The computer and electronics super geek thread

[davidwhangchoi]

Decent gamin laptop deal

HP OMEN MAX: 16" QHD+ IPS 240Hz, Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, RTX 5080, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD $1699.99

for a rtx 5080 laptop, that's the lowest I've seen.

 

[azrael]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Hmmm, I should probably buy a Beelink or Miniforum mini PC now instead of waiting. Been wanting to set up a Batocera box for awhile.

Same here (though, not for Batocera). 'Also been looking at the refurbished 1L/Micro PCs Dell/HP/Lenovo as well. 

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, azrael said:

Same here (though, not for Batocera). 'Also been looking at the refurbished 1L/Micro PCs Dell/HP/Lenovo as well. 

Whatever you're using it for, hope you find a good deal.  I feel like I didn't get the best price I could have if I were a little more proactive earlier, but with NAND prices on the rise I think I still got a better deal that I would if I waited a few more months.

I wound up buying a Beelink SER5 with a Ryzen 7 6800U, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD for $380.  Like I said, it's going to be a Batocera box, and I'd like it to do up to PS2/Gamecube.  32GB of RAM is probably overkill, but boxes with 1TB SSDs were scarce and M.2 drives are already creeping up enough that if I bought one with 16GB of RAM and bought a 1TB drive separately I'd be paying just as much.

[davidwhangchoi]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Whatever you're using it for, hope you find a good deal.  I feel like I didn't get the best price I could have if I were a little more proactive earlier, but with NAND prices on the rise I think I still got a better deal that I would if I waited a few more months.

I wound up buying a Beelink SER5 with a Ryzen 7 6800U, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD for $380.  Like I said, it's going to be a Batocera box, and I'd like it to do up to PS2/Gamecube.  32GB of RAM is probably overkill, but boxes with 1TB SSDs were scarce and M.2 drives are already creeping up enough that if I bought one with 16GB of RAM and bought a 1TB drive separately I'd be paying just as much.

hope you took advantage of the 20% off paypal promo. before there was no limit but they changed it to 1 transaction per customer after a  whole week went by. 

[mikeszekely]

12 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

hope you took advantage of the 20% off paypal promo. before there was no limit but they changed it to 1 transaction per customer after a  whole week went by. 

No, first I'm hearing of it.  I just used the regular credit card I use for everything.  Between that and all-season tires for my Porsche I'll get some points that I'll cash it for gift cards for Christmas.

[davidwhangchoi]

23 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

No, first I'm hearing of it.  I just used the regular credit card I use for everything.  Between that and all-season tires for my Porsche I'll get some points that I'll cash it for gift cards for Christmas.

there' still time if you think it's worth the effort to return rebuy,  There's holiday extended returns but it's definitely combinable with cashback offers.

works for 100% of paypal users.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18824500-select-paypal-accounts-one-eligible-purchase-pay-later-with-paypal-get-20-cash-back-up-to-1-250-spent?v=1

https://www.resetera.com/threads/psa-paypals-bnpl-20-cash-back-deal-works-on-steam-wallet-frame-gabecube-20-off-usa-only-up-limited-to-1-transaction-now.1359463/

 

 

Edited November 29 by davidwhangchoi

[azrael]

16 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Whatever you're using it for, hope you find a good deal.  I feel like I didn't get the best price I could have if I were a little more proactive earlier, but with NAND prices on the rise I think I still got a better deal that I would if I waited a few more months.

It was earlier this week. It wasn't on my priority list so I missed out on a Beelink Ser9 (had it saved in my cart and checked back when I got home and the price already went up and was out of stock at that price point) and a Dell Pro Micro refurb (was in my cart, went to a meeting and gone after I came back). I also was tracking a Beelink Ser8, but even those disappeared.
I see some SSD "deals" that I might act on instead ("Deals" meaning that's the price they were being sold at back in August as opposed to the inflated price they are sold at today).

[TangledThorns]

Looking at getting into vlogging, probably revolving around my Jaguar F-Type and cars, so I made some purchases in the past week into Black Friday weekend. 

DJI Neo 2 drone that I ordered on EBAY via a South Korean bases store. 

Hollyland Ark A1 wireless microphones. 

Just saw the posts about Paypal pay-in-4 20% cash back and used it on a Insta360 Flow 2 Pro AI Tracker Bundle for about $150.

My wife is interested in these vlog devices as well for her dance and rollerskating hobbies too. If we stick with it then I may invest in a nice mirrorless camera. 

 

Edited November 29 by TangledThorns

[azrael]

Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

Quote

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), a leader in innovative memory and storage solutions, today announced its decision to exit the Crucial consumer business, including the sale of Crucial consumer-branded products at key retailers, e-tailers and distributors worldwide.

Micron will continue Crucial consumer product shipments through the consumer channel until the end of fiscal Q2 (February 2026). The company will work closely with partners and customers through this transition and will provide continued warranty service and support for Crucial products. Micron will continue to support the sale of Micron-branded enterprise products to commercial channel customers globally.

“The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage. Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial consumer business in order to improve supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments,” said Sumit Sadana, EVP and Chief Business Officer at Micron Technology. “Thanks to a passionate community of consumers, the Crucial brand has become synonymous with technical leadership, quality and reliability of leading-edge memory and storage products. We would like to thank our millions of customers, hundreds of partners and all of the Micron team members who have supported the Crucial journey for the last 29 years.”

...

So I have questions. What happens after the AI bubble bursts? If Micron is doing this, what's stopping others from following suit? We know 90% of Nvidia's sales are datacenter-based. What's holding Nvidia back from killing Geforce? It's not like they need GeForce to sustain themselves. If Micron/Crucial killed the Ballistix line back in 2022, they must have seen the writing on the wall back then. 

Sidebar, I'm actually considering upgrading my stuff just to lock in the deals right now (minus the ridiculous RAM prices). Between skyrocketing RAM and SSD prices, rumors of AMD price hikes, and factories NOT increasing production, these proposed price hikes are really gonna hurt into 2026. Either the AI bubble is going to burst and bring everyone down or things will not improve for the long haul. Like not till 2027. Also, is cloud-based setups the only way us peons are going to have affordable computing?

[TangledThorns]

The Micron announcement is additional terrible news for consumers in the tech market. 

As for the AI bubble, I don't think there is one. 

 

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, azrael said:

Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

So I have questions. What happens after the AI bubble bursts? If Micron is doing this, what's stopping others from following suit? We know 90% of Nvidia's sales are datacenter-based. What's holding Nvidia back from killing Geforce? It's not like they need GeForce to sustain themselves. If Micron/Crucial killed the Ballistix line back in 2022, they must have seen the writing on the wall back then. 

 

I mean, if the bubble bursts the companies that invested the most heavily will lose out big time.  And I'd say that's exactly what keeps Nvidia from killing GeForce... yeah, it's peanuts compared to their datacenter business, but last quarter those peanuts were still around $5 billion.  That's about half of AMD's ENTIRE revenue from the same quarter.  Sure, it's not going to make Jensen Huang a trillionaire, but it's not bad for a fall back.  Or, for that matter, money you'd want to leave on the table for your rivals even if the AI bubble doesn't burst.  Because, yeah, the numbers say gaming is a small part of Nvidia's business now, but it's also relative to how gargantuan Nvidia has become overall, but consumer GPUs still seem like a pretty big market.

So why, then, is Micron ditching consumer products?  I'd say they simply don't have the resources that Nvidia does in the first place, and those resources are going to be even tighter with the NAND shortage.  For the immediate future, data center customers simply can and will pay more than they could get selling RAM to consumers. Data center demand has Micron's revenue up almost 50% of the same quarter last year.  It's a bet that, at least in the short run, the AI bubble isn't going to burst.

I guess the question, then, is whether or not AI is really a bubble.  In a lot of ways it does sort of feel like companies are shoving AI onto a market that really doesn't want it.  Anecdotally, I know plenty of people who are just annoyed whenever Microsoft/Google/etc tries to shove some new AI feature nobody asked for into Windows/Android/web apps/etc, nobody seems to like those AI summaries that appear ahead of your search results, and end users seem mad as heck when companies try to use AI-generated content in place of human-created work in anime and videogames.  But, honestly, no, I think things will level off eventually but this bubble's not going anywhere.  Websites and social media are already churning out AI-generated crap because it costs them next to nothing to create and it brings in the clicks.  Nexon says we should assume every game developer is using AI, and Tim Sweeny says Valve is dumb for making creators label their games if they us AI content.  Companies are going to continue to force AI on us, because the promise of computers that will do stuff faster and cheaper than humans is just too alluring to them.

10 hours ago, azrael said:

Also, is cloud-based setups the only way us peons are going to have affordable computing?

Yes, but realistically cloud-based setups are all like 70% of the population needs anymore.  My wife barely uses her laptop anymore, and then only because she finds it easier to work with spreadsheets, but everything else she does in Safari on her iPhone.  My dad would be fine with a Chromebook were it not for the fact that he has a huge locally-stored music library that he still manages with iTunes for Windows for some reason.  It's mostly creatives, enthusiasts, and gamers who are going to suffer from rising costs and limited supply.  As someone who falls into two of those categories, believe me, I sympathize.

[Dynaman]

AI bursting (or not) is a very interesting topic.  I have no bet on that either way.  AI is overhyped and what is currently called AI really is not.   It is not really capable of replacing computer programmers or doctors (hell, nowhere near replacing doctors, lawyers) but it can cut down the support staff and need to interns and entry level personnel (otherwise known as future programmers, doctors, lawyers) and that could have very serious complications for the future.

Will there be over investment in it or will it level off is really hard to say.  The costs associated with it are not being properly accounted for yet, when the cost to provide AI services are forced to pay for themselves instead of the current growth at a loss for market share period ends we will see the results.

[TangledThorns]

I use AI for entertainment and professional uses and can see why companies are really pushing for it. For what I do in the tech biz AI won't replace people (yet!) but it does make my work easier. 

[azrael]

5 hours ago, Dynaman said:

Will there be over investment in it or will it level off is really hard to say.  The costs associated with it are not being properly accounted for yet, when the cost to provide AI services are forced to pay for themselves instead of the current growth at a loss for market share period ends we will see the results.

It might take years. We are, likely, still climbing that peak. Things might not level off until 2027/2028. Unless we see a sudden crash in 2026, 2026 will not be a good year for computer-related buying (There are other economic factors that may decide where things trend but those are for a different venue).

13 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

In a lot of ways it does sort of feel like companies are shoving AI onto a market that really doesn't want it.  Anecdotally, I know plenty of people who are just annoyed whenever Microsoft/Google/etc tries to shove some new AI feature nobody asked for into Windows/Android/web apps/etc, nobody seems to like those AI summaries that appear ahead of your search results, and end users seem mad as heck when companies try to use AI-generated content in place of human-created work in anime and videogames. 

It comes to the question, "What is using AI trying to solve?". Basic tasks? Sure. That's happening now. But as we get to more complicated stuff, we then get to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), which is suppose to be able to perform more complex tasks. And we're not there yet. 

[davidwhangchoi]

If you need 64 gb of ram🤔 2,500

stopped by the Microcenter in Santa Clara 

nothing i wanted at the moment. 

Edited December 7 by davidwhangchoi

[mikeszekely]

Never heard of Power Spec, but that's like $200 less than I spent for half the hard drive and half the RAM on a Asus G7 earlier this year.🤔

[azrael]

45 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Never heard of Power Spec, but that's like $200 less than I spent for half the hard drive and half the RAM on a Asus G7 earlier this year.🤔

It's MicroCenter's in-house brand SI. At least they use off-the-shelf parts (you can make out the Lian-Li AIO cooler and the PNY Geforce card in the pic).

7 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

nothing i wanted at the moment. 

If it wasn't for RAM prices exploding out of control...

[davidwhangchoi]

22 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Never heard of Power Spec, but that's like $200 less than I spent for half the hard drive and half the RAM on a Asus G7 earlier this year.🤔

My first time at that location. store looked clean.  

21 hours ago, azrael said:

If it wasn't for RAM prices exploding out of control...

64 gb is pretty good. wonder if i can resell it. 

that pre-black friday deal for 2000 was on display but still sold out. 

[davidwhangchoi]

 

[azrael]

If you have any older systems that still use SATA drives or use SATA drives if you used up all your NVMe slots or use a non-NVMe NAS ...

Samsung to halt SATA SSD production, leaker warns of up to 18 months of SSD price pressure, worse than Micron ending consumer RAM (Notebookcheck.net)

[davidwhangchoi]

4 hours ago, azrael said:

If you have any older systems that still use SATA drives or use SATA drives if you used up all your NVMe slots or use a non-NVMe NAS ...

Samsung to halt SATA SSD production, leaker warns of up to 18 months of SSD price pressure, worse than Micron ending consumer RAM (Notebookcheck.net)

wow, that's nuts, in addition, this wccftech article

You Might Soon See 8GB Laptops Everywhere, as Manufacturers Are Likely to Make High-RAM Configurations Unaffordable

 

[JB0]

Maybe the DRAM shortage will see the return of bubble memories!

[azrael]

6 hours ago, JB0 said:

Maybe the DRAM shortage will see the return of bubble memories!

Or. OR. Orrrrrr. Hear me out. Programmers learn to code more efficiently. 

[kajnrig]

I'm curious. People have been generally bemused by the Ryzen Max processors - those "mega APUs" with 4060-ish graphics and up to 128gb RAM - because of their high prices. Now that DRAM prices are jumping up, how do those devices compare now? For instance, a top-spec Framework Desktop (16 cores, 40-CU GPU, 128GB RAM) can be had for about $2000 + $storage. Are they still overpriced for what they are, or are they relatively more of a deal now?

[azrael]

51 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

I'm curious. People have been generally bemused by the Ryzen Max processors - those "mega APUs" with 4060-ish graphics and up to 128gb RAM - because of their high prices. Now that DRAM prices are jumping up, how do those devices compare now? For instance, a top-spec Framework Desktop (16 cores, 40-CU GPU, 128GB RAM) can be had for about $2000 + $storage. Are they still overpriced for what they are, or are they relatively more of a deal now?

Depends on your use-case. For the price, the Framework Desktop is a slightly better buy than the competition. Depending on how you configure the Framework. Those top spec machines are more like mini-workstations. Those that have the AI Max 395 with 128GB of RAM are really industrial workstation systems. Unless you are doing some serious number crunching, doing CAD work, or running local AI models, I wouldn't call it a deal. It's an overpriced SFF system at that point. 

For now. The price may jump in the next few weeks/months.

[azrael]

And the hits just keep coming.

Nvidia plans heavy cuts to GPU supply in early 2026 (Overclock3D.net)

Samsung reportedly raises DDR5 RAM prices by 100% with 'no stock' left (Tom's Guide.com)