XPost: comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   From: crude@sausa.ge   
      
   On 2025-12-17 2:11 p.m., -hh wrote:   
   > On 12/16/25 19:48, CrudeSausage wrote:   
   >> On 2025-12-16 7:09 p.m., -hh wrote:   
   >>> On 12/15/25 20:15, CrudeSausage wrote:   
   >>>> On 2025-12-15 5:54 p.m., -hh wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>>> What do current benchmarks show you between two comparable   
   >>>>>> machines at the same price?   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Don't know, as I'm not currently in the market for new hardware.   
   >>>>> What's your current PC do and when was it put into service?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Zephyrus G14 2021 with AMD R9 5900HS CPU and RTX3060 GPU. It's a   
   >>>> 2021 model. The new 2TB NVMe is a Samsung 990 EVO.   
   >>>   
   >>> Looks like its been a $2K-$3K laptop, +$200 more for the new NVMe.   
   >>   
   >> I recall paying $1,899 plus tax Canadian in June 2021.   
   >   
   > Which is fine; I just did a quick google without listing features, so it   
   > could have had a newer GPU/etc.  That's a price point where one should   
   > get pretty respectable capabilities (snarky side eye at ChromeBooks :-)   
      
   I never want to pay more than $2,500 (taxes included) on a machine that   
   I hold onto for no more than five years. If games don't run as well on   
   my five-year-old machine as they used to, I'm happy to drop the graphics   
   or buy older games. The latest and greatest means nothing to me,   
   especially since the new titles have become political anyway. Still, I   
   doubt I'll be playing for much longer. I generally stick to Civilization   
   more than anything else.   
      
   >> There is a good chance that the storage in Macs, by default, performed   
   >> better than my Zephyrus G14 did by default. With a RAID0, I would   
   >> expect that. However, both Apple computers and those of competitors   
   >> perform on par nowadays in their default configurations.   
   >   
   > I'd suspect/expect that the Macs which were using the RAID0 performance   
   > approach 3-4 years ago are still doing that today, and those that didn't   
   > still aren't.  The minimally bumped basic MBP business machine that I   
   > picked up last year doesn't need higher performance and is an example of   
   > the latter:  it benches at just ~3K read/write, much less than the older   
   > personal machine that I prioritize performance for media work.   
   >   
   > FWIW, here's an example of a still very raw test dump I did last month   
   > on a personal project:   
   >   
   >    
   >   
   > ...this version's been de-rezz'ed down to just 1080p and lost its IQ.   
   > That's part of the next part to figure out.   
      
   I have to admit that I'm looking forward to having an excuse to buy a   
   new laptop. In the meantime, games still play great on this nearly   
   five-year-old GPU and the machine itself has more RAM and storage than   
   I'll ever need. It's also in stellar shape (despite all the repairs I   
   sent it out for). I've had to have the keyboard replaced (typical issue   
   nowadays) and eventual motherboard replacement but the latter was of my   
   own doing. I was convinced that when they changed the battery, they   
   caused a spark which took out the fingerprint reader and was ready break   
   a connector to force them to replace it. I was right. It works perfectly   
   now. The repair cost me nothing in both cases.   
      
   >> I'm not saying that it wasn't successful. In fact, it might have been   
   >> responsible for serious business people seeing Apple as the only   
   >> alternative to IBM rather than Commodore or Atari. However, it gives a   
   >> false impression that what Apple offered/offers is superior to what   
   >> the competition gives you.   
   >   
   > By whatever means, they have been one of the very few survivors, and did   
   > so without a abuse-of-monopoly type of overtone.  I think a lot of their   
   > staying power has come from the iPhone era, specifically during its   
   > introduction while RIM's Blackberry was so dominant in Corporate   
   > America:  what ended up happening was that the C-Suite executives   
   > preferred to use the iPhone over the BB and instead of asking their IT   
   > Dept if they could "pretty please" consider adding the iPhone, IT was   
   > flat out ordered to do it.   
   >   
   > Likewise, when it came to competition from Android in the office, when   
   > employees were allowed to choose (and didn't have to pay), the   
   > preference was pretty compelling.  I can recall an old COLA conversation   
   > on the Android-vs-iOS wars where I posted this pic from our office   
   > showing the delivery of new smartphones for the office:   
   >   
   >    
   >   
   > I'd have to go see what the old COLA post said to be 100% accurate, but   
   > my recollection is there was something like just 1 or 2 Androids in that   
   > pile of ~20, with the rest all iPhones...a pretty brutal ratio.   
      
   Honestly, I don't blame people for preferring iPhones. The very fact   
   that developers only have to develop for one operating system means that   
   that iOS app you're downloading is going to run right whether it is an   
   iPhone 12 or an iPhone 17. Meanwhile, the Android ecosystem has so many   
   versions and so many varieties that making your application run properly   
   must be a nightmare. I know that Bell Canada stopped making its French   
   RDS sports app available for Android TV because there was no way of   
   guaranteeing that it would work for everyone. Meanwhile, the iOS edition   
   is still available and works great.   
      
   >> I wouldn't play too many games on it, but I suppose that matters less   
   >> and less now.   
   >   
   > Understood & agreed; I suspect that a lot of the "Power User" PC club   
   > has historically been younger guys who still have good eyes and reaction   
   > times who want to play GPU-intensive games at home.  As one migrates   
   > away from playing "twich" games, one learns that something like   
   > Civilization 5 doesn't really need a huge GPU/etc.   
      
   And it's not a worse game. Heck, some people believe that Civilization 4   
   was the best and others think the 6 was the peak. Whether you can play   
   the 7 or not means nothing because if you even play 2 from the late 90s,   
   the game concept hasn't changed that significantly. It looks better and   
   some things are neat, but if you need your Civilization fix, even the   
   first one ever made will do the job. Only Freeciv is completely awful.   
      
   >>>> In the end, their machines weren't actually capable of anything more   
   >>>> than the competition, though I believe that the Apple ][ felt more   
   >>>> robust than machines from Atari and Commodore. Of course, I wasn't   
   >>>> old enough to even own one at the time, so I'm basing myself on what   
   >>>> other people have said.   
   >>>   
   >>> Clearly, you never had to use a Timex-Sinclair keyboard! ;-)  Apple   
   >>> has been more solidly built, and they also have a better dealership   
   >>> network for providing customer support (which isn't free), long   
   >>> before they started their own retail stores.   
   >>   
      
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