Aaron44126

Here are references to Pro Precision 9. https://registry.dmtf.org/products/dell-pro-precision-9-t6-pw9t6260 https://registry.dmtf.org/products/dell-pro-precision-9-t4-pw9t4260 https://registry.dmtf.org/products/dell-pro-precision-9-t2-pw9t2260

I think that's on point and there's also this shift is also going on because ... Each major architectural advancement costs way more than they used to (in R&D, and also in just what it takes to get chips using the latest fab tech). Each major architectural advancement also brings less benefit than they used to. (Gone are the days when performance doubles every couple of years. Now we get maybe a 20-30% performance bump or something in the same timespan, at best.) You have NVIDIA claiming giant generation-over-generation gains, but that's not all from the architecture, it is also from increasing the power draw to their chips and "playing with the numbers" by rolling in new "things" like DLSS / AI frame generation which don't really make for an apples-to-apples comparison. With gains costing so much more, it makes sense that there would be more incentive to hang on to the "current" generation and extract as much profit from it as possible.

Eh. I think we're also going to see at least some companies trying to reduce prices by providing you with crappier stuff. Systems with 8GB of RAM (or less?) when 16GB would be more appropriate. Squeeze onto tiny SSDs. Etc. People like us will be able to see and avoid these, but your non-tech family member who just goes to Costco to buy a cheap laptop is going to get something extra crappy.

It might seem counterintuitive, but try it on the standard performance mode instead of "ultra performance" and see if that makes a difference. I've found that "ultra performance" hurts more than helps in unintuitive ways before.

https://www.theverge.com/report/839506/ram-shortage-price-increases-pc-gaming-smartphones

I have a link in my signature to an article about the pros and cons of using LTSC. I personally prefer LTSC as well (…for the one Windows system that I have left that I actually use…). not only is it a more “decorated” base install… I *like* the idea of security updates only — you don’t have to worry about Microsoft shoving stuff down that you have to figure out how to disable or get rid of, and you can *decide* when you are ready to upgrade to the next version. As for “performance improvements”, I don’t see that as much of a concern. Windows is already about as refined as it can be in that area, and I see GPU drivers as the main place where that is in flux, and of course you can still install current GPU drivers on the LTSC version. Now as for the issues that @Easa is experiencing here, I don’t think that it would make that much of a difference if he was using LTSC or not. This seems like deeper platform-level stuff.

Despite what the system requirements say, you can use Windows 11 with "legacy boot". Unless something has changed recently... When I tried it (a couple of years ago), the official install media still supported legacy boot, and you just had to jump through the regular hoops to disable the secure boot, TPM, and CPU checks in the installer to get it to go. But it might be easier to do by upgrading a Windows 10 system rather than installing from scratch.

Just saw this fun headline. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2998935/ram-is-so-expensive-samsung-wont-even-sell-it-to-samsung.html

Yeah, I get the way that the rep framed the price hike to you is gross. I think it is really the Dell bean counters "exploiting" as you say, realizing that they can sell the RAM at a higher price so they're going to do it. (They would have to raise prices eventually as their upstream source for memory starts to cost more, but that hasn't happened yet for stuff they have already purchased and have in inventory.) Not just Dell, anywhere you look RAM prices are up 2×-4× since summertime.

This has been brewing for a while. More demand = higher prices. They're going to sell their inventory at the highest price possible, and AI companies are willing to pay a lot, it seems like. Also, other market shifts. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/after-nearly-30-years-crucial-will-stop-selling-ram-to-consumers/ New fabs are being set up to try to meet the demand, but that's a years-long process. Maybe the AI bubble will burst eventually. I'm just glad that I'm not in a spot to want to buy a new system or upgrade anything right now.

I get you. I'm in the same place. I mean, I am glad to see the "Precision" name return, "Pro Max" seems like it belongs to iPhones. But everything else about it is just confusing, especially if they keep changing it.

Precision name might be making a comeback. But what does "7" mean? https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Pro-Max-no-more-Leak-reveals-Dell-Pro-Precision-7-16-laptop-with-Intel-Panther-Lake-processors.1176556.0.html CES is not that far away...

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ...Not a fun one. Some kernel code (probably a driver) tried to read memory from a bad address. For clues, you need to open the memory dump in windbg and run the command "!analyze -v". It should hopefully point you to what driver is to blame. (Look for "MODULE_NAME" and/or "FAULTING_MODULE" in the output.) My money is on NVIDIA, just based on past experience. The BSOD screen itself sometimes shows the faulting driver on the screen (reported as a .sys file, like nvlddmkm.sys). Look out for that if it happens again. I feel like I can't point you where to look more specifically because I'm not really sure what the BSOD screen looks like now (didn't Microsoft change the layout and make it black instead of blue?)... I am using Windows less and less these days, as little as I can possibly get away with, and it has probably been over two years since I ran into a BSOD.

Ha, that's actually pretty cool that he got Linus Torvalds on, I will watch this.

He mentions that different errors have different device IDs, this Wi-Fi card one is just one example. Looking at the timestamps in the list behind, it looks like they come in a big batch all at once. It's like the whole PCI bus threw up. 😕