Wow. Secret menu? Didn’t even think to look for that. What does it slow you to do?

Humm. How long has it been disconnected? I wouldn’t reconnect just in case it starts a timer back over or something.

You have to disconnect the internet for a while. Think a month or two.

Don’t over complicate it. 3 copies: backup, main, and offsite; 2 different media: hdd and data center; 1 offsite. I like blackblaze but anything from google to Amazon will work.

Not true at all. Yes you do have to do an initial setup connected to the internet (and making a roku account), but after that you can disconnect it from the internet completely. It even looses its initial ad after a certain time.

I really dig my tcl roku tv. Ultra cheap and has plex/jellyfin. Has 1 ad on the main screen that can be easily blocked but can also be setup to insta launch an app on boot. These tvs also have decent latency in game mode too (my most important requirement).

I was able to adapt my ups to use lithium ion batteries. I bought 2 giant ones that are used for rv solar systems. I tried using the other batteries and even when sitting by idle they loose their effectiveness.

That’s not a server that’s a gaming pc. Seriously what do you want to run? I use a raspberry pi for a server and it works just fine.

This is what you want to get surround sound to work in windows again.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/aaf-optimus-dch-audio-modded-driver-for-windows-10-11-for-all-hdaudio-enumerator-chips.292621/

This driver will work with both hdmi and toslink (optical) and possibly other connections.

Evidently Microsoft used to include a Dolby digital driver back in the day but has removed it due to licensing.

Oh and this will also enable surround sound in games too.

Htpc for YouTube and gaming and native tv app plex streaming content from my plex/nas media server (pi4). Works great. Power is crazy high in California right now at over 49c /kwh so I need to boot up the htpc as little as possible.

And the beginning being the ending…chef’s kiss.

Before getting all crazy and changing the setup why don’t you try Wi-Fi. Yes Wi-Fi. Your cable might only be 100mbit and your WiFi may be faster.

Wi-Fi 5 can theoretically transmit data at speeds of up to 3.5 Gbps. And obviously WiFi 6 and 7 are even faster.

I now realize you are trying to buy a laptop on a budget. I’d definitely go for the X1 gen 7 or 8, 16gb of ram minimum. The 1080p screen will give you better battery life but the 4k screen has Dolby vision and will make watching movies a better experience.

What are the apps that you will be using? I’m really excited by these new Qualcomm laptops coming out. LTT is doing an experiment and having 3 of its employees switch full time to see if they are viable. If you can wait another week I’d see what their conclusions are.

I think it’s kind of the same. Once you get technique down a master can see with the cheep-o machine and get amazing results.

I say go get yourself a used machine and just play around with it. I made Halloween costumes out of stuffed animals and old clothes for my first project and it turned out really good.

This sounds awesome but not sure it would apply to my use case. Maybe you could elaborate.

What I want is to have 1 pc be a host for all the tvs in my house (4, master bedroom, guest room, office, and living room) each room has a video output and a usb cable with a hub that has keyboard and mouse and maybe a controller for games.

So far what I have is all the displays are mirrored and the keyboard and mice and joysticks work in each room but all the displays show the same thing.

It would be rad if each one was a vm and had its own front ends so you could watch plex in one room while someone plays Dave the diver in another.

This is factually wrong and I just tested it to make sure. When I plug my iPhone into my windows laptop I get a pop on the screen that asks me if I want to let the computer access my phone and then windows pops up the internal iPhone folder with all my pictures in it.

Ah ok. I honestly hate how much I love my iPhone. Its my wife’s late mothers phone and I took it kind of as a gag so I could FaceTime my family and then I figured I would go back to my LG. But damn i get day and a half to 2 days of battery life and the pictures are way better. The iOS lets me hide all my apps which is something I always hated about iPhones and there are widgets. If I could only disable the photos and maps app this phone would be mint.

To be fair most android phones fit this description also.

I don’t really get this. As an android user since 2009 and the evolution of android os I am now for the last year an iOS user, and the interface is the same as it was for me and my last phone. Swipe up to get to the Home Screen, long hold to see tabs running and swipe from the left to center to go back. Is this because my last phone was an LG?