Stuff like this is why you avoid Dell/Alienware like the plague.

[PeregrineFalcon]

10 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

But  they're something like 95% of all computers sold... which is a crime.

The real crime is that something like 80% of people access the internet solely through their cell phone!

 

While I've had gaming laptops that worked fine, I also much prefer full sized desktops. And though I have a smart phone, just the thought of using it for anything other than calls and listening to podcasts while at work, annoys me.

 

Thanks for starting this thread @Hyperstrike, I always appreciate it when people let me know which companies to avoid because they sell garbage designed to scam people out of money instead of just offering a quality product.

 

Now can someone please tell me where I go to buy a graphics card that doesn't have LEDs all over it that constantly changes hues all of the time? Cause that $^#*'s really annoying. Why in the ^$^@ &#^$ do I need lights on a graphics card?!? That's like having cool designs on my underwear. No one's gonna see it so why is it even there? What's next? A light in my refrigerator that doesn't turn off when I close the door? Boy won't that be useful!

 

 

Thread jack complete.

[Bill Z Bubba]

21 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

At a minimum, those who really work with a computer all day and are convinced/correct that having a laptop is necessary should use a docking station and ergonomic console for their primary workstation.

 

This a whole bunch. Again, my system at last job was a Lenovo laptop, docking station with dual 24" monitors, full keyboard and mouse at the office and at home I hooked it up to my network and RDPed to it from my Dell Opti with, again, dual 24" monitors. Laptops are for working while traveling. Especially when ya gots da big hands. Those tiny ass keyboards and touchpads suck a butt.

[Bill Z Bubba]

4 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

No one's gonna see it so why is it even there? What's next?

 

/looks left to see a big plexiglass panel on gaming rig

//sees Geforce GTX in pretty white light

///ponders the horrors of people that leave rigs on the floor out of sight

////shudders

 

Nah, I don't need color changing garbage either but I do prefer being able to see the innards of my gaming rig.

[Shenanigunner]

2 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

Nah, I don't need color changing garbage either but I do prefer being able to see the innards of my gaming rig.

 

My new (last year) system has a real, real purty ASUS mobo that's all black and aluminum... but I really don't need to look at it. I think that's the reason case LEDs came along, for the people who have watched too much Star Trek etc. and feel like a computer isn't working unless there are lights chasing each other all over.

[Bill Z Bubba]

8 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

My new (last year) system has a real, real purty ASUS mobo that's all black and aluminum... but I really don't need to look at it. I think that's the reason case LEDs came along, for the people who have watched too much Star Trek etc. and feel like a computer isn't working unless there are lights chasing each other all over.

 

This hurts my brain.

 

 

Edit: But I didn't know vertical GPU mounts were a thing now. Diggin that.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Bill Z Bubba

[WanderingAries]

Yeah, I never got into them when they were Solo and it only spiraled downhill after the merger. Agree with all of the above an hear that Dell itself is using custom internals now too. Sounds like many of them want to do that so that you Have to buy the upgrades/parts from them directly (overpriced) or just decide to buy a new machine (from them). Same things kept me from Apple for the longest time until I had specific use cases that made that a need/want.

 

The irony of their laptops though is that they often became desktops due to their power needs. Some models even needed TWO power bricks because some idiot thought it a good idea to put a full desktop GPU in a laptop. Designs now a days are more marketing than anything else. "We have this cool looking shell. Here are some buzz words on the internet. What kinda crap should we fill it with?". Oh and don't get me started on the butt-ugly desktop cases...

[WanderingAries]

3 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

/looks left to see a big plexiglass panel on gaming rig

//sees Geforce GTX in pretty white light

///ponders the horrors of people that leave rigs on the floor out of sight

////shudders

 

Nah, I don't need color changing garbage either but I do prefer being able to see the innards of my gaming rig.

 

Mine has a nice, optional set of buttons on the case to manage the lights, but yeah, most the time they're out of sight, out of mind TBH. Then again, I could probably fit a 4U server inside my case if I were to gut it. 😛

[Hyperstrike]

6 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

The real crime is that something like 80% of people access the internet solely through their cell phone!

 

While I've had gaming laptops that worked fine, I also much prefer full sized desktops. And though I have a smart phone, just the thought of using it for anything other than calls and listening to podcasts while at work, annoys me.

 

Thanks for starting this thread @Hyperstrike, I always appreciate it when people let me know which companies to avoid because they sell garbage designed to scam people out of money instead of just offering a quality product.

 

Now can someone please tell me where I go to buy a graphics card that doesn't have LEDs all over it that constantly changes hues all of the time? Cause that $^#*'s really annoying. Why in the ^$^@ &#^$ do I need lights on a graphics card?!? That's like having cool designs on my underwear. No one's gonna see it so why is it even there? What's next? A light in my refrigerator that doesn't turn off when I close the door? Boy won't that be useful!

 

 

Thread jack complete.

Buy an FE card directly from NVIDIA.
No LEDs.

[Hyperstrike]

6 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

/looks left to see a big plexiglass panel on gaming rig

//sees Geforce GTX in pretty white light

///ponders the horrors of people that leave rigs on the floor out of sight

////shudders

 

Nah, I don't need color changing garbage either but I do prefer being able to see the innards of my gaming rig.

Nah.  Again, why I built

[Hyperstrike]

6 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

I worked at Dell back in 97-2000.

 

 

BURN THE WITCH!

[Bill Z Bubba]

2 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

BURN THE WITCH!

 

Was my first tech job. Set me on 20+ years of IT work. I can't dis it too hard as I like money.

 

Current office setup....

 

[tidge]

17 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Things like mutant power supplies, ultra-short "just fits" wiring, and mutant motherboard form factors?
Crap, crap and mega-crap.

 

This was a feature of Dell PCs (office, can't speak to "home" systems) since at least the late 1990s. The internal designs would not just have "mutant" design choices, money would be saved by not connecting all the current returns ('ground' path connections) to drive connectors... I'm not talking about custom cables, I'm talking about the millimeters of copper tracing on the motherboards. Between that peculiar choice (seriously, they could have saved 100x times the cost by making mutant cables) and the accursed decision to "skimp"(*1) on power supplies (except for custom form factors) it was often impossible to add anything to such systems beyond whatever left QC checkout at the factory. I used to rebuild discarded (3+ year old) Dell workstations for neighborhood kids who didn't have computers, and it was always a chore to get stuff to fit, both in terms of geometry and power supply.

 

I never bothered to dismantle or analyze the actual power supplies in those generations of Dells. I know that they were the most fault-prone major component of those systems... I can only imagine the compromises that were made internal to them. This is pure hearsay: I once worked with a guy who did years of service with the company who said that there was a serious flaw in a significant fraction of electrolytic capacitors (beyond "disuse" issues) used in many desktop models... the finger was pointed at a supplier, but the root cause was seeing $$$ through buying cheap.

 

For personal desktop systems, I recommend that folks custom build (by themselves, or through a supplier who customizes) systems. My rough order of importance of consideration is:

1. Video card (I avoid AMD), as it is not just games but many apps require powerful video processing
2. Power Supply (running at the sweet spot without over-stressing the supply will allow systems to last
3. Cooling
4. Ability to expand (including external access ports)

Personally, I make some effort to have "reasonable" amounts of RAM and drive storage, but prices on these drop, and drives will eventually fail... the only point I want to make is that this is where some compromising occurs for me (in terms of final cost). The primary thing I get non-plussed about from custom-built systems is that occasionally the folks assembling the PCs are a little too neat (for my taste) with internal cable lengths/routings/cable ties... when the time comes for me to get inside the box, I hate having to fish out cables and find they offer no slack! Only once did I have a ding-dong assembler make a really dumb choice to route some front panel USB ports to 2.0 breakouts on the motherboard, when perfectly functional 3.0 breakouts were less than an inch away... and I couldn't make them reach!

 

Sidebar about my experience with "modern" office machines (typically laptops from Dell and Lenovo). Aside from power systems/batteries eventually failing (somewhere on the "catastrophe" spectrum) There are a few common issues I encounter (that aren't model-specific common defects):

• The video systems are typically crap... many software solutions are web-based that rely on GPU to "do their thing(s)" and low-bidder GPU choices make life painful for those of us who use those applications frequently,
• The systems are a dog's breakfast when it comes to what sort of ports (and how many) are available (and "docking stations" aren't always the fix!)
• The power systems (internal, battery, charger) are a roll-of-the-dice.

The last bullet is something I wish more laptop manufacturers would (or could) be more upfront about. Based on my personal observation of various generations of Dell laptops, I feel that some of the design/penny-pinching philosophy from their "3-year" approach to leasing business desktops has been implemented... It has been possible to end up with some long-lasting laptops from Dell, but the move away from easily swappable batteries has hurt lifetimes IMO.  I've never cracked open a Dell laptop, but I did just upgrade a 3-year-old Lenovo gaming laptop (RAM, SDD) that was painless, as I wanted a mobile backup system.

 

[CienFuegos]

https://www.originpc.com/

Edited April 26, 2022 by CienFuegos

[Hyperstrike]

And here's the followup vis-a-vis performance.
 

Essentially Dell has built in custom power throttling that starts JUST shy of the point where the system starts thermal throttling (due to crap cooling).

In any test lasting more than a minute or so, the top-end 12900 chip performs like a mid-tier 12700 chip.

So, on the chip alone, you're wasting $200.

And the thing sounds like a frickin' jet engine...

Edited May 2, 2022 by Hyperstrike