Colty

If you can trade your old phone in, the Pixel 7a is a solid deal. Google's own store has super competitive trade-in values. Alternatively, the Pixel 6a model is one generation older, but the price reflects this. Both punch way above their price point.

I've been watching this thread regarding the Asus issues. Then I see the Asus sponsored PC build with Esther. Perhaps the video was filmed before all of this was brought to light, I'll let is pass. Then I watch one of the WAN show clips, LTX '23 is "brought to you by Asus"? Yikes That was probably all sorted out ages before this came to light, but I sincerely hope it's the last Asus integration with LMG. This isn't the first horror story I've heard from them and I've personally had a few distasteful, but not horrorific encounters with them. (both personally as a consumer and as a repair tech at an authorized service center)

Find an old Plasma TV. Panasonic and Pioneer were the front-runners for that tech. I have an OLED in the living room and a Pioneer Elite in the bedroom, I can't stand backlight bleed and crushed blacks.

Back when I was working for an MSP, I quite liked N-Able/N-Central, I haven't touched it in a long time, but it was a good package. That being said, SolarWinds did have their security breach issue. Though, I'm not sure if that directly affected N-Able users.

I feel like this video is worth sharing with you, tons of great info on the YLOD. In short, it's almost always not the NEC tokins.

Now we wait and see if they'll all redact their statements. (See post above)

From what little I've read, the PS5 that was first found to have this issue had other physical damage. There's a seal around the LM on the APU that is designed to prevent "seeping." From what I can see, only if that's been broken, by physical damage/excessive force, or by a shoddy repair/opening up the console, will the LM possibly spill over. From a reddit thread - "This is clickbait garbage. They say if something breaks inside your PS5 it can leak liquid metal coolant. Well yeah obviously but it is not going to just break for no reason and they dont claim it will. It can also break if it's horizontal... And it having to break inside to cause problems isn't a 'design flaw'. It literally applies to every device. So yeah your PS5 has to already be broken for this to be a concern. PS5 has been out for over 2 years now with more than 30 million sold. If there was a major hardware issue we'd know outside of a couple dudes in France claiming so."

Unfortunately, ARC GPU's aren't mature enough for most user's daily gaming. I tried AMD once, had driver issues in 3/4 games I was trying to play (5700XT, about half a year after release) Because of those two things, I'd still grab Nvidia off the shelf, but I can't convince myself to pay more than $500 for a GPU. I theoretically should, I would love to play more PC games on my OLED, but my PS5 does more than well enough for sightseeing games so a 3060 (paired with a 240Hz 1080p BenQ) stays in my rig for CS:GO, older games, and the occasional game that isn't released on PS.

If you're using HDR to SDR tonemapping, (HDR rips being sent to SDR displays/devices), you'll NEED newer NVENC (not sure what gen) or Quicksync (8th gen+ CPU's with iGPU's). The budget friendly setup that I did was an i3 10100 on Ubuntu. It looks like Plex got around to adding the HDR to SDR for Nvenc to Windows, but for Intel, you'll still need to be on Linux. https://support.plex.tv/articles/hdr-to-sdr-tone-mapping/ Don't get a dedicated Nvidia GPU for this unless you're hell bent on running it within Windows instead of Linux. I can understand why, there's a lot of things that are just easier when using Windows for a Plex server, but I've been able to adapt after not using Linux for about half a decade. For context, my 10700k in Windows couldn't keep up with a single HDR to SDR stream, I've tested up to five on the i3/Linux setup without a hitch.

I have 2 10TB drives in my Plex server. I'm picky, I want full "remux" 4k/HDR files or good enough 4k/HDR quality that I couldn't tell between a Remux and the compressed version. 10TB drives can be had for around $150 if you're patient and on the lookout.

The PS5 gets unhappy being told to go into rest mode (through the system UI) and then turning off the TV when CEC is enabled. I just need to let the TV (through CEC/device link) tell the PS5 to go into rest mode. Not using rest mode might be your best option. I know it's frustrating, rest mode is super convenient, but short of the warranty route, idk what else you can do. I'd assume it's a software issue, but I'd be curious what happens if you do RMA it.

Disabling HDMI device link should have resolved any HDMI "CEC" issues, but mine gets unhappy if I tell it to go into rest mode, then turn off the TV. I have to turn the TV off, signaling the PS5 to go into rest mode. I guess double "rest" signals freak it out? I also switch inputs on the TV before doing this so that if I turn on the TV for my Chromecast/PS3, it won't turn on the PS5.

Cheapest option? Used PS2. Best option? Emulation or a launch (CECHB/CECHA) fat, fully backwards compatible PS3. For most people, I would recommend a slim PS3 and any PS2, but for me, playing everything from two boxes (CECHA PS3 and a PS5) was my preferred choice. My fat PS3 is also modded so I can use an FTP connection or USB drive to transfer ripped games.

It'll be plenty bright. I have an LG CX in a room with a big window and a sliding glass door. The TV can be comfortably used during the day and you can always use black-out curtains for extra help.