Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

But you don't need the 2S for that, the original Mx Master can be paired with 3 different u-receiver/bluetooth device, you just use a button bellow the mouse to switch from one to the other.
 
So about 2-3 years ago i accidentally poured a latte over my 13 inch MacBoo pro.
At that time it seemed like a goner. Nothing would work.

I opened the back lid to try and get the SSD out, but my pentalobe screws didn't seem to fit.
So i gave up and let it sit on my window sill till now.

Since at that time i was living in a hotel and setting up my desktop was not an option, so i needed a new laptop.
After less than a week, with 2500 euro in my bank account, i drove to my nearest reseller and got myself a new one.
With development in mind i spent a little bit more so i got the version with a decent quad-core CPU and 16GB memory and 256GB SSD.

All seemed fine, that one still works.

But for no reason at all i decided to have another look at that 13 inch one.
Since the pentalobe screwdriver still would not fit i decided to close the lid.
Again, for no reason at all i plugged in the charger, and the charging led started burning.

I prayed to the Steve.
And then i decided to push my luck, and the power button.

Lo and behold:

soBXxlZ.jpg


It's like a resurrection. Although it took 2 years longer than Jesus.

I think i'm gonna call the Vatican and have Steve canonized.
This is by all accounts a miracle. No laptop can endure so much latte and survive.
 
To the Steve?

Boombas-steve-skin.png
 
Ahhh...
 
Steve Jobs was the second coming? Who would have thunk it?
 
So, I've now had an HP Envy x360 15" laptop for just about a year now.

Things I like:

Keyboard, feels good enough and it has hotkeys for dimming the display.
Backlit keyboard is so good for night time porn searches web browsing for car parts.
enough ram to keep chrome or firefox happy. 8GB btw.
SD card slot that takes the entire card in so you can use it for extended permanent storage
number pad, thought I'd have the off center keyboard. I don't.
Touch screen. It works well and accepts the cell phone pinch to zoom out
Decent enough battery to use on a jobsite all day referencing wiring diagrams and whatnot.
Haven't missed not having a disk drive.
display is great for movies.


What I don't like.

Bang & Olufsen speakers are a gimmick. If all laptops came with software to EQ the speakers, you could get away with a normal non-price gouging brand name. $899 felt like a lot for a laptop without dedicated graphics.
Back light keyboard does not have adjustable brightness. All or nothing.
track pad without physical buttons suck. When you're where you think you should be for right or left clicking, it doesn't work. two finger tap for right click also doesn't always work. Both if you do repeated attempts, the 3rd or 4th time usually gets it. Annoying.
Glossy screen for the touch feature makes it nearly impossible to use in a well lit area. I got a Lenovo touch screen (by accident) for work and I have to use a laptop stand so that you're pitched at an angle to remove glare.
power cord has gone from a nice straight line to a weird crinkle-y look, as if I coiled it up wrong at some point. Never had this before with other laptop cords.
Power cord's connector doesn't sit well in the jack on the laptop. When you think it's in, you sometimes have to give a little nudge to get in fully seated. There's no real defining click. It's sort of there but, it clicks way early and is mushy feeling. A few times I thought it was charging only to get the low battery alarm later on after a couple hours watching Netflix.
There are times despite having SSD, it feels sluggish. Nothing's really going on (according to task manager) at the time of this happening. Haven't been able to pinpoint it yet.


This model was confusing for me. Originally on HP's website I then went to amazon to get fast shipping. I wanted the HP Spectre x360 because you could get a dedicated graphics card. I thought they had one model that was the HP Envy model line and a sub category of Spectre. These are two completely different lines despite looking almost identical. In the flesh, the Envy I have has slightly rounded plastic framed edges where the spectre has what almost feel like cut edges. Not sharp but, you did feel it digging into your skin. I guess being full Aluminum means they cant take a file to the edge of it. I didn't return it because I desperately needed a quality laptop with a touchscreen.

Would I recommend it? Probably. Felt like I got the best price for what it has in it.
 
Random question:

So if I have FIOS cable and internet, and I'm getting like basically 1080i/1080p content from my TV provider, and I barely watch anything in higher quality than that.

Is it worth getting a 4K panel to replace my LED panel from several years ago?

Is it even worth getting a 4K panel these days when the content hasn't caught up?
 
Random question:

So if I have FIOS cable and internet, and I'm getting like basically 1080i/1080p content from my TV provider, and I barely watch anything in higher quality than that.

Is it worth getting a 4K panel to replace my LED panel from several years ago?

Is it even worth getting a 4K panel these days when the content hasn't caught up?
Short answer is yes.

Long answer it really depends. There is a decent amount of 4K content out there from Netflix and YouTube if you watch a lot of that then you will benefit. If you game then 4K is basically standard these days. Outside of that the TV I got has pretty good upscaling from 1080 (not as good as native ofc). The other thing, at least for TVs I looked at, the 4K ones get more features like HDR and such. The other thing is that price wise the difference is relatively small and if you keep the TV for a while it might just be worth it.
 
4k gaming is not standard. I know 2 people that game in 4k. Most still use 1080 to 1440.
 
I'm a huge gamer in a group of gamer friends and we collectively have zero 4K capable devices.
 
Interesting I was under the impression that all consoles (ignoring Nintendo ofc) are 4K capable.
 
Just the recently released PS4 Pro and the unreleased Xbox One X. PCs are capable of course but you need some serious hardware to get good framerates.
 
Short answer is yes.

Long answer it really depends. There is a decent amount of 4K content out there from Netflix and YouTube if you watch a lot of that then you will benefit. If you game then 4K is basically standard these days. Outside of that the TV I got has pretty good upscaling from 1080 (not as good as native ofc). The other thing, at least for TVs I looked at, the 4K ones get more features like HDR and such. The other thing is that price wise the difference is relatively small and if you keep the TV for a while it might just be worth it.

Isn't 4K Netflix only compatible with Kaby Lake processors? Does it work on apps?

To me, from what i've seen so far, the 4K streams don't look any better (sometimes worse) than (basically) uncompressed 1080 BluRays. I don't have a 4K BluRay player, and that may well blow my mind as some of the harddrive sourced UHD I've seen in stores on demo units.
 
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Also depends on the size of the tv and how far you're sitting from it ...
I bought myself a 1080p tv just last year because 4k doesn't make sense for me (yet).
 
Isn't 4K Netflix only compatible with Kaby Lake processors? Does it work on apps?

To me, from what i've seen so far, the 4K streams don't look any better (sometimes worse) than (basically) uncompressed 1080 BluRays. I don't have a 4K BluRay player, and that may well blow my mind as some of the harddrive sourced UHD I've seen in stores on demo units.


Netflix has expanded the availability a bit. You can get 4k with a 1080 or better and an HDMI 2.2 capable TV or monitor.
 
Ahh. But you also have to pay for a UHD membership, which I believe is another $2 a month.
 
Isn't 4K Netflix only compatible with Kaby Lake processors? Does it work on apps?

To me, from what i've seen so far, the 4K streams don't look any better (sometimes worse) than (basically) uncompressed 1080 BluRays. I don't have a 4K BluRay player, and that may well blow my mind as some of the harddrive sourced UHD I've seen in stores on demo units.
Not sure about Kaby Lake, I'm running a 4K Roku TV, the Roku NFLX app does have 4K stream but it costs a little less. I never had BR ever in my life because physical media is stupid so maybe? I can tell you there is definitely a difference between a 4K and a 1080 stream on NFLX and YT, of course it largely depends on do you care? Like House of Cards is in 4K but it's not exactly a visuals heavy show.

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Ahh. But you also have to pay for a UHD membership, which I believe is another $2 a month.
That is correct but hardly a deal breaker.

In my case I also use it as an external monitor the few times I have to work from home on something.

The main reason I say that yes is that with prices being where they are there is no real reason against it. Only caveat I would say is that 720 content looks like shit, but then pretty much everything is available at 1080.
 
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