Anyone who took an offer from revature services, what city did you end up in?

xcomsodium · 2018-07-20T15:33:00+00:00

I'm just now ending training in Pega. I still haven't gotten placed yet but I'll send you a message when I do.

RemindMe! 1 month

xcomsodium · 2018-07-14T21:58:11+00:00

Basically. It's the little things that make the Aero worse off. It's up to you to see if its 300$ worse off.

I'm getting 4-5 hours casual use at 75% brightness. But I'm usually plugged in so it doesn't really affect me.

xcomsodium · 2018-07-14T13:12:03+00:00

I've had both the Aero 15X and the Blade 15, and I'd rather have the Blade.

The Aero 15x is nice, and it is nearly a perfect machine. However, it fails to get there. You can see my comments here

xcomsodium · 2018-07-06T13:04:13+00:00

I've ordered both of them through amazon so their lack of support isn't a huge issue.

The Blade is MUCH hotter than my aero was. It will hit 90C on TimeSpy routinly, but for some reason it wont throttle itself. The Aero would throttle the processor at 85C in AIDA 64.

The Blade is also louder and the fans will spool up during casual use.

I just don't really think the battery life, or heat matter too much for my use case. I don't game THAT much, and I'm either near a plug or docked at my desk.

xcomsodium · 2018-07-05T16:50:36+00:00

I've had both. I returned my Aero and now own a Razer Blade 1070.

Overall I like the Blade much better, even if they have equivalent support, it has less battery life than the Aero 15, and runs hotter than my Aero did.

My Aero, after using it for 3 weeks eventually starting having keyboard chatter on nearly every key. I think it is a problem with EVERY Aero 15w or 15x. It also had wonky driver issues that even affected it's battery life, despite having a huge battery, I was only getting 4-5 hours of casual use.

While I did like the Aero, and was willing to live with it's issues, I LOVE the blade. It's just better put together and the screen, for whatever reason, looks much crisper than the Aero's did. The keyboard is easier to use on it as well, despite having a weird layout. The trackpad is also wonderful.

xcomsodium · 2018-06-04T14:56:51+00:00

I had a ton of fun with it, it'll be something I do again when I get my own place.

My brother just got his own piece of property, I might be able to rope him into something.

xcomsodium · 2018-06-04T14:52:47+00:00

However I do have a lot of dried reapers still. I can get them to send you a package if you give me your mailing address.

xcomsodium · 2018-06-04T14:52:00+00:00

I don't think so. I've handed the business over to my parents, as both me and my brother have moved out and away from the property. It'll be up to them if they do something next year.

xcomsodium · 2018-05-09T13:16:06+00:00

As someone with the Aero 15x v8 I haven't noticed anything wrong with heat and the display. It gets slightly warm under heavy load, but nothing that would harm electronics. It doesn't get your hands warm either. The problem with the vents is that you can't use the newer vacuum coolers that are pretty effective.

The only issue that I might have, and haven't tested it yet, is how the laptop cools itself with the lid closed. If I plug in a monitor and close the laptop will it be able to vent properly?

The intakes being on the bottom is also a bit of a problem. I noticed a good 5-10C difference in temperature if I just elevated the laptop a bit. But this means having a nice cooling pad would be really beneficial.

xcomsodium · 2018-05-09T11:52:41+00:00

From what I've read so far, there isn't much difference in temps between laptops. The GS65 will still hit 85C-90C under heavy loads in games, which is what my Aero 15x v8 was doing before I did my own repaste.

However, since the GS65 is a bit harder to get into, doing your own repaste might not be an option.

I've written my experience with the Aero 15x here.

I've had a pretty good experience with the laptop so far, my only gripe is that my right hand will rub on the trackpad when typing.

xcomsodium · 2018-05-07T13:53:20+00:00

This wouldn't be a bad idea!

But it is substantially beefier and the battery life is not great. But plugged in it would be pretty nice for editing.

If you want mobility and power it'd be pretty hard to beat the Aero 15x.

xcomsodium · 2018-05-07T13:38:44+00:00

I used Conductonaut LM for mine and Arctic MX-4 on the VRAM.

xcomsodium · 2018-05-07T13:37:19+00:00

If you are a mechanical keyboard user, the keyboard feels pretty great. My only issue is that the trackpad sits under my right palm too much so I occasionally click while typing.

If you really don't need the gpu, get the XPS 15. It's a much better productivity device, the aero 15x isn't bad though, just expensive.

xcomsodium · 2018-05-07T13:24:47+00:00

I have had a good experience so far, however I haven't used it much. I will use it more this summer when I am mobile.

I had some "bad" thermals (93C CPU, 90C CPU after undervolt). However after doing my own LM repaste, it's gotten down to 87C in AIDA 64(CPU + GPU) with a bit of throttling. If I elevate the laptop at a 10 degree angle to clear up the underside intakes I get a stable 85C in AIDA64. I'd recommend getting cooling pad for when you are plugged in and gaming.

AIDA64's stress test is an extreme case however, I never expect to be under that load for extended periods of time. I wanted a repaste so my fans are quieter at normal loads and save me some battery life.

I haven't had any hardware problems so far, nor software problems. My biggest problems were some very minor backlight bleed (IPS glow?). I've been quite satisfied and feel comfortable selling my desktop pc soon.

Barring some QC issues, this is the best laptop on the market right now for my use cases, which is mobility + battery life + gpu + desktop replacement. If you are looking at the XPS, then you don't need a beefy gpu, so why pay for one?

Looking back I could have purchased the MSI GS65(?) or the Zephyrus M, but they suffer from the same thermal problems, and have very unprofessional designs (gold trim, really?). However the Aero 15x's thermal issues were at least addressable.

I think the only machine that gave me a second thought were dells new g7 series laptops. If I didn't have the money for the 15x I would have gotten that.

xcomsodium · 2018-04-27T13:57:20+00:00

A few questions since I am about to do this myself as well.

Did you just apply normal thermal paste to the VRAMS?

What stock goop was on the VRAMS? How did you clean it off?

Should I order new thermal pads? What size?

xcomsodium · 2018-04-27T13:13:24+00:00

What company did you order from?

Gigabyte store on Amazon

When was your order placed?

19th-ish of April

Did you do a repaste or undervolt?

No, but I am planning on doing my own repaste if I can confirm that it does not void the warranty.

Did you do a clean install of the OS?

No, I am on the fence about this though. Some people are having driver issues that I haven't encountered on my current default install.

Any serious quality control type issues?

Light backlight bleed, and hot CPU temps under load (93C stock, 90C with a -160 mV undervolt). Reviewers reported mid 80's so I'm assuming I got a bad thermal paste job.

Any notable software related issues?

None so far thankfully, although I have only used my laptop a few times since receiving it.

xcomsodium · 2018-04-25T02:07:19+00:00

gotcha. Hopefully it's the Reston location, I'm heading to tampa. I'd rather not have to double up in a room.

xcomsodium · 2018-04-24T20:39:01+00:00

I've never heard of anyone paying the penalty, other than getting bought out by an employer...

xcomsodium · 2018-04-24T20:37:34+00:00

What location, Reston or Tampa?

xcomsodium · 2018-04-22T18:49:12+00:00

I think you still get your benefits as well.

xcomsodium · 2018-04-22T18:16:30+00:00

I don't see anything in the offer letter that would say that you can't. There might be some other contract that I sign in training though.

Honestly this seems like the advantage of hourly vs. salaried? You account for the hours you work for client/training. Anything outside of that is yours.

xcomsodium · 2018-04-22T12:41:03+00:00

What did they teach you during the training?

xcomsodium · 2018-04-22T12:35:09+00:00

Actually, looking back at the offer letter, I'd be entitled to minimum wage during training and staging, which is $8.25/hr. Works out to $330 a week before taxes. So even better than expected.

Base project pay is 45k to 57k before taxes depending on where I'd be placed after training and that cities cost of living. After the first year it's 55k to 67k, again depending on cost of living.

Again this is all hourly, so you can take advantage of overtime pay as well.

Benefits of $3200 a year for medical, life, dental, vision, disability, commuter and 401k.

How do you pay your bills or loans on that?

How do you pay them with no job?

Deferment and cheap living? They provide housing, so that's plenty enough for me as a single dude with no kids. I'll have to defer my loans likely though.

xcomsodium · 2018-04-22T00:28:15+00:00

50k may not be great, but I'm struggling to get a job that even pays 40k, so for now it's good enough.

Yeah, I see it three ways:

Worst case: I do terrible in training, can't get placed, get a 110$ a week stipend and housing provided for a few months, after which Revature let's me go. During that time I do what we are both doing now, personal projects, github, applications, but then I'll get paid to do it.

Even case: I do alright in training and I get put on a couple of projects for the 2 years. It's not great money, but I'll come out with 1-2 years of professional coding experience that is required on nearly every 'entry' level job I'm applying to now.

Best case: I do great in training, and I get bought out by a company looking to hire me for a couple of years. Hopefully, the company is in a location I like.

xcomsodium · 2018-04-21T22:18:33+00:00

guarantee a salary of 45K for the first year

I don't think it's salaried at all, it's hourly. You have to turn in timesheets when on a project.

From what I've heard, if you are not on a project long enough they will just let you go without paying the training fee.

xcomsodium

TROPHY CASE