Recent content by BlueLineSwinger

Always go for an SSD with DRAM especially for an OS/app/game volume, even if you have to pay a bit more for it.

Cool, thanks. That's only about a mile and a half from Central Computers' main store. Looks like the old Bed Bath & Beyond site. Always busy as hell on that stretch of road.

Oh, very cool. Any idea where in Santa Clara it's going? Their site put up a pop-up with a link for more info, but it 404ed on me. I'd hoped they'd return to the region, but figured it was a long-shot even with the loss of Fry's. Their original Santa Clara store (closed about a decade ago)...

I get it, but it's fine. I also get that feeling of "Is this the one that blows everything up?" every major update, regardless of Linux, Mac, or Windows (only Windows, of course, came close). Anecdotal evidence, I've been running Kubuntu on this laptop since 19.10 and every release update...

That's fine. They're not going to care. If the manufacturer/reseller is going to turn around and resell it somehow they're going to reimage the SSD regardless. Your only concern is protecting/wiping your personal data. I'm not familiar with this option. Make damn sure it does what the name...

Check the BIOS/UEFI for a wipe option. SATA/NVME secure erase

Alternately, if you have a spare USB-C PD port available at your desk (e.g., a recent multi-port cell phone charger), you could wire up the fans to something like the Adafruit's breakout board. You'd also need to wire in a switch, but that's simple.

1. I'd also go at least i7-14xxx. IIRC MS Flight Sim is very resource-intensive. With or without iGPU is a matter of taste. Without is a tad cheaper, with gives you a backup and access to the Intel encoders/decoders FWIW. 2. SATA SSDs perform fine for everyday tasks, but generally they're no...

Yeah, VPNs as offered/advertised by outfits like Nord and that Norton product provide basically nothing for security. Common application protocols such as HTTPS and encrypted DNS (DoT, DoH) cover you there. If some hotspot or whatever seems so sketchy that a VPN feels necessary, maybe it's...

Like the others said, yeah, maybe you'll see a little bit of a boost. I think the real improvement over what you have now might be noise levels. The Thermalrights, that Cooler Master, and like tower coolers with their larger surface area and larger dual fans are much more efficient and don't...

That Cooler Master may well cool the CPU a bit better under load, and it may do the job more quietly. But holy hell, it's $100? I'd just go with a closed-loop all-in-one radiator for that price. Instead, maybe consider the one of the Thermalright models, such as the Peerless Assassin, Phantom...

Well yeah, if you want to be pedantic about it, Linux also has no CLI. It's just a kernel. Real-world, no one cares. There's an opinion I never thought I'd see.

Lian Li and others gave up on aluminum mostly due to costs, so titanium seems like a huge stretch.

Yes, that's the credentials file option I'd mentioned, and is also outlined in the link I'd made. And as I'd alluded to, doing so may or may not be an acceptable idea depending on the situation.