OT: Video Game Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos Thread

[WRau1]

Anyone recently purchase a gaming laptop that can give me some advice? I've been looking at various builders... Origin, Digital Storm, Main Gear, etc... I seem to find lots of the same kinds of configurations at various price levels. I know I have to try to compare apples to apples as much as I can, but, I'm wondering if there is one builder that stands above the rest? Any suggestions?

Depends on your budget. ASUS has a great lineup of higher end laptops that are affordable, starting around $1600 w/ their
Zephyrus. If you want to go all out, I'm particularly fond of my Razer Pro 18.

[MikeIsGood]

I don't have a full-fledged gaming laptop, nor is it from a builder, but I did extensive research about 6-8 months ago and feel my MSI GS65 is best-in-class for the "portable" gaming laptop segment. It packs moderate power (e.g. I ran a combo of medium and high settings in Metro just fine) in a lightweight, slick form factor with minimal gamer bling. Exactly what I needed, personally.

I agree overall with WRau - depends upon budget and desires.

[Sauce Boss]

Sitting down with Animal Crossing after a long **** day and not being able to leave the house is truly delightful tbh. Really glad I picked this up. Very excited with town development. Much cute, very anthropomorphism.

My copy thankfully came yesterday after delays due to the pandemic, and this has also been my experience. It’s a calming, peaceful escape for a few hours. Excited for my museum and shop to go up tomorrow, plus I should have a new resident. Glad I decided to try it out, the right game at the right time.

[MikeIsGood]

I'm glad I read about the one Island per Switch rule for Animal Crossing before I got it for the kids. Reviews for the multiplayer have been pretty brutal.

I did not know this was a thing. Man, Nintendo can be so stupid.

[Henchman24]

Anyone recently purchase a gaming laptop that can give me some advice? I've been looking at various builders... Origin, Digital Storm, Main Gear, etc... I seem to find lots of the same kinds of configurations at various price levels. I know I have to try to compare apples to apples as much as I can, but, I'm wondering if there is one builder that stands above the rest? Any suggestions?

Depends on your budget. ASUS has a great lineup of higher end laptops that are affordable, starting around $1600 w/ their
Zephyrus. If you want to go all out, I'm particularly fond of my Razer Pro 18.

I don't have a full-fledged gaming laptop, nor is it from a builder, but I did extensive research about 6-8 months ago and feel my MSI GS65 is best-in-class for the "portable" gaming laptop segment. It packs moderate power (e.g. I ran a combo of medium and high settings in Metro just fine) in a lightweight, slick form factor with minimal gamer bling. Exactly what I needed, personally.

I agree overall with WRau - depends upon budget and desires.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm looking to stay around $2000, but, I could go higher if I'm really convinced it's a worthwhile upgrade.

[feldm093]

First-time Mac purchaser as of this week with the new MacBook Air. I tried to go super cheap on my last laptop about a year and a half ago, but I've come to hate that machine from top to bottom and decided to cut my losses.

Bumped the processor to the 1.1GHz Intel i5, bumped the RAM to 16GB, and ended up combining it with a discount via my employer to get the price to just about $1,200. Pretty rich for my blood (I'm aware of the Apple Tax), but I'm hell-bent on getting a light reliable laptop that won't slow down significantly within a year.

Any recommendations for first-time MacOS users? I had an iPhone about a decade ago and really liked it, just never went back into the Apple ecosystem.

[jschligs]

I don't have a full-fledged gaming laptop, nor is it from a builder, but I did extensive research about 6-8 months ago and feel my MSI GS65 is best-in-class for the "portable" gaming laptop segment. It packs moderate power (e.g. I ran a combo of medium and high settings in Metro just fine) in a lightweight, slick form factor with minimal gamer bling. Exactly what I needed, personally.

I agree overall with WRau - depends upon budget and desires.

I purchased the MSI GL75 for around $1,000 after taxes and I love it.

1080p screen @ 144hz for FPS, 1660Ti which will handle games for years to come, 17" screen so it is big, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD and a smaller SSD for OS.

Can't game using battery for more than an hour, but I bought it for airports, hotels and all over the house.

[jschligs]

Anyone recently purchase a gaming laptop that can give me some advice? I've been looking at various builders... Origin, Digital Storm, Main Gear, etc... I seem to find lots of the same kinds of configurations at various price levels. I know I have to try to compare apples to apples as much as I can, but, I'm wondering if there is one builder that stands above the rest? Any suggestions?

Depends on your budget. ASUS has a great lineup of higher end laptops that are affordable, starting around $1600 w/ their
Zephyrus. If you want to go all out, I'm particularly fond of my Razer Pro 18.

I don't have a full-fledged gaming laptop, nor is it from a builder, but I did extensive research about 6-8 months ago and feel my MSI GS65 is best-in-class for the "portable" gaming laptop segment. It packs moderate power (e.g. I ran a combo of medium and high settings in Metro just fine) in a lightweight, slick form factor with minimal gamer bling. Exactly what I needed, personally.

I agree overall with WRau - depends upon budget and desires.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm looking to stay around $2000, but, I could go higher if I'm really convinced it's a worthwhile upgrade.

At $2,000 you can get a BANGING gaming laptop haha

[ACGB]

First-time Mac purchaser as of this week with the new MacBook Air. I tried to go super cheap on my last laptop about a year and a half ago, but I've come to hate that machine from top to bottom and decided to cut my losses.

Bumped the processor to the 1.1GHz Intel i5, bumped the RAM to 16GB, and ended up combining it with a discount via my employer to get the price to just about $1,200. Pretty rich for my blood (I'm aware of the Apple Tax), but I'm hell-bent on getting a light reliable laptop that won't slow down significantly within a year.

Any recommendations for first-time MacOS users? I had an iPhone about a decade ago and really liked it, just never went back into the Apple ecosystem.

People can call them overpriced but Macbooks are built to last. Typing this on my Macbook Pro from 2015.

[ReasonablySober]

First-time Mac purchaser as of this week with the new MacBook Air. I tried to go super cheap on my last laptop about a year and a half ago, but I've come to hate that machine from top to bottom and decided to cut my losses.

Bumped the processor to the 1.1GHz Intel i5, bumped the RAM to 16GB, and ended up combining it with a discount via my employer to get the price to just about $1,200. Pretty rich for my blood (I'm aware of the Apple Tax), but I'm hell-bent on getting a light reliable laptop that won't slow down significantly within a year.

Any recommendations for first-time MacOS users? I had an iPhone about a decade ago and really liked it, just never went back into the Apple ecosystem.

People can call them overpriced but Macbooks are built to last. Typing this on my Macbook Pro from 2015.

Late 2013 model here.

[feldm093]

First-time Mac purchaser as of this week with the new MacBook Air. I tried to go super cheap on my last laptop about a year and a half ago, but I've come to hate that machine from top to bottom and decided to cut my losses.

Bumped the processor to the 1.1GHz Intel i5, bumped the RAM to 16GB, and ended up combining it with a discount via my employer to get the price to just about $1,200. Pretty rich for my blood (I'm aware of the Apple Tax), but I'm hell-bent on getting a light reliable laptop that won't slow down significantly within a year.

Any recommendations for first-time MacOS users? I had an iPhone about a decade ago and really liked it, just never went back into the Apple ecosystem.

People can call them overpriced but Macbooks are built to last. Typing this on my Macbook Pro from 2015.

Yeah, as a relative low-tech individual who likes trying to do some research on these big purchases the -- let's call them spirited --debates you run into from place to place on Macs v. PCs, what specs are absolutely essential, why this aspect of a product would make it nigh-impossible to use, etc. can be off-putting. I'm aware the vitriol is long-running, but it makes evaluating the value of your investment wrought with second-guessing. Appreciate your input!

[Ryan5UW]

Like probably most of us, I'm stuck working from home. Yesterday I finally wrecked my old HP printer. Anyone have a recommendation for a replacement? Prefer an all in one, 2 sided printing, works with Mac/iStuff, mostly text but want to be able to do good quality photos. Leaning towards a Canon or Epson, but any recommendations are welcome!

[tydett]

My MacBook Pro was garbage within a year and a half of purchasing it. The fans broke, the back got shoddy and broken when they replaced the fan under the scam that's AppleCare and the glossy shine wore off really quickly. This does not even mention the quality of the build, which was just utter trash for what I paid. Since, I have sworn I will never purchase an Apple product again.

ETA: The best thing the MacBook did for me was to be sold used to Best Buy for $200 which helped pay for 2/3 of my Switch after the computer rotted for 4 years in a closet.

[WRau1]

I don't have much experience with anything Apple except the air pad 2 that I bought my daughter a few years back when ABC Mouse was only available on iOS. Barely lasted a year.

[Ryan5UW]

My MacBook Pro was garbage within a year and a half of purchasing it. The fans broke, the back got shoddy and broken when they replaced the fan under the scam that's AppleCare and the glossy shine wore off really quickly. This does not even mention the quality of the build, which was just utter trash for what I paid. Since, I have sworn I will never purchase an Apple product again.

ETA: The best thing the MacBook did for me was to be sold used to Best Buy for $200 which helped pay for 2/3 of my Switch after the computer rotted for 4 years in a closet.

Wow, my MacBook Pro went tumble bumble down a flight of stairs and bounced off the wall and barely even scratched - still works like a damn champ. I've had mine for about 2 1/2 years almost, still works like I just took it out of the box.

If I had your experience, I'd be super pissed too - those things are not cheap.

[tydett]

My MacBook Pro was garbage within a year and a half of purchasing it. The fans broke, the back got shoddy and broken when they replaced the fan under the scam that's AppleCare and the glossy shine wore off really quickly. This does not even mention the quality of the build, which was just utter trash for what I paid. Since, I have sworn I will never purchase an Apple product again.

ETA: The best thing the MacBook did for me was to be sold used to Best Buy for $200 which helped pay for 2/3 of my Switch after the computer rotted for 4 years in a closet.

Wow, my MacBook Pro went tumble bumble down a flight of stairs and bounced off the wall and barely even scratched - still works like a damn champ. I've had mine for about 2 1/2 years almost, still works like I just took it out of the box.

If I had your experience, I'd be super pissed too - those things are not cheap.

Yeah, to quantify my terrible MacBook, it was a MacBook Pro 2008 I got in 2009, so they may have increased the quality of them since, but mine was not good.

[ReasonablySober]

Just started downloading The Show 20. I'd skipped the last couple versions, and with no baseball in sight I figured this might be a good way to scratch the itch and waste a ton of time.

[StickeeFingaz]

Just started downloading The Show 20. I'd skipped the last couple versions, and with no baseball in sight I figured this might be a good way to scratch the itch and waste a ton of time.

Play any yet? How is it? I normally buy every year but didn’t this year. The last few years I’ve actually enjoyed sim-watching games rather than actually playing the game.

[ReasonablySober]

Just started downloading The Show 20. I'd skipped the last couple versions, and with no baseball in sight I figured this might be a good way to scratch the itch and waste a ton of time.

Play any yet? How is it? I normally buy every year but didn’t this year. The last few years I’ve actually enjoyed sim-watching games rather than actually playing the game.

I'm utterly baffled on how to run/steal the bases.

Other than that it's fun. RTTS is fun. There's some very light RPG elements that don't mean a ton but they're fine. I started as a HS kid with an overall rating of 52 and got drafted late in the 17th round. Opted to go to college for two years and after killing the scouts day two years in a row, I only managed to up my rating to 54 and got drafted...in round 17, only this time it was to the Tigers instead of the Brewers, the team that originally drafted me. Progress was slow at first, but once I got going I was unstoppable. Before my first mid-season in AA I was putting up some absurd OPS like 1.200 or something. Got the bump to AAA and over the first ten games I'm still crushing it. That said, my overall rating is only 64.

As for other modes, can't say. I played one exhibition as the proper Brewer team and it's ridiculous how accurate the player models are. Gameplay is great. Outside of, like I said, the baserunning, which used to be so simple.

[MikeIsGood]

**** Mira brought COVID to my island.