasn't for gaming, I'd pick a Framework. Amazing company, great ethics, but they don't offer a discrete GPU.

I really enjoyed putting mine together, though. It's the last release of the older model, so it's an 11th-gen Intel CPU, but still good enough for CoH.)

 

Asus TUF series, are made better than Acer units, typically, yes.
However avoid any computer that uses liquid metal in a freakin' mobile device (i.e.: Asus ROG series)
Asus has spent millions of $$$ this year alone on bad design choices on their ROG gaming laptops warranty costs, and it's almost always failures related to the liquid metal (which is not just thermally conductive, but also electrically conductive) leaking out and ruining things.  By the same toke, their TUF series that are using just a premium thermal paste rarely ever fail.
Acer is ok though, and frankly far better than HP or Lenovo (especially the new Lenovo's that use liquid metal, again for the same reasons as the Asus ROG issues, liquid metal likes to leak and it's fatal to the computer if a single droplet escapes and shorts out something on the motherboard).

[DoctorDitko]

Wait... They're making laptops with liquid metal inside, but no conformal coating on the circuit boards?

Madness!

 

I had no idea!

 

[MistressOhm]

1 hour ago, agentx5 said:

However avoid any computer that uses liquid metal in a freakin' mobile device (i.e.: Asus ROG series)

 

What model #'s and years is this? Cos I've an ASUS ROG Strix from 2017, and that's nowhere in the specs.  It's also been a bulletproof machine (altho I did have to have it replaced because a couple of punks stole the original out of the cab of my pickup one early morning - ALWAYS lock your vehicles, people.)

[agentx5]

16 hours ago, MistressOhm said:

 

What model #'s and years is this? Cos I've an ASUS ROG Strix from 2017, and that's nowhere in the specs.  It's also been a bulletproof machine (altho I did have to have it replaced because a couple of punks stole the original out of the cab of my pickup one early morning - ALWAYS lock your vehicles, people.)

 

This would be the newer model that are largely still under manufacturer warranty (i.e. 2021& 2022), and some from 2020.  Given that yours is a 5 year-old 2017 model #, it won't apply to you then.

 

Liquid metal has three major drawbacks:

 

1. It's corrosive. Especially to Aluminum, Copper, and soldered components; but since it absorbs/diffuses a small amount of ambient humidity over time, it will also etch the silicon die itself if brought near 100 C at any point in time. (the microscopic bubbles of steam and the gallium form a temporary super acid)

 

2. It's not just thermally conductive, but also electrically conductive as well.  Everyone knows conductive liquids like ordinary water (not 100% pure) and delicate circuits don't mix, but this is even more conductive than water and has very high surface tension (so we're talking tiny beads/droplets that can roll and drip right between to critical capacitors or resistors.  Pop!  Dead motherboard (which in latops the CPU and GPU are almost always integrated and soldered right into the PCB, so that's a very expensive whoopsie)

 

3. It's not really necessary...

The two biggest factors for cooling are mass flow rate of the fluid (in most cases, that air) through the heat exchanger (aka. heatsink) and the usable contact surface area of the heatsink.

The limiting factor on mass flow rate is the form factor, laptops can't have 140mm or 200mm fans and nobody wants to listen to a noisy +3000 RPM fan.

Same issue with the heatsink, you can have one with heatpipe and solid copper fins, but size really does matter here: with enough surface area passive flow from buoyancy changes are enough that you don't even need a fan.  But in reality the newer generation GPUs eat a lot of watts, and all that waste heat has to be removed.

What the limiting factor is NOT is the rate at which you transfer heat into the heatsink.  Liquid metal on a laptop therefore is a huge risk for a mere 1 to 2 C drop in temps just from it transferring to the heatsink a little faster.

 

The easiest and cheapest method to boost your laptop or graphics card is to use a fresh premium thermal paste (yes all thermal compounds age and dry out over time and overclocking makes this go faster), and also to make sure air is not escaping from the gap between the fan and the heatsink fins (just a little bit of thermal tape or even electrical tape will do, but electrical tape gets gooey over time so only do that if you can't get the translucent metallic orange thermal tape)

 

It did that to refresh a RTX 1070Ti recently, removing all the dried-out thermal pads and thermal paste and putting new stuff on from Thermal Grizzly, cleaning out the fine dust by separating the heatsink and rinsing it (isopropyl and distilled water, never hard water from the tap), and I could hardly believe it but I dropped the temps when cranking out rendering (100% GPU usage for sustained period) by a shocking 10 to 15 C less.  Seriously it was a <$10 and $30min project, and it make it perform like brand new again.

 

To be clear, or rather clearer than my initial reply...

PLEASE READ ME:

1. Asus seems to stand by their products better than most, and their TUF series line-up that isn't using the liquid metal are not having any such issues, it's only the new liquid metal ROG series.  This always depending on the specific model # to be fair, but Asus tends to be better designed for durability and easy of repairs than an HP or Lenovo, and close to a Samsung or Sony (they do the best modular designs currently). So just be be clear, I'm not bad mouthing the brand -- just the usage of liquid metal being an unwise choice, and manufacturers trying it out is costing them a lot of money (which will have to be passed on as higher prices).  Proportionally it may not be that much money to them % wise, I honestly wouldn't know that (they won't share that % for logically obvious business reasons)
2. I don't work for Asus or any competitor of theirs.  This is an unbiased observation of fact: liquid metal thermal compound is "sexy tech" to corporate executives and marketing teams; but in reality it's not really necessary from an engineering point of view, and has a lot of risk of catastrophic failure.  The same kind of corporate behaviors can be observed in renewable energy currently, it's not even just PC tech. And the new generation GPU's and CPU's continue to eat more and more watts, and so will continue to get hotter and hotter.
3. Other PC part manufacturer companies playing with liquid metal on their new models (newest Lenovo Legion ones for an example) are experiencing the same rate of failures from electrical shorts.  Some of it could be chalked to bad workmanship at the Chinese factories, but honestly even if automated there needs to be a better system than just squirting some silicone caulk around the die and hoping the seal holds until the warranty expires.  We all probably need a new standard (like have a robot attack Intel, AMD, nVidia, ATi doing the application of the liquid metal and then sealing it permanently inside a nickel plated lid, with a removable socket, just like how desktop CPUs typically are made (if you've de-lidded a CPU recently you'll know what I mean).

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by agentx5

[shatterpoint]

all these wild suggestions.

 

Acer Nitro 5 - $856.00

 

3 left....hurry.

[Techwright]

This thread's still going? wow.

 

7 hours ago, shatterpoint said:

all these wild suggestions.

 

Acer Nitro 5 - $856.00

 

3 left....hurry.

Not bad.  could use another 8 gig RAM (I read it can upgrade to at least 32 GB, that's good), GDDR6 is good, though 4 GB graphics is going to gimp you on the number of possible games, not terribly, but many you'll have to play on the lower settings (just got over a 3GB graphics myself, and was tired of how many rejections I had on Can You Run It.)  6GB RAM opens up the field.  Still, if you're only playing older games: no problem.  Built-in ethernet port: positive.  3 USB 3.0 A ports: positive.  No listing of USB-C: Not great for today's environment (there is a port to the user's right side that might be USB-C but can't clearly see it from the angle.) Windows 10 Home (meh, but okay).  That price is the "Renewed" unit (refurbished: sometimes just a catch all for someone returned it 'cause they didn't want it, sometimes for repairing major components). You spends your money and you takes your chances.  Tiny bit disturbed at the renewed/refurbished promise of "a battery that exceeds 80% capacity relative to new."  It's probably fine and close, if not at 100%, but I wonder how long the unit was active if 80% is acceptable for the battery's current capacity.

 

Not bad.  Could be worse.  Certainly doable for CoH Homecoming.  And I see no "3 left", just "In Stock".   Since laptop video cards are rare for replacement upgrades, I think I'd be more onboard with this if it had 6 GB, so that I'd have, hopefully, access to more recent games for years.

[Hyperstrike]

Most important.

WHAT SORT OF BUDGET ARE YOU LOOKING AT.

Real dollar amount.  Not "As little as possible."

2 numbers. 
 

• The budget you'd like to stay in
• A slightly higher budget you could reasonably "stretch" for if it meant a DEMONSTRABLY superior device

 

It's all well and good to suggest $900, 1000, 1500 rigs.

If all you can afford is $200, it's ALMOST as useful as an empty squirt gun in a prairie fire.

[agentx5]

10 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Most important.

WHAT SORT OF BUDGET ARE YOU LOOKING AT.

Real dollar amount.  Not "As little as possible."

2 numbers. 
 

• The budget you'd like to stay in
• A slightly higher budget you could reasonably "stretch" for if it meant a DEMONSTRABLY superior device

 

It's all well and good to suggest $900, 1000, 1500 rigs.

If all you can afford is $200, it's ALMOST as useful as an empty squirt gun in a prairie fire.

 

QFT.  Excellent point.

[Oubliette_Red]

On 10/16/2022 at 5:21 PM, agentx5 said:

 

Asus TUF series, are made better than Acer units, typically, yes.
However avoid any computer that uses liquid metal in a freakin' mobile device (i.e.: Asus ROG series)
Asus has spent millions of $$$ this year alone on bad design choices on their ROG gaming laptops warranty costs, and it's almost always failures related to the liquid metal (which is not just thermally conductive, but also electrically conductive) leaking out and ruining things.  By the same toke, their TUF series that are using just a premium thermal paste rarely ever fail.
Acer is ok though, and frankly far better than HP or Lenovo (especially the new Lenovo's that use liquid metal, again for the same reasons as the Asus ROG issues, liquid metal likes to leak and it's fatal to the computer if a single droplet escapes and shorts out something on the motherboard).

 

I will never buy another HP due to poor design. Blew up 2 laptops playing Legacy CoH, not because of the game but because HP rolling 🎲🎲🎲🎲 on their Wisdom roll used a single fan and air-flow channel over the CPU and GPU with zero additional heat sink or thermal paste.

 

[Hyperstrike]

11 hours ago, Oubliette_Red said:

 

I will never buy another HP due to poor design. Blew up 2 laptops playing Legacy CoH, not because of the game but because HP rolling 🎲🎲🎲🎲 on their Wisdom roll used a single fan and air-flow channel over the CPU and GPU with zero additional heat sink or thermal paste.

 

My mom's HP laptop had a major flaw.
It had a hard drive from a known-bad batch.
I basically caught it just before the drive utterly failed (took better than an hour to boot or do ANYTHING.

Opened it up and replaced the HDD with an SSD.
And while it was open, found it ALSO had an M.2 slot sitting in there unused.
And, having just rebuilt my big rig after the motherboard went teats-up, I had one of those too!

So she's got 2TB of SSD storage in the thing and I had to completely load the device from scratch (it couldn't clone the drive).
IIRC, it's an older 7000-series i7.  But, with disk bottlenecks pretty much ELIMINATED, the thing is an entirely acceptable device for web browsing and light Office work.

And if I were going to be gaming seriously on such a device, I'd not trust the built in rig.

https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rwnb17a-gaming-laptop-cooler/p/N82E16848997104

Edited October 19, 2022 by Hyperstrike

[Digirium]

Duh! Take apart your existing laptop and clean the dust and crap inside out of it... no more high temps.

[Oubliette_Red]

7 hours ago, Digirium said:

Duh! Take apart your existing laptop and clean the dust and crap inside out of it... no more high temps.

 

I do this routinely on both my laptop and desktop machines.

 

[agentx5]

On 10/16/2022 at 7:07 PM, DoctorDitko said:

Wait... They're making laptops with liquid metal inside, but no conformal coating on the circuit boards?

Madness!

 

I had no idea!

 

 

I've seen silicone caulk used by the China-based factories, but it usually doesn't last or seal well enough.

*accidentally bumps on edge*

*Zap!*

Dead MB.

 

And no, most do motherboards not have a coating, at least not enough of one, that would protect again short circuit protection for the same reason most motherboards are not waterproof. Unfortunately, it's simply not worth the cost that people would have to pay to have it standard-issue.  This applies to pretty much all brands, just to be clear.  And as I said earlier, I suspect it will trend toward worsening in coming years, as wattages continue to increase on CPUs and GPUs as they currently are.

 

What I do wish is that manufacturers would disclose on the specs whether it uses liquid metal or not...  The customer should be informed when making the purchase.

 

Samsung is the only one I've personally seen so far with a good design to prevent that, and I suspect Sony does too but I can't confirm that personally.  Come to think of it, Samsung actually seems to always design their electronics with repairability in mind, even their large appliances are easier to tear down and re-assemble.  I think they're on the more expensive side, especially compared to a HP.

 

 

9 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

My mom's HP laptop had a major flaw.
It had a hard drive from a known-bad batch.
I basically caught it just before the drive utterly failed (took better than an hour to boot or do ANYTHING.

Opened it up and replaced the HDD with an SSD.
And while it was open, found it ALSO had an M.2 slot sitting in there unused.
And, having just rebuilt my big rig after the motherboard went teats-up, I had one of those too!

So she's got 2TB of SSD storage in the thing and I had to completely load the device from scratch (it couldn't clone the drive).
IIRC, it's an older 7000-series i7.  But, with disk bottlenecks pretty much ELIMINATED, the thing is an entirely acceptable device for web browsing and light Office work.

And if I were going to be gaming seriously on such a device, I'd not trust the built in rig.

https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rwnb17a-gaming-laptop-cooler/p/N82E16848997104

 

Just FYI, in case it helps someone:

BBY's GS has factory-new OS images (like restore points, but better) of just about every SKU for every model # they've sold in the past 5 years.  If it's older than 5 y.o. they can't do it, but if it's a laptop model# that's (or was in the past less than 5 years) also carried at a BestBuy store anywhere (even if you bought the hardware off Amazon or eBay), then they should be able to re-image a badly corrupted or missing OS back onto the primary drive.  It's basically loaded from their network PXE, which is a function all major brands have in their BIOS (to boot via a network adapter).

 

I think MicroCenter has that same service too, but most people don't have one of those anywhere nearby -- whereas there's usually a BestBuy nearby in your town or elsewhere here in the US, thus why I mention it here.  I have no idea about Canada, sorry.

 

And yes, once you've tasted how much faster and physically durable an SSD is over a mechanical 5400 RPM HDD you'll never want to go back.  I know I can't stand the long load times.  Even better if going to a M.2 SSD.  I have no idea how we tolerated IDE back in mid-90's to early 2000's... I guess we just dealt with it because it was the best there was at the time, eh?  (Also don't miss those heavy CRT monitors, although it was fun to mess with a magnet on the glass)

 

8 hours ago, Digirium said:

Duh! Take apart your existing laptop and clean the dust and crap inside out of it... no more high temps.

 

Haha! Yeah well, you know how many gamers don't? (especially when it's smoker's tar + dust)  Just saying... You'd think it's common sense... And it's not that easy to get gooey cigarette tar off the fan blades.

 

I also personally know a gamer buddy (yes they're on HomeComing) who put toothpaste on instead of thermal paste because they saw it on Facebook.  (Yes, he killed his CPU and couldn't afford to buy a new one for about a year).  Again, common sense regarding computer tech isn't as common as you might think, especially if they're an older generation that doesn't easily identify what's just somebody trolling with intentional misinformation online.