Gaming/VR
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PC gamers spent $4.5bn, equivalent to the defence budget of Denmark, on kit last year
As a whole, PC gamers in the US dropped $4.5bn on new hardware and accessories in 2020, 62% more than in 2019.
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So - my laptop shit the bed, and apparently it needs a new motherboard/mainboard - which is impossible to find anywhere in the goddamn world.
And - while I was waiting for that diagnosis - I realised that my entire free-time is based on that goddamn device - it was my sole access to TV, movies, music, fucking everything.
So - I'm looking at my options for replacing it....
I'm not a massive "gamer" - I don't play anything online against Korean kids in nappies, I don't play the latest/greatest CyberPunk or whatever, and I sure as hell don't have some seat especially designed for sitting in while playing computer games...
But - I'm pretty sure I actually cooked my previous laptop with just some older games, Civ VI, and watching movies/TV.
And so - I'm considering getting something a bit more robust.Long story short - any opinions?
I'm considering a basic-level "Gaming PC" - with some additional HDD storage - in order to get the better cooling, etc - and maybe open up options for extending my "gaming" - plus using it as a pseudo-media-server.
Or - do I just get a normal PC?
Or - some sort of laptop with improved cooling/etc? Unfortunately - all the "Gaming laptops" I can find - are fuggly as their stereotypical customer base. I ain't buying anything with garish lights advertising "Hey everybody, this guy is a gamer"
Or - just go back to what I had - a ultra-compact laptop - and cut down on the nerd-gamesAnd yeah - I know somebody's going to say "build your own PC" - but I had a quick look, and thought "yeah, nah". I'm quite happy to plug in the extra HDD if necessary, but I'd want the base product pre-built/tested.
So - ideas, thoughts? Recommended vendors? I've heard rumours that PBTech has gone the way of any company which got to a certain size...
Anybody used ExtremePC in Wellington? I like the idea of supporting what seems to be a fairly small and local business. -
@kruse Playtech has some good offers - I got my latest gaming rig from them and it's been primo. Moving to SSD for boot etc and my fav games has been amazing. I agree that lights and shitloads of fans can be surplus to requirements. But an advantage of a bigger case is better airflow so I guess it's just picking out the best case option?
I'd go with the biggest SSD you can afford as the rest of plug in or included HDD storage is easy to add as you've said.
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So - my laptop shit the bed, and apparently it needs a new motherboard/mainboard - which is impossible to find anywhere in the goddamn world.
And - while I was waiting for that diagnosis - I realised that my entire free-time is based on that goddamn device - it was my sole access to TV, movies, music, fucking everything.
So - I'm looking at my options for replacing it....
I'm not a massive "gamer" - I don't play anything online against Korean kids in nappies, I don't play the latest/greatest CyberPunk or whatever, and I sure as hell don't have some seat especially designed for sitting in while playing computer games...
But - I'm pretty sure I actually cooked my previous laptop with just some older games, Civ VI, and watching movies/TV.
And so - I'm considering getting something a bit more robust.Long story short - any opinions?
I'm considering a basic-level "Gaming PC" - with some additional HDD storage - in order to get the better cooling, etc - and maybe open up options for extending my "gaming" - plus using it as a pseudo-media-server.
Or - do I just get a normal PC?
Or - some sort of laptop with improved cooling/etc? Unfortunately - all the "Gaming laptops" I can find - are fuggly as their stereotypical customer base. I ain't buying anything with garish lights advertising "Hey everybody, this guy is a gamer"
Or - just go back to what I had - a ultra-compact laptop - and cut down on the nerd-gamesAnd yeah - I know somebody's going to say "build your own PC" - but I had a quick look, and thought "yeah, nah". I'm quite happy to plug in the extra HDD if necessary, but I'd want the base product pre-built/tested.
So - ideas, thoughts? Recommended vendors? I've heard rumours that PBTech has gone the way of any company which got to a certain size...
Anybody used ExtremePC in Wellington? I like the idea of supporting what seems to be a fairly small and local business.A friend always gets his laptops from a company that does all the building for you, you just go through and select the components needed so you get the specs of one of those gaming laptops but just looks like any old pretty generic laptop
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@kruse ... Might be hard to get one in NZ (???) but we have very similar needs and I could recommend maybe looking at a refurbished "mobile workstation" from Dell/HP/Lenovo. Something like a Dell Precision 7510/7520/7710/7720.
Build quality and reliability is just insane as they're designed for CAD/CAM and high-end Corporate use, plus you can upgrade them yourself much like a desktop. I'm no IT-tech but I've done memory, keyboard, graphics card + heatsink, and screen (including connectors) on these.
They happily game on older games (3+ years imho) and if you have a Thunderbolt connection you can hook in an external GPU for the latest games too.
I'm running a 3-year old Dell Precision 7520 with a Quadro M2200 , quad-Xeons and 32G of RAM (it can take up to 128G if needed). I had an 8-year old Precision M4700 which ran with zero issues.
Even though a laptop, graphics cards can be upgraded depending on the model. They typically come with "MXM" graphics card which can be swapped, with caveats too detailed to go into unless you want me to.
HP equivalent is the ZBook series e.g. HP ZBook 15 G4. IBM I can't remember ...
Battery life is typically meh, but no more so than any gaming laptop with a high end GPU/CPU combo. They look boring as hell but they're awesome value (here in the UK at least) and they last and last.
Google a bit and see what you think?
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@mario said in Gaming/VR:
@kruse ... Might be hard to get one in NZ (???) but we have very similar needs and I could recommend maybe looking at a refurbished "mobile workstation" from Dell/HP/Lenovo. Something like a Dell Precision 7510/7520/7710/7720.
Build quality and reliability is just insane as they're designed for CAD/CAM and high-end Corporate use, plus you can upgrade them yourself much like a desktop. I'm no IT-tech but I've done memory, keyboard, graphics card + heatsink, and screen (including connectors) on these.
They happily game on older games (3+ years imho) and if you have a Thunderbolt connection you can hook in an external GPU for the latest games too.
I'm running a 3-year old Dell Precision 7520 with a Quadro M2200 , quad-Xeons and 32G of RAM (it can take up to 128G if needed). I had an 8-year old Precision M4700 which ran with zero issues.
Even though a laptop, graphics cards can be upgraded depending on the model. They typically come with "MXM" graphics card which can be swapped, with caveats too detailed to go into unless you want me to.
HP equivalent is the ZBook series e.g. HP ZBook 15 G4. IBM I can't remember ...
Battery life is typically meh, but no more so than any gaming laptop with a high end GPU/CPU combo. They look boring as hell but they're awesome value (here in the UK at least) and they last and last.
Google a bit and see what you think?
Goddammit - thanks for the info, but as a super undecisive man, I would really have liked less options, rather than more.
Looking into what you're suggesting - looks like a really good option. Damn it.
Of course - I've gotten so used to having an ultra-portable, a super-sexy one at that - the idea of a larger/chunkier/heavier laptop to throw in the backpack... I'm struggling with it, although it does seem like a really sensible choice. -
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@machpants said in Gaming/VR:
Whats your budget?
This - all ICT purchasing decisions start with this. Ideally you'd have a gaming desktop and thin and light laptop. Gaming on laptop sucks balls unless you want to be carrying around a fucking boiling hot heavy brick with almost no battery life.
Yeah - that's what I'm thinking... my ideal is gaming PC, and a lovely thin/light laptop.
My problem is - I've got a perfectly good thin/light laptop sitting in a box in my mate's basement in London. (Well - 2 actually, but one's a little older, rebuilt with Linux, and I only really used it for watching TV while exercising)So - I think I'll spend a couple-grand on the PC... and then in future, if I haven't shipped all my shit back to NZ - look at getting myself another pretty laptop (or tablet... although I bought a tablet in UK - never really found a use for it)... and stay staunch on not installing anything ridiculous on the laptop.
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Whats your budget?
As above - I'm now thinking a couple-grand (NZ$) - but that's mostly from just looking at prices, deciding on a relatively-low-end - as I'm still feeling a little delicate about my £2k laptop lasting 2 years before turning into a pretty aluminium brick, and slowly coming to the realisation that my new NZ-based job is literally 50% of what I was earning previously... so... any new compute-purchase should correspondingly be ~50%.
Happy to be talked into a higher budget, or a lower one, if it makes long-term sense. -
It's fine - a "mobile workstation" is a pretty left-field choice ...!!!
It's the old chestnut about form factor and how many devices you're happy to have / pay for.
For me I want one device apart from my phone, so it gives me essentially a powerful, scalable, repairable (mostly), 2.8kg mobile laptop / server / desktop replacement which I can game on "reasonably" as is, or hook up an external GPU for COD at 4K resolution.TOTALLY agree with comments on gaming laptops having had a couple (imo all bloated, run way too hot, appalling battery life, definitely wouldn't go there again as others also have said).
Thinking out loud ... do you need a desktop to game or you just assume you do?
There are (by now) probably a bunch of other slim/snazzy lightweight laptops now you could hook up to an external GPU via Thunderbolt to game on. Not sure ...I haven't checked the latest tech as this made me realize ... ?!?
Caveat 1: I'm not an expert ... just a "device-minimalist" checking out state of play ... and finding new stuff even writing this today.
Caveat 2: KISS principle can make a lot of sense too as everyone else will rightly say ...
Do what works for you (I enjoy playing with tech like this like others enjoy fixing up cars ... on cars and mechanical stuff I am absolutely helpless!!)
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@mario said in Gaming/VR:
It's fine - a "mobile workstation" is a pretty left-field choice ...!!!
It's the old chestnut about form factor and how many devices you're happy to have / pay for.
For me I want one device apart from my phone, so it gives me essentially a powerful, scalable, repairable (mostly), 2.8kg mobile laptop / server / desktop replacement which I can game on "reasonably" as is, or hook up an external GPU for COD at 4K resolution.TOTALLY agree with comments on gaming laptops having had a couple (imo all bloated, run way too hot, appalling battery life, definitely wouldn't go there again as others also have said).
Thinking out loud ... do you need a desktop to game or you just assume you do?
There are (by now) probably a bunch of other slim/snazzy lightweight laptops now you could hook up to an external GPU via Thunderbolt to game on. Not sure ...I haven't checked the latest tech as this made me realize ... ?!?
Caveat 1: I'm not an expert ... just a "device-minimalist" checking out state of play ... and finding new stuff even writing this today.
Caveat 2: KISS principle can make a lot of sense too as everyone else will rightly say ...
Do what works for you (I enjoy playing with tech like this like others enjoy fixing up cars ... on cars and mechanical stuff I am absolutely helpless!!)
Goddammit - stop giving me MORE options!
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I recently had to replace my Intel Core i7-8000 series based HP Elitebook 840 G5. I settled on an Asus Zenbook 14 with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U chipset. It's noticeably fast, quieter, and cooler than the HP. Though the keyboard etc aren't as good. I'd also like a 3:2 or 16:10 display rather than a 16:9 aspect ratio panel. I only play 4X strategy games like Civilization VI and Stellaris (Paradox engine like EU etc), but it handles them very well. Better than the discrete AMD RX540 (2GB GDDR5) GPU in my old laptop.
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I recently had to replace my Intel Core i7-8000 series based HP Elitebook 840 G5. I settled on an Asus Zenbook 14 with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U chipset. It's noticeably fast, quieter, and cooler than the HP. Though the keyboard etc aren't as good. I'd also like a 3:2 or 16:10 display rather than a 16:9 aspect ratio panel. I only play 4X strategy games like Civilization VI and Stellaris (Paradox engine like EU etc), but it handles them very well. Better than the discrete AMD RX540 (2GB GDDR5) GPU in my old laptop.
I came here to talk spacies, can someone translate this into English please ?
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I recently had to replace my Intel Core i7-8000 series based HP Elitebook 840 G5. I settled on an Asus Zenbook 14 with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U chipset. It's noticeably fast, quieter, and cooler than the HP. Though the keyboard etc aren't as good. I'd also like a 3:2 or 16:10 display rather than a 16:9 aspect ratio panel. I only play 4X strategy games like Civilization VI and Stellaris (Paradox engine like EU etc), but it handles them very well. Better than the discrete AMD RX540 (2GB GDDR5) GPU in my old laptop.
I came here to talk spacies, can someone translate this into English please ?
I refer to gaming as spacies for the kids, and I'm not sure they believe we used to go to gaming places and pay 20c a game.
Anyhoo, Playstation have a bunch of games available for free download right now.
Got ratchet and clank, there's another 9 available now
https://screenrant.com/playstation-free-games-play-at-home-ps4-ps5/ -
I bought one of these a couple of years back for the basement
Pretty fun, man the graphics are funny on some of the old games. Twin Cobra and Double Dragon still hold up pretty well though!
These are the sort of games youse guys are talking about right?
Best Laptops for eGPU – June 2020 Thunderbolt 3 Laptop Buyer’s Guide
