Etern4l

The NZXT recommendation looks pretty cool, as far as prebuilts go, however, I did immediately notice a couple of issues which highlight the caveats of buying a prebuilt, even from a "performance" brand such as NZXT: STORAGE Model:Product brand may vary Capacity:500GB Form Factor:NVMe M.2 SSD That wouldn't be acceptable to me personally. POWER Model:SFX 650W Gold Wattage:650 W Form Factor:SFX Rating:80+ Gold I'm not sure what this PSU model is. Google suggested it could be some CoolerMaster stuff. 650W won't support an upgrade to a beefier GPU. The case in general looks a bit on the smaller side, which something that may or may not suit you, but generally smaller cases will exhibit worse thermals. Doesn't look like the case would support a 360 AIO, and you would definitely want that. https://nzxt.com/product/h5-flow

Google Might Already Be Replacing Some Ad Sales Jobs With AI Massachusetts Lawmakers Mull 'Killer Robot' Bill OpenAI Is in Talks to Raise New Funding at Valuation of $100 Billion or More

I would mentally block off thoughts around future-proofing - that is a hopeless road to anxiety and analysis paralysis, sort of more applicable to the laptop world. Just look at the most bang per buck setup you can afford today (or in 2 months). If you need more power further in the future, you will be able to upgrade the CPU (and mobo if needed, may not be the case).

There is very little compatibility risk, mostly around the case and cooler/AIO I guess. I mean just build a component shortlist and post it here for all the vets to vet it. Would be very hard to go wrong that way.

Sounds like a proper desktop would be ideal, but then you would need to add "I (think I would) enjoy building PCs" to the above, as it's a bit of a prerequisite. If you are not comfortable, and actually excited, with/by the above then fair enough - prob best to stick to the prebuilt/laptop space. Additionally, given your budget, you would probably need to add: "I am happy to assume/would enjoy the risk of hunting for second hand components on the internet" - doesn't quite apply to me for instance.

Happy birthday bro. What are you trying to accomplish with the purchase? Get into the desktop hobby? Get a machine that will outperform Geforce Now? Both? The problem with the prebuilt is you might not be actually getting into the hobby, if that's what you desire, and would consequently fail to obtain a stable base for future improvements (case/PSU/cooling/SSD that won't suck). Given your budget, would try to put together a solid basic system, even without a GPU initially - you can run your GeForce now off an iGPU (or a $100 second hand card) for a while, then start hunting for a GPU.

Hope the 1 TB version is more robust. I switched to Seagate - class-leading TBW and much better software, also available on Linux. So far so good: 56TB, and "Life: 99%" showing in SeaTools :) I don't remember exactly, but the failed Corsair probably had no more than 10 TB on the clock.

Corsair "Force Series" MP510 2TB SSD Turned out the Force wasn't with that one unfortunately: clunky software, failed after a few years of very light use. Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1 Laptop While Alienwares are not ideal, this thing was something else. First the webcam failed, then the mobo - with even lighter use.

Any caveats? Does the prebuilt utilise industry standard components, is it upgradeable? Do you know exactly what components are used? Has the particular prebuilt been well reviewed by someone remotely reputable? If the components are not specified, would it be fair to assume the cheapest to deliver are used?

You are very kind. I am extremely busy (not least due to getting a little involved with the SWGOH mobile game lol) but still following the bench thread, it's just that things are really stable on the HW side of things for me, so not much to contribute lately. The 14900K would be a very marginal upgrade, I am not even fully utilising my 13900K at present.

It's great that LucasArts didn't quite licence the entire franchise to the wh...s at EA, although that broad EA licencing probably explains why there won't be any main SW characters in this (which is a shame). Hope the game succeeds regardless. In the meantime, a bit of off-topic SW outlaw (BH actually) humour ;) h

No, those are huge neural networks, although still much smaller than the average human neocortex, fortunately.

Presumably a server-side feature provided in exchange for personal data, so would be a hard pass from me. Blocking calls from withheld numbers + a few manual bans on the the usual suspects resolved nuisance calls, plus apparently there are good 3rd party apps for those who somehow actually require a more sophisticated call blocking feature. A non-USP from Google here.

Bizarre. What does it mean for a phone to “drop an app”? We’ll probably never know. No such issues with my iPhone 14 Pro Max. BTW MagSafe charging is pretty cool, in fact I forgot what it means to worry about battery life issues, lasts 2 days with lighter use.

Works for me. So, Techradar who typically don't look at any ethical or privacy aspects of products rates iPhone 15 Pro higher than the Pixel Pro on features alone (although it's close): https://www.techradar.com/phones/google-pixel-8-pro-vs-iphone-15-pro It's interesting that even mainstream reviewers found the AI features creepy.

Sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but this is not your thread per se: it's a public discussion space you happened to initiate. You can't kick or even ask people you disagree with out, although you should strive to suppress any abrasive embellishments or remarks. If you are not clear on how to pull out of a thread you cannot or do not want to continue in a civilised manner, then you can do the following for example: I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

We know, especially after helping yourself to some of That much has been clear for a while, does not really provide a basis for any meaningful conversation based on arguments unfortunately. So just stating the obvious for the record here, and correcting inaccuracies as they arise. Apple is clearly different from the other big tech companies, despite the continuous effort to emulate them. You do feel like you are more of a customer, rather than the product you actually are when using Google services for instance. To be fair, Apple are guilty of frivolous marketing, although that is far less of a transgression in my view given that those don't necessarily detract from the user experience, and I have no trouble seeing through that in the first place.

Interesting, although Aysha the Broadcaster (why was she there?) confused AI and AGI, in addition to being a bit of a paid shill of the tech sector. “Regulators need private sector expertise”. Must have never heard of a conflict of interest. Meanwhile, a horror scenario is unfolding in the TV news sector: These AI-generated news anchors are freaking me out

Some basic examples of iPhones' superiority in the privacy department: * On device data storage by default * Client-side encrypted iCloud * Opt-in based app tracking control * Consequently, send orders of magnitude less data home Even with the data collection/use issue somehow aside, a major worry about the freaking phone is caused by concerns around the companies pocketing the profits, and what how they spend the proceeds. In the case of G and M$ - the profits are invested primarily in the effort to replace humans with intelligent machines, which clearly is not something rational intelligent humans should support.

Wouldn't consider a Pixel, since people supporting "don't be evil" Google is one of the last things the world needs right now, along side supporting Microsoft/OpenAI - Apple are the lesser evil, and certainly miles ahead in terms of privacy protection.

I am not a legal expert, but do have a bit of background and I believe citizens/individuals have always been treated very distinctly from other legal entities, since the inception of the foundations of modern law by the Romans. The line is normally drawn at 1. You can be a part of the organized group of people one day, and in the US the relationship can typically cease immediately. You can also be a part of more than one legal entity. Legal protections granted to the individuals and legal entities are completely different things, in fact there is often a stark conflict of interest. By way of another example, if you excuse a bit of reductio ad absurdum: you can be a part of a particular sports team (again, today - who knows if tomorrow), that doesn't mean that the team should enjoy the same legal status, privileges and protections as you. Looks like a bogus suit TBH. They just need to comply with the regional legal requirements, big tech is not quite above the law (yet).

“the companies contend that the laws violate their First Amendment rights.” Honestly, was not aware that the US constitution is there to protect the rights of US companies, rather than its citizens. The general problem with that is that US citizens clearly require protection against certain US companies. That said, the following apparently applies (from Wikipedia): Although the First Amendment applies only to state actors,[a][1] there is a common misconception that it prohibits anyone from limiting free speech, including private, non-governmental entities.[2] Moreover, the Supreme Court has determined that protection of speech is not absolute.[3] BTW here is another issue with Musk’s centralised “commercial free town square” approach: it relies on ads, and advertisers are definitely free not to do business with them on any grounds, including not wanting to be associated with some of the content, and publicly hurling insults at those advertisers is not going to help. Apparently they have been trying to lure content creators in with good profit sharing, but the pie is shrinking, and some left the platform just due to “the vile stench of Musk”. Elon Musk’s X ad revenue reportedly fell $1.5B this year amid boycotts

I am with you, but a large proportion of the Western population does not seem to share the same values, and attempts to suppress the loud/opposing voices seem to have the opposite effect, as expected. Suppression/indiscriminate deplatforming is not the right approach in my view - it elevates the individuals affected into free speech martyrdom. Not sure how solid this analogy is. A major figure rejected by NBC, would likely find some airtime on Fox. Minor figures wouldn't enjoy any major appearances on network TV due to the bandwidth issue this medium suffers from. At any rate, that kind of bipolar setup is not great, because it leads to hard divisions and echo chambers, hence the rationale for creating a space for everyone to coexist. Not an easy challenge, and Musk is likely too biased to be able to create a fair "town square" platform (truth be told, I'm not really following the situation at X anymore). A decentralised solution is likely the way to go, and yes, the algo should be open, and any changes should be approved by direct vote (that's roughly the approach advocated by Hoskinson).

Here is Charles Hoskinson’s take, only watched in part, but worth recommending. I still think it is unfortunate that a controversial person had to step in to play the role of the chief defender of free speech, but that’s how markets work: there was an obvious gap and someone stepped in to fill it. If the whole thing fails, it will be down to the clearly suboptimal execution, although many would use that to propose that the absolutist approach to free speech was the culprit.

Should (presumably) legal content be banned on major media platforms, just because a proportion of the viewers disagree with it? Should liars be deplatformed/prevented from having further views published without a court order? I would suggest: only if it is democratically established legal requirement, therefore ‘no’ in most countries I guess.