Jake Dalay

To your point, certainly the processor is inferior. But do you think it will matter for the described workload? I think the GPU is going to be his main issue - when he isn't gaming, he is just streaming video and web browsing. But I've been out of the laptop market so long, and haven't really dug into things yet today, so do you figure the mobile ryzen will be a significant bottleneck for him? I am certain the system will be an overall upgrade (his current system is many many years old) but he's only going to get one device for the next 4-5 years likely so I want it to work out for him.

@SSOB Scary times, to think they wouldn't show the same results on a similar search. Still, I think it is a good find! If someone here beats it great, but thank you for your help too. Also I found it renewed for $50 less, but not sure my friend will go for that. I'm going to reach out, see what he thinks. Anyone else, if you can beat the above laptop specs or price, thank you very much and I look forward to your suggestions.

That's interesting, but I've just now seen this - would you still recommend your selection @SSOB? https://www.amazon.com/R5-3550H-Processor-Graphics-FX505DT-AH51-Keyboard/dp/B07VBK4SYS/ref=sr_1_31?dchild=1&fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1593648612&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A2423841011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A13580790011|13580791011|7817224011%2Cp_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A18107821011|18107822011|3012497011%2Cp_n_graphics_type_browse-bin%3A14292273011%2Cp_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A9647486011%2Cp_36%3A-80000&rnid=2421885011&s=pc&sr=1-31

My buddy needs a new laptop. His budget is $800 USD. Windows 10, 1080p screen, and dedicated graphics is a must, otherwise, he has no idea what he wants. His gaming is largely older titles, Starcraft 2, but he needs a little room to work with if something newer catches his eye. I would say I'm looking for the best value for him here as the primary objective. I haven't been in the market for a laptop in some time, so I figured I'd ask for recommendations here while I look around myself. He isn't very tech savvy, so this device basically has to work out of the box and have enough reliability that he won't be calling me 24/7 lol. Thanks for your help!

I had understood that adding hardware on the school's end would likely be a no-go through the IT department. I do have permission and access to the wifi, and buildings with computer labs are available 24/7. The campus turns into a ghost town every weekend and most days starting between 12 and 3, so when I am home to use the network few others would be accessing it. It (the campus network) is in the process of getting an upgrade (hardware and isp change I believe) that I have just learned about. I guess we will have to wait until these changes are finalized, but thank you for your help thus far-I will add any relevant details post upgrade. Can't believe I get E-mailed about upgrades just after posting!

So I'm sure this has been discussed before but I'm on the go today and couldn't find an older post. Essemtially, I pay about 32k/year for grad school and live ALMOST within range of campus wifi. I'd really like to cut my cable bill and just connect to the school wifi. I would appreciate tips/help achieving this goal, and if any further info from me would help, ask away. For starters, my apartment is on the third floor, and maybe about 15-25 yards from the nearest campus building. My current connection is through Spectrum (the cable company) but via my own modem and router (a so-so d-link) with my desktop and other devices connected wirelessly to that router. If additional hardware is needed, I'm not against some investment to separate myself from the cable company, but this connection needs to be fairly consistent/strong enough to support streaming video-can't go without my LTT! Thanks in advance!

If you are looking for deals, you could check the deals section of the forum =) Been there myself, not too much though that a quick google wouldn't find, for CPUs. But you might have better luck looking at mobos. However, you didn't state any budget requirements and sound like you have things fairly well in hand, so I'd say just go with a 6700K and a decent board. Like I said, if price is only a minor issue, then I haven't seen any sale that was totally amazing so far, but you could check the forum more closely for your particular needs. Betting you already know this, but worth mentioning that if you don't plan on doing anything more than gaming, that is, you don't do much/any real photoshop/GIMP work or a ton of video editing, then go with the i5 and save some $$ because you won't see much benefit from the additional hyperthreaded cores in games. Also, for creative applications (photoshop etc.) you might find you would be better off with even more ram than the 16gigs you've got already, though that is plenty for pretty much anything else. Also I don't know what luck you've had with your CPU cooler in the past, but depending on your particular K series chip (unless the new generation CPUs are very different, I am not that familiar with them) you may not be satisfied with your thermal headroom for overclocking, if you ever got into that. Personally, my i5 runs hot as hell (few gens old) and doesn't overclock worth a hill of beans, hence my upgrade to AIO liquid cooling. But that is certainly not required and would vary from chip to chip as far as whether or not it would be necessary.

Thought I would also chime in, lend support to the Avast! Free + Malwarebytes combo. My family used to buy into Norton etc. but Avast! and Malwarebytes have always been fine for me. No problems since their use these last, say, 5-6 years.

Have currently been trying out Grammarly. Not that impressed. Personally felt that it was not that useful, as spelling errors were already generally well covered by most programs. However. Grammarly does find quite a few other errors that Word and other programs have missed. . . but generally they are things I do not care about. Most commonly I have simply not used commas correctly, or I have left out a word that the rules of English demand but that no English reader would be confused by not including. Things like "This word appears to be missing an article" or "These two words are probably not good together, consider: " or something like that, those were made-up examples. I certainly would not recommend paying for the software at this point, especially because there have been a handful of times where Grammarly generated a pop-out window to edit text in and after I made the requisite edits, they did not appear in the actual web page where I was typing. Could be user error, but if so, ask yourself if the software is user-friendly. So give it a try if you like, and remember, you'll never do anything by purpose, so don't do anything on accident. That's my grammar nazi tip of the day. BTW, Grammarly didn't recognize the second of those two errors.

That also was my fear, and then I realized another possible confounder. The PC was shutdown before I was able to get to it, so perhaps the relevant files are routinely lost on restart?

Professor likes to post their powerpoints missing half the slides, and carry on like they are all available to us. It would be nice to be able to recover the file intact. Also, I did try to use the powerpoint, open, recent, unsaved folder but no files present. That website was the first resource I consulted, but I suppose that my understanding of the page has not been top notch. You are indicating that a specific program is necessary? If so, what program?

Sorry to hear about your dead GTX 780, I dropped full price for mine at launch, if it dies before it's good and retired I'm gonna be pissed. If you find you aren't gaming very much currently, I would recommend picking up something like a rx480 or a mid level (the X60, X60-ti, where X is the current generation -10 currently - of Nvidia cards) nvidia card. Though of course you could go with a mid level of an older generation, didn't mean to say it has to be current. Anyway, good luck with programming, it can be a fun hobby.

Does anyone here know how to convert a .tmp file from c/username/appdata/roaming/microsoft/powerpoint into a readable .ppt file? Internet seems to suggest that simply renaming the file with the .ppt extension should work, but the PC (Win7 i5 unit in a lecture hall) declares that it cannot convert the file when double-clicking to run the file post .ppt rename. Any ideas? I'll try to provide any specifics you may request, but I do not have access to the machine at the moment so will not be able to perfectly recall info you require or to test proposed methodology immediately.

In case you never resolved this issue, others have noted that you can (with some tools) replace the plastic rod piece which has been the cause of this issue for some individuals. I found a video online illustrating how to do so a little while ago while looking into my own trouble with the scroll wheel, hence my finding this post so long after the fact. Hope everything worked out.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend going +$900 on a screen, when resolution, technology, and inputs change so rapidly. Every time my folks have snapped up a TV, they have done it at right around the 1k mark, usually at $899. Then invariably the same or a slightly improved model is ~$200 cheaper within a few months. Whereas if the simply spent a little less, they could upgrade more frequently, and not be gouged by price drops quite so much. I am very much thinking about picking up this screen because our needs and its capabilities are fairly well aligned. Could you expound upon what negatives you found others had mentioned, I have seen some myself really just wondering what stood out to you the most?