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The most "bang for buck" is usually had by putting the stuff together yourself or finding a friend to do it for you if you're not comfortable.
I just had a kid come to me on his way overseas, and he wanted some advice on a computer because he's planning on having his computer shipped to his location and he's worried about the time between the two dates.
I've been running a bone stock Predator 15 with Windows 10 since 2017, which I bought right before I went overseas myself. So far I have replaced the internal power supply and most recently the screen, plus one external mouse and the present external mouse (Logitech/MS/ETC two button + wheel button) is set to be replaced shortly because it too is going out. I don't use the touchpad, even when mobile, the mouse and mousepad comes with in my bag and has done so for over 34,000 real world miles at this point. No complaints.
Seeing how it's extremely hard to make any advice in regards to computers at this points, because there are so many options and so many price levels, I had this kid look up the current Predator Triton line. He was surprised and almost shocked to find out he could have a laptop with similar specs and a good graphics card and for a similar price to the box he has built - and he thought his box was pretty decent. I dare say he probably bought a Predator, because we found sources in town and he was gone pretty quick. If he did get the Predator, I don't think he will be too upset.
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I will never understand why anyone would voluntarily subject themselves to the torture of trying to access the internet on a mobile device.
And the world is moving forward without understanding the resistance. We use the internet on our tablets and smartphones because it is easy, fast, and immediately available to us when we need to quickly look up a price, or a comparable item, or the location of something, or snipe the ending of an Ebay auction, or look up our bank account balance. But here's the kicker: most of the sites we use are not accessed through the internet engine itself, we access most commonly used sites (Maps, Facebook, Ebay, Paypal, banking) through that site's mobile app that is specifically made for that tablet or smartphone environment. For most things, it's all we ever need - Ebay has some things tucked away on their web site that cannot be accessed in their app, but it's a minor issue that can usually wait until we get home.
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Probably should have forgone the internal card reader and DVD R/w.
Internal card reader, perhaps. DVD-RW, never forego it. The one weakness of my Predator is the removable drive back for swapping in an additional cooling fan, the problem comes up when I have a CD and I cannot quickly access that DVD drive because it's in another room or in another box or somewhere not with me. I don't need it often, but when I do, it's just gotta be there.
My last university planned for a wired universe, their new when I went there student work center had ethernet ports EVERYWHERE. Then wireless came along about a year or so later and that's all that people used, leaving the ports collecting dust. What we all crowded around was the power outlets, there were not near enough of those and you would see some interesting arrays on the plugs...
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The CAD software takes the most power, especially since some of my files are rather hefty.
Same, especially when they get really big and really complex. I can typically get the full scope of a modeling project in before the program bogs down, particularly when saving or opening the file.
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As for issues with the machine, I haven't had any. Haven't had any need for product support.
And there's the kicker. They sell you support for two or three times the cost of the machine, but...is that support really worth the hassle? Most jobs on my laptop are a Youtube video away from being done, maybe some people should not attempt, but if you're playing decoder installations and DCC and Ardinos, it's not that far removed. Watch the video on your smartphone, do the work on your computer. Aha, there's another reason why we use the Internet on our smart phones! Replacing my screen was literally watch a step, pause video, do a step, play video.
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Now I've either built or modified PCs since 1985. But assembling your own is no longer a good option, IMO.
Agreed. I watched my uncle building them in the 90s and then bought my own prebuilt in the 2000s instead of waiting on him to build one and even though I rebuilt that one and built a new one after that, I never looked back once I bought my first laptop. I liked the Toshiba better than the Predator in one regard: external batteries. I had half a dozen second hand batteries and I could go for 6 to 8 hours without plugging in. The extra lifting power of the Predator is well appreciated.
Both companies make great products for comparable prices, research your chip against your desired specs and go. So many good chips, far too little time...
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Laptop or "desktop"? When running some programs, like CAD, laptops tend to get a tad warm. Do I wish I had a laptop? Of course.
The heat is an issue, but the Predator has that drive bay fan plus the ability to manually set the fan speed within Predator Sense. I will probably need to replace the fans at some point next.
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But then again, I like a rather large monitor and most laptops are under 15".
Docked laptops can drive just as big of a monitor as you wish to run, to include what your desktop is driving, with the keyboard and the mouse of your choice. It's just a much slimmer setup with more demanding heat management issues.
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Price? Depends on what all you really want in a PC. Use defines need. I feel that for the computing power and graphics that I wanted, I was going to spend a little over a grand, even with a low starting point.
If you want computing power and graphics, thank the gamers for driving the high end computer market down to an affordable level. About a grand and a couple hundred and you have a really nice laptop...or the same specs in a desktop...whether you buy it complete or buy the parts and build it together yourself.
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Unless you plan to play computer games or store petabytes worth of data, you probably don't need a large desktop. A small form factor such as the Intel NUC or any of the other brands small small small desktops will have all the power you need.
If it's just driving the layout or the laser cutter or something of the low level processing, maybe.
If you're planning any work with 3D CAD or have an inkling you might get into 3D CAD work or even just 3D printing, graphics and a terabyte are your friends. And as weird as it may be, the gaming industry products happily support the business of 3D CAD work really well.
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If you have the time and the comfort level, putting together your own PC is still your best bet as far as price/performance. If I had let an online company put together this PC or tried to get anything near as powerful in a "big box" store, it would easily have cost me almost twice as much for the same amount of processing and graphics power. I disagree that it's not still a very viable option but it's certainly not for everyone and it depends on your needs. This PC is absolutely loafing surfing the internet right now but if I want to fire up demanding games like MSFS 2020, Star Citizen or New World, I have the horsepower under the hood to do so. But, I doubt your average model rail has need for such things so any small tower or laptop should do most people just fine.
Look up the current Predator Triton line. And the average model railroader should consider tinkering with 3D CAD. Having a computer capable of running it is a great start, you can't learn to swing if you don't have the hammer.
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It's not so much price/performance anymore. Certainly Dell and HP will sell you a gaming tower that gets you a much more economical deal than what you could build yourself.
Building your own doesn't give you a cheaper box, it gives you a custom box.
This is perhaps the soundest opinion here.
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That wasn't my experience a couple of years ago when I built this rig. It still was markedly cheaper to put it together myself than letting Alienware, which is Dell's gaming arm, do it for me. Your do probably get better warranty coverage and tech support going that route though. And don't even get me started about what HP and the big box stores like Wal-mart and Best Buy call "Gaming PC's". They are way under powered for the money. When I bought my little HP backup machine at Wal-Mart, they had an HP "Gaming PC" there that had 8GB of RAM. The bare minimum for most games these days is 16GB and most will perform even better with 32GB.
My Predator 15 is from the G9-593 model number series. You can check it out for yourself.
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/IN/content/predator-models/laptops/predator15
I bought it 2017 for about $1100 and it was already an older model number back then. You don't buy the floor model if you're looking for the better gaming deal, but that HP Omen floor model can be upgraded to 32 GB for about $140.
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Research malware detection software, and get some that works for you. Antivirus software may or may not detect installed malware.
Be careful. Some of those tools may themselves be malware disguised as malware detection software.
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I sure hope none of you ever fall for this. I feel like a chump - and I deserve it.
Don't feel too bad, it's a billion dollar industry.
https://techtutor.guru/scams/common-computer-scams/
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/02/new-data-shows-ftc-received-2-2-million-fraud-reports-consumers
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2019-internet-crime-report-released-021120#:~:text=IC3%20received%20467%2C361%20complaints%20in%202019%E2%80%94an%20average%20of,phishing%20and%20similar%20ploys%2C%20non-payment%2Fnon-delivery%20scams%2C%20and%20extortion.
FTC says $3.3 Billion in 2021 is up from $1.8 Billion in 2019, FBI says 2019 was $3.5 Billion. You got hit but hopefully you haven't lost much money to the scammers yet - jsut to some place like GeekSquad.
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Mac is much better, albeit my 12-year old desktop has hit an age-induced resistance to the latest operating system.
Macs are no different with the planned obsolescence model. They follow it no different than Windows does.
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That's all well and good but the 8GB HP I saw at Walmart has "Gaming PC" printed on the box and for all intents and purposes it's not one out of the box. The standard bare minimum these days is 16GB if you don't want games constantly hammering the page file on your expensive SSD. The "sweet spot" is 32GB but it won't be long before that's not even enough and it really should be considered the bare minimum now. I don't think the average home or business user has any idea what's really involved in a true mid to high range gaming PC and for the mass marketers like HP to put stuff out there like that borders on deceptive advertising as far as I'm concerned. I get that most average model rails aren't hardcore gamers like I am but if they want performance beyond just web surfing, streaming video and text editing then they need to better educate themselves before buying because there's a lot of stuff out there that's not really what it says it is.
So you buy the extra RAM and install it. Base model HP Omen, $730 + 2 sticks of 16GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM, about $73 apiece from Amazon for a total of $870.
But really, you were looking at the base model...
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/slp/hp-gaming
There are four models above the one you're bringing up, with one that has 32GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM already loaded. Click on the Customize button and see for yourself. Yes, you can buy it with 8GB of RAM - and you'd buy it for that to put in your own RAM!
I'd still prefer the Predator, of course, but I have been happy with Acer since 2007. I have never been happy with Dell or HP, I have avoided all ownership of either my entire life.