Someone has been doing some upgrading round here...

I'm not sure what laptop you have been talking about with a non-replaceable battery but even the latest Dell laptops we have at my job has a battery that can be replaced if you pop the back off, remove some screws, and a connector. Are they soldering the batteries in on some models?

You can buy knockoff Dell batteries on Amazon/Aliexpress but I read one company forbid that after a laptop caught on fire.

I think they can ship elsewhere, since they show the ex-Vat price (which means you pay no VAT tax if ordering from outside the UK).

yeah, they tend to do that (only display prices in £, at least up until the order screen), but for good reason. Consider it fair warning that you may get hit with foreign transaction fee (by your credit card company). This fee doesn't show on the order screen, but you'd see it on your credit card statement later.

There are many retro gaming companies based out of the UK. I've never had issue when ordering from them, except that shipping can take quite a bit longer (to be expected).

These two for example.

www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/

funstock.co.uk/


You'd want a credit card that has low or no foreign transaction fees, as there's no point in paying it since it provides no benefit to the consumer. There's a currncy exchange rate associated with buying things in different currencies, so that's why they charge you for it. But u might as well let a CC that's willing to pay it for you do so.

I think I've tried ordering w/ credit card through Paypal before and the CC company still hit me with the fee.


This is probably the easiest one (with no foreign transaction fee) for people with less than good credit to qualify for. It's a secured CC, meaning you have to put down a (refundable) deposit to qualify.
www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/quicksilver-secured/


They also have (no deposit, unsecured) Quicksilver cards for ppl with better credit.
www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/compare/

It appears that only the 18" Alienware has the integrated battery, and the 16" Alienware model does not. I had assumed the 18" model would be their top of the line, but apparently not (in some ways). Unfortunately, the 16" model has those power saving AI cpu's, which aren't as powerful for gaming but more powerful at spying on you. lol

www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-computer-laptops/alienware-x16-r2-gaming-laptop/spd/alienware-x16-r2-laptop

Portable gaming monitors are getting dirt cheap too. One of these would be good for a handheld system when playing games that have lots of smallish text.

www.xda-developers.com/arzopa-portable-monitors-review/


Ideally, some day, they'll make a pair of (normal looking) sunglasses with built-in screen that gives the player a perceived screen size of 70"+.

That's interesting. I guess the word "integrated" in tech doesn't mean what I thought it did (because the word is used right there on their own site, under battery specs for this model).

Lately, I'm of the opinion that desktop gaming has become something of a ripoff, unless you're a pro gamer or decently successful Twitch streamer. I tried parting out a upper-mid system on Newegg and it's $3000 to $4000. You could buy a new offroad motorcycle, go on an exotic vacation for that, or build your own personal arcade w/ full arcade cabinets (if you're into retro and have the space, like a spare unused basement to refinish). Now imagine trying to keep up with the Jones's and purchasing a new PC master race rig every couple of years or so. Over the years, that's an insane amount of money that you could do great and much more memorable things with.

tbh, it's a much bigger problem (cars, college, healthcare, basic roof over your head) - everything medium to big ticket has gotten ridiculously priced. Purchasing new vehicles are even worse (in the US) now. I took my 2018 4Runner in for service the other day.

They had a basic SR5 Toyota Tacoma (small turbo 4 engine) on the showroom floor - looking all cheap, with flat black plastic, not even color matched (all over the truck's body, not just front & rear bumper) for over $46,000 (that's sticker, not including all the extra fees & taxes).

My 4Runner looks much more upscale (everything's color matched), has offroad suspension, 4x4, 6 cylinder engine, and it cost significantly less (brand new), both the sticker price and interest rate on the loan, just six years ago.

I was looking at offroad motorcycles recently. While they've gone up in price, it's not nearly to the degree as these other items I've mentioned. I think it's probably that, broadly speaking, motorcycles aren't hugely popular in the US and they have to be much more competitive on price to meet sales goals.

That's more the route (for hobbies) I've been thinking about lately.

Hobbies come up in convos in work meetings too. "What do you do in your spare time?" I play games. lol. it's not even a social stigma anymore, because my team lead and another developer play PC games too, but it's more like a meh, so do lots of ppl.

I've only ridden motorcycles (owned by friends and family) a few times when I was younger, but had no problems doing so. Picked it up easily. As a kid, I used to ride bicycles all the time and did some mountain biking. One of my best friends growing up used to race Kawasaki motorcycles in Motocross like you did.

Lossless Scaling has become a "must have" utility for me now. Any game that is locked at 30-60 fps I couldn't imagine not having it.

Finished Doom 3 and its expansion with the CST source port and a graphics overhaul mod. None of these mods fix the fact that its limited to 62 fps.

There are workarounds to the 62 fps limit but it makes the game a stutter fest, the engine needs to be recoded to fix it.

With Lossless Scaling I just start the game. Hit 3x or 4x frame generation and bam, smooth as glass. On a 360hz screen can tell the difference right away between 186 fps or 284 fps compared to the base 62. Even if they are "fake" frames, the game still looks great.

yeah, I was surprised. Before they revealed the price, I was thinking they were gonna ask $350 or more, because it's like they thought of everything (based on the features list). Most retro consoles don't get this treatment (in hardware, design and features, like built-in Wifi and 4K hdmi).

Also, the 8BitDo 64 Controller (not included with the console) looks like it's made to put the original N64 controller to shame. The console is compatible with the OG controller though, so the 8BitDo one isn't essential if u already have an original. The 8BitDo 64 controller's firmware can even be updated with wired connection to the console (probably so they can patch the rumble/vibration feature for various games if customers find any issues that they didn't find during development).

The power supply is included (something some of the other retro consoles left out to save a buck and irritate customers).

I have a feeling that this retro console is going to be a scalpers dream. So if you really want one, be ready to push the button early when the pre-order starts (if work permits).

It looks cool but I never got into the N64 much as a kid, with the exception of playing Goldeneye and a few other games at friends. I couldn't afford a PC and game consoles unlike some of my more upper-middle class friends so I just focused on computer games. I always thought Doom64 was cool unlike most people who shit on it till it got a revaluation starting the last few years

OG retro carts are too expensive nowadays, since too many ppl got into retro collecting and scalpers flipping every available product that can be flipped for profit. Analogue's official stance is that they don't condone piracy. However, people always end up hacking the firmware on Analogue's consoles so, eventually, you can load ROMs straight to the SD card.