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Double Bizzy

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  1. Budget (including currency): ~$100 Country: USA Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft Bedrock / Pocket, casting / streaming 1080 mp4/m4v from exHDD to TV Other details: Summary: I'm looking for a Single Board Computer to run Minecraft Bedrock Edition / Pocket Edition that can handle 3-4 people via LAN world-joining over WiFi (NOT a server). It also needs to be able to handle 1080p mp4/m4v movies (H.264, AAC, max ~2GB thanks to Handbrake) on a USB external Hard Drive (Seagate Backup Plus Hub 7.2TB, it's powered by its own wall wart, the TV won't recognize files regardless of file format / MBR via direct plugin for this or a USB thumbdrive). If it can handle being in an enclosed space (like our Dish Hopper does, no the Hopper won't play from the drive) and has HDMI, then I'll store it in there. If it would get so hot as to fail or start a fire, or has no HDMI, I need to be able to WiFi network share or cast to our Samsung TV (e.g., share the drive on our network and use a laptop to Win10 right click > Cast to Device > TV like I've been doing). I'm willing to spend a little extra (e.g., RasPi 4 over a 3 or less) for max CPU / RAM or for ease. The easier this entire process is, the better (e.g., less coding / command prompt work, more PnP). The only device I've ever heard of is Raspberry Pi, but I can see from some quick searches there are MANY other SBCs out there. Full story: I have a decade-old ASUS G73JH that we were using to play Minecraft and cast movies to our TV. It's giving up the ghost and won't let my Omen17 connect to a LAN game/world. It worked about a week ago, last 2 days no. I have started a world on the Omen17, a Pavilion 16, a 2017 Fire tablet HD 10, and even an LG G Pad 8.3 V500 - every one of them works, lets the 3 of us join and play. I can't always use the Omen as the host because sometimes I do other things while my kids play, or sometimes I'm not home and I take it to school with me to record screen captures for education / instruction videos. But I want my account to be the host because I have all the Minecoin and add-ons. So we can't use the Pavilion or the Fire tablet because that's what the kids play on. I could use the LG, but I'd like to do a little more. To be clear, I do NOT want a server like every other post I'm finding on the internet. I just want MCPE, like how it plays on the tablets, so that the 3 of us can play together by joining the world via LAN. I'm considering a Pi / other SBC because I want to use an external USB Hard Drive, specifically my Seagate Backup Plus Hub 7.2TB, for movies. Currently NTFS but could be exFAT or FAT32 if needed. It has many movies and shows on it, most of them 1080p mp4/m4v, all Handbraked to ~15% their original BluRay file size using the Very Fast 1080 30fps H.264 AAC. Whatever laptop that's plugged into via USB, I can simply right click the file, Cast To Device, and choose our Samsung 65" TV un65h6203af in the living room and it plays. I can even share the drive on the home network and follow those steps from a different laptop. The Cast To Device would be cool, but if these devices are small enough AND could reside in the closed entertainment cabinet without overheating problems (e.g., a Dish Hopper resides in there, warm to the touch, but no issues), then I would just plug it into the TV using HDMI. So obviously whatever I get needs WiFi for the Minecraft. I'm willing to spend a little extra for max CPU / RAM or for the newest version of the device (e.g., a Pi 4 instead of a 3 or older). Finally, I know a decent amount, but have no experience with Linux, Ubuntu, SBCs, etc. I've only ever heard of a Raspberry Pi before searching for alts recently. So I really need something that's nearly Plug n Play. I'm willing to install an OS, maybe some packets (is that the word?) for WiFi or mounting the USB exHDD, install MCPE, but that's about it. Too much and I'm going to get stressed out or have unsolvable problems. Thank you in advance.
  2. Do not buy from this website. Scammers. I ordered a monitor (yes, the price was too good to be true), they delivered 3 face masks I submitted claims to both PayPal and my credit card company, everything will be fine for me, but don't fall into their trap. I'm not posting screen shots because there's probably personal info on them. That's another piece of advice. Keep the order e-mail, the tracking e-mails, a screenshot of the tracking site, and get a picture of the package if something ever goes wrong. Thankfully I did all those and therefore can prove the item ordered does not match the item delivered.
  3. I ended up buying "last year's" Omen. 9750 CPU, 1660 Ti graphics... By the time ray tracing actually becomes a thing, a 2060 probably would not handle it very well and sounds like it gets too hot anyway. So 2070 and 2080 are just going to overheat and throttle down too. Thank you @ketchupspill, basically saved me $400-$600 and I still have a great computer that will last me many years.
  4. What exactly happens with the "temps"? Is it just warm to the touch? Does it throttle the system so much you're taking a performance hit? Are you able to put a number as to how much? How often (immediately, an hour into fierce play, several hours of straight gaming?) The notion that thermal could limit, and therefore the possibility I could save a bunch of money on power I'll never be able to implement, is intriguing. Thank you.
  5. I am stuck on 17" and at least an RTX 2070 (not MaxQ) because I keep my laptop and use it exclusively a very long time. I would consider this if it were 17" and 2070 or +, because I would love to buy it with a cheap CPU now and be able to max out the chipset / socket 3-5 years from now. Everything I'm finding right now locks you into i7-9750 or higher.
  6. You led me to the XoticPC website, which helped me also discover the reseller sticky. Xotic G70D became my new favorite for a second, but then CyberPowerPC has: Tracer IV 17 Slim 400, all my musts, not sure if it's IPS, i7-10875, RTX 2070 Super, just $1680. My new favorite if the 2070 Super is almost a 2080.
  7. That $1200 one is only the 15" though... But I hadn't found their site before and the configurator has a 17" of their house brand around $1350-1400, so I will compare that in detail, thank you
  8. My current machine is an ASUS G73JH. Yeah, you read that right. I've been using it for 10 years and is doing pretty well for what I need (right now). But, it's had issues and I'm finally fed up and done, plus I have the funds to splurge a little. I would like to know if you are aware of any machines comparable to what I have found for both performance and price down at the bottom. [This spoiler can be skipped, unless you're interested in the details of why I'm ready to move on from the G73.] The next spoiler contains my needs, musts, desires, etc. but could be skipped to go straight to what I've found at what price. Right now, I have found these machines meeting all my musts, in order of most to least interesting, with their key differences. If you have something equal / better at an equal / better price, please let me know. MANY thanks HP Omen 17 = 144 Hz, i7-9750, RTX 2070, 512GB M.2 for $1650 on Walmart.com. Alienware M17 = 60 Hz, 8750, RTX 2070 MaxQ, 512GB M.2 for $1500 on Amazon (but Renewed). Lenovo Legion Y740 = 144 Hz, 9750, 2080 MaxQ, 1TB M.2 for $1800 on Amazon (by Lenovo). Acer Predator Helios = 144 Hz, 9750, 2070 MaxQ, 512GB M.2, not sure about G-Sync for $1760 on Amazon (by Acer). I haven't found anything with those specs near those prices for ACER (ConceptD), Gigabyte, XMG (Clevo), or Schenker. Again, no Razers because they don't have a number pad and no ASUS Strix Hero III because there's no camera. I am shying away from used in general, especially from 3rd party sellers I don't recognize. I am shying away from MSI because of their dual-power and its positioning toward the front - it would have to be significantly better deal than the HP Omen 17 found on Walmart. I am shying away from ASUS because of my current machine's issues and past customer service experience plus their generally higher prices by ~$250 or more.
  9. Yeah, I had fresh installed Win10 a number of times over the course of 2 weeks and eventually found that the freezes would happen even before I got other programs installed. I think I may have possibly found a solution with the power / battery. So this laptop is notorious for having a problem where the charging / battery mess up when plugged in and the light starts flashing green to orange and the computer can't actually tell how much battery is left. The solution is unplugging and removing the battery and holding the power button down a few seconds to, I guess, release power from a capacitor or something somewhere. Anyway, it usually acts normal for several days after that. Well, I also thought something similar could be happening with the freezes. For the last several days, I only start the laptop with battery and don't plug it in until Windows desktop appears. Haven't had a freeze yet. So we'll see if that trend continues for several more days / weeks and then I'll be pretty confident it's a power / battery issue... that I'll never be able to solve:/ but at least I can prevent the whole series of disabling / enabling services.
  10. I've been on a LTT YouTube watching binge lately, and realized after a few of them that maybe someone on this forum might actually have the knowledge to help me with a situation. I tried posting over at tenforums and no dice. Ten Forums "post boot freeze" The basics are this: I have an ASUS G73JH laptop. I replaced the hard drive with an ADATA SP550 SSD. I did a clean install of Win10 x64 (used the windows media creation tool, burnt an iso to a cd, etc.) Over and over, at some point I get the computer freezing upon bootup. The earliest it happens is the spinning dots at the user name, the latest it happens is about 30 seconds after the desktop appears. If you go look at that post, you'll see the laundry list of things / reasons I've eliminated, as well as suggestions that have gone nowhere (e.g., update the SATA AHCI driver, except that I can't really go past intel's 12.9 version because that was gen5 corresponding with the HM55 chipset on this machine. I specifically gave a screenshot of ones 6th gen or newer asking if I should update and got no response. I don't think that would be a good idea to just update the driver to a newer gen without some explanation / reasoning. Or the suggestions to update some other drivers through device manager, some of which I cannot even find like "AMD AHCI Compatible Controller driver" because I don't have anything AMD installed on this.) I even thought it was my nearly dead battery somehow confusing the computer and causing issues, buying a brand new battery and thinking for a few days that fixed it only to find out this morning I was wrong. I have found a workaround. When the freeze happens, I restart, when desktop appears quickly go into start menu and shift+restart before another freeze, go to safe mode, go into system configuration and disable most of the non-microsoft services (adobe acrobat updater, amd external events utility again don't know why that's even there, google update services gupdate and gupdatem, canon inkjet printer, macrium reflect image mounting, skype updater, steam client service - I leave asus' asldr and atkgfnex enabled because those do keyboard backlighting and Fn+volume control). Also, go to task manager > startup tab and disable (showbatterybar, realtek audio, logitech download assistant, google drive (2), canon, and OneDrive. Then restart normally and everything is fine. Then go back into sysconfig and task manager and re-enable all those things and restart normally and it will be fine anywhere from a few hours to several days. Anyway, if you have any thoughts, feel free to suggest. At this point, I'm starting to think it's just trying to put an SSD on something as old as HM55 chipset is going to have issues. And as long as this "simple" workaround succeeds, I might just have to live with it until I can afford a new machine.
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