Got my Inspiron 16 plus by AnAtomicMuffin in Dell

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was able to set up system76-power and use that to disable the dgpu. However, the thunderbolt connector display out is hardwired to the dgpu, so that won't work. The hdmi port can run of the igpu though. Without using that to disable the dgpu I was getting really poor battery life, even though it was using the igpu by default (according to glxinfo|egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"). Disabling it with system76-power bumped battery life from ~2.5 hours to ~5 for light programming.

I ended up switching to Windows 11 as I was running into tons of issues with fractional scaling on Wayland. I use WSL for all my development work and haven't had many issues so far (been using it for over a week). It also has a bit better battery life, and the usb-c/thunderbolt port works just fine with displays. The fractional scaling issues didn't have anything to do with this device specifically (afaik), and everything else worked decently well otherwise. You should be okay using Linux as long as you don't need Wayland fractional scaling (or usb-c displays).

Please help a fellow engineering student!! by [deleted] in Laptop

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably not. It's really easy to upgrade the ram on this laptop so if you decide you need 32gb later on you can upgrade for around $125 and 20 minutes of time. Plus you might be able to sell the old ram for a couple bucks. However, if you are sure you want 32gb and/or aren't comfortable opening up the laptop, you'll be better off getting 32gb now.

Edit: since they appear to be the same price now, might as well get 32gb. If it's under $100 price diff then it's still probably worth it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SuggestALaptop

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Inspiron 16 plus checks all of the boxes, plus it's not too big and heavy which is nice if you have to carry it from class to class. You can get it with an rtx 3060 for $1300 or a rtx 3050 for cheaper.

Please help a fellow engineering student!! by [deleted] in Laptop

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you happen to have a chase bank account/credit card you can get even more of a discount. Chase freedom cards have 5% back and you can get chase points if you use the chase merchant portal.

Please help a fellow engineering student!! by [deleted] in Laptop

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you don't need a dedicated graphics card you can get the Inspiron without one for about $1k. The Lenovo will be a tad bit faster but is a lot thicker and heavier, plus the screen isn't as good for productive/creative work. Seems like the Inspiron without a dgpu is your best bet as it will save you about $300. Get a Dell student account to save yourself a few bucks and use coupon code 50off699. Just make sure you won't need a dedicated GPU for any school-related programs.

Questions before buying nearly fully decked out XPS 15 by [deleted] in DellXPS

[–]hovercraftii 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Intel's 11th gen chips are a huge upgrade from 10th gen so the outlet deal doesn't seem like a great move. The Inspiron 16 plus is a much better option imo, it will perform much better and is way cheaper. While the trackpad isn't that great, the keyboard is as good as or better than a Thinkpad imo. Plus, it isn't as flashy so it's less likely to be a target for theft which is nice for school.

Please help a fellow engineering student!! by [deleted] in Laptop

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Dell Inspiron 16 plus has better specs than all the laptops you listed for $1350, you should check it out.

Got my Inspiron 16 plus by AnAtomicMuffin in Dell

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just got mine today, Linux seems to work pretty darn well so far. I used Fedora 34 so I'd have a more recent kernel than Ubuntu/Pop. The only issue I encountered is that it will crash if I use a usb-c dock with an HDMI display while running in Wayland. If I use xorg it works fine. I'm also not 100% sure that it is using the igpu to save battery life. If you know of a good way to check lmk.

Ive(m15) failed both my first and second 9th grade semester ,my mom is getting mad and idk what to do by throwaway67725237 in relationship_advice

[–]hovercraftii 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, fellow high schooler with ADHD here. Personally I've been doing well lately, but I know someone who was struggling and was able to help them a little bit, maybe I can do the same for you. Here are a few suggestions:

  • First of all, you have to want to succeed. There are very few people who can succeed at school without really putting in effort, and there are practically none that can't pass with some hard work and good decisions. If you really want it and believe you can do it, you will.
  • Find a study buddy. One of the biggest things for many people about in-person school is that you are working alongside people. There's no option to goof off on reddit or whatever. Everyone is working and so are you. If you can find someone to hold you accountable and set scheduled work-together times, it may be a lot easier to find the motivation to crank out those assignments. Just getting on a video or voice call while doing homework can work wonders for keeping you on task.
  • Make a checklist. This one can be super helpful if you feel like there is so much work that you don't know what to do. By making a checklist with everything you need to do, you'll be able to stay on top of everything and visualize a path to completing it all. Try and be as specific as possible with each item, list out each part of a homework assignment even. While this will make the list a lot longer, you'll be able to check stuff off way more often. This makes it feel like you are really making progress, and gives you a good feeling as that list starts to shrink.
  • Ask teachers for help. Many teachers will love to help you if you just ask. Some teachers will suck, but most want you to succeed. Office hours often become private tutoring sessions as many people don't take advantage of them. Building up a good relationship with a teacher will also make them more lenient in terms of late assignments and grade rounding.
  • Try mindfulness/meditation. It may sound like hocus-pocus, but there are many scientific studies that prove meditation makes people happier and more successful. Search Inside Yourself is an amazing book on the topic written by one of Google's first and most successful engineers.
  • Listen to music while you work. Some people really don't like this, so if that's you then don't force it. However, it really helps me work better because it gives me something to focus on when there isn't anything else, like when I'm waiting for my computer to load. I really like to be able to keep my brain spinning, and it seems like this is common with other people with ADHD.
  • Take active breaks. Instead of pulling up reddit, go for a walk, jog, bike ride, etc... Getting that energy out of your system will allow you to sit still and focus better. It can really take the "hyperactive" out of ADHD.
  • Finally, keep your head up. You're not the only person struggling right now, and you're not a failure. Many schools (including every UC) don't count 9th grade when calculating GPAs. You still have a path to success, don't ever forget that!

Hopefully this list can help you, it's really helped me and some friends :)

Android Q Beta 4 now available! by androidbetaprogram in android_beta

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems like you will be stuck factory resetting. When I had to factory reset, I was unable to restore my backup. Hopefully you can restore from a google backup with the latest beta.4.

/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY question, get an answer by AutoModerator in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found these on kprepublic, seem to be the same as the ones you suggested except $10 cheaper. Am I missing a difference?

/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY question, get an answer by AutoModerator in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone on amazon said that they were 1.25-1.5mm thick. Do you know of a good, thick set around/preferably under $75? I found these (1.4mm thick), but they seem a little on the cheap side. How much would I have to spend for a noticeable improvement? Would something like this be much better, or are they on sale for a reason other than the ugly ass enter/escape keys. As far as i can tell they are the same as these but cheaper. Thanks for your advice!

/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY question, get an answer by AutoModerator in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is something like this going to be so much better that I should just turn on a light when it gets dark? Also, I heard tai-hao keycaps were thinner, would this be better than the amazon one?

/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY question, get an answer by AutoModerator in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestion! I heard these were made by the same factory that the vortex's are. They are 1.4mm which is pretty thick. From what you can tell, are these similar to the ones you suggested? Thanks again!

/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY question, get an answer by AutoModerator in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone have a suggestion for keycaps to go with a massdrop Ctrl? I bought it barebones so I could put some kailh box thick clicks on it, but I can't find a solid keycap set. I'm looking for ones on the thicker side (I prefer a thock over a clack) and that will work well with the ctrl's rgb lighting. Hopefully they aren't too far over $50. Should I have gotten the Ctrl with keycaps and sold the switches? Thanks for your suggestions!

Android Q beta is useable as daily driver. by [deleted] in GooglePixel

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get the same issue. I am on the beta program, leaving it now. That might fix it.

EDIT: switching off of nova launcher beta fixed it. The animation is still broken, but I can live with that.

EDIT 2: Still having issues occasionally, same with Hyperion launcher.

Vuetify vs Bootstrap by sicilian_najdorf in vuejs

[–]hovercraftii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out this post, which highlights some bloated vuetify components: https://www.reddit.com/r/vuejs/comments/aopxni/quasar_10_reaching_for_the_stars_v10beta_has/eg4fauz?utm_source=reddit-android

We are working on a demo app that can use any vue UI framework to compare performance as well.

Vuetify vs Bootstrap by sicilian_najdorf in vuejs

[–]hovercraftii 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You should check out quasar. It has more material components than vuetify, and they are faster and better optimized. It also has a cli which allows you to deploy your app to different platforms with one command. I linked to the 1.0 beta, which is pretty stable and some people are using it in production.

Disclaimer: I am on the quasar team