Luscious

I got four words for you Linus - slow the fuck down!!! You are like that kid in high school who could never pay attention beyond 5 minutes, exhibits all the symptoms of ADHD and is a handful for parents to manage. As for Steve's video, I feel it was a long time coming to finally address many of the issues. These hit personal to me too as for many years I was doing the same job - reviewing tech gear online. The big difference in my work routine was I adhered to one golden rule - NO DEADLINES!!! I would take however much time I needed with a product to look at it properly, test it, review it, take it through its paces and form an educated, hands-on opinion before sitting down and start bashing away at the keyboard. And while I was nowhere near pushing out multiple articles a week, the work that I did do was well put together, accurate and detailed. I honestly cannot recall where I needed to get back and significantly redo a piece because I had made a serious error, and you would be hard pressed to find a piece where there even is an "EDIT" remark - and that's across over 100 credited articles. To be honest, I have stopped watching LTT videos this year. It's just not worth my time any more. The clown-show antics, the ads, all your fucking segways... I don't need to hear it. If you are that desperate for ad revenue then you are doing something wrong, more so when other tech reviewers survive without all the nonsense sprinkled in. Case in point - for years I have been bashing you guys over your horrendous laptop reviews. Not once has Alex criticized a manufacturer when they sent him a laptop with a horrible keyboard layout. Not once!!! How the hell can he call himself a serious laptop user and expert critic if he is missing those glaring deficiencies??? I have been using laptops for 22+ years and can immediately tell if a keyboard layout is rubbish or not. Alex has no business reviewing laptops when he doesn't even know his way around keyboards!!! The result of this lazy attitude from leading review outlets - manufacturers become lazy too. In shopping for a replacement laptop I have found it next to impossible to find one with a proper keyboard. They either mash the cursor keys together, screw up the zero on the numpad or place the damn power button where the delete key should be. Try editing a document where instead of replacing text you power down your laptop - an absolutely maddening experience!!! In years past I would have expected BS like this from the likes of Clevo and Acer/Gateway but today even the big names like HP and Alienware have decided not to give a shit when it comes to placing a proper keyboard on their $2000+ products. And when manufacturers become lazy that's when consumers suffer. So yes, what Steve did had to be done, because when reviewers get complacent manufacturers follow, and that's never good for the consumer.

Seriously, Linus??? You have nothing at all to say??? Both you and Alex are deplorable

Back in the day the 14 inch HP dv4 laptops gave you the option of removable high capacity batteries. It was a chungus using 18650's but that 12-cell combined with mobile Core 2 Duo back then resulted in an all-day laptop that you could also casually game on. Removable batteries in laptops should NEVER have gone away IMHO since the advantages far outweigh the hurdles today of getting internal batteries replaced. Dell in particular with their XPS laptops are especially guilty here and a major PITA to swap - not only do they NOT SELL batteries to you, but getting any replacement sold from 3rd parties to work requires jumping through unnecessary hoops in the BIOS. Believe me when I say I would thoroughly enjoy taking an XPS 17 and whacking Michael Dell over the head with it. That reconfigurable keyboard with number pad is a seriously amazing thing. The layout eliminates the problem of missing keys or wrongly spaced keys - something that your resident Alex fails to point out on all of his laptop reviews (shame on you!!!). It also opens up the possibility of different color options for folks who may want a white keyboard instead of black, for example, or textured key caps versus glossy. I would seriously consider a 16 inch Framework in lieu of a XPS 17 for my next laptop, but I do have some reservations. Not knowing the specs of the unit is one. What removable GPU options is the second. The 3.5mm jack module is a funny one though, because given the real estate they could have placed THREE 3.5mm jacks on there instead for headphone/mic/line-out - something to consider for a future module option!!! My real hold out though at this time is an 18 inch laptop rocking a 2560x1600 display, quad m.2 and dual GPU's - wake me up when Framework gets there.

Here's a suggestion - a discussion thread for the products you are reviewing!!! Why is it only the main videos on LTT get this luxury??? Or are you guys not interested in what YOUR VIEWERS have to say on SC videos??? BTW, it's about time Alex is calling out laptop manufacturers over their STUPID keyboard layouts, specifically the number pad and cursor key arrangement. Go back to a HP Pavilion zd7000 circa 2003, a Toshiba Qosmio X305-708 circa 2008 or an Alienware M18x circa 2012 - if they could figure out how to do it way back then it should be a non-issue today. They are simply GOING CHEAP and cutting corners at the expense of user enjoyment. Another handy tip is the pic below - a cooling pad wont necessarily help fan noise or temps. This method actually can drop temps a good 5C and make typing more ergonomic too

These would work best in a temperature controlled room, avoiding condensation issues. That's actually why servers have hot+cold aisles, since pushing targeted cold air from the floor below is simpler than plumbing tubes and chilling equipment, never mind cost/maintenance of blocks when dealing with hundreds of processors. TrippLite actually sells a 7000 BTU 8U rack mount AC unit that sits on the bottom of the rack and forces cold air up in front of the rack. It doesn't need 208V either since runs on regular 120V 15A, important for residential/office use. It also only costs US$1000 as opposed to the $12K price tag of this chiller - major savings!!! Combined with a stacked sandwich of chunky 360 rads/fans you could probably achieve very similar results, never have to worry about condensation, run dual D5 pumps for redundancy, and enjoy the added benefit of more coolant volume to absorb the thermal load and run your system QUIET. I have roughly a gallon of EK coolant inside my loop and it's enough to keep a 5960X and four 3080Ti's happy.

Seems too small IMO. You're going to have a hard time testing full desktop cases in there, never mind newer Xeon 2400/3400 rigs with dual PSU's. It's one thing to check individual components, but that won't give you the WHOLE picture of what a system is doing. That's why I went overkill with 5 chunky rads and 30 fans that can keep four GPU's for me running even in a 40C ambient and keep my delta under 15C. Fingers crossed you guys will eventually move to a larger system that can accommodate the big CaseLabs cases like what I am running. At the end of the day though, if you've designed your rig right, you won't need equipment like this to get that stamp of approval.

LTT scraping the bottom of the barrel again for video ideas a good deal? Seriously, if you cannot pony up $150 for a decent set of cans you've got bigger issues IMHO. Here's an idea for a video - folks who prefer speakers instead of wearing cans but still want a great mic. Find me a 3.5mm or USB mic that doesn't have to sit on my desk on a stand or boom. There are mics out there that can attach to headphones but that's not what I am talking about here. How about a head worn mic that doesn't suck and can be used for things like Skype as well.

The pricing for a current AMD 5965 is pretty outrageous at ~$2200 given that the OG Intel 5960 sold for $1000. Similarly the boards for these have doubled in price too ($500 for a R5E vs. $1000 for the WRX80). Argue whatever you want about inflation playing into it or even price to performance - it has still become prohibitively expensive even for enthusiasts. I would gladly give Intel that $1000 for an unlocked 12 core with a mobo that lets me rock four water-cooled graphics cards JUST LIKE what X99 was able to do. That's assuming Asus and Gigabyte can deliver the boards for it. At the end of the day, as impressive as TR Pro is, it is simply overpriced. Old-skool guys like me who want to rock more than two GPU's need those 4 full length PCI-e slots with the lanes to push it.

The GTX 900 series deserves S tier - it was the last iteration to do 4-way SLI (officially) making it the 4K gaming choice if you were also ironically dumb enough to invest in first gen 4K panels back in 2015. Then take a look at the SLI performance scaling - it was LINEAR across 1-2-3-4 cards!!! - something that had never been seen previously. I ran my four EVGA HydroCopper 980Ti's in 4-way SLI on a 34 inch ultrawide, and boy was it fun playing those 1hr+ missions on The Crew with all the details cranked on max. This is special for me too as I was invited to the GTX 900 series launch event that they did in LA, something that I had never been to before. Not only did I get to see Jensen on stage and mingle with other gamers but got to try out the stuff and play some games on the systems they had set up. It was an awesome experience and something I wish I could do again. Today I am rocking four EVGA HydroCopper 3080Ti's after upgrading my system last year when prices FINALLY came down to more sane levels. Just a single card is great for gaming, leaving the other three for doing F@H.

What's most shocking is that even in 2023 Windows 7 still has a higher install base than Win 8 had AT IT'S PEAK. Microsoft had good reason to extend Win 7 and it's the OS that I still use TO THIS DAY on multiple machines... without any issues. That said, I most likely will be forced to transition over to Windows 11 over the next two years not so much for software (new games like Cyberpunk 2077 no longer run on 7) or even security concerns but because of hardware. Trying to find Windows 7 drivers for new hardware sold today is next to impossible and the same applies when trying to get Windows 11 drivers for hardware from 7-8 years ago that is still working. I know I'm not alone with this headache of moving over from a perfectly working old system to a new one. There's lots of hardware out there that still works and shouldn't be thrown away yet you cannot get drivers for it. Then there's the issue of software licensing - things that you already paid for and work on Windows 7 will most likely won't on Windows 11. That can be very costly if software that you paid for already for full price has moved over to a monthly subscription model.

I actually penned an article back in 2014 about bringing back this notebook concept: Bringing back the 20 inch notebook Why these devices were abandoned is obvious given that you couldn't cram desktop components that small (ITX maybe didn't exist when this Dell was sold) and mobile components became way more powerful. I have a Toshiba Qosmio laptop from 2008 that had a quad core CPU in it and THREE graphics cards - already a massive improvement over what the m2010 had. Yet even back in 2014 when I wrote the above piece it was clear the advantages of going with such a large chassis were obvious. You got better cooling, better audio, more storage options, better graphics, improved productivity, increased battery life, more connectivity etc... And that's all beside the advantages a 4K display and desktop-class performance also would have brought to the table. Maybe I was bullish thinking these would come back sooner, or just incredibly forward thinking But it's good to know that even in 2023 there is interest in these things. I would gladly like to get my hands on one if these do ever come back in a modern variant. I think of these not as a grab-and-go notebook but more of a desktop/workstation replacement. The kind of portable machine you would ideally complement a far larger quad-GPU custom water cooled beast.

ROTFLMAO The day some upmarket brand puts their name on the LTT backpack and sells it FOR LESS, because they sure as hell will find some Asian manufacturer ready to make a clone for not even half the price. Same with the screwdriver,

Troll much Linus??? 1. Heat rises, so it would make smarter sense to place the rig UNDER the desk near the floor and have the heat rise right where you are sitting instead of warming the air above your head. Yeah, this whole project is probably above your head too. 2. Custom water cooling is the better way to extract that heat, granted, you won't be getting that when your objective is to go "off-the-shelf" only. But placing multiple rads near foot level along with the pump would ensure the heat is sent to where it can be most useful. That's easy to do if you are using an open rack as you have there. 3. The actual heat you get from just a single PC will be negligible and probably WON'T impact the temperature of the room. That's a large space and depending on the exact cubic feet of air in there I doubt a PC even with 7 cards will do anything for your personal comfort. For reference, I have four 3080Ti's and a 5960X custom water cooled by 5 massive 80mm thick rads and 22 fans in push/pull on a CaseLabs S8. Just the roof portion is enough to keep a plate of food warm, not hot, just warm enough to not need reheating in a microwave. It is not enough to keep the room it's located in (approx 450 sq. ft) from getting cold when the temperature outside falls below the temp. inside. 4. Install a few $180K+ A100 based 4U GPU servers - those things will kick off quite a bit of heat and also benefit from the cold ambient. You might not appreciate the NOISE they spit out, but hey, who cares at that point right??? You'll be folding like a banshee and heating with electricity like a true champion LOL

Acer were building junk laptops 10 years ago and they are still building junk laptops today. I cannot believe as a laptop reviewer you haven't called out ANY of these Mickey Mouse manufacturers about their terrible keyboard layouts that they have been doing for just as long. A triple column number pad is not a proper number pad, the same way you don't mash together the cursor keys and take away the double-sized zero. But I guess when they're feeding you lunch they can get away with it. So much for "full disclosure" and being critical/unbiased. Worth noting as well that much of what you have shown these last few days isn't even officially part of CES, since these hotel suite setups aren't listed in the official exhibitor guide and are not open to CES attendees. Some better transparency would be appreciated if you are covering these as "media".

I kid you not, the top of my PC actually does keep pizza warm, even a plate of fried chicken doesn't get cold. In fact, any kind of hot food you can think of stays warm when placed on the top cover of the case, helped primarily by the dual 280mm rads that are 80mm thick and have eight 140mm fans fitted in push/pull moving hot air out through the top. The rig runs 24/7 so the concentration of warm air actually SPLIT THE WOOD after the first couple of weeks of the large shelf that sits 4 inches above it where I have it located - I needed reinforcing of that shelf as my printer sits on top. Given that the water temp hovers around 45-50C the air coming out is probably around that temperature as well - plenty enough to dry your lumber keep a plate warm of whatever food it is I happen to be enjoying. If anybody else has a PC that can keep their food warm do chime in

This would be a great mod for one of those Explorer conversion vans. Satellite TV, PC gaming, movie server... You could even remove those back seats and throw in one of those fancy Panasonic recliners right in the middle with full massage. Those Chevy cargo vans have the flat floor room to do it, especially if you go LWB.

I think a more interesting use case would be a workstation build using a pair of higher clocked 9174F's. That's if Linus still gives a F about showing how these would be deployed in a more user friendly non-server configuration. Windows 11 still has support for dual CPU but you need the "for workstation" version of it - something that also should be made clear for those considering going down this path for a build. It's also quite trivial how many 4U server chassis are just turned sideways to convert into a tower workstation by adding feet and a different cover that can then sit under your desk.

Windows 7 is still in extended support until 2024. Even nVidia is still providing 30/40 series drivers for it. Yet to come across any security related issues on my end. I'll see in two years what OS options there are, but as I said, the damn thing continues to just work.

It's precisely issues like these that really irk me and make me hesitant to change operating systems. Say all you want about Windows 7 but THE DAMN THING JUST WORKS!!! I have it on multiple laptops still and also my main workstation that's on 24/7. Does it have the latest features and hardware support? No, but I also don't NEED them!!! And that's the point to hammer home here - somebody else telling me what they think I need. The smarter way to do it instead is to just give the user the option - let ME decide how I want to use my system! Why is that such a difficult concept to grasp??? Or are we really living in a world now where choice has absolutely been taken away from us??? I swear the next time somebody asks me again "Why are you still using Windows 7?" I will rearrange their face with a cricket bat point them to this thread.

Nice. Now you can call out Dell for their pathetic battery replacement support - I am still years later forced to hunt for batteries on 3rd party websites for my XPS 13 because the manufacturer OUTRIGHT REFUSES to sell them and locks down their system boards making installation of the few compatible batteries you do find a ROYAL PITA. Michael Dell is just as, if not more, corrupt than Steve Jobs and Tim Cook - these are people who have absolutely ZERO CONSCIENCE and no business running a company, let alone telling consumers what is right! That's big tech today = they take your money while you take it up the crack and have them poke you in the eye as a "thank you". Do you really expect me to continue to be a Dell customer after an experience like that???

Being an early adopter DOESN'T suck. I plunked $1000 down on a LG 34UM95 back in 2014 the day these were first released. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed that 34 inch 3440x1440 IPS display, and at the time that I got it, was using it as the primary display for my notebook of all things over a DisplayPort connection. A year later when I got my new desktop finally assembled the same monitor carried over for some 4-way SLI gaming duty as well as serious multitasking and multimedia work. Never at any time did I experience any issues with the monitor, until it finally quit working 8 years later when a power issue took it out. $1000 over 8 years = hardly what I would call a bad investment. What did I replace it with? The same LG 21:9 IPS panel, only now I upgraded to an even more impressive 38 inch 3840x1600 curved 1ms 144Hz model. The LG 38WN95C that I now have definitely improves over the OG 21:9. The added resolution makes work tasks and multitasking even easier while the high refresh rate is a massive advantage when it comes to gaming. Most importantly though I get to enjoy the very same benefits of that IPS tech versus the burn in that OLED will get you. Heck, I'm even using the same calibration that I used on my old monitor to nail the color accuracy, making everything look just as good as it did on my old panel. I was even able to pick up a monitor mount for it that gives me more adjustability than what the old one was capable of. Two thumbs up Will this last 7 years? I don't know. But I do know that this is the right choice for me. Burn in is something that may not affect many users, but based on my habits, I know it would be an issue for me. I have seen it happen on more than one of my devices sadly, the technology for OLED just isn't ripe yet or it's being implemented the wrong way. IPS is a huge bonus where you keep stuff on the screen all day long, it's got fantastic color accuracy and is just the better pick for a computer monitor IMO. I can tell you I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of this new monitor

Simple serviceability on common wear items, number one being THE BATTERY. Apple now makes it damn near impossible to get inside the phone by gluing it together, with the argument of course that people NEED a water resistant smartphone. Funny thing is just about every other smartphone ISN'T water resistant yet you don't hear those users complaining about it Second, do we really need a new model released every single year??? There's absolutely ZERO reason why these devices have to be killed off with artificial software upgrade locks to prevent them from working longer, or for that matter, impossible to replace batteries. People are throwing perfectly working electronics out when they could continue to be used, but of course, Apple wants to get into your wallet any and every way it can. It should be MY CHOICE if I want to upgrade my phone after 3 years, not the manufacturer's!!! As a final food for thought, where do you think all those thrown out, donated and recycled electronics go??? Nobody talks about that and there's the very real chance they do end up in places where they shouldn't and become a real hazard to the environment, animals and in the end humans. Does anybody hold Apple accountable for what they are doing wrong? Does anybody consider that some of the materials they are recycling have been paid for many times over by previous device owners and they are essentially working with these materials for free, yet newer devices keep getting more expensive? Their outlandish HQ is a slap in the face to sensibility. Um, actually no. The Compaq/HP iPaq was around long before the iPhone came out, and I still have my H6315 sitting in it's dock. As for innovation you might want to look at what HTC was doing around the same time - their Touch Pro 2, which I also have, was leaps and bounds ahead of what the iPhone was capable of doing with a keyboard slider design, tilting display, expandable memory storage and high bit rate audio, all things that the iPhone STILL LACKS 14 years later. Apple's definition of "innovation" is a joke at worst and a blatant consumer money grab at best. I guess they do things different from where he's from To be fair though, you cannot say Apple has made repairs and service easier, in fact, it is becoming more and more difficult just to get inside their devices. What's most troubling is the shenanigans Apple's own technicians do when you take your device to them for repair. Go in for a battery swap and they will not only wipe your phone without your permission but also update the software without your consent, essentially returning to you a phone that is now running SLOWER than it was previously. If you really want to point the finger at somebody, go blame Apple for installing updates that cripple perfectly working hardware for the SOLE PURPOSE to entice you to buy a new one.

3 words - just boycott Apple But to add some actual basis to that, they are by far the worst tech company to ever exist, blatantly rip off customers and deliberately manufacture garbage. Hugh Jeffreys also from my home down under explains this a lot more elegantly than I ever could in his video from 4 months ago given my utter hate for people like Steve Jobs and Tim Cook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYhRPiVPA3c

This new product announcement makes two things here very clear: 1. EK absolutely cannot ignore team red any more. They have been in bed with nVidia for years now. It's time for them to make water blocks for these cards. 2. EVGA needs to bring AMD on board and make Hydro Copper versions of these cards. I would buy four of them in a heartbeat And there is a third if you really go between the lines here - nVidia totally went down the wrong road with their 4090. Melting connectors, going outside the ATX size spec, blatant overpricing, abusing their leadership position... It really was only a matter of time before their reign fell.

Dell could take a page out of HP's playbook here. As a XPS13 user now for many years I struggle to get replacement batteries for the damn thing. Dell absolutely refuses to sell them and go out of their way to lock down their BIOS/UEFI to make using ones sold elsewhere a PITA to get working. WHY??? Laptop batteries are the first thing to fail when everything else is still working fine on the machine. Battery replacements are the most common thing on these laptops, pretty much because the batteries they use in these are also the cheapest quality ones and die in as little as 2-3 years. Similarly, replacing a battery shouldn't void a warranty. And locking down the BIOS/UEFI to make battery replacements that much more difficult is totally anti-consumer. I will now be looking at a HP Enterprise laptop to replace my XPS13, rather than splurge on the XPS17 I was originally going to buy this Christmas. I also have a friendly message for Michael Dell - go take a long walk off a short pier!!!