The computer and electronics super geek thread

[azrael]

44 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

but what laptops do you guys use for non gaming tasks? I have a spare low spec'd lappy for basic tasks and work (a recent pick up of an open box sub $400 yoga 2in1 14 oled).

I'm debating about returning it and getting a better work laptop.  

M3 Macbook Air. 

FYI, CES is next week (Jan 6-9). I'm not expecting too many big announcements but this year's monitors are getting their press releases ahead of the show. Since components will see price increases this year, this may be a good year to upgrade monitors. 

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Mike, I know you have a g14,

but what laptops do you guys use for non gaming tasks? I have a spare low spec'd lappy for basic tasks and work (a recent pick up of an open box sub $400 yoga 2in1 14 oled).

I'm debating about returning it and getting a better work laptop.  

Honestly, because the G14 is small but powerful with a gorgeous OLED screen it's usually my go-to when I'm not at my desk. 

That said, I have an Asus Vivobook 15 with a Core i3 I bought for around $300 probably 4 years ago that I replaced Windows with Linux Mint and upgraded the RAM from 8 to 12 GB. For light duty it still holds up pretty well, and when it does slow down I can always switch from the Cinnamon desktop to a lighter one. It's useful to have whenever there's something I need to do that's just easier with Linux, like copying a ton of files to an SSD I set up for Batocera.

I also picked up an Asus CX15 Chromebook for something like $120 during the back-to-school season. I was mostly curious because I'd never used ChromeOS before. As an Android phone user I liked that it was super easy to read and reply to my text messages on it, but for something basically just running a browser I found it to be kinda slow. Since I have one big ultra wide monitor for my desktop, the Chromebook mostly gets used when I want to use the Internet at my desk when my desktop is running a game. 

Finally, because I used to work in IT and I prided myself on being versed in both Windows and MacOS, I have an M1 MacBook Air. It still runs pretty great, but I may sell it to a friend who only uses Macs but is stuck with a very old Intel Mac Mini if I can find a good deal on a M3 or M4 Air. Mind you, a good deal is rarely less than $700, so I wouldn't say that a MacBook is ever a "cheap" secondary device. But for non-gamers that don't need a specific Windows utility the way Apple wrings the performance they do out of a system with just 8GB of RAM, the solid battery life, and the unrivaled stand-by battery makes them a strong choice for a primary device.

What specs on that Yoga? Unless you really need more power I'd keep it just for the OLED display.

Edited 2 hours ago by mikeszekely