Finally a new computer

[PZ]

Well, I finally broke down and purchased a new gaming laptop on Amazon Prime Day, an Acer Nitro 17 Gaming Laptop | AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS Octa-Core CPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU | 17.3" QHD 165Hz IPS Display | 1TB Gen 4 SSD | Wi-Fi 6E | RGB Backlit KB for $1099.

This is my first PC purchase (for myself) in many years. Last time was when I built the gaming desktop.

Might not be the best, but it will keep me entertained for a few years.

[mandru]

Good on ya!  Sometimes you need to spoil yourself. 

[PZ]

Thanks mandru,

I probably would not have made the purchase but it was on Prime Day and I saved $300.

It is painful to keep purchasing computers/devices even when you have a perfectly good one in hand.

[fragger]

Nice one, PZ Those are pretty good specs. Hope you have fun with it!

[Dweller_Benthos]

That's a pretty good system, and I bet it spits out heat like a furnace! Having it truly on your lap would probably get a bit warm pretty fast, lol.

[PZ]

Having it truly on your lap would probably get a bit warm pretty fast, lol.

I'm sure it does as well as plenty of fan noise (it $p@rts two). Even though it has not been delivered yet I'm already looking at cooling pads and laptop "desks".

Quite a few years ago I built a laptop "desk" that consists of an oak board long enough to reach both arms of my recliner. The computer would sit at the perfect height for use so I'm planning to find it and try it out on the new rig.

[PZ]

Nice one, PZ Those are pretty good specs. Hope you have fun with it!

Thanks fragger!  I hope it turns out well, but I think everyone knows what a *bleep* shoot it is to purchase anything made in China 

[PZ]

Well, I discovered a potential problem with Acer computers - they evidently have hinges that are problematic - hinges being too tight. I have to admit that when I open the lid it feels a bit too tight, much more so than any other laptop I have ever used. That tightness plus the fact that the lid is made of plastic has me a bit concerned. I'm being really careful with it.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Had a laptop like that, forget what brand though, I essentially had to pry it apart to open it, there was none of this having it sit on the table and just open it with on hand, you had to use two and put in some effort to get it open. It was nice once you got it to the point you wanted it, because it would sit there and not eventually droop all the way open like some do.

[PZ]

I was checking on Reddit and someone with the same laptop said essentially the same. It took a while but eventually it loosened enough for it to feel "normal"

[PZ]

That's a pretty good system, and I bet it spits out heat like a furnace! Having it truly on your lap would probably get a bit warm pretty fast, lol.

Update: I'm doing well with the new machine and have tweaked it a bit using custom GPU settings and a few registry settings. The biggest improvement is to the heat production and fan noise. Now the fans make hardly any noise, and the heat has gone from almost too hot to touch right above the GPU location to pleasantly warm (when playing games, and cool when doing plain computing)

I'm playing all the games I like without any noticeable performance loss.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Hey that's nice. If the cooling system is well designed and efficient, you can get pretty good results.

[PZ]

Indeed  Now it feels more like a regular notebook. It is completely silent when not gaming, and only slight fan noise during games which I can't even hear when the TV is on.

[PZ]

Well, I purchased a 4tb Sandisk external USB drive and copied all my games to it (USB4). The games all w0#k flawlessly (with no obvious performance degradation), and the drive does not warm up hardly at all. So far only 1.2 tb space consumed. Now I can add RDR2 (required 150 gb space) and Uncharted when they go on sale. I'm also looking forward to Cities II.

[mandru]

PZ that's perfect timing for a question I've had for some time now. 

Regarding moving a file like a game or image collection to a new drive or storage location other than the original storage drive.  Do the desktop shortcuts keep track of the relocation or do you have to create new desktop shortcuts?

The SSD on my motherboard still has a fair amount of space on it but new games these days are really storage space hungry.

That and the collection of the JPEGs for sheet music I have to keep track is continually growing because of our new lead singers who are changing all of the keys for songs that have been unchanged for years.