Baterka

I got the mi band 7, works nicely. I don't wear it every day, but typically, a full day consumed about 15% of battery life even with constant heartbeat tracking (once every minute). I personally got a metal band for it to make it a bit more stylish. It came with a cheap rubber/silicone band, wasn't a fan of that. There's plenty of options available that you can order online, like leather, nylon...
 
The only thing I don't like about it, is the automated workout tracker. It just doesn't really work. You really have to start them manually. If you go out for a run, it might just start thinking you're running after 5 minutes, for example. Hence the need to start the workout manually. Which can be done as fast as 1 swipe and 2 press.
It does track your steps and is fairly accurate from my own counting and comparing to what the watch said it was at.
There's really no real need to use the "workout" feature, IMO. You can just track them with the heartbeats, which has range from Warm-up, Fat-burn, Aerobic, Anaerobic and Extreme. And the steps. It just nice for the app to tell you how much "calories" you supposedly burned during that workout.
 
The watch faces and list of "apps" is customizable. And with it, I learned that it wasn't just my imagination, I barely sleep at night. I get maybe 1 hour of actual sleep and the rest is just tossing.
 
That said, personally, I nerfed the capabilities of the watch. I'm not allowing the app access to the internet (using NetGuard), my contact, phone, messages or what have you. It's only purpose is basically to record my heartrate, my steps and blood oxygen level. This might be why I can pick the watch 2 weeks later and it still has at least 40% charge in it, because it's not constantly trying to connect wirelessly to my phone. The only time it "syncs" with my phone is if I open the app. So my experience isn't the same experience as others. I just wanted a fitness tracker without all the extra garbage and this one fit the bill and wasn't too expensive compared to other options.
 
I also like that I can "lock" the watch with a passcode, so if it's removed, no one can use it.
 
 
This is an example of the watchface I use.

I didn't wear it all day, that's why I got 0 steps in. I made it display the time in 24h, but this watchface was designed for 12h (am, pm)
Has the weather, my steps, my heartbeat, the time , battery remaining, etc... If I swipe left or right, it can have other stuff that is configurable. If I swipe up, it has options like starting a timer, a stopwatch, a workout, etc etc... All the options can be hidden or shown depending on whether you want to use them or not. Swipe down is for phone notifications. But I disabled those so it doesn't matter to me.
 
Oh and it does has music control. But because I didn't allow access to my files, it doesn't work for me. GPS is only if it can connect to a phone and use location service and there's no NFC.


Example of a previous "workout" I did, of 20 minutes indoor cycling
That's basically all the info starting a workout proper gives, quite frankly, not worth the hassle :
 
 

Correct. As long as the device playing the file can play the codec, no transcode is needed. I watch mostly only 4k Dolby vision content, Plex plays is no problem since my nvidia shield can play that without the need for transcode. My machine is not at all fast enough to transcode 4k HDR - I have tried it for fun, it can’t do it. But it direct plays it without even trying. 

get yourself a cheap prebuilt with intel UHD 630 graphics or newer for around $200. if youre only looking for 2 bays, it should suit you fine and can even do 4k transcoding using quicksync. something like an optiplex 7060 or an hp. 2 bay NAS systems generally arent worth the price from what ive seen.

Id go with the premade nas, esp if its at your parents house. Its. single unit so there can't be any cables unplugged, and the user interface is nice to work with.
 
The cpu perf won't matter for this use as it takes very little cpu and ram to copy files over a network.
 
USB3 won't be a limit on the diy nas as its much faster than a hdd or a gigabit network 

I guess it depends on how big projects you are working on, but I think upgrading would be a pretty big uplift for you.
 
In general, when only looking at the large cores, Alder Lake is about twice as powerful as 8th gen Intel, and that's when we look at core for core performance (completing ignoring the E cores, which by themselves performs almost as well as Intel 8th gen).
 
 
In GCC 4.5 (very old and not optimized for Alder Lake, that came in version 12), the i5-12600K outperforms the i7-8700K by roughly 80%. Compile times are almost cut in half using a compiler that doesn't properly take advantage of the hybrid architecture. My guess is that with a more modern compiler, you might be able cut compile times in half. And that's if we are looking at the i5-12600K.
 
 
Gaming performance wise, it will probably not make a big difference. Your current processor should be good enough to handle those games with ease.
 
 
According to Inte, 13th gen is a lot more efficient than 12th gen. 
13th gen should be able to do the same amount of work as a 12th gen, but using a lot less power.
 
 
I think that is hard to say at this point in time. Just give it a few days. 13th gen reviews should be out by today or tomorrow, and it will be a lot easier to comment on whether or not the higher price for 13th gen will be worth it.
Something to keep in mind is that 13th gen basically bumps everything up one tier. The 13th gen i5 will probably outperform the 12th gen i7. Something to keep in mind when comparing prices.
 
If you can wait until early next year, prices for 13th gen will probably be down as well (with the launch of non-K variants).
 
 
Edit:
Reviews are out now. Give it a day or two and a consensus might have been reached regarding 12th gen vs 13th gen.

If they're all the same price, i'd get the Samsung. 2nd choice would be the ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB.

some people call TLC 3 bit MLC which is technically true since MLC just means multi level so both 2 bit and 3 bit and 4 bit are all MLC but its convention to call 2 bit MLC and 3 bit TLC

It competes with the SAMSUNG 970 EVO and even beats it in some tests while being a lot cheaper. It's up to you. I personaly have two of the 1TB ones and I couln't be happier with them.

The 760p and A2000 have very similar hardware. The 760p's controller is the 8-channel SM2262 with DRAM while the A2000 uses the 4-channel SM2263 variant (with DRAM). The 760p is slower on writes than the newer SM2262EN-based drives (SX8200 Pro) but it's not a huge factor for consumer usage. The A2000 is faster in your listed case because it's at higher capacity, although it will give it a run for its money anyway in that metric. However, they do use different generations of flash (3D2/64L in the 760p, 3D3/96L in the A2000), albeit with only minor differences. The primary difference between them is in fact the SLC cache design as the 760p is client-oriented (reliable, consistent) with only static SLC, the A2000 is consumer-focused with a large, dynamic cache.

HWiNFO

Always on display dramatically limits the ability to have multi-day battery life. My GW 46mm lasts about 4 days without AOD but only about a day with it on. It also depends what background you're using on AOD. Something with the minimum lit pixels and of a dark colours will use less power. Also, make sure to enable airplane mode and night mode when going to sleep. It greatly reduces power  consumption.

Well then buy g102 as i said its the same sensor, its the same shape, so braided cable is the only bonus here.

It's not so much the cost of staying there as it is the $3000+ travel costs to get there.  

Thats done everytime I short battery

I am

It is not, I checked it

Awh, sorry didn't catch it. I used windows server back in win 7 days. From my experience performance wise, it's identical if you load the same services on both version. At its core desktop and server is the same, the server supports more hardware like more cpu sockets and ram.
 
There's a server core version which has no gui and only loads specific services for minimal resource, the minimum requirements is only 512mb ram. Maybe you should give it a try.
 
What game server are you running? Some game servers have linux version too.

But who dont want 20-50% smaller files ?

When you buy a DVD, you're getting either 720 x 576  or 720x480.
 
If the DVD is NTSC, you're getting whatever aspect ratio the movie has squeezed into 720x480 ... for example if movie is 16:9, the video player automatically resizes the image to 860x480 but the video itself on the disc is encoded as 720x480, up to 9.8 mbps. Usually, less because most DVDs have at least two audio tracks so more than ~0.28 mbps is reserved for audio (10.08 mbps - 9.8 mbps = 0.28 mbps ... but a single 5.1 ac3 track is 448 kbps or something like that... that's 0.4 mbps)
 
You can compress a movie either using software that relies on just the processor in your computer to compress the movie. x264.exe , x265 are such video compressors. They're highly configurable and you can easily adjust the amount of effort versus time used to compress the video. So for example, you could compress a 1h movie in 20 minutes by adjusting some settings for SPEED in the detriment of image quality, or you could compress the same video in 3-5 hours by adjusting settings to let the software encoder analyze the movie and preserve as much image quality as possible in the amount of bitrate you allow it.
 
You can also compress movies using the hardware encoders built into the video cards (nVIdia's nvEnc , AMD's AMF, Intel's Quicksync)  but these hardware encoders are not designed for highest quality - some options are either locked to some values or the values you can set for those options are limited. Some options may not even be configurable.
The reason for that is because the hardware decoder is limited to a certain area of the chip (and the more area used the more expensive a chip is) so there's a limited number of transistors so some things are simplified in order to use less transistors in the chip. Also, the encoders are optimized for real time encoding (think Twitch/Youtube streaming) where your aim is not really to squeeze as much quality in a small amount of space, you mostly care about the card streaming 60fps without hiccups and squeeze whatever's possible in what Twitch or Youtube allows, let's say 10-20 mbps
The hardware decoder is also limited in how much memory on the video card can use, so for example the hardware encoder may only use up to 2-3 consecutive images to improve quality.
 
A software encoder could look at 10 consecutive images and figure out that a car or something moves from left to right advancing a few pixels on each picture, so knowing this it can compress this information better and use less bitrate - so the saved bitrate can be used in other areas to improve overall quality of the video.
In contrast, the hardware encoder, being limited in how many pictures it can look up in advance (especially if real time streaming)... it will use more bitrate for the same information so other areas of the picture may suffer.  It will always be worse at making decisions regarding image quality - a hardware encoder will always need higher bitrate compared to a software encoder.
 
A software encoder can also use 2 passes ... for example you can run a first pass with some fast settings, just for the encoder to get an idea about the movie, and then you can do a 2nd final pass where the encoder can make smarter decisions, knowing what to expect.
 
For example, imagine a 10 second video that you want encoded at 1 MB/s, to get a final video size of 10 MB. Let's say the first 6 seconds are images of a camera moving slowly from left to right, and at the 6th second you start to see a waterfall.
Now for the first 6 seconds, the slow pan over a forest is very easy to compress because there's very little change between frames and you get super quality in that 1 MB/s.
But, once the encoder sees the waterfall, each frame in those 4 seconds will be quite different and it will be harder to retain quality in just 1 MB/s.. so the image quality will be significantly lower in those 4 seconds.
 
So, if you use 2 pass encoding, in the first pass the software encoder can see that first 6 seconds are low motion, and the last 4 seconds are high motion, harder to compress.
On the 2nd pass, the encoder can make a decision:
 
Even though i have a 1MB/s budget for the first 6 seconds, I'll only use 0.8 MB/s and make the image quality a bit worse, but this means I'll save 6 seconds x 0.2MB/s = 1.2 MB which I can add up to the budget for the 4 seconds and improve quality there. So for the final 4 seconds I can increase the budget to (4x1MB/s + 1.2MB ) / 4 seconds = 1.3 MB/s and with this 1.3 MB/s the waterfall will be compressed using higher quality.
Overall, the person watching this 10s sequence will have a better impression when viewing it.
 
Software encoders can also work in CFR mode (constant quality), which basically is like saving each second at a level of quality (like JPEG 90% quality), ignoring how much disk space is used. So one second could use 1 MB of disk space, and the next second could use 1.5 MB... you get consistent quality but you can't predict the final size of the video.
 

DVD-Video discs have a raw bitrate of 11.08 Mbit/s, with a 1.0 Mbit/s overhead, leaving a payload bitrate of 10.08 Mbit/s. Of this, up to 3.36 Mbit/s can be used for subtitles, a maximum of 10.08 Mbit/s can be split amongst audio and video, and a maximum of 9.80 Mbit/s can be used for video alone.
 
Assume up to around 1.2 MB/s (10 mbps) for DVDs, if kept in their original form.
You can get a DVD smaller by throwing out secondary audio tracks, or leaving just one format (some use 5.1 AC3 and same audio track as mp2 stereo for backwards compatibility, so you can remove the stereo track). If you want you can also remove commentary tracks, though at 128-320 kbps they don't take much space.
Software like DVDFab can rip a DVD and you can unselect non-essential stuff.
 
Blurays ...
 
For users recording digital television programming, the recordable Blu-ray Disc standard's initial data rate of 36 Mbit/s is more than adequate to record high-definition broadcasts from any source (IPTV, cable/satellite, or terrestrial). BD Video movies have a maximum data transfer rate of 54 Mbit/s, a maximum AV bitrate of 48 Mbit/s (for both audio and video data), and a maximum video bit rate of 40 Mbit/s. This compares to HD DVD movies, which have a maximum data transfer rate of 36 Mbit/s, a maximum AV bitrate of 30.24 Mbit/s, and a maximum video bitrate of 29.4 Mbit/s.[151]
 
so around 5-6 MB/s for bluray in original form
 
If you recompress using h264 or hevc , around 3-4 mbps for DVDs and around 10-15 mbps for Bluray are reasonable values.
 
I would no longer recompress DVDs, I would just recompress audio if needed (from lossless pcm to ac3, aac or opus) and leave the video untouched. Hard drives are cheap these days, it's not worth butchering already debatable quality by recompressing video.
 
// ps both big paragraphs are copy paste from wikipedia

Information for moderators: Yes, this text is written in absolutely horrible English. It's because I'm not from an English-speaking country and English is not my native language. I beg you, therefore, if you have some free time, to adjust my text to a nicer form. Surely it is pain to read it in the state it is: D I apologize sincerely.
 
I remember the day my friend showed me how it was to have a ThinkPad T-Series as if it were yesterday.
He showed me how much he would last, how he had all the ports, and how everything was just perfect.
My first ThinkPad was the T420 (Refurbished - 2016). I changed it after about 2 years for the T430 (Refurbished - 2018) and 14 days ago I bought the brand new ThinkPad T580.
I have been deciding whether to spend money on performance, style, or if I buy a cheaper ThinkPad and save a little. But finally I chose the best I can get today (unprofessional) ThinkPad T580.
 
As a student, programmer, sometimes a player and especially a proud owner of several still "good old" ThinkPads, I have big demands on this notebook, so I decided to describe my experience with it.
 
First, I would like to mention:
The competition:
After a long browsing the main finalists were those laptops:
ThinkPad T580 ThinkPad E590 MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 8RF Dell XPS 15 ASUS ZenBook 15 There were a lot of others, but it wasn't worth listing all.
One of the main reasons I didn't choose Dell XPS or Asus ZenBook was the lack of ports. I wasn't interested in VGA or a lot of USBs but I don't know if I would survive a laptop without RJ-45 or with one USB-C.
Next reasons were missing numpad (I wanted that for mz programmer work) and not be able to tilt screen flat.
The reason I didn't choose the cheaper "Edge" model of the ThinkPad will probably be clear to everyone. Notebooks feel cheap plastic and you just don't feel like they are ThinkPads.
Finally, I said that if I buy a ThinkPad then it will be a T-series.
The main finalists were T580 and MSI. Finally, I decided that I would be more comfortable with a replaceable battery, a better keyboard, a numeric pad and a 3 year on-site warranty than gaming-level performance.
 
So what I got:
I bought what looks like the highest model in terms of components that can't be upgraded:
Intel Core i7-8650U processor 8GB 2400MHz RAM (I will 100% upgrade this soon) 256GB SSD PCIe NVMe Opal2 (I will 100% upgrade this soon) Intel UHD Graphics 620 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 Fingerprint reader, camera, 4G LTE, card reader, backlit keyboard 1080p display (4k on 15" laptop??? Nonsense...) 32+24Wh batteries (More about that later) Total cost: 1481$ (USD) (Official local lenovo shop - lenovoshop.cz)
 
First impression:
Carefully unpack, pull out power adapter, instructions, notebook .... Wow ... He is skinny as fuck!
Open, turn on ... Nothing happens ...
Plug adapter .. Woow USB-C charger: D
Turn On ... Works ... External battery 0%. Interesting.... (Charged without any problem)
Display turned on ... Wooow IPS: D
First words on keyboard ... Amazing ... Same as on older models.
This is how I would sum up the first impression.
 
16.4.2019 - Impressions after 14 days:
I don't have time to go into full details at this point, because I'm in a hurry, but if you're interested, be sure to check out this post a few more times. I'll add more content and impressions.
 
Build quality:
At first, the overall quality of processing fascinated me, but now I can say that the notebook is not as tough as its predecessors. Of course, he is half thinner and I also had 14" models, but it can be littlebit more rigid.
What's worse than older models, but it doesn't make me sad is a little bend if you grab a corner on your notebook. It's normal for a 2kg laptop to bend a little.
But I wouldn't hold the notebook on display, I'm sure the display would survive if I grabbed it by the corner but it wasn't what it used to be, and no one expected to wear it at the corner of the display.
 
So I rate overall build quality positively for the weight and thickness, but there are three things that are really bad:
After 1 day of use, the keyboard began to squeak where the "Fn" key is located. Creaking was worse when the laptop was warm. It was an unbearable sound. I used the warranty and they exchanged the keyboard today after 15 minutes in service. The sound is gone and I hope it won't come back. The notebook suffocates on a flat surface and is even worse if you have a tablecloth on it or a mat. But more about it later. Worst problem. The keyboard touches the display when the notebook is closed. After 2 days of wearing in the notebook bag, prints began to appear. Unfortunately, one print remained permanently. Lenovo should give me at least a piece of cloth or protective foil. I would rather have a notebook 2mm thicker than this. I know almost all the new laptops are having trouble with it, but I didn't expect Lenovo to have it. My old T430 didn't do it even though I was staying on it.  
Display:
I'm no expert on displays. I have an average cheap 22" IPS panel from Samsung at home and I've always had a TN panel in my laptop.
So I can't evaluate the display quality objectively.
The quality and colors of the display seem good to me, despite the fact that official reviews really criticized the colors and overall quality.
The only thing I can criticize is luminosity. The display seems to me relatively dark in well-lit rooms. The viewing angles are really good, but as I say, I cannot evaluate objectively.
 
Battery:
The battery is disappointing for me, but I was expecting it.
Lenovo writes that with 32 + 24Wh combination, I will reach 13 hours of maximum and an average of around 6-7 hours.
I unfortunately at my work (Browser and IDE development, half brightness and Windows performance settings in the middle) not got over 5 hours. I will test even more and try to calibrate the batteries, but I'm not really excited about it and I'm sure I can't get it for 13 hours. I don't think you can get even 10 hours. Maybe on 480p movie on low brightness.
I'm still going to test the battery, and I'm sure I will still write the results here ASAP.
 
Performance:
I haven't had time to test my laptop's performance fully yet, but with the work I have done so far (school, web development, Minecraft with my friends), my laptop doesn't have a problem. Unfortunately, it warms up a lot, but about that in next chapter.
I tested the notebook with Aida64 and I didn't get into throttling in a stress test (CPU, FPU, iGPU) at normal room temperature on flat surface without cloth on it. The processor has stabilized at 75 degrees and  1.9GHz which is base-clock and I see no problem in that. Of course, the notebook was on the charger and set to the highest performance.
 
I want to test a dedicated GPU because I suspect that when I play a game on a dedicated GPU (MX150) it starts to throttle after a while and the performance is worse than if I played on iGPU. Unfortunately, this would mean that I return the notebook and want a GPU-free model because it is useless.
 
Heat and noise:
Temperatures and noise are strange. In idle mode, the notebook is silent only if you do not have a charge connected. When charging, the fan rotates like crazy and blows cold for no reason. Apparently it can be somehow solved in SW.

As I wrote, I haven't done any proper tests on my laptop yet, but I've been playing and working on it a little bit and bottom was melting while gaming. I can't hold my palm on it. It's not normal for me, but let's say its fine :D
On the keyboard, the notebook is warm, but it's definitely nothing terrible. Gaming notebooks are much worse.
 
If I had to summarize so the laptop is not quiet or loud. Fan sound is not annoying even at the highest speed. It doesn't have that horrible high frequency sound like some other laptops. But it certainly deserves better heat dissipation. As I mentioned earlier, the laptop seems to be warming because lack of airflow from bottom, where it has about 3mm of space. Old thinkpads were sucking from behind or from the side and it was fine.
 
Keyboard:
Although there are still people who think that the new ThinkPad keyboard is disgusting,I find it as good as the Dell XPS or Surface keyboard. The keyboard is hard, bends minimally, is quiet and accurate.
The old ThinkPad keyboard (until T420 model) was also excellent. I'm not saying no. I just say that this is also very good and there is nothing to criticize.
Then there is the aforementioned creak, which they fixed in the service, so it was a piece defect. I also like dedicated top line of functional keys
 
Ports:
As I mentioned, I wanted my new laptop to have all the necessary ports. I think the ports on the E590 were the same, but Thunderbold 3 was missing.
Total port equipment is good, maybe one more big USB would be useful, but we're in USB-C and dongle times right?
Overall I'm satisfied with the ports. With location not so. Both large USBs are on the right side and the headphone jack too. If you plug other than a wireless mouse, flash drive or a headset that does not have a hooked connector, it will really interrupt your mouse (If youre right-handed ofc).
 
Software:
Last thing I want to mention is the preinstalled software. I thought I'd have to reinstall my computer on clean Windows, but I was really pleasantly surprised. No bloadware. Only Lenovo Vantage, which has proven to be a really good and useful tool.
 
 
I have my notebook really short time in comparsion of ThinkPad's lifetimes, so my appreciation is not entirely detective or objective. I hope it will be useful for people who deciding which laptop to choose.
I'm sure it's not a cheap laptop, and although I hate Apple for its high brand price, I know Lenovo does it a little too.
I bought this expensive laptop because I already have a good experience with ThinkPads and this model, with a few exceptions, did not disappoint and pleasantly surprised.
 
21.6.2019 - Impressions after 2 months:
Build quality:
I have the same opinion as when I reviewed my 14 days experience.
Keyboard sound not came back.
I am still using piece of cloth between display and keyboard. If I stop using it, my display will suffer from permanent marks.
 
Display:
I have the same opinion as when I reviewed my 14 days experience.
Luminocity is not great but not terrible and color are good for me.
 
Battery:
I have the same opinion as when I reviewed my 14 days experience, sadly.
Do not use Sleep Mode. I left notebook 2 days in sleep mode and forst battery was empty and second halfed. (Started on 80%, 80%). Something eating big amount of power in sleep mode.
 
Performance:
I tested dedicated GPU more and it really throttling when sitting on flat table without any lift. I played WoT on low details and basic graphics mode and throttling started after 30 minutes. Also I had ~70FPS and it was randomly dropping for few ms to 40-45FPS. Not caused by explosions or so. It was really random. I dont know whats hapenning and I am disapointed so far. Also second game I want to play on this machine "Oxygen Not Included" not running 60FPS even it was running 60FPS on T420 with NVS5400M!
 
Heat and noise:
I have the same opinion as when I reviewed my 14 days experience.
As I described above, GPU throttling after half hour of gaming.
 
Keyboard:
I have the same opinion as when I reviewed my 14 days experience.
 
Ports:
I have the same opinion as when I reviewed my 14 days experience.
 
Software:
I have the same opinion as when I reviewed my 14 days experience.
 
Feel free to leave commentary or question.
Have a good time and goodbye in about 4 months when I will update my rating to 6 months of use. It will be final review.
 
Information for moderators: Yes, this text is written in absolutely horrible English. It's because I'm not from an English-speaking country and English is not my native language. I beg you, therefore, if you have some free time, to adjust my text to a nicer form. Surely it is pain to read it in the state it is: D I apologize sincerely.
 

So, ive found a couple of 2242 nvme (im assuming thats what you're looking for) ssds on ebay but they come from hong kong:
 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-240GB-M-2-2242-1600MB-S-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-NVMe-PCIe-SSD-Disk/332932722896?epid=6021108905&hash=item4d845630d0:g:5DYAAOSw1ExcCdrn
 
this one apparently is nvme rather than sata which si what you're talking about. these'll be a lot faster than sata
 

Handbrake is a front end for ffmpeg. ffmpeg is a purely command line tool, Handbrake gives it a UI.

I just bought QNAP TS-128A what is like 20$ more expensive and have quad-code + 1GB RAM + Supports Plex  PRoblem solved... Synology go back to store

I don't want SSD. I need at least 6TB of space. I know they are not 100% silent but I need some what is less loud than those WD Reds. Also it must be designed for 24/7