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What's your latest tech purchase?

I have researched gaming laptops extensively over the years, and I can say there are only two laptops I would ever consider buying (if I were rich), HID Evolution custom laptop and he Asus SCAR line, you chose very well. Does that thing have a mini-LED screen by any chance? what the specs of the display? I am curious

display specs are- 16-inch QHD Mini LED Nebula HDR Display, 16:10 aspect ratio, 240Hz/3ms, and 100% DCI-P3. It's a nice laptop, could buy a car in the UK for the cost of it though. I wonder how well something so thing can cool that CPU and a 4080 though.

https://rog.asus.com/uk/laptops/rog-strix/rog-strix-scar-16-2023-series/

Here's a under the skirt pic, there is a lot going on in here
internals-2.jpg
 
display specs are- 16-inch QHD Mini LED Nebula HDR Display, 16:10 aspect ratio, 240Hz/3ms, and 100% DCI-P3. It's a nice laptop, could buy a car in the UK for the cost of it though. I wonder how well something so thing can cool that CPU and a 4080 though.

https://rog.asus.com/uk/laptops/rog-strix/rog-strix-scar-16-2023-series/

Here's a under the skirt pic, there is a lot going on in here
View attachment 321797

damn that is a nice screen.

yeah I noticed when I was in the UK last year visiting friends and family that there was some used cars only 2000 quid, I was like wtf... in USA there are no used cars this cheap anymore, there used to be... but then hell arrived.
 
Yeah on the B9 the Pixel Refresh doesn't run on a timer like that, only on shutoff.
Yeah it "supposed" to do it while in Standby it even says that in the pop up and I have even seen the green light flashing(the cycle indicator)But yeah the pop up timing is always at the best times...in fact I skipped one earlier..Guess I'll make tea and run it..
I mean big picture I would rather it be more maintenance than less as long as it's going to keep the panel in good condition I have no intention of purchasing another monitor unless there is some significant tech leap this will be my monitor until it is dead and then I will purchase the same size and resolution of whatever is the equivalent when that happens...


Edit: Just logged into Dell to check on drivers and this is a bit comforting tho I don't know what it covers I just know I have a 3 year warranty on the panel itself.

Edit Edit: I actually just read the pop up and I was wrong it will also do it when the monitor is OFF which is almost never. I have been trying to remember to turn it off at night to save power(it is by no means energy efficient even with "Eco Mode" turned on)
So yeah I need to turn it off for it to do it automatically but regardless of what I'm doing if it's been on for 4 hours it will pop up.
Serta.jpg
 
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My new monitor arrived. It's a Dell S3422DWG.

View attachment 321793

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'll be keeping it.

It's a 3440x1440 144Hz VA monitor that supposedly has FreeSync Premium Pro.

I checked it for dead pixels and didn't find any. The bump in refresh-rate is noticeable over my previous 100Hz monitor.

Unfortunately, FreeSync on this monitor has a glaring issue that frankly should be unacceptable.

Whenever the framerate drops below a certain point, I get a noticable flicker. It seems to be worse on the left half of the screen.

I loaded up Saints Row 2 (it's unstable framerate really shows this issue) and filmed it at 240 FPS to capture it. I wanted to upload the raw videos here, but I guess that isn't allowed.

Fortunately the issue is still visible if I upload to YouTube.

FreeSync On (Epilepsy Warning: Flickering)

FreeSync Off

So far, it's completely fine with FreeSync disabled. But better FreeSync support is one of the reasons I wanted to upgrade my monitor.

So I'm not sure if I should keep it or return it.
Pretty much matches what was reported in multiple reviews.
 
Pretty much matches what was reported in multiple reviews.

this is another reason I stay away from VA panels. the smearing is non-existent on modern VA panels, but the pixel response times are just bad enough where the screen doesn't look right, especially in games like World of Warcraft (i play the free trial sometimes for nostalgia, dont judge me) where I am moving the camera around fast sometimes. IPS has never had this issue for me anyway.

people say oh ips glow bad, bla bla, but honestly in 90% of games i never notice the ips glow. in super dark games like SOMA or Limbo yeah you will notice IPS glow, but thats a small portion of games.

for super dark games, I have a steam section of my library called OLED, and instead of adding a game to favorites in library, i add super dark games to this OLED section - so that when I do get OLED someday, I will have a bunch of dark games ready to play and blow me away.

get yourself an IPS imo. mini-LED is getting cheaper and cheaper too as time goes on, so maybe just hold out for that I don't know.
 
Pretty much matches what was reported in multiple reviews.

I just leave freesync off, i don't have a AMD GPU anyway, so matters not. Still a pretty nice display though, shame about the low refresh problem. Some of us don't have $£1000+ to spend on a monitor, so we just get the scraps from the floor.

this is another reason I stay away from VA panels. the smearing is non-existent on modern VA panels, but the pixel response times are just bad enough where the screen doesn't look right, especially in games like World of Warcraft (i play the free trial sometimes for nostalgia, dont judge me) where I am moving the camera around fast sometimes. IPS has never had this issue for me anyway.

people say oh ips glow bad, bla bla, but honestly in 90% of games i never notice the ips glow. in super dark games like SOMA or Limbo yeah you will notice IPS glow, but thats a small portion of games.

for super dark games, I have a steam section of my library called OLED, and instead of adding a game to favorites in library, i add super dark games to this OLED section - so that when I do get OLED someday, I will have a bunch of dark games ready to play and blow me away.

get yourself an IPS imo. mini-LED is getting cheaper and cheaper too as time goes on, so maybe just hold out for that I don't know.

I'm playing classic atm and don't notice no smearing, i must have weird eyesight or summat.
 
I just leave freesync off, i don't have a AMD GPU anyway, so matters not. Still a pretty nice display though, shame about the low refresh problem.

LG does mitigate this somewhat, they have two freesync options in the monitor menu, so if one is giving you flickering issues you just switch it over, no need to turn it off, and is game dependent, so I am guessing that is why they have 3 options, at least on the VA of theirs I did try, but again the pixel response times just broke the immersion for me, had no smearing, just didn't look right to my eyes.

Stick with IPS imo. or maybe i just i haven't seen a proper VA yet

I'm playing classic atm and don't notice no smearing, i must have weird eyesight or summat.

its probably you just have a better VA panel. i only saw 2 in my entire life, so my experience is limited.
 
LG does mitigate this somewhat, they have two freesync options in the monitor menu, so if one is giving you flickering issues you just switch it over, no need to turn it off, and is game dependent, so I am guessing that is why they have 3 options, at least on the VA of theirs I did try, but again the pixel response times just broke the immersion for me, had no smearing, just didn't look right to my eyes.

Stick with IPS imo. or maybe i just i haven't seen a proper VA yet



its probably you just have a better VA panel. i only saw 2 in my entire life, so my experience is limited.

LG make very good monitors, i got this for a good price, £260, that i could not refuse, so i took it, and will just deal with its foibles.


I would love a UW IPS or even OLED screen, but it's just not gonna happen unles i commit a robbery or win a large amount of cash.
 
LG make very good monitors, i got this for a good price, £260, that i could not refuse, so i took it, and will just deal with its foibles.

honestly thats a good price for a Dell, I think Dell makes good monitors, you chose well. I am very happy with my NZXT Canvas monitor, it impresses me honestly. not bad for the $125 I paid for it on a lightning sale.


got it on that sell there, and its honestly the best monitor I have ever owned, after calibration its really nice. semi-gloss too, not just pure matte, which I really like.

my next upgrade will be OLED, but thats probably on hold for another year or two. cause Deck OLED is making my wallet weep, but I can't resist!!!
 
honestly thats a good price for a Dell, I think Dell makes good monitors, you chose well. I am very happy with my NZXT Canvas monitor, it impresses me honestly. not bad for the $125 I paid for it on a lightning sale.


got it on that sell there, and its honestly the best monitor I have ever owned, after calibration its really nice. semi-gloss too, not just pure matte, which I really like.

my next upgrade will be OLED, but thats probably on hold for another year or two. cause Deck OLED is making my wallet weep, but I can't resist!!!

Steam Deck OLED today, watch for a raft of entries here with guys showing them off
 
this is another reason I stay away from VA panels. the smearing is non-existent on modern VA panels, but the pixel response times are just bad enough where the screen doesn't look right, especially in games like World of Warcraft (i play the free trial sometimes for nostalgia, dont judge me) where I am moving the camera around fast sometimes. IPS has never had this issue for me anyway.

people say oh ips glow bad, bla bla, but honestly in 90% of games i never notice the ips glow. in super dark games like SOMA or Limbo yeah you will notice IPS glow, but thats a small portion of games.

for super dark games, I have a steam section of my library called OLED, and instead of adding a game to favorites in library, i add super dark games to this OLED section - so that when I do get OLED someday, I will have a bunch of dark games ready to play and blow me away.

get yourself an IPS imo. mini-LED is getting cheaper and cheaper too as time goes on, so maybe just hold out for that I don't know.

Where VA's suck more is at movies. IDK why it looks verry grainy, any content looks.

I have a 4K 32" BenQ VA, and the Asus 27" OLED.
 
Where VA's suck more is at movies. IDK why it looks verry grainy, any content looks.

I have a 4K 32" BenQ VA, and the Asus 27" OLED.
The what now? Majority of TV's are based on VA panels. If anything they're slightly better than OLED at presenting 24p content in motion simply because the transitions aren't as fast as on OLED.
 
The what now? Majority of TV's are based on VA panels. If anything they're slightly better than OLED at presenting 24p content in motion simply because the transitions aren't as fast as on OLED.

I talk about grain, not motion.
 
I talk about grain, not motion.
What grain? if you're seeing too much grain that's not cause of VA panel but because of processing done on the display.
 
What grain? if you're seeing too much grain that's not cause of VA panel but because of processing done on the display.

After 3 32" VA i can't say it's true.
 
After 3 32" VA i can't say it's true.
There's nothing VA specific that would result in increased amount of grain. It's either panel coating which can cause anything displayed on the monitor to appear grainy or processing like sharpening that can magnify the amount of grain present in the content being displayed. If you're claiming otherwise than you're just talking nonsense.
 
There's nothing VA specific that would result in increased amount of grain. It's either panel coating which can cause anything displayed on the monitor to appear grainy or processing like sharpening that can magnify the amount of grain present in the content being displayed. If you're claiming otherwise than you're just talking nonsense.

A 4K remux, that means 30-70gb one movie, displayed with same players (smplayer & mpchc-be) gives bad IQ to my eye on the VA, not on my IPS 22" 1080p nor the OLED 1440p 240hz, but movies only, games look good/normal.

Solution is to be a bit more far, anyway i watch all my videos on this panel, i don't care, i watched once a 4k movie on the OLED and yes it was good, but again, i don't care.
 
A 4K remux, that means 30-70gb one movie, displayed with same players (smplayer & mpchc-be) gives bad IQ to my eye on the VA, not on my IPS 22" 1080p nor the OLED 1440p 240hz, but movies only, games look good/normal.
Have you tried lowering the sharpness? It's probably a matter of settings.
 
1 more... Replacing one of my 1tb ext ssd with that

1700136309673.png


Its the extreme V2 in...... 4tb :D
Discounted from 277chf to 207chf (still, albeit not by much, more expensive than the 2tb SN770M basically I paid 3tb with 1 microSD card and the SN770M 199chf )
 
I hope you won't have the problems others have with that drive.
 
1 more... Replacing one of my 1tb ext ssd with that

View attachment 321825

Its the extreme V2 in...... 4tb :D
Discounted from 277chf to 207chf (still, albeit not by much, more expensive than the 2tb SN770M basically I paid 3tb with 1 microSD card and the SN770M 199chf )
You know they're dying left and right?
 
You know they're dying left and right?
I'm usually lucky to the point that even OCZ ssd never failed me :p

We'll see...

Ok 1 more more then

20k mAh powerbank being too small? Lets go for double
20231116_145342.jpg20231116_145353.jpg20231116_145417.jpg


Looks quite neat tbf, it even has a multimode flashlight on the other side
20231116_145713.jpg20231116_145734.jpg20231116_145739.jpg

I, obviously, will keep my Omnicharge Omni 20+ for travel needing that I take a plane :D since max is 100Wh or 27k mAh (160Wh 32k mAh for easyJet it seems)
 
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its done. OLED glossy Deck is mine and will be here in 3 days, order is placed.

i don't drink, smoke, gamble, get tattoos, concerts I don't do anything at all, im even smart on spending money on food and only drink water. so fuck yeah im going to treat myself. i deserve it

rock on mates!
 
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