Who wants a quad-core 4.2GHz, 64GB, 5TB SSD RAID 10 … laptop? When Eurocom releases new laptops – or 'mobile workstations' as it prefers to call them – it can be hard to keep one's jaw from the floor. This time around the company's released the Sky X9W complete with a quad-core, eight-thread, Intel Core i7 6700K capable of operating at 4.2GHz and nestled amidst an Intel Z170 Express ( …
Just for shits & giggles I went through the configurator & selected the most expensive option possible. While the resulting specs are <DarthVader>Impressive... Most. Impressive</DarthVader>, the sticker shock was enough to make me cackle in "Is THAT all? Why, at that price I'll take TWO!" style maniacal laughter. =-J
"Sounds like an Osborne to me"
Just checked - it was a Compaq. With some image searching - a Compaq Portable (released in 1983, came home in about '85)
Clearly I misremembered the shelf, and the "working" orientation (but it was carried upright) - got the curly cable right though ;)
Released: March 1983 US$3590 (two floppy system) | Weight: 28 pounds | CPU: Intel 8088, 4.77MHz - RAM: 128K, 640K max | Display: 9" monochrome monitor built-in 80 X 25 text | Storage: Two 320K 5-1/4" disk drives
T7 "...luggables were all used up in the first gulf war..."
Nope. Luggable PCs are still used by the military on a daily basis. In some cases it's because the full-size internal slots are required to contain a specific interface card for some old MIL-STD-nnn interface.
It might the only option for on-aircraft software maintenance.
I remember a couple of luggable devices.
Apricot PC XI (http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6095/Apricot-PC-XI/) which wasn't as portable as you'd hope, but the keyboard clipped on the underside of the base unit and monitor wasn't too heavy!
The Compaq (http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/pc/h/cppc.jpg) was a heavy beast - still managed to get it home on the bus.
In spite of all the cynical comments, a high end laptop is really something which feels nice, people would be surprised how it is to have something which has really high-end internal specs.
This laptop is in the realm of MSI GT80, their choice of graphics seems weird, they do not offer high end NVIDIA, one would expect a SLI 980M config for that price, which is for sure needed to achieve acceptable frame rates on a 4K screen. The lack of NVIDIA options makes it not suitable for gaming.
Just to continue the digression, the first Kaypro portables were built in my neighborhood, but it was clear they had no clue what they were doing. They tried to convert their voltmeter factory (they were originally Non-Linear Systems) into a modern computer manufacturing building. But they wedged receiving and shipping together in a back corner of the lot, which jammed operations. The layout didn't match their processes, so material had to crisis-cross the buildings. And we they came to my company seeking a new integrated MRP system, they mandated the product had to run on a Kaypro. But sadly, we had decided porting our product to CP/M to get the deal wasn't worth the effort.
For most people this might be true.
However when you are running 6 to 10 different VM's with Oracle, SAP and SQLServer systems included in order to simulate an industrial plant even 32Gb of RAM just does not cut it.
I'd love one of these. Luggable is about right but as my flight bag has wheels and can take a 17in HP unit then having to actually carry the darned thing is pretty rare.
As for the heart attack? Well, my manager would have one if I put in a req for one of these. Then the Purchasing manger would follow suit.
Well, that's one way to get rid of PHB's ain't it?
Anon just in case.
It love to do that but when I go on site to some of these plants, the only internet is via Satellite.
In other places it is so slow that it becomes unusable if more than one person is using it at a time.
Then there are the sites that are so paranoid about things like Stuxnet that they don't allow phones or any internet connection.
Not everywhere has 1000Mbit Internet on tap 24/7
So what use is having them all on a server farm (or in the cloud) somewhere then?
<quote>As for the heart attack? Well, my manager would have one if I put in a req for one of these. Then the Purchasing manger would follow suit.</quote>
If I were to put in a request for one of these, my boss might request HR to have me 'drug tested' as she would be wondering: "What IS he taking?"
The last time I requested something out of the box, it was one of these:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/14/canonical_orange_box/
and she screamed at me: "Are you out of your fucking mind???? There is NO way I would approve one, and even if I did, both the CFO, and the CEO would have to sign off on it."
Now, if you want to give a PHB a heart attack, have them carry one of those orange boxen, it weighs 32 Kg. If that PHB happens to be a CFO or CEO, then it's then (2014) price tag1 would happily give the PHB a heart attack
1the 2014 baseline configuration price was £7,575.00 ($12,750)
A slightly cheaper approach is to buy a high end gaming laptop.
ASUS has ones that go up to 32GB for example. Count 2-2.5K $. Bought mine specifically to run multiple VMs in. They may not have all the exotica of high end business laptops, but they cost less. And they are infinitely more powerful, with better screens, than normal business or consumer laptops. The graphics oomph is a bit wasted on dev work, but that's OK.
One problem is that you have to replace consumer Windows with Windows Pro. Or put Linux on it.
The Nvidia Quadro M5000M is a reasonably (overpriced) graphics card for gaming... but conversely, if you're using CAD/CAM software which requires pro level cards, then a gaming card (eg GeForce) won't generally do an adequate job.
It all revolves around the software you need to use.
I will gladly volunteer to write a full, in depth, excrutiatingly exhaustive review of one of these, and I even promise to give the unit back after I'm done...
<whispers>eventually</whispers>
*Cough*
Damn I'd love to own one. I'd use it to play Progress Quest! =-D
Gotta say, this was intriguing enough to warrant a closer look..
"Advice for completing Spite of Gromth quest
As any player who has participated in a Spite of Gromth instance will no doubt have discovered, once Aco Rogbath is down in health a ways he will cast Big Sister. At that point, if any player moves before the effect decays it will chain geometrically, as both Curse Family and Acrid Hands will most likely be already active. This will blow up the raid, causing multiple base kilodamage with significant overdamage lingering. (This is particularly true on Spoltog and Pemptus, where trilobite familiars are disadvantageous in mountain marsh biomes.)"
My first 'real' laptop (mid 1990s?) packed some sort of desktop chip (to keep the price down), a 10" screen, not much disk or ram, a 15 minute battery life and cost £2500 then - that's about £4500 now or $7000! It's still in a cupboard somewhere..
I think I'll pop out and order one of these monsters now - bargain!
We obviously need to run Duke Nukem on it to test the graphics capabilities as we did in days of yore.
Personally I like large screen laptops / luggables as they can do nearly everything a desktop can without having to lug a big screen around.
My first laptop was an Amstrad, I started my I.T. career with this and even got in to Uni a few times on the strength of this.
http://tinyurl.com/gt2yyem
"Personally I like large screen laptops / luggables as they can do nearly everything a desktop can without having to lug a big screen around."
Back around 1992, my flatmate had a 386sx16 "box" - about 20cm*20cm*5cm, which had external everything and weighed about 1kg (most of which was steel case and 40MB MFM HDD)
He'd put it in his bag and carry it to work or home, where it plugged into external keyboard/monitor/PSU.
It's interesting the number of docking stations which are around replicating this same functionality (badly and with much greater fragility) nearly 25 years later.
I think he paid about the same as this device, or more if you inflation adjust.
Looks to have enough suck to clean most carpets.
I hope they have made fan access easy, or banned use near cats.
One occasional grotty task is stripping down laptops to get at the incredibly well concealed fan which has collected cat hair, trouser fluff and other strange stuff and compacted it in the airways. External access to the fan too hard, guys?
[The inner pervert briefly considered a clip on adapter which could avoid those embarrasing "fell over whilst vacuuming nude" visits to A&E and be fully integrated with high definition pr0n but on second thoughts........just don't go there! Although it would be discreet in a laptop......just NO!]
Oh, and I want one just because. Carrying it is not an issue - I had to lug full sized HP network analysers around at one time (X.25 and the like) which made luggable PCs look quite dainty.
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"One occasional grotty task is stripping down laptops to get at the incredibly well concealed fan"
As a tip: A can of compressed air in the fan outlet (to loosen the crap that's got itself on the other side of the heatsink fins) followed by a full size vacuum clean hose held over the fan inlet works wonders.
Don't do both at the same time. Most of the "compressed air" cans are blowing flammable gas the inside of a vacuum cleaner motor is a pretty sparky environment. I've seen flames come out the exhaust when people ignore that advice.
If you have a vac than can suck and blow at the same time, use the blow hose and a nozzle in place of the can of air. Run the airflow the other way too, to make sure it's all cleaned out - and a flashlight shone in the fan inlet usually provides enough illumination to be able to look in the fan outlet and see if all the fins are cleared.
Cue people griping that this will destroy the fan and/or caused the internals to be staticed to death. Neither is true, although if the fan's bearing is dodgy you'll probably hasten its demise (plenty of audible clues this is about to happen anyway. Dodgy bearings rumble or rattle long before they cark it and they usually die through getting far too hot with no airflow so regular cleaning extends their life dramatically)
Regular application of the vacuum cleaner hose to laptop fan inlet and outlet will clear out most crap buildups before they have the potential to cause trouble.
Fan bearings: I prolonged the life of many with a small drip of oil, even some that where stuck. Clean, oil, then gently rotate until the friction cannot be felt anymore. Power on and check the motor doesn't get warmer than normal. It can be difficult to determine and reach the place to oil.
"Clean, oil, then gently rotate until the friction cannot be felt anymore"
If you're at that stage then you should pop the sticker and end bung off, remove the retaining ring and disassemble the rotor from the stator assembly. At that point you can trivially clean the shaft and bearing inner surface PLUS determine if the bearing assembly has gotten hot enough to melt the the plastic holding it in place (it happens - a lot - and moreso in smaller fans than larger ones) in which case the fan's wrecked and needs replacing as no amount of wishful thinking will ever get it "unwonky" again.
Reassembly being a reverse procedure but you can add a drop of graphite-infused light machine oil (sewing machine oil) from a repurposed diabetic's syringe whilst you're doing it (although graphite-infused isopronanol is often a better choice)
The problem with "just adding a drop of oil" is that most of the time access to the shaft is sealed and where it's not, that "additional lubricant" is actually washing grit particles back into the bearing surface where they can do maximum damage and the oil attracts more dirt to stick itself into the mess.
Ay, when I were a lad I 'ad to carry a satchel of textbooks, undredweight o' coal an my spastic sister o'er sixty mile moor t' school and back every day, in all weather, with me rickets and club feet, and if I complained I got a pound of molten thallium poured into me arse. Did me no arm neither. I dunno what's wrong with kids today, must all be soft southerners 'round 'ere.
Agreed, in my other job I carried:
Helmet 2Kg
Radio 2Kg
Rifle 3kg
Ammunition 4Kg
Mortar Rounds 2* 3 Kg
Backpack 30kg
Webbing 2kg
Water *2 2Kg
Brandt Mortar Tube 18.2 kg
Brandt Mortar Sight 4.2 Kg
Chain mail Glove 2.5kg
Chainmail Shoulder Support 3Kg
We had permanent bow legs and the above was carried across the hills of Corsica in a mountain company no less.Cinto, Rotondo, Orba I love you all now but hated you then.
"I'm not qualified to comment on most of these weights, but 2kg of webbing seems remarkable."
It was the silk suspenders that tipped us over the edge. Ok, hmmm:
First aid kit containing morphine, sewing kit, tourniquet, amphetamines etc. heavy, rifle cleaning kit heavy ish, 2 bandages lightish, bayonet, quite heavy, bottle of water 1 kg, compass, escape kit.
Hmm you are right, probably closer to 3 or 4 kilos.
"Not being familiar with "Bloakey" and apparently on the wrong side of the pond, as well as not knowing much about mortars aside from "Incoming!," what's the chain mail stuff for?"
Not being in any way military myself, I would guess that if you had put the mortar down and lobbed off a few quick rounds it might be a little warm for a while.
If you then decided to move somewhere else a bit sharpish then I assume a mailed glove and mailed shoulder pad might make this a tad less painful.
Because nobody in their right mind uses RAID5. It went over the usability horizon about the time that disk capacities started exceeding 100GB and their costs came down. *dons downvote armour*
[Edit: seriously guys, get 2 diskfulls from 4 in RAID10, or 3 from 4 in RAID5? Is 50% more capacity really worth risking needing a full rebuild when you hit an Unrecoverable Read Error? During which another URE would kill you? When UREs are have a probability of 1e-13 --- wasn't so much a problem when disks were small, but that's 1 error per 10TB]
In RAID10 (excepting 0+1 variants), disk rebuild means copying data from one partner disk. Obviously requiring this partner disk to be in perfect health.
For a 4-disk array, risks of a rebuild failure are 3 to 1 (as RAID5 requires 3 good disks to copy from, RAID10 requires 1). For 8-disk array the ratio increases to 7:1, and so forth.
Nahhh, to keep the historical context of such a large machine it would have to be CP/M.
Is anybody up for rebadging a load of Old Amstrads and selling them on Ebay as one of these?
I would love one myself, I reckon if I set it to do a bit of Bitcoin mining, I would have a dollar after a few years.
Windows costs nothing* to OEMs, so there is nothing to be saved by providing a machine with Linux. Those OEMs which do, occasionally, provide machines running Linux do so in order to provide a bargaining chip on their next M$ licensing negotiations.
Isn't this general knowledge by now?
*They pay M$ a license for "projected machines shipped" and, likely, extra charges for anything which doesn't run Linux (taking into account the negotiations taken into above).
Alienware 17r3 can be configured with about the same specs (except for only 4.0 Ghz, only 16GB Ram and 2 M.2 slots + (1) 2.5" slot) with an i7-6820 and it is about the same price....and if you go for the graphics amplifier, the GPU's can be any of nVidia's top of the line cards - your choice.
I know because I just purchased one about 3 weeks ago.
Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in any of the above mentioned products
...at least it doesn't have a 70's disco floor keyboard and dragons/aliens etched all over it.
I have a mint Dell M6400 that I picked up for £80 a couple of years ago. Now running with a quad core CPU, 8GB of ram, backlit keyboard, 120GB SSD, 500GB HDD, Quadro GPU, USB3.0. Works quite well and the 17" 1920x1200 screen is a nice one. The 120w power supply is rather massive though. Gave it to the Gf as a back up machine for her desktop. Luggable is what I would call it.
What all one of them (probably from HP) and still with 4GB ram, 500GB 5400rpm HDD, 2.4Ghz wi-fi only, 1366x768 screen and all for the bargain price of £650.00!
You'd think someone was paying the OEM's to hamstring AMD. Not that AMD doesn't do a pretty good job of that themselves.
Speaking as an old die-hard AMD fan that finally lost their patience with them a few years ago.
Just what I need to get my AI research started.
The only big problem is, why does the beast only have 4 cores?
8 cores are pretty much standard these days and the newer CPUs support core shutdown
for low TDP use.
Still having multiple SSDs is handy especially when as is typical one breaks.
I'd still have an HDD mirror which runs in the background in the event something really bad happens
such as a particularly nasty virus or multiple failures (seen this happen, 3 drives in 1 day!!)
If all the SSDs share the same firmware its possible a bug or errata could affect them all simultaneously.
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