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I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

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Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#341

Post by csdvrx »

bluedino wrote: post #277
perth wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pro Tip: get Dells business models like the latitude series The business Dell laptops blow anything lenovo has ever made out of the water in terms of specs, build quality, and serviceability. Also Dell’s bios is way better and easier to do stuff in. I’ve had a t420 and I thought it was crap compared to the Dell business laptops. The cooling, plastic casing material, and serviceability just isn’t there. On the T420 my…

They are still a level much lower than Lenovo.

Agreed. Their BIOS is full of bugs. I've investigated a few on the 7275 (business grade): I believe it's technically impossible for it to really sleep on Windows, regardless of how you look at it. It just saves a little bit of power while it looks like it's sleeping, then Windows realize it's an unacceptable power draw and pulls the plug (power off) then transparently resumes from a S4 hibernate to disk.

Check my previous post https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29762909

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#342

Post by aceazzameen »

harha wrote: post #192

Laptops in the early 2010s kind of reached a level of being adequate enough for most use-cases that it's hard to really justify an upgrade. I feel, as I write this on my late 2013 MacBook Pro, that it's powerful enough for most normal activities, read, browse, video calls, work on not too large data sets, etc. Anything that needs to run longer than I keep the laptop open can run on a different device, many programs a…

I still use my 2013 MacBook Pro too, but with Windows 10 on it. Honestly it's a very well made machine and perfect couch computer. I've been wondering about refreshing its thermal paste to cool it down and extend it's life further. But I wouldn't dare try to open it, especially since it still works so well.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#343

Post by terafo »

devwastaken wrote: post #318
MR4D wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Last January I converted my old (2012) quad-core Intel desktop and gave it to my son for gaming. The only thing I had to do was add a 1-TB SSD and put in an RTX-3060 Ti, and it runs every game (Fortnite, CoD, etc) at 100+ FPS without any issues. I'm still amazed that a simple GPU change and the machine keeps up with his friends brand-new AMD box (not sure what chip, just that it was new in 2021). When the 12th…

The Ryzen 5600X is the gaming CPU of this gen outside of the lower budget Intel chips. Ryzen didn't just win on core count they won in single thread too because competing Intel chips are 120W, which limits their performance on stock cooling. The 5600X is 76W actual.

It was. Now there's 12400F which offers just slightly lower performance(few percent slower) at almost half of the price. And there's 12600k which at the same price offers slightly better performance in gaming than 5600x, but in multithreaded workloads often outperforms 5800x.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#344

Post by cobaltoxide »

emptybottle wrote: post #305
Shorel wrote: post #262

> I’d like to thank Intel here for making this possible. The CPU innovation stagnation between 2012-2017 has resulted in 4 cores still being an acceptable low-end CPU in early 2022. Without this, my laptop would likely be obsolete by now. Hahaha, this last sentence seals the overall tone of the article.

What's hilarious to me is that Apple considers their own computers of this era to be "vintage" No joke, that's the real term https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 "About vintage products. -- Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 5 and less than 7 years ago." Well, not much has changed on the intel side in that timeframe. My 2013 laptop is still getting OS updates a…

Planned obsolescence is Apple's bread and butter.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#345

Post by testudovictoria »

my_usernam3 wrote: post #309
mikepurvis wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife has been gaming on a fourth-gen i5 + RX 570 for a few months, and it was mostly fine until Halo Infinite— with that title it was pretty clear that she was CPU bound, with the system chugging on open areas, mob AI, particles, etc. We upgraded her to a second hand B450 mobo + Ryzen 2400 and that's been fine. Still running on low settings due to the limited GPU, but everything is at least playable. And this moth…

Don't upgrade for Halo Infinite. That game also turned my otherwise fine machine into a potato. I've since fixed the issue by not playing halo and playing splitgate instead.

I have plenty of time in both Halo Infinite and Splitgate. Even if you take away the portals, Splitgate doesn't play like Halo Infinite at all. They look and sound similar, but they play and feel very different.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#346

Post by black_puppydog »

bstpierre wrote: post #301
black_puppydog wrote: post #65

I find it funny how people seem to fixate so much on the fact that the author upgraded various components to say the title is misleading. As someone with apparently similar requirements, the take-away from this should be this: Even though significant work is required to keep these old machines working, some people prefer to do so. Crucially, they prefer it not because they love tinkering, but simply because the value…

My 2012 Dell XPS14 is still my preferred laptop even without any upgrades or tinkering. I have a somehwat newer XPS13 for work that is also decent (but not as good as the '12), and according to the calendar I'm due for a refresh but like you when I look at what's available I don't see any reason to go through the hassle of an upgrade, never mind the cost.

I had the 2012 XPS, it was great! That's what got me back to XPS two years ago, which... turned out to be a nightmare. And apparently they are doubling down on this: https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/dell-xps-13-plus-buzzy-c...

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#347

Post by dijit »

terafo wrote: post #343
devwastaken wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Ryzen 5600X is the gaming CPU of this gen outside of the lower budget Intel chips. Ryzen didn't just win on core count they won in single thread too because competing Intel chips are 120W, which limits their performance on stock cooling. The 5600X is 76W actual.

It was. Now there's 12400F which offers just slightly lower performance(few percent slower) at almost half of the price. And there's 12600k which at the same price offers slightly better performance in gaming than 5600x, but in multithreaded workloads often outperforms 5800x.

that chip can suck down 150W of cooling (which is likely the cooling setup that benchmarks will be running with).

Not going to argue semantics here, but the grandparents point was that cooling the intel chips tends to be where it falls down (thus, the real world may differ significantly), even if there are paper gains in game benchmarks.

Offering a chip which takes double the cooling is just leaning into their point.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#348

Post by black_puppydog »

y4mi wrote: post #90
black_puppydog wrote: post #65

I find it funny how people seem to fixate so much on the fact that the author upgraded various components to say the title is misleading. As someone with apparently similar requirements, the take-away from this should be this: Even though significant work is required to keep these old machines working, some people prefer to do so. Crucially, they prefer it not because they love tinkering, but simply because the value…

There are upgradeable options though. The framework Laptop to name the most hyped current option for example.

I love the idea of framework! But I also live in France and I can't get myself to do another preorder adventure right now. When they start actually shipping I might go for that, although frankly I still might wait for a Ryzen model.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#349

Post by dustyharddrive »

perth wrote: post #251
black_puppydog wrote: post #65

I find it funny how people seem to fixate so much on the fact that the author upgraded various components to say the title is misleading. As someone with apparently similar requirements, the take-away from this should be this: Even though significant work is required to keep these old machines working, some people prefer to do so. Crucially, they prefer it not because they love tinkering, but simply because the value…

Pro Tip: get Dells business models like the latitude series The business Dell laptops blow anything lenovo has ever made out of the water in terms of specs, build quality, and serviceability. Also Dell’s bios is way better and easier to do stuff in. I’ve had a t420 and I thought it was crap compared to the Dell business laptops. The cooling, plastic casing material, and serviceability just isn’t there. On the T420 my…

Where did you buy that NUC laptop from?

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#350

Post by mattl »

disqard wrote: post #327
selectodude wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vintage is a technical term for "we don't stock parts to repair these anymore" not "they're unusable and you should throw it out".

s/technical/marketing/g

Possibly legal.

I heard a story that the original Apple II machines came with a warranty that had no expiration and that California residents who purchased a machine in California are still entitled to hardware support on the machine.

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