OT: The Avalounge: Winner in Post Count, Loser in Other Things

[Pokecheque]

FYI my thanks to the person who talked about losing weight via rowing machine. It prompted me to get back in the gym. I'm currently at my heaviest weight ever and have the build of a skinny-limbed Oompa-Loompa, so it was time to try again to lose weight. Problem is, running does a number on my knees and walking the dogs isn't enough nowadays. Ran a mile on the track (slowly mind you) to get warmed up and then did a mile on the rower. Hip flexors were hurting but other than that I came away pretty good. Gonna try to increase every subsequent visit. Of course I also gotta change my horrid dietary habits, but one thing at a tie.

It really sucks not living in a state where I can just go on a quick jog or walk the dogs whenever I want, humidity is the WORST. Makes the summer completely unbearable and the winter uninhabitable. Of all the things I miss about Colorado, the climate ranks up there.

 

[hockeyfish]

Depends on what you are looking for...gaming, videos, just web surfing, etc. Do you need to haul it around, or will it just be a small desktop that can move around if needed? And you budget of course.

For a big, game capable, desktop replacement (which is what I am looking for as my current one is dying)...I am drawn to the ASUS GL 753 line, preferably with the 1050Ti graphics card. It would be replacing an HP dv7t, which has been great, but has already had one MB replacement, and may need another (battery charging issues), and for sure needs a new fan assembly. If you don't need the 17.3" screen, then the 553 line will save some cash, or get you slightly better internals (step up the SSD size, or the Ti gpu, etc.)

For a similar system, but in a easier to carry package, the ASUS GL702 line has most of the same features, and faster GPU options for a couple hundred more dollars. The GL502 15.6" screens are a fair bit lighter, and closer in line with the pricing of the 553, not as much of a premium (roughly, 502=753 in price, with bigger SSD and 1060 GPU).

I like the 17.3" screens, because you get a more normal size keyboard layout, even with a number pad. Plus the bigger screen is nice. Whenever I have to use my kids 15.6" laptop, it all feels cramped. But the big screens come at a steep price at times.


If you do not plan on doing any gaming (or at least any that would need a dedicated gpu), then there are tons of options (well, there are for gaming rigs as well, but the ASUS lines seem to be best bang for buck for now). If you do not need a serious machine, then get the lightest one with the biggest screen you can afford that has the optical drive you want (BluRay was a big deal for me, but I can yank it out of this and put it in my new one, so not an issue anymore).

As far as brands, I have owned and been happy with HP, Sony, and Acer.

Stay away from Apple unless you are already used to how they work, or are willing to deal with the learning curve.

Thanks Tweak. Suddenly this thing has worked for a full hour so maybe it will pass. I'm probably going to have to be cheap on this if it needs to happen. Cash is a bit tight right about now.

 

[billybobjoe2112]

I love when plans fall apart. I've had plans with one group of friends to go to a Metal festival this weekend, tonight they both said they aren't going, and never had plans to go.

And then I'm seeing Metallica next Wednesday. Had plans to see them in Vancouver, then had a friend that I haven't seen since 2007, say he'd join us, if we went to Edmonton. I bought three tickets and he cancelled on friday. I'm left with an extra ticket and no money.

I need to start going to concerts alone and not make plans with other people.

 

[AdamCalderHero]

I'm just upgraded my laptop after my last one died. I went with a Dell XPS 15. Depending on what specs you want they can get pretty expensive but for me they give the best all round package of portability, style, and performance. I would have preferred the 13 but they don't do a version with a graphics card. I don't play the most graphics intense games but the 15 still gets pretty hot and loud so if thats what your looking for its probably not ideal.

 

[Tweaky]

Small, fast, quiet, and reasonably priced. Pick 2...maybe 3 if you find the right deal. And the scales are of the sliding variety to some extent as well. But fast and quiet are tough to find together in a laptop (for gaming).

 

[5280]

Gotta decide where I'm flying back to on Saturday and celebrate my old age until Monday. Right now LA and Nashville are leading the pack (I know... two completely different cities).

Nashville Ftw!

 

[Bonzai12]

Thanks Tweak. Suddenly this thing has worked for a full hour so maybe it will pass. I'm probably going to have to be cheap on this if it needs to happen. Cash is a bit tight right about now.

if you can hold out until Black Friday, go that route and check slickdeals for a cheap quality one

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Just got my first Mac as my replacement laptop for work, after a few years of fighting constant crashes and computer updates and repairing my Lenovo myself I'm quite excited for this. I have no idea how to use it and am having to re-learn everything... but one step at a time. My favorite was trying to install something. Everytime I thought it was installed, then I closed it, it had to reinstall. Whatever that means.

The perks of moving up the ranks though allows me to get one of the new ones with the touch bar thing that is a huge gimmick but still interesting. Still, it's 50x better than my Lenovo. I'd only reconsider if a Surface Book were allowed (which is my personal computer).

 

[ABasin]

Gotta decide where I'm flying back to on Saturday and celebrate my old age until Monday. Right now LA and Nashville are leading the pack (I know... two completely different cities).

One utterly soulless city, and one with an incredble amount of such (but with sometimes poor weather).

Go east, young man!

 

[billybobjoe2112]

This next week is going to be epic. Big Metal festival Friday and Saturday, then a five hour drive North on Monday to see Slayer, Lamb of God and Behemoth, wake up Tuesday, and travel six hours to Edmonton to see Avenged Sevenfold and Metallica.

 

[ASmileyFace]

and now for something completely different.

 

[henchman21]

Nashville Ftw!

One utterly soulless city, and one with an incredble amount of such (but with sometimes poor weather).

Go east, young man!

Turns out neither are happening... flying into Salt Lake and road tripping through the Tetons, Craters, then Missoula.

 

[LieutenantDangle]

bought a low end rowing machine on craigslist yesterday for 50 dollars. boom goes the dynamite

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

bought a low end rowing machine on craigslist yesterday for 50 dollars. boom goes the dynamite

When you decide to go big leagues, find a water rower. Those things are smooth as butter.

 

[UncleRisto]

When you decide to go big leagues, find a water rower. Those things are smooth as butter.

Huh. Very interesting design.

 

[henchman21]

When you decide to go big leagues, find a water rower. Those things are smooth as butter.

Yep... just make sure you like using a rower first. Water rowers are spendy, but awesome.

 

[dahrougem2]

Had a movie marathon on Saturday where I watched Goodfellas, Training Day, and The Departed. Safe to say I enjoyed myself on Saturday.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

When you decide to go big leagues, find a water rower. Those things are smooth as butter.

And then when you're really ready, go get on the pond

 

[UncleRisto]

And then when you're really ready, go get on the pond

That really is the best place for Twitter profile pics. I mean workouts.



Has anyone seen Doctor Strange? Is it any good?

Man, they really lucked out that the guy's last name is Strange. "Doctor Anderson" would've made a much worse title for a Marvel movie.

 

[hockeyfish]

That really is the best place for Twitter profile pics. I mean workouts.



Has anyone seen Doctor Strange? Is it any good?

Man, they really lucked out that the guy's last name is Strange. "Doctor Anderson" would've made a much worse title for a Marvel movie.

Like all their other movies, it's useful as a lazy option when you can't find anything else on netflix to watch.

 

[LieutenantDangle]

That really is the best place for Twitter profile pics. I mean workouts.



Has anyone seen Doctor Strange? Is it any good?

Man, they really lucked out that the guy's last name is Strange. "Doctor Anderson" would've made a much worse title for a Marvel movie.

I actually really enjoyed that one. paid money to rent it the day before it got to Netflix. An oversight on my part, but theres more humor in it than I thought there would be. Benedict is just a baller in everything he's in so ya. watch it bruh

 

[McMetal]

That really is the best place for Twitter profile pics. I mean workouts.



Has anyone seen Doctor Strange? Is it any good?

Man, they really lucked out that the guy's last name is Strange. "Doctor Anderson" would've made a much worse title for a Marvel movie.

I'm a big Marvel/comic book guy since I was a kid, so I enjoyed it a lot. It was really well done. The special effects were amazing, but they weren't thrown in your face like a lot of blockbusters do these days.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

That really is the best place for Twitter profile pics. I mean workouts.
.

.

 

[Bubba Thudd]

And then when you're really ready, go get on the pond

hmmm, those water rowers don't look like they'd float...

 

[CobraAcesS]

Depends on what you are looking for...gaming, videos, just web surfing, etc. Do you need to haul it around, or will it just be a small desktop that can move around if needed? And you budget of course.

For a big, game capable, desktop replacement (which is what I am looking for as my current one is dying)...I am drawn to the ASUS GL 753 line, preferably with the 1050Ti graphics card. It would be replacing an HP dv7t, which has been great, but has already had one MB replacement, and may need another (battery charging issues), and for sure needs a new fan assembly. If you don't need the 17.3" screen, then the 553 line will save some cash, or get you slightly better internals (step up the SSD size, or the Ti gpu, etc.)

For a similar system, but in a easier to carry package, the ASUS GL702 line has most of the same features, and faster GPU options for a couple hundred more dollars. The GL502 15.6" screens are a fair bit lighter, and closer in line with the pricing of the 553, not as much of a premium (roughly, 502=753 in price, with bigger SSD and 1060 GPU).

I like the 17.3" screens, because you get a more normal size keyboard layout, even with a number pad. Plus the bigger screen is nice. Whenever I have to use my kids 15.6" laptop, it all feels cramped. But the big screens come at a steep price at times.


If you do not plan on doing any gaming (or at least any that would need a dedicated gpu), then there are tons of options (well, there are for gaming rigs as well, but the ASUS lines seem to be best bang for buck for now). If you do not need a serious machine, then get the lightest one with the biggest screen you can afford that has the optical drive you want (BluRay was a big deal for me, but I can yank it out of this and put it in my new one, so not an issue anymore).

As far as brands, I have owned and been happy with HP, Sony, and Acer.

Stay away from Apple unless you are already used to how they work, or are willing to deal with the learning curve.

Tweaky, if you really want a desktop replacement. Check out Sagers as well.

http://www.xoticpc.com/ has been around for a while, and what companies like these do is use Acer, Sager, ASUS, MSI etc chassis and then OEM parts from top companies for the optional parts outside of the motherboard. You will get much higher quality parts. There is a good chance you can find some possible build combinations through places like xotic that you just will not find through big box brands as well.

One of the issues with companies like Dell & HP is they are very similar to Walmart in the way they batch order things like Hard drives and other parts that are optional when building a PC through a website.

To explain that, what Walmart does is tell the company they want X number of product (usually a massive order), but they want it for X price due to the mass order. Usually this price is so low those companies have reduce the build quality of their parts in order to match the price point.

Dell is one of the worst when it comes to this IMO. Over almost 20 years I've almost never met anyone who hasn't had major issues with their dell.

On the other hand I had a Sager 19" gaming laptop that I drug through two deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan (it was a 4,000$ build), and never had a problem with it. The damn thing would take most desktop CPUs lol.

Right now I have a 13" Sager that has two 500GB SSD hard drives in RAID 0, Sound Blaster Cinema 2, Nvidia Graphics, and 16GB of ram lol. The thing is a little brick, but it's still easy to port around. It's just an example of what kind of weirdness you can put together using brands like that. My wife really didn't care about thin and light, but wanted small and powerful when we got it.

Xotic isn't really a place to build a budget machine, but you do get a lot for your money in my experience. Oh, and they don't load your PC with nearly as much bull crap that you have to remove. They have really great and personal customer service as well.