Laptop bargain

jimbo45 · Jul 13, 2022

SlicEnDicE said:
I've found my 32" 1440p @10bit color depth is sufficient. 4k would be even better. (mind you...still on my phone or just quckly slap something together in Windows default apps on my laptop or desktop PC)

Don't re-encode your videos unless you absolutely must. As fast as copy/paste a file. But even re-encoding does not take that long on any of my devices. Heck even the laptop is AMD so no quicksync to be found.

Depends on distance from screen, size of viewing room etc -- If you want to "Replicate a cinema" a huge screen in a decently sized room 7 by 8 metres with high ceilings you need a big screen !!¬!!!! Agree absolutely though about not having to re-encode videos - most players will play almost any format these days and Disk space shouldn't be an issue either if using a desktop or NAS work station.

Main problem is often though "De-DRMing" stuff. If I've got Blu Ray's for which I've paid money then archiving on to computer and then playing the ISO is fine by me --I'm not "Pirating" the content and putting it out on a shared website.

Cheers
jimbo

hdmi · Jul 13, 2022

jimbo45 said:
Actually often the best value for money in desktop type computers is to go for something like a Microserver rather than a typical consumer grade desktop. These are robustly built, designed to run 24/7 and highly configurable.

Things like Handbrake can consume a load of resources for video conversions etc -- often other "converters" are available - but beware of "Sneakerware" -- I.E great Free program but as soon as you want to use any of the real facilities you have to "Go Pro" i.e pay.

However very few go down this route of looking at microservers or server systems (hardware) in general. Often good value for money - especially when businesses are "upgrading" so you can get really good cheap bargains.

Dual XEON CPU system with 64 GB RAM and availble 4 bay HDD system (you have to populate the HDD's yourself and supply the OS) I got for 380 EUR and its been running 24/7 for over 12 months without any problem whatsoever. Add your own video if required.

Even this type of thing will blow most domestic desktop machines out of the water : Even though it's old !!!!

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I think we agree on about 90% of the issues discussed here though.

Cheers
jimbo

A little over 15 months ago I advised a family member to get a desktop PC with an Intel Core i5-10400 at 499 Euros (£422.88) new. That old dual Xeon server you linked to is ranked about 19 percent higher in the CPU performance chart than it, but there are some caveats, like, e.g., the Single Thread Rating of the old dual Xeon is quite abysmal, compared to either the i5-10400 or my laptop's i5-1135G7. Most everyday normal apps are not optimized for dual CPU nor are optimized for 16 cores. The one year-old i5-10400 desktop PC also came with a 3-year warranty period BTW, and, although it "only" has 16GB RAM (2666 MHz DDR4), it has a 512GB SSD with NVMe:

E12-512G-PHISON-SSD-B27-BB1 (PCIe 3.0 x4).png

jimbo45 · Jul 13, 2022

hdmi said:
A little over 15 months ago I advised a family member to get a desktop PC with an Intel Core i5-10400 at 499 Euros (£422.88) new. That old dual Xeon server you linked to is ranked about 19 percent higher in the CPU performance chart than it, but there are some caveats, like, e.g., the Single Thread Rating of the old dual Xeon is quite abysmal, compared to either the i5-10400 or my laptop's i5-1135G7. Most everyday normal apps are not optimized for dual CPU nor are optimized for 16 cores. The one year-old i5-10400 desktop PC also came with a 3-year warranty period BTW, and, although it "only" has 16GB RAM (2666 MHz DDR4), it has a 512GB SSD with NVMe:

View attachment 33884

Hi there
As again it all depends on what you want the thing to do. For running multiple concurrent VM's and as a NAS the dual XEON is brilliant -- for running Outlook or Firefox etc -- OK you have a point. !!!!

As I said we agree about 90% of the time on this topic. !!!!!

Cheers
jimbo

TraderGary · Jul 13, 2022

I upgraded my Kate from a 2nd gen i3, 4GB to an 11th gen i7, 16GB. The difference was night and day to me. After a few days I asked her what she thought of her new computer. She said she didn't really see much difference, but she liked the old keyboard better.

As you said, "it all depends on what you want the thing to do."

Hazel123 · Jul 13, 2022

Now if someone could merge my old Olympia typewriter with a core i7 ...... :ROFLMAO:

Fabler2 · Jul 13, 2022

Hazel123 said:
Now if someone could merge my old Olympia typewriter with a core i7 ......

Next best thing

hdmi · Jul 14, 2022

jimbo45 said:
Hi there
As again it all depends on what you want the thing to do. For running multiple concurrent VM's and as a NAS the dual XEON is brilliant -- for running Outlook or Firefox etc -- OK you have a point. !!!!

As I said we agree about 90% of the time on this topic. !!!!!

Cheers
jimbo

You said it will blow most domestic desktop PCs out of the water. Sorry, but it quite simply will not.