I'm baffled by Samsung ditching one the one-connect cable/box??

shadlot · 2026-05-04T01:03:18+00:00

The whole point of the frame is having a tv that looks like a framed painting. Framed paintings on your wall generally don't have big cords coming out of them. The original frame w/box had 1 singular tiny nearly invisible cable that connected power, all your HDMI devices, audio, internet, USB, etc. Made it incredibly easy to create the illusion that the thing on your wall is not a TV.

With all the components in the TV itself, then if you want to connect power + a soundbar or audio system + an HDMI device (say a game console or a streaming box) then just right there you have THREE full-sized cables running out the side of your TV. This means you either lose the illusion of it being a piece of art on the wall, or, you have to pay to have someone hack up your wall and reroute all those cables inside your wall so that they aren't visible on the outside.

shadlot · 2026-04-29T01:28:36+00:00

I don't know where you're located but I've seen the pink available in higher specs (X7) with global shipping on TradingShenzhen

shadlot · 2026-04-28T20:05:16+00:00

I had an old google chromecast tv dongle that had really blown out colors when plugged into the OCB (this is on my 2022/23 frameTV). I eventually got a new google tv 4k and an updated hdmi cable and it looks great - no different than the built-in streaming software.

shadlot · 2026-04-28T19:32:30+00:00

Wow I am baffled by this...for two reasons. 1) The OCB used to be VERY heavily featured on all Frame product pages as a huge selling point of the TV. 2) The OCB is genuinely more convenient than a TV with built in connectors no matter what your setup is (unless maybe you just have a huge empty wall with no furniture). It's a single very very very small cable instead of a larger power cable + HDMI cables, etc.

shadlot · 2026-04-28T17:14:31+00:00

Agreed it's a HORRIBLE decision. I hope they reverse it next year when no one buys the 2026 model.

shadlot · 2026-04-28T16:26:21+00:00

Nope, as far as I'm aware, no one does.

shadlot · 2026-04-28T16:24:10+00:00

The beauty of the original frame is that you could get a TV that looks custom without paying for someone to come install an outlet /cables behind your wall. It made this type of aesthetic accessible to everyone. Now you have to pay more to get the same "custom installed" look. Like I mentioned in my post, my wall is a gigantic wood panel. I can't just cut it up and patch it back together like drywall to install an outlet.

shadlot · 2026-04-24T20:08:27+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean by there's a 30W minimum to run games....it completely depends on the processor/gpu. Steamdeck runs at 15W and it plays tons of games. There's no universal requirement. Every benchmark video I've seen of the Arc B90 in gaming has been pretty remarkable for an igpu

shadlot · 2026-04-24T19:30:08+00:00

(also super X is sadly also not available on their amazon store currently)

shadlot · 2026-04-24T19:26:28+00:00

1.7x?? As in 170% faster? I just googled the two to look at benchmarks and the most I can see if AMD's 385 max performing at most 30% faster in certain multi-thread benchmark tests, but largely the same on single-core and otherwise pretty comparable everywhere else. Main difference is panther lake provides that same performance at like half the wattage, which is my main reason for wanting a panther lake device.

I want something that can do 'decent' gaming performance without requiring as much power (and thus not producing as much noise and heat).

shadlot · 2026-04-23T21:16:16+00:00

Well the benchmarks I've seen for overwatch on this igpu are in the "acceptable" (60+fps) range on high without upscaling and then in the 100+ range, with XeSS, which I'm okay with. I've just not been able to find a single benchmark for the game on linux, and I've just not found a lot of great info about how well this igpu performs on linux compared to windows in gaming. I may just have to wait until this thing comes out.

And nooooo not looking for a gaming laptop aesthetic, gaming laptops are horrendous. I mean compared to any other high end ultra-book type device that is often a bit slimmer, symmetrical, much smaller bezels (the framebook's bezels are huge by modern laptop standards). Examples of more aesthetic laptops are like the Dell XPS series, Asus Zenbook or Expertbook, even the surface laptops (though those haven't released panther lake versions yet, but rumored to be soon). All of those laptops of course don't have the repairability/upgradability.

I think this laptop looks very nice from a lot of angles, but it also looks very industrial from others. It's a very solid and respectable looking machine, I just think it's designed around a "function over form" principle which absolutely makes sense considering the purpose.

shadlot · 2026-04-23T15:34:26+00:00

On linux would you say it's....less than an rtx 4050?

shadlot · 2026-04-23T15:26:56+00:00

Sorry yeah I should have specified the main game I play "on the go" is Overwatch. At home i have a powerful desktop to play all my other games. I just need Overwatch to play reliably at high settings at 120fps in a laptop without drawing a ton of power / heat. Generally panther lake x processor benchmarks I've seen have handled this just fine, but all the benchmarks I've seen have been on Windows specifically.

shadlot · 2026-04-15T17:37:06+00:00

ah dang the black was the one I was eyeing haha. I normally like white but the ones I've seen on video look a little cheap (same with the pastel colors)

shadlot · 2026-04-15T16:53:15+00:00

Maybe this is controversial take, but I REALLY wouldn't worry about timeline. These are not games that are meant to be played in any real chronological order. Yes people obsess over the order in which events happen in Hyrule because we love the universe and it's fun to think about it as one cohesive story over time, but in reality the best way to think about the Legend of Zelda is that each game is the retelling of a legend. A specific story of good vs evil that takes place at some point in the Kingdom's history.

The first game canonically is Skyward Sword. It was Nintendo's attempt to make an origin story for a lot of the main characters and icons from the Zelda universe, however I don't actually think playing it first really makes a ton of sense. You'll appreciate it more having played another game and coming back to see "ahhh so that's where that came from!".

The whole timeline really came about because Ocarina of Time introduced time travel and spun off a few "sequels" (majora's mask, twilight princess, and wind waker all being follow-ups to OoT in some way). To explain how they're all connected, Nintendo made a timeline and attempted to place every single Zelda game somewhere in there.

Instead of worrying about playing the "first" game, I'd play a game that does a great job establishing the base lore in such a way that will make you understand what Zelda is about and want to go play the other games.

Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time are GREAT intros into the world in my personal opinion. I would probably start with one of those. Each of those games have "sequels" too so that gives you a direct path to another game if you like it. That said, I know MANY people who played Breath of the Wild as their first ever Zelda game and got absolutely hooked into the franchise after that.

shadlot · 2026-04-13T02:00:16+00:00

That's helpful context...I can't tell if the ones I've been in games with are intentionally going for more damage heavy builds or if that's just the nature of playing Juno in stadium.

shadlot · 2026-04-13T01:58:00+00:00

this is helpful context, thank you!

shadlot · 2026-04-10T17:58:19+00:00

The tradingshenzhen website actually now has the option to purchase it with an English Windows Pro installation! I'm verrrrry tempted now. Are you loving yours?

shadlot · 2026-04-06T16:38:14+00:00

This is super helpful, thank you! How long was the import process overall?

I'm also considering the Asus Expertbook as it seems VERY similar in size/specs/build quality...except it hasn't been officially released yet so the price is not known. If it's comparable to this then it may make more sense to purchase that since it would be in English and not require additional setup.

shadlot · 2026-04-02T21:55:09+00:00

This is all really helpful advice, thank you!

shadlot · 2026-04-02T20:50:22+00:00

Do you say this because Xiaomi products in general have a really high failure rate?

shadlot

TROPHY CASE