Does the X230 have the secondary internal battery the X240+ do? Might jump in on that delicious ThinkLight train.
I'm probably going to need a laptop for uni, I would easily settle on a five year old one that is still capable for basic work if it holds up better than a shitbox brand new from the manufacturer. Trust me I would love something like an XPS 15 that can play Dolphin and some recentish native PC games but I have to be absolutely prepared to compromise here.
My x201t has terrible cooling and air flow. If you look at the x210t (or literally any next gen after the x201/t), Lenovo decided it was probably a good idea to cut off part of the slice battery so there was an intake vent for air. And that it was probably a terrible idea to rely on only getting air from the underside of the laptop..
Before
[img]https://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/ProductImage/34-318-372-01.jpg[/img]
After
[img]https://www.notebookcheck.nl/uploads/tx_nbc2/800x600_02.jpg[/img]
As you can see, part of the slice battery is missing because that is where Lenovo put the dedicated air vent to prevent house fires.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;52165875]I'm probably going to need a laptop for uni, I would easily settle on a five year old one that is still capable for basic work if it holds up better than a shitbox brand new from the manufacturer. Trust me I would love something like an XPS 15 that can play Dolphin and some recentish native PC games but I have to be absolutely prepared to compromise here.[/QUOTE]
Unless you need to do GPU-heavy tasks or a high res screen the X220 is your man. If you don't care about Hackintosh the X230 has a one generation newer Core processor and is pretty good too, but I hear some people don't like the keyboard layout or something.
I have the i5 X220 and it's perfect adept to any such tasks. Look for one with an SSD already installed to save the money you'd spend on buying one separately. Expect around $125-150. I've been meaning to try Dolphin and some Source games on it, speaking of.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;52165875]I'm probably going to need a laptop for uni, I would easily settle on a five year old one that is still capable for basic work if it holds up better than a shitbox brand new from the manufacturer. Trust me I would love something like an XPS 15 that can play Dolphin and some recentish native PC games but I have to be absolutely prepared to compromise here.[/QUOTE]
To me the only hitch about the XPS 15 is the spec tiers. Of course, the base model runs a SATA drive and integrated graphics. However, the high tier models with the GTX 1050 have a larger battery in place of that SATA port. So it's a trade off, but what if I want to run SATA eventually? Is the cord still there, just buried under the extended battery?
On the other hand, M.2 is still on the low spec model. If I wanted crazy good battery life, can I swap for a bigger battery?
I wish the XPS 15 had a full speed Thunderbolt 3 rather than a half speed one.
After my Toshiba Qosmio X70A I don't want to own a laptop with a dedicated GPU anymore. I would much, much rather have an expandable interface that enables me to use an external GPU.
The only thing too-outdated in my Qosmio is the GTX 770M but that makes it real shit for modern games and I have no good options for upgrading just the GPU.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;52165875]I'm probably going to need a laptop for uni, I would easily settle on a five year old one that is still capable for basic work if it holds up better than a shitbox brand new from the manufacturer. Trust me I would love something like an XPS 15 that can play Dolphin and some recentish native PC games but I have to be absolutely prepared to compromise here.[/QUOTE]
XPS 15 with 960M throttles like a bitch. Once you play for like half an hour, it stops running at full speed.
XPS 15 with 1050 throttles like a bitch but not as severely. Maybe an hour of play before it starts to stutter.
Don't bother with the 4K display unless you really want a very colour accurate display.
[editline]29th April 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=chipsnapper2;52165894]To me the only hitch about the XPS 15 is the spec tiers. Of course, the base model runs a SATA drive and integrated graphics. However, the high tier models with the GTX 1050 have a larger battery in place of that SATA port. So it's a trade off, but what if I want to run SATA eventually? Is the cord still there, just buried under the extended battery?
On the other hand, M.2 is still on the low spec model. If I wanted crazy good battery life, can I swap for a bigger battery?[/QUOTE]
There is two models for the XPS 15. One with a 54WHr battery and one with a 97WHr battery (the latest one has this, up from 84WHr).
The one with the 54WHr battery has a 2.5 inch hard drive bay that you should be able to get rid of and upgrade to the 97WHr battery if you can get it.
[t]https://i1.wp.com/laptopmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/DSC07310.jpg[/t]
The one with the 97WHr battery (or 84Whr, looks the same) looks like this and probably will still have the SATA cable under it somewhere. Or they get rid of it because it's not worth having it there.
[t]https://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/xlarge_wm_blw/public/field/image/2016/08/dell-xps-15-internal-2.jpg[/t]
Basically most high end performance ultrabooks with a ~90+WHr battery will have 1 NVMe SSD slots and no 2.5 inch hard drive bays. The only ones that don't are larger 17 inch laptops, or laptops with dual cores and/or no GPU so there's more space to cram all of that stuff into it.
NVMe SSDs typically give you 3-4 times as much read/write speeds compared to 2.5 inch SATA SSDs (since those read/write speeds are typically 500-600MB/s). The SM951 is basically a Samsung 950 Evo.
[QUOTE=garychencool;52165930]
Don't bother with the 4K display unless you really want a very colour accurate display.[/QUOTE]
I disagree. The 4K display on the XPS 15 is honestly the best laptop screen I've ever seen. The clarity, and the color is absolutely stunning. I'd strongly recommend upgrading to it.
[QUOTE=B!N4RY;52166006]I disagree. The 4K display on the XPS 15 is honestly the best laptop screen I've ever seen. The clarity, and the color is absolutely stunning. I'd strongly recommend upgrading to it.[/QUOTE]
I think what he means isn't about the quality of the display but the extra horsepower you need to run it.
[QUOTE=chipsnapper2;52165894]To me the only hitch about the XPS 15 is the spec tiers. Of course, the base model runs a SATA drive and integrated graphics. However, the high tier models with the GTX 1050 have a larger battery in place of that SATA port. So it's a trade off, but what if I want to run SATA eventually? Is the cord still there, just buried under the extended battery?
On the other hand, M.2 is still on the low spec model. If I wanted crazy good battery life, can I swap for a bigger battery?[/QUOTE]
The connector is soldered, but the cable isn't present. So you'll have to buy a cable from dell first.
But let's face it, you're most likely not going to replace a large battery with a SATA drive in a laptop.
[editline]29th April 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=wingless;52166014]I think what he means isn't about the quality of the display but the extra horsepower you need to run it.[/QUOTE]
I'm well aware of that, and the impact it makes on the battery seems negligible for everyday tasks.
[url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-Mini-Air-Edition-Desktop-Computer-2011-2012-1-Yr-Warranty-SSD-/162432706441?hash=item25d1be6789:g:EakAAOSwc-tY7pX2[/url]
Something tells me this actually isn't an Apple sanctioned product.
[QUOTE=B!N4RY;52166006]I disagree. The 4K display on the XPS 15 is the best I've ever seen. I'd strongly recommend upgrading to it.[/QUOTE]
Yes, it is really nice but for anyone who is on a budget and isn't going to really benefit from it shouldn't bother getting it.
It's great for looking at web pages, photos and videos but uses more battery. The 1080p model can get 1.5-2x as much battery life as the 4K model because the panel uses so much more power, and there's more processing required to run it. Lightroom tends to lag a bit more as it has to render out those pixels and such. Web pages like moving around Google Maps tends to stutter. Windows 10 scaling is still not good enough. In my use, the 4K model gets 4-6 hours of battery life. Of course, battery life depends on a ton of things.
The 1080p model is still a pretty colour accurate laptop display (literally 1-2% away from 100% sRGB, it's amazing), and it can go brighter than the 4K model by about 50 nits. The 1080p model also has a matte display instead of the glossy.
[QUOTE=wingless;52166045][url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-Mini-Air-Edition-Desktop-Computer-2011-2012-1-Yr-Warranty-SSD-/162432706441?hash=item25d1be6789:g:EakAAOSwc-tY7pX2[/url]
Something tells me this actually isn't an Apple sanctioned product.[/QUOTE]
[quote]Why it is special is that is comes with a super fast SSD (Solid State Drive) which is a [B]"Blade" drive[/B] and has EXTEME performance![/quote]
yeah ok bud
[QUOTE=B!N4RY;52166055]yeah ok bud[/QUOTE]
The fact it has an external keyboard tells me that the built in one doesn't work anymore. I'm guessing water damage.
[QUOTE=wingless;52166063]The fact it has an external keyboard tells me that the built in one doesn't work anymore. I'm guessing water damage.[/QUOTE]
My guess is most of these were Macbook Airs with smashed screens, but it's not worth enough to have the screens replaced.
The keyboard/trackpad probably does work on them for most units, but they're just adding in the external just to be safe in case of dead keys and whatnot.
[QUOTE=Dr. Evilcop;52165928]I wish the XPS 15 had a full speed Thunderbolt 3 rather than a half speed one.
After my Toshiba Qosmio X70A I don't want to own a laptop with a dedicated GPU anymore. I would much, much rather have an expandable interface that enables me to use an external GPU.
The only thing too-outdated in my Qosmio is the GTX 770M but that makes it real shit for modern games and I have no good options for upgrading just the GPU.[/QUOTE]
eGPUs are still kinda dodgy right now but for the most part, the XPS 15 does ok with an eGPU, even with half the PCIe lanes. It kinda sucks tho, but in general, as long as you don't use the laptop screen for anything and use an external display connected to the eGPU, you will get better results and less bottlenecking. Just don't use a NVIDIA 1080.
Related to Thunderbolt 3, the only laptop with 2 Thunderbolt 3 modules is the MacBook Pro 15 retina. Every other laptop only has one, so even though some laptops such as the HP ZBook Studio, has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, it only has 1 Thunderbolt 3 module. However most people only need 1 Thunderbolt 3 port anyways. Having more is useful for other stuff that can run at USB-C speeds instead. I have no idea if the Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C modules are the same thing or not.
Looked up new ram for my server. On the recommended list I found two 8GB 1333 sticks for $40bucks on ebay. Doubling or tripling my server memory depending on if I keep my two 4GB sticks in there. With 16GB dimms I could get it to 96GB.
I assume I can only use one set of memory slots for a dual CPU Board right?
Personally having a laptop screen be 4K while my desktop is only 1080p just seems plain wrong to me.
[QUOTE=Brt5470;52166159]I assume I can only use one set of memory slots for a dual CPU Board right?[/QUOTE]
I don't know what CPU you've got on the server, but Intel switched to an on-die memory controller with Nehalem, and I'm pretty sure it's still on the die. That would mean the ram sticks go straight to the CPU socket.
So, yes.
[QUOTE=nikomo;52166221]I don't know what CPU you've got on the server, but Intel switched to an on-die memory controller with Nehalem, and I'm pretty sure it's still on the die. That would mean the ram sticks go straight to the CPU socket.
So, yes.[/QUOTE]
L5520 right now. It came with dual 5520's but I removed one to reduce power usage.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;52166198]Personally having a laptop screen be 4K while my desktop is only 1080p just seems plain wrong to me.[/QUOTE]
What is somewhat annoying is that most of the laptops with really nice colour accurate displays are also 4K only. The best 1080p laptop display I've seen so far is the one on the XPS 15 tho.
[QUOTE=Brt5470;52166159]Looked up new ram for my server. On the recommended list I found two 8GB 1333 sticks for $40bucks on ebay. Doubling or tripling my server memory depending on if I keep my two 4GB sticks in there. With 16GB dimms I could get it to 96GB.
I assume I can only use one set of memory slots for a dual CPU Board right?[/QUOTE]
Also check out server monkey for some nice kits. What server do you have again?
[QUOTE=fishyfish777;52165138]Same reason /o/ refuses to move on from 20 year old shitboxes
It's cheap, they work, and they have [I]soul[/I][/QUOTE]
And now I miss my old shitboxes.
[QUOTE=Van-man;52166410]And now I miss my old shitboxes.[/QUOTE]
I got what you need, bro~
Speaking of old shitboxes, my old eMachines, which was my very first computer, made its way back to me recently :v:
Unfortunately it's pretty much only the case as they swapped the motherboard and other hardware, but it's still funny to see the thing again after all this time.
I deal with people bragging about shitboxes regularly on the other old computer forums.
I mean, not to be picky but there are some machines out there that are really just shit. The board is low-spec ATX, the power supply is something scary and all the peripherals are junk. There might be a hard drive you can salvage but that's it. Yet I'm seeing people boast they paid $75 for five ugly early 2000's machines that just are not worth the amount of gas they paid to pick them up across town.
Unrelated, I have a server here I am loading up to run nothing but virtual machines of various systems I can't be assed to track down and setup just for some obsolete network services. Suggest me a good VM engine.
[QUOTE=Dr. Evilcop;52166873]Speaking of old shitboxes, my old eMachines, which was my very first computer, made its way back to me recently :v:
Unfortunately it's pretty much only the case as they swapped the motherboard and other hardware, but it's still funny to see the thing again after all this time.[/QUOTE]
At what point does replacing parts make it a new computer?
[QUOTE=IpHa;52166973]At what point does replacing parts make it a new computer?[/QUOTE]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus]The computer of Theseus?[/url]
[QUOTE=gman003-main;52167059][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus]The computer of Theseus?[/url][/QUOTE]
Exactly what I was thinking.
My computer has only has one of it's original parts. In my mind it's the same — and has kept the same name throughout.
But, my upgrades have spawned 2 new computers each with more original parts than my current computer.
[QUOTE=gman003-main;52167059][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus]The computer of Theseus?[/url][/QUOTE]
For me, it's not a new machine a few factors are met: Every part in it is replaced and the main OS install is still running. That means my desktop is quite long running in that it's been using the same Windows install (Upgraded a few times) and has at least one of the same hard drives I've had since I was running Vista. I'd place it as 10 years old through that. It's predecessor would have been about 6 years as well due to the case. (But I'd really have to think about that second one)
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