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Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

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71–80 of 270 posts

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#71
post #28

This is brilliant. When I was in sixth-form, a friend built a portable case containing a micro-ATX motherboard. No battery, but he could sit down at any of the school computers, plug into the wall, and use its peripherals with his PC. That was more than 25 years ago, I feel old now.

For the non-Brits, "sixth-form" means years 12 and 13 of school - equivalent to junior and senior years of high school in the US. The first and second yearsof sixth form are referred to as "lower sixth" and "upper sixth" respectively. It's a hold-over term from when secondary education (ages 11 and up) started in "first form" and worked up.

Form of what?

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#72
post #28

This is brilliant. When I was in sixth-form, a friend built a portable case containing a micro-ATX motherboard. No battery, but he could sit down at any of the school computers, plug into the wall, and use its peripherals with his PC. That was more than 25 years ago, I feel old now.

For the non-Brits, "sixth-form" means years 12 and 13 of school - equivalent to junior and senior years of high school in the US. The first and second yearsof sixth form are referred to as "lower sixth" and "upper sixth" respectively. It's a hold-over term from when secondary education (ages 11 and up) started in "first form" and worked up.

Thanks for the explanation but it shattered the narrative by mind was building about an alien intelligence that slipped up and posted about its memories of its sixth physical form, the result of its fifth metamorphosis.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#73
post #16

Are NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as concept. How popular would they be?

I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine. I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen would be superflu…

There is a bunch of AMD-based tiny boxes for under $1k, and fancier boxes from HP or Zotac with discrete NVidia GPUs for $3-4k. They are somehow larger than a Mac Mini, but still very much the form factor of a small box to push into a backpack.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#74
post #14
post #5

Side question: are those glasses any good? I almost got myself a pair

If your head is on the smaller to medium size. And avoid v1 of xreal, even if you find a good deal. Their hinges are super weak. They said they fixed it in subsequent models.

I got a big ol noggin, any other AR goggles for bigger headed folks?

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#75
post #12
post #5

Side question: are those glasses any good? I almost got myself a pair

They’re good enough for gaming, don’t expect to do much coding. They are very good for your neck, though.

I code a lot on these. They're amazing on planes and trains as advertised, but I also spend a lot more time coding outside because they don't have the glare issues of a laptop screen.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#76
post #28

This is brilliant. When I was in sixth-form, a friend built a portable case containing a micro-ATX motherboard. No battery, but he could sit down at any of the school computers, plug into the wall, and use its peripherals with his PC. That was more than 25 years ago, I feel old now.

For the non-Brits, "sixth-form" means years 12 and 13 of school - equivalent to junior and senior years of high school in the US. The first and second yearsof sixth form are referred to as "lower sixth" and "upper sixth" respectively. It's a hold-over term from when secondary education (ages 11 and up) started in "first form" and worked up.

In the US, for schools that use this form of grading, it means your senior year; 3rd form is freshman year and so on.

We tend not to have a 13th grade, and when that does exist, a PG (post grad) is generally there because they excel at a particular sport.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#77
post #16

Are NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as concept. How popular would they be?

I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine. I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen would be superflu…

Plenty of NUC hardware is pretty beefy, most more tough than most of those gaming handhelds. I've dropped a couple of Intel NUCs down concrete stairs and they only got a few scratches. They've also had really good Linux support for ages, and had Intel's Iris Pro GPUs for a while. Unsure they'd really fit your needs though. AMD sells a number of APU boards though, they've got modern GPUs. Still not breaking any benchmarks though.

Also, those gaming handhelds are pretty power and temperature limited. They're often a good bit less powerful than a halfway decent gaming laptop, just a more convenient form factor for portable gaming.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine. I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen would be superflu…

Plenty of NUC hardware is pretty beefy, most more tough than most of those gaming handhelds. I've dropped a couple of Intel NUCs down concrete stairs and they only got a few scratches. They've also had really good Linux support for ages, and had Intel's Iris Pro GPUs for a while. Unsure they'd really fit your needs though. AMD sells a number of APU boards though, they've got modern GPUs. Still not breaking any benchm…

NUCs are basically office machines though, I don't think any of them have the kind of graphics capabilities of a Legion Go, for example.

There are SFF PCs a little bigger than NUCs that do have strong graphics but they're crazy expensive.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#79
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine. I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen would be superflu…

There is a bunch of AMD-based tiny boxes for under $1k, and fancier boxes from HP or Zotac with discrete NVidia GPUs for $3-4k. They are somehow larger than a Mac Mini, but still very much the form factor of a small box to push into a backpack.

> Zotac with discrete NVidia GPUs for $3-4k

Crazy expensive.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#80
post #16

Are NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as concept. How popular would they be?

I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine. I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen would be superflu…

> I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine.

Have you considered dropping the portable monitor for an angled laptop stand that will elevate the screen to eye level? I've got one that collapses down small enough to fit in a reasonably deep pocket.

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