#the morgue
BILL COBBS
Film & TV veteran Bill Cobbs (I love him in everything he is in) starred in several horror movies including THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS (1991), I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1998), THE MORGUE (2008), among others. #BlackHorrorMonth#BlackHistoryMonth #Day 20
Y’know I got an Alienware laptop for gaming because I was told yeah they’re expensive compared to their components, but they’re worth it esp if you don’t want to build your own, and the one I wanted was exactly in my budget since it was on a decent sale. And the comparable laptops were cheaper, but had drawbacks I didn’t really want. And everybody said it was really good.
And it is the most disappointing thing I’ve ever owned.
It’s running so slow I can’t actually do any troubleshooting to speed it up. I think the problem is the malware scan, but I have TURNED THAT OFF. I use it exclusively for Steam and sometimes the Epic Game Store, so that feels safe.
It’s a really good laptop, it’s only a few years old, I don’t know what’s wrong.
I’m generally a fan of Dell, but since they bought Alienware, the brand is just… you’re paying for the logo, and you’re paying a lot.
See that’s what I thought, so I was surprised to see it getting reviewed so well, and genuinely recommended? So I figured maybe I was wrong and there was something special.
At this point I almost just want to buy a tower instead, since I was wrong about wanting a laptop for gaming so I can move around the apartment. I’m never gaming in front of the TV, I’m putting something on my ancient MacBook and setting that next to my gaming laptop in my office.#it didn’t help that a lot of the advice for picking out a gaming laptop was just#incredibly technical and I could not find a guide to how to understand it
Won’t help now, I’m afraid, but maybe it will help someone else (or, you, later):
The main trick to remember is that you don’t need the Absolute Best™ unless you’re a competitive gamer, and often not even then. Sometimes the difference between one component and the next most expensive version is benchmarks that mean nothing to you and $400. Sometimes, there’s an observable difference, but the improvement is not worth the markup.
Hard Drive:
The hard drive affects how quickly things load, whether it’s the game loading for the first time or loading a new zone, but doesn’t affect gameplay very much.
There are two types of hard drive. Most gamers prefer Solid State Drives (SSD), because they are much faster than the traditional HDD. They’re also much more expensive for much less space.
SSDs are, again, technically superior, but an HDD that spins at 7200 rpm or 10K rpm is fine.
Video Card:
Yeah, in a nearby universe, holy wars are waged over this shit. The average user would not be able to observe the difference between NVIDIA and AMD, and the warrior priests of each faction will point to benchmarks that don’t mean a damn thing to you or me. I personally have always gone with NVIDIA, but I honestly don’t think it matters that much.If you’re buying a new computer for gaming, and you want to be able to play the latest games at the best speed, right now you need 4GB of video memory, would do better with 6GB, and should probably aim higher for the games that come out in the future. In theory, this should peak soon.
RAM:
This DOES affect gameplay, because if you don’t have enough free RAM, the computer will start using the hard drive, which is slower. That’s when you start seeing the video stutter. There are three things to consider with RAM.
- Speed. Faster is obviously better, but it’s likely the default type of RAM you see in a system setup will be fine.
- Amount. Right now you want a minimum of 12GB, and I recommend 16GB.
- Expandability. You can actually go with the minimum on these things, because RAM is pretty easy to upgrade– as long as the system has the capacity. A new gaming computer should have at LEAST a 32GB capacity.
Display/Monitor:
This is one of those things where people go waaaay overboard. Do you NEED 4K? Can you tell the difference between 4K and HD1080? Most people can’t, particularly on a computer display/monitor.
A 1920x1080 display (HD1080) is all you need. I recommend a refresh rate of 120MHz or higher, but you know what? I’ve played Fallout 4 on a 60MHz monitor, and it was fine.
Processor:
Easy to get lost in the weeds on this, but what you want is a minimum of 4 cores and 4GHz. Obviously, the higher either of these numbers is, the better, but more than likely the cost of the Best Chip You Can Buy™ is not worth it, because the one that’s a couple steps below that will be fine.
Laptop vs. Desktop:
Advantage of Laptop: Can be taken anywhere. Requires one power connection at least some of the time.
Advantages of Desktop: Tends to be more modular– you can add another hard drive, another video card, etc. etc. Easier to repair, both in terms of physical practicality and cost of parts, which are usually cheaper than the laptop equivalent. Also, tends to accept a wider variety of components than laptops, in which the components are often integrated, or only certain components will work. Better cooling. If it dies, you can take a lot of the components out and build a new system using them.
Like on the one hand, I think characterization and visual design are densely correlated, but I also feel like a really good exercise, is to give characters features that are not strictly related to ‘what they are’ in the story. This ties into the thing I just reblogged, but like. the fact of the matter is that people come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. You might have a big burly jock, or you might have a broad-shouldered six-foot tall person who is not exceptionally ‘burly’ or an ‘overweight nerd’ stereotype.
Don’t just have fat characters who are cool, have fat characters who have roles or archetypes not normally “expected” of fat characters! have a fat smooth-talking socialite, or a fat lightfooted rogue type, or a fat ‘refined and spiritual outdoorsy ranger’ type.
Yes, talk about characterization with your visual designs, but, frankly, we often internalize a lot of ‘junk’ data about “what this type of character is for”- information that becomes fit to certain biases. So, sometimes, as an exercise, it’s good to let your sense of “but I have to communicate Perfectly who this character is” take a backseat to pushing those horizons- and you’ll find that your designs get stronger for it.
