What's your latest tech purchase?

[Sithaer]

Yeah, that's the major advantage of store-handled RMA - they know who to contact and how to get things done, and ideally have well established routines on handling everything. The downside is that these systems are often slow and cumbersome, or just understaffed.

I don't know about the EU, but in Norway the law mandates stores provide an 'equivalent' loaner product if an RMA takes more than a week to process. In reality the handling of this is highly variable (some insist you have to come back after a week to get it even if they know from the start the RMA will take a long time, some don't have loaner units on hand and have to request them from somewhere, etc.). My experience working in retail was that this was a great, but expensive system - And people handing in a recent iPhone for repair aren't too happy when the only loaners are either cheap android devices or really old Apple ones. Still, IMO this is a really great law - I mean, what would you do if you had to go a month without your phone?

Don't think we have that law here, at least I was never given/offered a temporary loan hardware.
I just happened to be lucky and a friend of mine had an extra 9800 GT laying around and I borrowed that while I was waiting for the RMA process to finish.
Same with the PSU earlier this year, did not hear anything about that option they just told me to send it back. 'good that I had my old budget PSU around and used that'

There's also the case when the store doesn't want to deal with a situation that the manufacturer potentially would.

My MSi GT 1030 died on me a couple months ago. Coincidentally, I installed its low profile bracket before then. MSi has a terrible construction on its passive low profile cards - even though the LP bracket is included, you have to remove the GPU heatsink to have access to the screw that holds it into place. The store told me that by removing the heatsink, I voided the warranty. So essentially, even though MSi includes the LP bracket, you're not allowed to install it, because you'd have to tamper with the heatsink.

Yup the retailers also have a pretty strict rule about that here, I'm not allowed to physically tamper with hardware even if its just removing 1 screw else they can void the warranty if they find that out.
Thats why I waited till my previous RX 570 ran out of the 3 years warranty before taking it apart and giving it a new paste and pads while I was at it.

Anyway I'm done with the off.

 

[KLiKzg]

Got used ASUS 1650 SUPER for 150€, to put in my Dell T5500.

Unfortunately, 1650 + 730 config could not fit with this bathe-moth. So those went to Lenovo C30...

 

[TheLostSwede]

Got used ASUS 1650 SUPER for 150€, to put in my Dell T5500.

View attachment 214617


Unfortunately, 1650 + 730 config could not fit with this bathe-moth. So those went to Lenovo C30...

Wow, a PCI-X slot, not seen one of those for ages.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Got used ASUS 1650 SUPER for 150€, to put in my Dell T5500.

View attachment 214617


Unfortunately, 1650 + 730 config could not fit with this bathe-moth. So those went to Lenovo C30...

Take out the plastic shrouds and it should fit fine.

 

[QuietBob]

Ordered on Friday 27th at 5:09pm, ready for pickup on the next day at 12:50pm



Gotta admit, I was sold after reading the detailed analysis here. Thank you @W1zzard for another excellent review!
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asrock-radeon-rx-6600-xt-phantom-gaming-d/

Being a 1080/60 gamer who plays older games almost exclusively, this card will last me a long time. Should be a nice upgrade from my HD7970

 

[jallenlabs]

I think I may have a problem, an Optane problem. Just bought two 960GB at the egg. Get em while they're cheap!!!

Intel Optane 905P Series 960GB, 2.5" x 15mm, U.2, PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D XPoint Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDPE21D960GAM3 - Newegg.com

Buy Intel Optane 905P Series 960GB, 2.5" x 15mm, U.2, PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D XPoint Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDPE21D960GAM3 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[maxfly]

I think I may have a problem, an Optane problem. Just bought two 960GB at the egg. Get em while they're cheap!!!
optane 960gb at newegg.com

You linked to to this post...

 

[jallenlabs]

What the heck! Fixed. Lol. Yes Optane may be coming for consumers, but it's not here yet. Its not caching I want, its the whole SSD! I dont expect consumer 5800DC drives coming to us without a huge price tag, just the DC version.

 

[stinger608]

Not really a "purchase" but a find?

I do property maintenance for my main living for a property management company and many times find some awesome items left behind from the previous rental tenants.

A couple of weeks ago I went into a vacant unit to create a maintenance punch list and in one of the closets was a Logitech G920 wheel and pedals! Perfect condition, however it didn't have the needed cable to connect to a USB port. I ordered the one needed from Amazon for about $5. Figured even if the wheel had issues five bucks was no huge loss. Got the cable Friday, plugged into one of the PC's and that sucker works like a charm. All force feedback works great!!!!

 

[Mussels]

Bought my mum a new phone, she's on a generic piece of crap android atm
For $250 Au, this thing has insane specs

 

[lexluthermiester]

Should be a nice upgrade from my HD7970

Keep that card as a spare though. It's always good to have a spare, just in case..

Get em while they're cheap!!!

Cheap? $700 for less than 1TB is not cheap, or did I miss something?

 

[Shou Miko]

Bought my mum a new phone, she's on a generic piece of crap android atm
For $250 Au, this thing has insane specs

Hope your mum is gonna be happy with her new phone, but what model is that?

 

[Space Lynx]

I couldn't resist. They arrived yesterday.

View attachment 214365

@phill hey Phill... we got another one who joined our P5 ranks cause the price was unbeatable. LOL Looks like Crucial must be doing something right cause we all buying that drive

@AusWolf as I told Phill I will not tell you, make sure you put a heatsink on that P5 1TB, it needs it.

here are my P5 1tb drive's numbers after a couple months of using it as a main OS and only drive in my laptop. it never breaks 60 celsius thanks to my heatsink too... which is nice...

I wish the random read (the 378 number) was a little higher but eh. for comparison, a WD SN 850 1TB gets over 1000 not 378... so yeah... P5 1tb is a good drive all things considered, but it is lacking a bit.

 

[Mussels]

Hope your mum is gonna be happy with her new phone, but what model is that?

Samsung A12

Budget phone, but not missing anything important

 

[lexluthermiester]

And those of us with that usually wish for the opposite, as store RMAs are inevitably slower

I looked into this. In Germany, it's not an RMA for the customer. They take the defective part back to the store and it is returned/exchanged on the spot. The customer waits for nothing. It's the retailer who submits the RMA and waits for replacement. That's what I wish was stateside. It's how we did it at PCClub BITD, but it was our level of service commitment not the law.

 

[AusWolf]

@phill hey Phill... we got another one who joined our P5 ranks cause the price was unbeatable. LOL Looks like Crucial must be doing something right cause we all buying that drive

@AusWolf as I told Phill I will not tell you, make sure you put a heatsink on that P5 1TB, it needs it.

here are my P5 1tb drive's numbers after a couple months of using it as a main OS and only drive in my laptop. it never breaks 60 celsius thanks to my heatsink too... which is nice...

I wish the random read (the 378 number) was a little higher but eh. for comparison, a WD SN 850 1TB gets over 1000 not 378... so yeah... P5 1tb is a good drive all things considered, but it is lacking a bit.

I'm planning to use it as a Steam folder drive, so I don't think it will ever encounter a scenario when a heatsink would help its case.

Samsung A12

Budget phone, but not missing anything important

Phones have come a long way in recent years. A budget phone can do everything that 90% of the people (myself included) want from a phone. Not to mention the increased battery life compared to more expensive models.

 

[Valantar]

I looked into this. In Germany, it's not an RMA for the customer. They take the defective part back to the store and it is returned/exchanged on the spot. The customer waits for nothing. It's the retailer who submits the RMA and waits for replacement. That's what I wish was stateside. It's how we did it at PCClub BITD, but it was our level of service commitment not the law.

That sounds utopian. How are they going to make an exchange if they haven't tested it and found an RMA-able fault? My guess is some major stores might do this (and resell anything that isn't defective), but that is going to get very expensive very soon - remember, most customers are utterly incompetent when it comes to troubleshooting (and, to be clear, that is perfectly reasonable and no fault of theirs). Unless the service agreement also includes the option to invoice the customer for anything that doesn't go through, which ... sounds like a raw deal for customers. "Hi! You remember that GPU you exchanged three weeks back? Yeah, turned out the error was PEBKAC, so here's a €200 bill for the testing. Kthxbye!" If that is how RMAs in Germany work overall, I would expect literally every store selling anything to have a huge collection of reduced-price products missing packaging, bundles, etc. from returns where no fault was found.

 

[Mussels]

I'm planning to use it as a Steam folder drive, so I don't think it will ever encounter a scenario when a heatsink would help its case.


Phones have come a long way in recent years. A budget phone can do everything that 90% of the people (myself included) want from a phone. Not to mention the increased battery life compared to more expensive models.

Well its got a 5000mah battery, the biggest iphone is 3,687
when you factor in the lower res screen and such, that things gunna be a 2-3 day phone for a casual user like dear old mumsy

reviews are basically: performance is meh, battery is great, camera is great for its price range. Mum takes photos of her gardening crap and posts on FB, and does the odd rare video call. Perfect for her.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Well its got a 5000mah battery, the biggest iphone is 3,687

when you factor in the lower res screen and such, that things gunna be a 2-3 day phone for a casual user like dear old mumsy

More like a week for mumsy types. Even my gf with a iphone7 plus gets 3 or 4 days

 

[AusWolf]

Well its got a 5000mah battery, the biggest iphone is 3,687

when you factor in the lower res screen and such, that things gunna be a 2-3 day phone for a casual user like dear old mumsy

Lower (but still decent) res screen, slower (but still decent) CPU, less RAM, bigger battery. What more can anyone ask for? It would even be a good replacement of my A20e if it ever decided to go tits up.

 

[tabascosauz]

Bought my mum a new phone, she's on a generic piece of crap android atm
For $250 Au, this thing has insane specs

Flagship prices skyrocketed, SD/Exynos have only been falling further behind Apple, I've been paying no attention to flagships but much more to the midrange to upper midrange segment. My current phone is a OP6T but even at that price I'm wholly unimpressed with the never-fixed graphical bugs, OLED burn-in, broken audio USB-C jack, etc. I'm thinking my next one will be something along the lines of a Nord 2 or Poco F3

The midrangers are perfect for social media/web/music/manga/YT. It's a shame that the SD780G might be a lost generation due to the chip shortage, it's the perfect midrange soc

actually I found a seemingly reputable and popular site that sells poco in canada, might pick up a F3, really tempted

 

[Valantar]

Samsung A12

Budget phone, but not missing anything important

I bought a Poco X3 NFC a few months back to replace my previous Motorola, and ... yeah, budget phones have come a long way. The cameras are kind of crap still, but usable for phone photography. Plenty fast for general use, large screen, lots of battery, does everything I need. I guess it gets slowed down when I keep 10-15 tabs open in the browser, but ... it's a phone. My only sticking points are some software flaws (switching between dark and light modes in the launcher takes a rather shockingly long time) and what seems to be garbage-tier eMMC. But it works really well still. I see no need to pay 2-3x as much for something marginally better.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Flagship prices skyrocketed, SD/Exynos have only been falling further behind Apple, I've been paying no attention to flagships but much more to the midrange to upper midrange segment. My current phone is a OP6T but even at that price I'm wholly unimpressed with the never-fixed graphical bugs, OLED burn-in, broken audio USB-C jack, etc. I'm thinking my next one will be something along the lines of a Nord 2 or Poco F3

The midrangers are perfect for social media/web/music/manga/YT. It's a shame that the SD780G might be a lost generation due to the chip shortage, it's the perfect midrange soc

actually I found a seemingly reputable and popular site that sells poco in canada, might pick up a F3, really tempted

Strange i'm using a OP6, and it has been a great phone, even updated to Android 11, had no problems with burn in, the USB socket and headphone jack work fine too, battery life aint bad either. What's the difference twixt a 6 and 6T?

 

[tabascosauz]

Strange i'm using a OP6, and it has been a great phone, even updated to Android 11, had no problems with burn in, the USB socket and headphone jack work fine too, battery life aint bad either. What's the difference twixt a 6 and 6T?

Pretty similar I think. I might have just been saddled with a lemon. The statusbar burn-in is tolerable but pretty disappointing since it's not the first OLED phone I've had, but only one with burn-in. I use an aggressive 15 sec screen timeout.

I think the 6 retained the 3.5mm jack. The 6T is basically the 6 but without the jack. The USB-C works fine, but does not carry audio anymore. Just straight up stopped one day and hasn't worked since with any combination of DAC/C-to-3.5 adapter. Battery life held up pretty good after 2.5 years.

I got the 11 update this week, looks real nice but doesn't solve the problems I've been having for 2 years. Screen gamut randomly changes on its own (sometimes its suddenly like the phone decided to cut 80% saturation for no reason, fixes itself turning screen on and off), and sometimes animations are HELLA laggy like the GPU is asleep (again, fixes itself turning screen on and off).

Looking into it more I just discovered the Poco X3 Pro. Cheaper than the F3, but still packing somewhat recent flagship hardware (860 is refreshed new production 855+ I think?). gsmarena has a glowing review on it, only $385CAD. Think I just found my new phone.

Apparently has a 3.5mm jack too. Perfect.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Pretty similar I think. I might have just been saddled with a lemon. The statusbar burn-in is tolerable but pretty disappointing since it's not the first OLED phone I've had, but only one with burn-in. I use an aggressive 15 sec screen timeout.

I think the 6 retained the 3.5mm jack. The 6T is basically the 6 but without the jack. The USB-C works fine, but does not carry audio anymore. Just straight up stopped one day and hasn't worked since with any combination of DAC/C-to-3.5 adapter. Battery life held up pretty good after 2.5 years.

I got the 11 update this week, looks real nice but doesn't solve the problems I've been having for 2 years. Screen gamut randomly changes on its own (sometimes its suddenly like the phone decided to cut 80% saturation for no reason, fixes itself turning screen on and off), and sometimes animations are HELLA laggy like the GPU is asleep (again, fixes itself turning screen on and off).

Looking into it more I just discovered the Poco X3 Pro. Cheaper than the F3, but still packing somewhat recent flagship hardware (860 is refreshed new production 855+ I think?). gsmarena has a glowing review on it, only $385CAD. Think I just found my new phone.

Apparently has a 3.5mm jack too. Perfect.

I think the 6T is a lower end version of the 6, I think all T versions are lower versions. I can't live without the 3.5 jack as i have nice AKG headphones. I'm just gonna keep this till it's dead, not paying stupid UK prices for high end Samsungs. Also i'm using Nova launcher on my 6