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Budget (including currency): ~AUD$3000 Country: Australia Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Dev work (VS, VS Code, Power Apps, Power Automate) AI Model Training Simple Video creation, mainly screen recording with audio Lots of Teams, screen sharing and multi-person video Casual gaming every now and again Accessories: Monitor(s): 2xDell S2722QC Audio: PreSonos AudioBox USB96, Mic AT2020, Speakers Edifier R1280Ts Streamdeck2 Other details: Hey guys, my dad's looking to build a new desktop pc to mostly replace his Microsoft Surface Book 3 (i7, dedicated graphics). I helped him spec out something (https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/coatsyaus/saved/#view=WP4ZQ7), as I watch lots of reviews and stuff, but he still knows what I'm talking about and is very technical. He'd love to keep the form factor as small if possible, preferring to mount it to the underside of his desk, but will go a little larger if that's a better option, as I told him the size he's looking at has little room for expandability. Is this a decent build or would you change anything?

In May of 2015 a friend got pushy and persuaded me to purchase the "Surface Pro 3" this was still during my time while I was still active in the United States Navy and needed something small, compact, and powerful to use in my berthing, shop, or on the mess decks of the ship. I needed something that was more powerful then a standard android tablet, with a real operating system, and I've never been a real fan of Apple products while I respect them, they're not for me. Skeptical I was at first remembering my neglected Surface RT that was in the closet somewhere gathering dust. I ended up deciding on the on the REFURBISHED i5/256GB model with the 8GB or RAM and got a type cover for it. Keep in mind this was a refurbished device from Microsoft's Amazon store, lets talk about that for a little bit, while the device was refurbished (it came with a sticker that I immediately pried off stating that it was indeed) my first impressions were as of anyone's, it is a beautifully crafted device, with a beautiful screen and it just felt cool. It started off like a champ after a few painful moments of making sure drivers were up to date and all the updates were installed. I was living in Port Orchard, Washington where it is relatively relaxing to go outside so that was the first thing I did, I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed outside. I will say that the back light of the device in outdoor conditions leaves a little to be desired. The device ended up doing what I had felt what it was designed for, though I was disappointing, it often felt like something was holding it back, but it played light games well, some emulated and some not such as CIV V (nothing larger then a standard map size mind you), Gratuitous Space Battles 2, FTL and KoTOR ran really well on it. Watching videos on YouTube were a dream the black bars at the bottom actually ended up being a blessing is disguise due to the the play bar not taking up any video real-estate, the display was gorgeous and vibrant and the touchscreen worked really, expectionally well. (Albeit, I still dislike how much of a fingerprint magnet it is, and find myself constantly cleaning it). It was small, great for reading books, studying for the advancement exam and doing drawings in One Note and keeping records. The 3:2 aspect ration made reading a simple breeze, especially in portrait mode. I couldn't use it at work due to being in proximity to classified information, but more on that later. I found myself more and more ignoring my MSi GE-70 in favor of it unless I was doing some serious gaming, (not that I had much time). I got out of the Navy in January of this year, and the device had a HARD 8 or 9 months of daily use, and it held, the battery life was still great, the device suffered through no lagging over time, no defects nothing, I will have to give it to Microsoft refurbishment team, they really hit the nail on the head for this one. I started using the device less in favor of my desktop because I was unemployed and frankly had no use for it. So I put it on a shelf. Then something miraculous happened, I started using it again, be it for watching movies, doing some bathroom reading, playing some CIV on my off days when I was not able to drag myself out of bed, drawing some more, writing notes, pondering about life the universe and everything. It was still a daily device, until about March of this year, the Wireless card had went bad on it and no longer connected to the Internet. I went to the Microsoft store here in Milwaukee and surprise! They exchanged it, one for one, right there, they even persuaded me into picking up the new Surface Pen for 60$, let me tell you, if you use the surface pen and still don't have the new one, go get one. It is totally worth the $60 dollars I paid for it. With the windows 10 upgrade the device ran like a bat out of hell, faster, stronger with better battery life and no longer having to suffer through the Windows 8 Metro UI, after that I got a job, I think our fastest computer is still running a celeron? At work this thing kicks ass and takes names, everything from spreadsheets, doing reviews, filing reports, doing online training, conference calls. With the seamless integration between my Note phone, my desktop and my surface, all my important documents are always with me in a format that is easy to use. Military records, paychecks, pictures of things from work and documents and even some light video editing. Last month I sold my laptop, and I don't miss it, and I don't need it. Selling it helped my friend ascend to the the PC as well. Are there flaws with it, of course there are, it gets hot, the material isn't the strongest, it doesn't perform in sunlight, the fan is a constant annoyance, and now sometimes the touchscreen is unresponsive until I hit the windows key, and I highly doubt I could have written this on it. But there is something to be said about a small form factor device with a true operations system and damn good specs. I hope this helps someone decided or at least realize that there is a place for a product like this, if this helps you or dissuades you let me know, and if you have ANY questions don't hesitate to ask.

IDEAL Price <= $1000 RAM >= 16 GB 64 bit Eight Core CPU >= 1.6 GHz GPU >= 4GB Ram Minimum RAM = 8 GB 64 bit Quad Core (Intel 6th gen HQ/HK) CPU = 1.6 GHz GPU = 2GB Ram Will be using it for Occasional Rendering and Gaming, but mainly for Programming. PDF attached includes the software system minimum requirements and laptops I am looking into. Software I will be using: Blender 3d, Matlab, Maya, Visual Studio, and Labview My choices so far: $599 Inspiron 15 5000: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-5555-laptop/pd?oc=dncwvamd2812h&model_id=inspiron-15-5555-laptop $699 IdeaPad Y700: http://shop.lenovo.com/smb/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/y700-14-inch/?sb=:000001C9:000161FC: $729 MSI GL62: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154112&cm_sp=Homepage_FDD-_-P1_34-154-112-_-04032016 $749.99 IdeaPad 700: http://shop.lenovo.com/smb/us/en/laptops/ideapad/700-series/700-15-inch/#SYSTEM I am leaning more towards the Inspiron, but the MSI might be better. This is more or less a general "help me" topic as I am now indecisive as I am still new at this. Any help and/or alternative laptop options are appreciated. Laptops.pdf

Hello everyone, my Lenovo with an i5 and 660m has just died and I am in need of a new laptop that can handle CAD work for university and is able to play games like borderlands 2, cs go and GTA V at 1080p with decent frame rates. I would prefer Intel / Nvidia and an SSD (if possible but not neccesary). I am not up to date with current hardware so i am just looking for some help. Thanks.

This is not a topic about how i think you could get rid of your $1500 gaming pc or your $3000 workstation and replace it with a very pricy tablet. at least not right now. Chipsets for both Nvidia and Intel have been moving toward a more power efficient design and their laptop hardware has been closing the gap on the desktop preformance. Now I'm not saying you will ever be able to fit a titan into a tablet, but in the next 4 years i could see a laptop level cpu in a slim tablet form factor. Atleast an intel one, and with more than 1 fan. It could probably even be quiet. Now, as big as an improvement as that would be, an i7 laptop processor does not a desktop make. Iris pro graphics would be a nice touch, but I'm not sure it would even be necessary. A desktop does not need to move. Tablets do, but they don't need to have desktop performance when they're on the go. A nice laptop level processor with an option for iris pro graphics on higher spec models could serve as a great tablet or laptop experience. The last big push in technology necessary to make this work at least on a spec level would be an external graphics card enclosure. There are already some thunderbolt models that work. However they are extremely expensive. I believe the reason is because someone holds a patent and they are charging a premium to anyone that wants to manufacture this type of enclosure. It is definitely not manufacturing costs. There are other options however. Alienware has a proprietary pcie-ish connector that they have said they would allow other manufacturers to use. There is also already a laptop that has a regular old 16x pcie slot on the back. This could probably be placed on something like the surface pro where the keyboard connecter currently is. (You might even get less input lag ) A full power GPU and an i7 laptop cpu could run all but the most cpu intensive games and if you went with a titan you could get a pretty respectable workstation. I've heard rumors that the 980ti will have the vram and horsepower to drive 4k on even AAA titles on pretty high to decent settings, and AMD has usually been better than them on the vram side of things. There are ofcouse costs to this sort of thing. You're not going to be able to overclock your cpu or ram. Customizability is also limited to preset options on tablet specs and your GPU of choice. Then there is the actually monetary cost of a more compact device. There is quite a list of things you could say as negatives, but I'd like to see what some discussion could come up with. I want to know what people here think about the feasability of this as a design for a super premium tablet. Do you think there would be a market for this? Would you be interested in this for yourself in the future? Do you think Microsoft's surface line or any other manufacturer will build something like this in the next 4 years? I would really apreciate any comments and thanks to anyone that has made it through my essay. TLDR; laptop level cpu and external gpu enclosure = desktop/laptop/tablet überhybrid? Edit: I'm going to make a list of other features that people would like to see. with pros and cons. Wacom digitizer - would add a little thickness but perhaps a more sensative pen. Waterproof - would be more expensive but nice durability feature amoled screen - better contrast and battery life, but more expensive and not widely avalible in 10-14 inch screen size mobile gpu - more heat and powerconsumption in exchange for better graphics on the go Snap on controller - extra bulk but you get another imput method, extra battery, and maybe better grip (removeability makes less of a tradeoff) Front facing speakers - much superior sound to side or back facing speakers at a slight extra cost (more complicated design is more expensive to produce) 3g/4g/LTE - contract and cost in exchange for data on the go (avalibility of mobile hotspots on phones might make this less popular) I'm thinking I/O on this would include a proprietary magnetic pcie connector on the bottom for use with keyboard accessories, dock, and external GPU. You would of course want atleast 1 USB 3.1, Audio jack, mini display port, SD card slot, and an aditonal proprietary magnetic data and power connector for use with aftermarket accessories that doubles as the AC power/charging slot.

I'm looking at building a portable budget AMD based rig for tasks such as Adobe CS6, 3DS Max, etc. as opposed to getting a laptop. I'm coming from a 2009 C2D MacBook Pro with a broken LCD and a full blown Tower Rig based on a 3570K+GTX 670 combo. I'm now looking at ditching the MacBook in favour of something more modern but since building my 1st rig I've grown accustomed to tinkering around inside. I thought I'd go all AMD to mix things up a bit since my main machine is Intel + Nvidia. EDIT : I'm open to go Intel+Nvidia again now to have a Portable Mac Pro Killer So it needs to be as portable as a laptop (If any battery power solutions please let me know) Can play games at 1080p with decent details Can handle an Adobe CS6 Workload The case I've selected has limited GPU clearance (<190mm) and only SFX PSU support Under £1000 with peripherals and OS Any other portable monitor suggestions because this Asus one while USB and 1080p has a dreadful 11ms response time Not too powerful, otherwise it'll make my Gaming PC redundant. Remember, it's meant to be secondary so no more powerful than a Core i5 3570K or 4670K Any other suggestions or advice will be most welcome. Parts list below. Thanks in advance ! PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor (£58.05 @ Ebuyer) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9a 57.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£34.00 @ Scan.co.uk) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard (£72.99 @ Amazon UK) Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.72 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Seagate 1TB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£68.99 @ Ebuyer) Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 260X 2GB Core Edition Video Card (£97.73 @ Aria PC) Case: Lian-Li PC-TU100B Mini ITX Tower Case (£80.69 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Power Supply: Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply (£72.68 @ Amazon UK) Optical Drive: Samsung SN-208DB/BEBET DVD/CD Writer (£15.00 @ CCL Computers) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£82.35 @ Amazon UK) Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K30 Wired Gaming Keyboard (£37.56 @ Scan.co.uk) Other: Asus MB168B+ 15.6 inch Widescreen Full HD LED Monitor (1920x1080, 11ms, USB) (£197.82) Other: Corsair M40 Mouse (£42.95) Total: £916.53 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.) (Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 16:39 BST+0100)