Info Soldered RAM is becomingly increasing common in laptops, beware

[Torn Mind]

Yikes! That's a lot of money for not-even-OLED. Hope it's at least 120Hz but in the specs on Dell G5 laptops, that refresh rate seems to be associated with crappy 45% NTSC color gamut screens, not 100% sRGB minimum. As far as I can tell from having checked the specs of a LOT of gaming laptops, you don't get a good screen unless you go 165Hz minimum. I guess when a manufacturer is making at least that level of panel, they figure "better make the colors vibrant to make these screens stand out".

It is their budget gamer laptop, and it acts like one. Routinely unstable. Might have had to install a bare Windows copy to be blue screen free. Might be fine only if you're some high schooler or undergrad with good work saving habits.

If display mattered more....that's their XPS line.

 

[igor_kavinski]

It is their budget gamer laptop, and it acts like one. Routinely unstable. Might have had to install a bare Windows copy to be blue screen free. Might be fine only if you're some high schooler or undergrad with good work saving habits.

I'm sorry to say that you learned a very hard lesson. $900 does not mean that you deserve a bad laptop. Had you gone HP or Lenovo, you probably wouldn't be facing these instability issues which I suspect are due to improper thermal design/enforced thermal limits and the CPU is constantly hitting 100C and then throttling. I think they purposely made the G5 bad to make their Alienware line look better.

If you are up to it, opening the laptop and applying fresh thermal paste on the CPU might end your stability woes.

 

[Torn Mind]

I'm sorry to say that you learned a very hard lesson. $900 does not mean that you deserve a bad laptop. Had you gone HP or Lenovo, you probably wouldn't be facing these instability issues which I suspect are due to improper thermal design/enforced thermal limits and the CPU is constantly hitting 100C and then throttling. I think they purposely made the G5 bad to make their Alienware line look better.

If you are up to it, opening the laptop and applying fresh thermal paste on the CPU might end your stability woes.

Not much is lost. I can simply return the laptop.

I don't expect much difference between HP or Lenovo either. Their symptoms might not be as immediate, which could be worse.

Lenovo is way overrated. The refurbished monitor I got is already flaking out power wise after only months of heavy use. They are imo a Chinese security risk as well. And their laptops are equipped with hinges made to fail.

HP I have not bought but they don't have a great reputation.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Not much is lost. I can simply return the laptop.

I don't expect much difference between HP or Lenovo either. Their symptoms might not be as immediate, which could be worse.

Return it. Get an HP Omen or an ASUS TUF laptop. Remember to find something with a 165Hz panel. Hopefully you will have a better experience the 2nd time around.

 

[Torn Mind]

Return it. Get an HP Omen or an ASUS TUF laptop. Remember to find something with a 165Hz panel. Hopefully you will have a better experience the 2nd time around.

I'm not rushing for a gamer laptop. I'm looking for a "pro" work laptop. Meaning the much demeaned and maligned "office" tasks are accomplished as quickly as possibly when using the laptop.

A 2-in-1 might be more what I need, but it will probably be used or refurbed because I'm on a budget. Reading is the next thing.

One realizes that in a law-heavy life, you realize combat can indeed be with paper, ink, and psychology, not just swords, guns, or grunts. And that time is equally precious.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I'm not rushing for a gamer laptop. I'm looking for a "pro" work laptop.

M1 Macbook Airs are selling for $799 or less. Just get one of those. I think you will be very satisfied (unless you hate MacOS).

 

[Torn Mind]

M1 Macbook Airs are selling for $799 or less. Just get one of those. I think you will be very satisfied (unless you hate MacOS).

The configs would make them strictly mobile reading kiosks with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, unmodifiable and ready to get toasted when short to ground occurs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/165yogy/opinion_apples_solderedin_ssds_are_engineered_in

I know they provide a lot, but at the same time, they're a secondary machine.

The docs are not necessarily small; the amount of files, many; evidence can be on the level of a flood; some video processing and graphics power is needed for the likes of making VLC dump every frame.

Heck, I might literally have to clone an laptop's SSD to an SLC or MLC enterprise/military grade SSD for the file transfer or read times.

 

[igor_kavinski]

some video processing and graphics power is needed for the likes of making VLC dump every frame.

Cut out the suspicious portions from the main videos. Dumping frames from those should take less time and storage.

 

[manly]

M1 Macbook Airs are selling for $799 or less. Just get one of those. I think you will be very satisfied (unless you hate MacOS).

I would slap myself every day knowing I bought a system with just 8GB of system RAM in 2024; and the M1 is already about mid-way through its estimated support cycle.

I like macOS, and even Apple, but they need to stop making disposable devices. More to the point, what they still charge for more DRAM and storage is just filthy. A 15" MacBook Air with standard 12GB RAM/512GB at the right price point ($1200?) would be a really easy recommendation. Maybe Apple will release that in 2026? 16GB will be the baseline in 2030, or am I giving them too much credit?