azrael Posted October 16 Author Posted October 16 Consensus seems to be, it's good, But is it $999 USD good? The battery life is better, close to but slightly less than Legion Go 2. The Ryzen Z2 Extreme is a good (not great) generational update to the Z1 Extreme. The downside is Windows is still running below the Xbox overlay along with ArmoryCrate. And in the end, the price tag is probably gonna be the red flag for this handheld. Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 16 Posted October 16 18 minutes ago, azrael said: Consensus seems to be, it's good, But is it $999 USD good? The battery life is better, close to but slightly less than Legion Go 2. The Ryzen Z2 Extreme is a good (not great) generational update to the Z1 Extreme. The downside is Windows is still running below the Xbox overlay along with ArmoryCrate. And in the end, the price tag is probably gonna be the red flag for this handheld. Yeah, I caught a few benchmarks, and the performance seems to be just enough of an improvement to interest me but not enough to to $1000 interest me. I think if I was using a Steam Deck or the OG Ally I'd definitely bite, but I'm pretty content with my Ally X. More curious to see some benchmarks for the Legion Go 2. On the Z1 Extreme the Go seemed a bit less optimized (not to mention way heavier), but the Go 2 has a bigger OLED screen. Now that I'm at the age where I'm starting to need readers "bigger screen" is a surprisingly compelling feature.😅 Quote
Test_Pilot_2 Posted October 16 Posted October 16 Still waiting on that broader TB5 support. That will be a bigger game changer for me. Until then, these marginal gains aren't worth it - they're outpaced by the runaway pricing changes. Quote
davidwhangchoi Posted October 22 Posted October 22 On 10/15/2025 at 9:57 PM, mikeszekely said: Yeah, I caught a few benchmarks, and the performance seems to be just enough of an improvement to interest me but not enough to to $1000 interest me. I think if I was using a Steam Deck or the OG Ally I'd definitely bite, but I'm pretty content with my Ally X. More curious to see some benchmarks for the Legion Go 2. On the Z1 Extreme the Go seemed a bit less optimized (not to mention way heavier), but the Go 2 has a bigger OLED screen. Now that I'm at the age where I'm starting to need readers "bigger screen" is a surprisingly compelling feature.😅 that price Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 22 Posted October 22 2 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said: that price Yeah. I think I'm good with my non-Xbox Ally X for awhile yet. Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 22 Posted October 22 So Samsung just unveiled their rival to the Apple Vision Pro, the Galaxy XR. On the plus side, it's lighter than the Vision Pro, costs like half, and the Android XR OS is getting some praise for its usability and compatible with regular non-XR Android apps. But on the minus side, it's still like triple the price of a Meta Quest 3, and I'm struggling to see the actual market is for XR yet. While the Quest 3 can do some XR stuff, the main draw there still seems to be VR gaming. Quote
azrael Posted October 22 Author Posted October 22 I'm still trying to determine what the use scenario for AR is. Industrial Design & CAD. Content consumption. Medical conceptualization. That's about all I can see for AR goggles. Those things are just too big, distracting, and silly to wear outside of building/controlled setting. Quote
Test_Pilot_2 Posted October 22 Posted October 22 4 hours ago, azrael said: I'm still trying to determine what the use scenario for AR is. Industrial Design & CAD. Content consumption. Medical conceptualization. That's about all I can see for AR goggles. Those things are just too big, distracting, and silly to wear outside of building/controlled setting. Great for travel for consuming content on planes and airports. Great for discreetly consuming content when you don't want to rope in other folks... watched Alien Earth while my littles were watching Bluey. For the glasses that look semi-normal ish and don't impair your vision... Great for consuming training classes, certification prep, or news at work in between meetings or tasks. Even driving around/commuting while letting the material passively play in the background - essentially an amped-up ebook experience. They have their use cases for people even if they don't for you. Quote
azrael Posted October 22 Author Posted October 22 12 hours ago, mikeszekely said: Yeah. I think I'm good with my non-Xbox Ally X for awhile yet. Seeing that the Z2 Extreme is only a modest improvement, that's probably for the best. 6 hours ago, Test_Pilot_2 said: Great for travel for consuming content on planes and airports. Great for discreetly consuming content... Already mentioned Content Consumption. Long duration usage is a tough pill to swallow because having that thing on your head gets tiring (2-3 hours, max). Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 22 Posted October 22 7 hours ago, Test_Pilot_2 said: Great for travel for consuming content on planes and airports. Great for discreetly consuming content when you don't want to rope in other folks... watched Alien Earth while my littles were watching Bluey. For the glasses that look semi-normal ish and don't impair your vision... Great for consuming training classes, certification prep, or news at work in between meetings or tasks. Even driving around/commuting while letting the material passively play in the background - essentially an amped-up ebook experience. They have their use cases for people even if they don't for you. 1 hour ago, azrael said: Seeing that the Z2 Extreme is only a modest improvement, that's probably for the best. Already mentioned Content Consumption. Long duration usage is a tough pill to swallow because having that thing on your head gets tiring (2-3 hours, max). Instead of expensive, conspicuous goggles why not spend like half or less on XReal or Viture glasses and use them with the laptop/phone/tablet you likely already own? I use mine with my ROG Ally all the time to get some gaming in while my daughter is in her dance classes. That's why I'm struggling with stuff like the Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR. Meta already brought affordable VR to the masses, and XReal/Viture/Rokkid are providing more affordable, lighter, less conspicuous ways to use XR on existing platforms and devices. Quote
Test_Pilot_2 Posted October 22 Posted October 22 1 hour ago, mikeszekely said: Instead of expensive, conspicuous goggles why not spend like half or less on XReal or Viture glasses and use them with the laptop/phone/tablet you likely already own? I use mine with my ROG Ally all the time to get some gaming in while my daughter is in her dance classes. That's why I'm struggling with stuff like the Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR. Meta already brought affordable VR to the masses, and XReal/Viture/Rokkid are providing more affordable, lighter, less conspicuous ways to use XR on existing platforms and devices. I love my Vitures - they're fantastic. I initially struggled with the nosepads until I realized the long ones were meant to bend to extremes. Fixed it right up. Only goofy bit are the far corners are blurry for me, but never notice it unless I'm purposefully looking at the corners. There is alot in the content consumption space for these glasses. It's like "travel" for the use case of a vehicle. Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 22 Posted October 22 2 hours ago, Test_Pilot_2 said: I love my Vitures - they're fantastic. I initially struggled with the nosepads until I realized the long ones were meant to bend to extremes. Fixed it right up. Only goofy bit are the far corners are blurry for me, but never notice it unless I'm purposefully looking at the corners. There is alot in the content consumption space for these glasses. It's like "travel" for the use case of a vehicle. I had the original Vitures and had the same trouble with blurry corners. I bought the Pro version later. Worse speakers, but brighter display and less blurring on the corners. In any case, I agree that glasses like the Vitures are great for content consumption. That's exactly why I don't see the point of stuff like the Galaxy XR. Why spend nearly $2000 on bulky goggles when the Vitures Pros are $300 right now? Most of the apps your going to wind up running are going to be regular Android apps anyway. Quote
azrael Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 4 hours ago, mikeszekely said: That's why I'm struggling with stuff like the Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR. Meta already brought affordable VR to the masses, and XReal/Viture/Rokkid are providing more affordable, lighter, less conspicuous ways to use XR on existing platforms and devices. Same. Of the use cases I noted above, a tablet/phone/laptop can be used as a content consumption device and more. VR/AR goggles are good for the private experience, but I'm sure kids and even adults will want to do more with a less cumbersome device. XReal and Viture-platforms are better, but are tethered to your phone/tablet/portable device so it becomes yet another device to carry. That may be where the Vision Pro and Galaxy XR are better as standalone devices, but unfortunately, those make it up with added weight. Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 23 Posted October 23 31 minutes ago, azrael said: XReal and Viture-platforms are better, but are tethered to your phone/tablet/portable device so it becomes yet another device to carry. That may be where the Vision Pro and Galaxy XR are better as standalone devices I still kinda doubt it. Like, yeah, maybe I'd opt to bring XR goggles over a laptop on a plane or something, but I'm not leaving my house without my phone, full stop. So it's still, at minimum, two devices either way. And, while I haven't used the Vision Pro and have no familiarity with it's OS, Android XR is basically an AI-powered gesture-based front end for the same Android that's already running on a lot of phones. While developers can choose to make their apps more XR-friendly, there's not a lot of incentive for them to do so because Android XR runs standard Android apps already. Then the choice is watch Netflix on chonky googles while my phone stays in my pocket, or watch Netflix on my phone tethered to lighter and less conspicous glasses. I know, I'm sounding really down on the Vision Pro/Galaxy XR/Android XR. I want to like it, I want the tech to succeed, and I want somebody to do something truly interesting with the technology. But, as it stands, I just can't see a scenario where they do something that some some other device doesn't do better, with Viture or Xreal glasses if you really want that private big-screen experience. Quote
azrael Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 6 hours ago, mikeszekely said: But, as it stands, I just can't see a scenario where they do something that some some other device doesn't do better, with Viture or Xreal glasses if you really want that private big-screen experience. I think, eventually, there will be a use-case where goggles will excel at and purchasing one will be unavoidable. But we’re still a ways away from that point. Quote
davidwhangchoi Posted October 29 Posted October 29 my legion 7 motherboard fried due to a power spike. looking at some newer ones. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted October 30 Posted October 30 Finally my local Micro Center opens next week. Now the question which GPU should I get. Is the rtx 5070 ti worth the price premium over the 9070 xt. I will being doing 1440p,. But that is only when I need a new monitor. Quote
azrael Posted October 30 Author Posted October 30 58 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said: Finally my local Micro Center opens next week. Now the question which GPU should I get. Is the rtx 5070 ti worth the price premium over the 9070 xt. I will being doing 1440p,. But that is only when I need a new monitor. I would look at the new monitor first. Nvidia will likely debut the RTX 50-Supers in January at CES 2026. If a good deal for a 5070 Ti comes on Black Friday deals, it may be worth it but again, you’re right on the heals of the Supers coming out. Quote
Test_Pilot_2 Posted October 31 Posted October 31 3 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said: Finally my local Micro Center opens next week. Now the question which GPU should I get. Is the rtx 5070 ti worth the price premium over the 9070 xt. I will being doing 1440p,. But that is only when I need a new monitor. 9070xt works great at 1440p for almost everything out there today. That's the resolution I run via an EGPU and a Rog Ally X on a bottlenecked TB4 connection. You can save some $$$ on the GPU that way and use it to get a nicer monitor, cpu, bigger/faster SSD, or more games! Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 31 Posted October 31 4 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said: Finally my local Micro Center opens next week. Now the question which GPU should I get. Is the rtx 5070 ti worth the price premium over the 9070 xt. I will being doing 1440p,. But that is only when I need a new monitor. It's a more complicated question than you might think. It's going to depend a lot on what games you're actually planning to play—actual performance difference on various games at 1440p can range from the 5070ti doing around 40% better at something like GTA 5, to both cards being neck-and-neck at Marvel Rivals or Black Myth Wukong, to the 9070XT performing around 41% better at Rocket League. And that's before you take into account how you feel about stuff like AI upscaling (Nvidia's DLSS generally does a better job than AMD's FXSS, but both are improving at a good clip, I've used both, and both are generally OK) and frame generation (I'm not sure what the consensus is, but I strongly prefer not to use either). Then there's stuff like ray tracing, which most people will tell you Nvidia is much better at, but I'll toss in the caveat that whether you need to use RT at all depends on the game; Control looks way better with it, The Outer Worlds 2 looks pretty much the same to me whether it's on or off, and some games like Indiana Jones require it. If you want a simplistic answer, though, they're fairly close in performance on average and should net you 60fps or better on most games at 1440p. See what's on sale (especially this close to Black Friday/Cyber Monday). I'd consider spending a little more on the RTX 5070ti if the gap is pretty close, but if the gap is larger than, say, $50, you can safely save your money and get the 9070XT. Or do like Az said, get the monitor now, wait and see what GPUs come after CES in January. Quote
azrael Posted October 31 Author Posted October 31 The 9070 XT hasn't seen any significant price changes and there isn't any product updates on the horizon from AMD, so my stance on that is neutral. If your game works better on the 9070 XT vs the 5070 Ti, then get the 9070 XT. Whether it be now or later probably won't make a difference. Once that clock rolls over to November, the sales will start pouring in from Nov. 1 thru Christmas. However, if your upgrades include more RAM or a larger SSD, those 2 items are either a BUY NOW or wait till next year. A report came out last week with the CEO of AData mentioning demand for RAM and NAND flash chips was seeing sharp increases due to AI demand/data centers. Quote
mikeszekely Posted October 31 Posted October 31 1 hour ago, azrael said: However, if your upgrades include more RAM or a larger SSD, those 2 items are either a BUY NOW or wait till next year. A report came out last week with the CEO or AData mentioning demand for RAM and NAND flash chips was seeing sharp increases due to AI demand/data centers. This. I heard DDR5 could go up by as much as 70%. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted October 31 Posted October 31 (edited) I am not planning to buy a new monitor yet. I current one still works. I will get 32gb of ram and a 2tb ssd. I have a 8tb hd for data. Edited October 31 by Hikaru Ichijo SL Quote
azrael Posted November 7 Author Posted November 7 Rumor. But seeing RAM and NAND chip prices suddenly jump because of AI 🙄, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Nvidia decided to delay the Supers in favor of AI production. 2 or 4GB chips are probably easier to produce in the quantities people (read; AI) want right now. https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-super-refresh-faces-uncertainty-amid-reports-of-3gb-gddr7-memory-shortage Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted November 7 Posted November 7 (edited) 3 hours ago, azrael said: Rumor. But seeing RAM and NAND chip prices suddenly jump because of AI 🙄, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Nvidia decided to delay the Supers in favor of AI production. 2 or 4GB chips are probably easier to produce in the quantities people (read; AI) want right now. https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-super-refresh-faces-uncertainty-amid-reports-of-3gb-gddr7-memory-shortage I can see Nvidia doing that. What do they gain from releasing the Supers at all. They pretty much own the market as it is. Edited November 7 by Hikaru Ichijo SL Quote
davidwhangchoi Posted November 8 Posted November 8 computer and electronics related. can apply to laptops that have 80% percent battery saver settings. Quote
TangledThorns Posted November 8 Posted November 8 (edited) 1 hour ago, davidwhangchoi said: computer and electronics related. can apply to laptops that have 80% percent battery saver settings. Basically the same rule for EVs, In the past my smart phones lasted two years before the battery crapped out but my Pixel 7 was doing fairly well for 3 years with me keeping the daily charge at 80%. Its nice that newer smart phones have that feature built in like my Pixel 10 which I hope to get more than 3 years of use with. I probably could have got 4 years with my Pixel 7 but the upgrade deal to Pixel 10 was too good to pass up as it was free 😀 Edited November 8 by TangledThorns Quote
azrael Posted November 8 Author Posted November 8 23 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said: I can see Nvidia doing that. What do they gain from releasing the Supers at all. They pretty much own the market as it is. https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-super-reportedly-slips-to-q3-2026-rtx-5060-ti-16gb-in-short-supply-soon https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-super-refresh-faces-uncertainty-amid-reports-of-3gb-gddr7-memory-shortage Again, the likely scenario. Q1 2026->Q3 2026. 2GB chip demand are are eating resources for 3GB chips causing shortages for 3GB chips, driving up demand for 2GB chips, increasing the cost of 2GB chips. All because of AI demand. 🙄🤦♂️ Quote
davidwhangchoi Posted November 11 Posted November 11 lot of good laptop deals coming up the weeks before black friday. good open box deals have been going on: grabbed a 2025 Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 (Open-Boxes): 14" FHD+ OLED 400 nits Touch, Ryzen AI 7 350, 16GB LPDDR5, 1TB SSD for $392 perfect condition no scratches. returns till Jan 15, so i have time to see if something better pops up. 14" FHD+ (1920x1200, WUXGA+) 16:10, 60Hz, 600-nits (peak) / 400-nits (typical) Glossy / Anti-fingerprint, 100% DCI-P3, Dolby Vision, TÜV Low Blue Light, DisplayHDR True Black 500, OGM, 10-point Multi-touch, 360-degree, OLED Display AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (8C / 16T, 2.0 / 5.0GHz, 8MB L2 / 16MB L3) Integrated AMD Ryzen AI, up to 50 TOPS Integrated AMD Radeon 860M Graphics 16GB Soldered LPDDR5x-7500 1TB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0x4 NVMe Wi-Fi 7, 802.11be 2x2 + BT5.4 5.0MP + IR with Privacy Shutter Backlit, English Keyboard 4 stereo speakers, 2W x2 (woofers), 2W x2 (tweeters), optimized with Dolby Atmos, Smart Amplifier (AMP) Aluminium (Top), Aluminium (Bottom) Pen Upgradable (Purchase Separately) 70Whr Battery ports 1x USB-A (USB 5Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 1), Always On 1x USB-C (USB 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2), with USB PD 3.1 and DisplayPort™ 2.1 UHBR10 1x USB-C (USB 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2), with USB PD 3.1 and DisplayPort™ 1.4a 1x HDMI 2.1, up to 4K/60Hz 1x Headphone / microphone combo jack (3.5mm) 1x microSD card reader Quote
davidwhangchoi Posted November 13 Posted November 13 PowerSpec G759 Gaming PC: Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 5080, 64GB DDR5, 2TB SSD $2299.99 Available In-store Only: MicroCenter If you have a microcenter nearby: this is a decent deal. SPECS: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (4.7GHz) Processor ASRock X870 Pro-A WiFi Motherboard 64GB DDR5-6000 RAM NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Graphics Card 2TB NVMe SSD 2.5GbE LAN, WiFi 7 (802.11be), Bluetooth 5.4 Windows 11 Home Quote
azrael Posted November 13 Author Posted November 13 Those specs would be fine, all things considered, until we get to this: 3 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said: ASRock X870 Pro-A WiFi Motherboard 'Don't know what BIOS revision is on that board but ASRock's reputation with burning 9800X3Ds on their X870 boards is well known. https://en.gamegpu.com/iron/problemu-s-asrock-officially-confirmed-platy-x870-stably-podayut-zavyshennoe-i-vstabilnoe-soc-napryazhenie Quote
davidwhangchoi Posted November 13 Posted November 13 1 hour ago, azrael said: Those specs would be fine, all things considered, until we get to this: 'Don't know what BIOS revision is on that board but ASRock's reputation with burning 9800X3Ds on their X870 boards is well known. https://en.gamegpu.com/iron/problemu-s-asrock-officially-confirmed-platy-x870-stably-podayut-zavyshennoe-i-vstabilnoe-soc-napryazhenie haha, that;'s actually what ppl on the forums was saying. the motherboard was the weakness. Quote
Sildani Posted November 13 Posted November 13 https://www.ign.com/articles/valve-announces-next-gen-steam-machine-says-its-over-6x-more-powerful-than-steam-deck-but-theres-no-price-yet Missed opportunity to call it the "Gabecube" but Nintendo might Nintendo. Quote
JB0 Posted November 13 Posted November 13 12 minutes ago, Sildani said: https://www.ign.com/articles/valve-announces-next-gen-steam-machine-says-its-over-6x-more-powerful-than-steam-deck-but-theres-no-price-yet Missed opportunity to call it the "Gabecube" but Nintendo might Nintendo. The Nintendon't GabeCube. Quote
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