When do you think you'll replace your current tech?

And on that note, I wound up replacing my Samsung Galaxy Book 12 w/ a Book 3 Pro 360 w/ 16" display — that should last for a while, though if Samsung makes a dual-screen unit à la the Yogabook 9i w/ Wacom EMR (as opposed to AES), all bets are off.

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Looking to replace my Fold 3 later this year with Fold 5. Might go the trade in route this time if that would bring the bargain price to somewhere around $500. But darn the weak Japanese yen, even $500 is not cheap these days.

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I wonder if they’ll take my 2019 Fold…

Undoubtedly they’ll take it, just a matter of when. Just camp slickdeals.

I’m actually unexpected having to figure out if I want to get a new laptop. I had a Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 and loved it, but it developed screen issues and endless BSOD problems. After sending it in for repairs 3 times over 8 weeks, I’m getting a refund soon. Soooooo…???

I have a GB Flex from 2018/19, but it has a broken hinge. I have it hooked up on my desktop to peripherals, but I can’t take it anywhere. Instead, I’m using my old tank of a Thinkpad 460 from 2015 as my main moving-around laptop. I’m amazed how well it still performs. I popped a new wifi6 card in and am going to upgrade my router in combo to see if I can make it a it more snappy.

I’ve been looking at stuff, but I’m feeling very iffy–

  1. Surface Laptop Studio- seems very nice, but a bit overpriced and underpowered.
  2. Samsung GB3 Pro 360- awfully expensive
  3. Samsung GB2 Pro 360- I actually really liked my laptop before it blew up, but that’s making me skittish. Thought of getting one second hand off of Craigslist.
  4. Framework 16- I LOVE the idea of this laptop, but it won’t be out until Fall or Winter of 23. That’s a looooong wait.

I’ve actually been pondering oddball different stuff like
5) Macbook Pro M1 14 or 16? with an ipad combo? Not sure if I’m ready to do that switch, honestly
6) Get a mini pc for the desktop and then team it with a tablet VPN? But this is also something new, so I have to decide if I really want to go through the hassle of doing an entirely new thing. Like, what are the benefits?
7) Get a good normal laptop and team it with a midrange android tablet as an extended display for the (not super frequent) times I need to do pen work.

Ehhhhh… I’m not super excited about all of it. I like a big screen for mobile work, I like good sound for media, i like a nice keyboard. I want it to be powerful enough to do some light video editing and such. I’ve been wondering if that would be easier to hit if I stopped looking for a penabled device. That’s why the Macbook Pro’s are even on the list. They hit a lot of checkboxes, but a different OS is a big ask.

Any thoughts?

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I will say as someone who has lived in the Mac OS X and Windows worlds simultaneously for decades, really, really make sure that every single piece of software you use (especially gaming) will work on an Apple Silicon Mac.

The days of Boot Camp for intel Macs made this way less of a big deal, but now it is real. :slight_smile:

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I’m doing 7) using a gaming laptop with a Tab S7 Fe over SuperDisplay. But the setup never leave my desk because i’m the kind who prefer mini handbag while going out. But SuperDisplay is very reliable after all the initial setting up (be sure to disable USB selective suspend setting in power options, or windows would randomly disconnect your usb connection).

I have used many Chinese drawing screen, and basically none of them beat Superdisplay in term of reliability and simplicity. It’s basically just connect and works.

Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360?

I only just got mine, but it’s been fabulous thus far.

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Just curious, was that by accident or regular wear? Does it affect the digitizer or video output?

I did it.

I just bought another Samsung Notebook 9 Pro 15.

-Off lease from an eBay seller at a GREAT deal, ($300 CAD after shipping). The seller has a number of them available, actually.

Why did I do this?

Because I want a back up in preparation for the dark day when my original unit dies. I use mine every day, and it remains one of the best portable work machines I’ve ever owned. Also…, it runs on Windows 10, the last version of Microsoft’s OS which could be brought to heel.

Hopefully, I’m set for the next several years!

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As soon as an Asus Z13 RTX 4060 arrives at Best Buy, I’m using my stack of gift cards. I miss using a surface style tablet, and I think I can live with MPP given the dGPU.

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You madlad.

Do the newer units disallow you to install Win 10?
What stylus, nib, and screen cover (if any) do you use?
How’s your original unit faring sofar?
Did last year’s 360 Sammy notebooks have problems I wasn’t aware of, that you picked a 2018 laptop over the newer ones?

The newer units come with Win 11; Maybe you can uninstall that and drop in something older, but that becomes an increased gamble the further out you get.

I love the standard onboard toothpick for general stuff, (I avoid the trackpad whenever possible), and have a fancy third party pen holder (which contains another standard issue S Pen toothpick), for drawing. I don’t bother with screen covers. I don’t mind drawing a slick surface.

The original unit is going strong; fast, effective, great for artwork and general computing. There are a couple of bright spots on the screen where I must have dinged it, but otherwise, the unit is in excellent condition. Only a couple of scratches and nicks. I do worry about the power port and adapter plug; the thing looks like it would not take well to tripping over a wire, so I treat it with care.

The first iteration of the 360 suffered from a serious thermal issue, where uneven heating would cause the screen to spontaneously crack. Samsung was very dicky about how they handled it, pretending it wasn’t happening, locking forum posts and insisting it must be user error and charging hefty repair fees.

It appears they have addressed the problem with subsequent models; it hasn’t come up in user forums on new releases.

Otherwise, I stuck with the old notebook 9 pro 15 because it is proven reliable, I know it runs Win 10, and (cough) I can’t justify a $2000 new laptop. The new ones DO look very nice, though, with their 15.6" screens and higher DPI.

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I… have like… SO many questions…

Just one though.

As a Photoshop user (now just my galaxy tablet), I don’t think I found a very good pen that had a pressure curve I liked for rendering. With your toothpick pen, do you find yourself doing a lot of precise pressure shading in your art, or are you more of a lineart guy, or neither?

I use the “Smardi S Pen Second Edition for Samsung”. It’s got a barrel button and a good pressure curve.

That model is no longer available, but the company does offer this:

https://www.amazon.com/Smardi-Stylus-Silver-Samsung-Galaxy/dp/B07X8GMJZC/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3PI9NZ8IJO9KD&keywords=Smardi%2BS%2BPen%2BPlus&qid=1681505783&sprefix=smardi%2Bs%2Bpen%2Bplus%2Caps%2C395&sr=8-3&th=1

It looks almost the same.

I do lots of drawing/inking and some painting, and the stylus is good for that. The pressure curve doesn’t have a ton of points, might be around 256 levels, but I find I can’t tell the difference between that and the newest Wacom styluses. Unless you’re using huge brushes, my old tests indicated that it really doesn’t matter; a lot of the sensitivity is simply redundant. -But then, I only tend to use brushes between 20 and 200 pixels, where the pressure data provided by the pen easily covers the entire spectrum of possible size states with room to spare.

Photoshop is a rough program when it comes to stylus engines, however. I find Clip Studio Paint much more slick and intuitive for drawing and painting. Adobe never quite figured out pen input, and who can beat Japanese art software? Their entire written culture is based on ink and brush technique.

Sorry, when I meant good pressure curve, I don’t mean having 9000 points, i just mean it feels balanced when pressure goes from soft to screen-crackingly-hard. I use an old Waco Pen and the 2 button fujitsu pen, so I’m no stranger to old tech.

It’s probably true, but PS is what I started with first, so everything for me gets compared to that first. Also, Japan grindset on brush stroke is indeed impressive, but they never felt big on UI though, and that’s where I always get hung up on CSP. Especially with the Android release.

Also thanks for the info on the other Samsung laptops. I was eyeballing some of last gen laptops to replace my notebook 9 pro.

AT&T had an “any note, any condition” promo a little while ago. I traded in a thrashed note 4 for$1,000 towards an s23u.

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They never offer deals like that in Japan. :rage: :imp: :anger:

Just curious, was that by accident or regular wear? Does it affect the digitizer or video output?

The left hinge is busted, and when I try and rotate it to close it, it’s pulling the screen assembly apart. The screen works fine, but it’s like layers of an onion getting pulled apart from the hinge.

I will say, after 8 or 9 years of using Yoga style devices, that each has broken at the hinge and needed repairs. I had a Thinkpad Yoga 460 that needed that repair, and this device too. Meh!

I tried out a Best Buy SLS model for a few days and liked it. Great screen, lovely keyboard, good sound. Not bad pen. Loved the hinge and build quality. I’m returning it now, and instead I grabbed an i5 16 gb SLS on ebay.

1000$ including tax and shipping, including pen and Surface Dock. Pretty good deal. Got a 1tb ssd and am going to switch it in. So, for 1100$ I’ll have a basically new SLS with all the accessories.

I thought of waiting, but I need a device NOW, and I followed the old adage that you should buy the best laptop currently available. I thought of getting the new GB Pro3 360, but I admit the service experience I just went through with what was my new GB Pro2 360 really cooled me on it. That, and the hinge falling apart on my GB Flex at the same time. LOL. Sigh…

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