SlayerOfHellWyrm

Update your BIOS, very likely the cause. My Prime Z390-A saw my 860 Evo in BIOS, but not Windows until I'd applied the most up-to-date BIOS.

You're using a Mac, they tend to have low power HDMI ports which can't always fully power adapters like the one you are using. You may need a powered adapter that uses USB for power as well.

Is the laptop set to outputs? What does it see?

Do you have an HDMI to VGA adapter, or, a VGA to HDMI adapter? They are not the same, and they are not reversible.

That... is so not needed. Physical access = ownership. If they can touch the computer, they will never need that key to use it. Plus, if you accidentally leave your computer alone, then you need to somehow not forget to take the USB with you. I would contact their support, moreso than here. I don't think that item is really going to do much (imo).

This is super vague. Windows + L is the default shortcut to lock the computer when you get up and leave. Beyond that, I'm not sure what command you are thinking of, as far as I know there isn't one to make the screen flash. As well, without knowing more about this security key, I can't even begin to think of the context for allowing commands, or what the trigger(s) are for it.

Unless they are talking about "Use random hardware addresses for this network" which is only for WiFi, and only with supported adapters. It's a sort of security feature, that is only useful in an area with open WiFi/WiFi you don't control. Makes it harder to track a device's movement in an area based on WiFi request messages, but, isn't really useful honestly. Also, it's not supported by all WiFi adapters. So, yes, there is such a feature, and it may be what they are asking about but ideally we need confirmation first. Edit: For reference, if supported by your adapter, it's un

As long as they haven't locked you out of the setting (since you have educational, my guess is either this is a sketchy Windows key, or, a school computer), you should be fine.

Yeah, we need more details OP. you don't make any reference to your PC build, or the what feature is missing, etc. Hard to help with 0 details land a super vague description. also, this should more likely be in the Troubleshooting section if you're looking for help, as opposed to a rant or something. Just, food for thought.

The short answer is no, SATA express basically died off, and was replaced with U.2, which is barely used, and M.2 which is pretty much the new go-to standard. Buy whatever drive has the features you want, performance you want, and cost you want to pay. Personally, my rig has a 6TB WD Black.

Do not use UserBenchmark, Steve at Gamers Nexus did an entire rant on why it's trash (there's 0 controller variables for correct testing, is the tl;dr), You stuff like ATTO, CrustalDiskMark and compare the drives to what values they should have, use stuff like FireStrike, and Heaven, etc to test the GPU against known test averages for it, and do the same with the CPU with Cinebench R15, and R20.

It's 45W, configurable down to 35W according to Intel ARK https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/191045/intel-core-i7-9750h-processor-12m-cache-up-to-4-50-ghz.html

It says "Power Limit Throttling: Yes". Package TDP is the heat limit, you're under it yeah, but the actual power to the CPU, no. The 135W power adapter covers the GPU in the laptop as well. You're issue is just power to the CPU is being maxed out so you're getting throttled.

So, that's not the actual name of the adapter. That's just a description of the adapter. What you need is the actual adapter name, such as an Intel 7260 or the like. Then we can try to see if there's drivers. However, my guess is, if you're unsure of how to do this, you may be new to Ubuntu, is that correct? Also, LAN = Local Area Network, Wireless LAN, is a wireless version of that, so it's not wired. You can also tell, because 802.11a/b/g/n/ac are all wireless protocols, and 1x1 refers to an antenna configuration of 1 Tx and 1 Rx.

Looks to me like the GPU is finally failing, as expected in the 2011 year. Surprised it lasted this long.