Recent Tech Thoughts and Plans

After a lot more thinking, asking and planning, I got a more proper action plan now.

First, let me run through some context:

1. Kaby Lake and Ryzen
On the high end side of things, Kaby Lake is disappointing. We are talking about abysmal upgrades from Skylake.

But, things are a lot more interesting on the lower end: the Pentiums are now as good as i3s of previous generations and there is even an overclockable i3!

Also, more and more reports about Ryzen are coming out, indicating that it can and will be a close fight between both platforms. Some are even saying (or at least, praying) that Ryzen will be the shake-up that the CPU market badly needs.

All these mean that generally, there is a chill in the market; people are quite unwilling to buy newer CPUs (unless they urgently need it) and by extension not selling off their working older CPUs. There's simply too much FUD going on due to all these info.

I am going to boldly predict an impact on the 2nd hand market at least only once Ryzen is fully released as this would then ease the FUD that people have due to the lack of info. If Ryzen indeed beats Kaby Lake somehow, there will be obviously more people selling off their stuff to fund their new Ryzen computers. If not, at least there is more choices to choose from and thus, it is more possible to make informed decisions.

2. Soldered v.s. Socketed
Yes, I know, it's mentioned in many threads (heck, there's even a dedicated thread to this!), but I think it is worth mentioning in the context of this thread. Allow me to reproduce what I said in the other thread:

For the purpose of this thread, this (not to mention, other info) weakens the argument for using a "weaker" laptop by a lot!

Furthermore, most of the newer laptops are already much smaller than my NP8170. Seeing that I can already squeeze in a NP8170, an iPad Air and some paper (in nice PVC THE iDOLM@STER folders... ok I digress) into a Lowepro 350AW, any laptop is already an improvement, socketed or not.

3. Other (IT) Needs
Some time ago, I decided to create a spreadsheet to see and estimate what my other needs are. And golly, there's many of them!

Some are even more urgent than this, especially HDDs seeing that some are close to dying. I lost data once and do not want to go through the trauma again, especially when I am in a position that I can prevent it.

And most of them have much less (or outright zero) FUD than this, which means that I can and should be more decisive in getting these done first, especially if there's any good offers.

This means that I should prioritise these first and clear them so that when it is time for me to decide on this, I would be least to say, less distracted.

4. Back to my Roots: Why the NP8170?
I also did some soul-searching on why I got the NP8170 in the first place. I had to as I realised I am getting too salty about it (e.g. reseller shut down, weight, lack of upgradability despite being socketed, being left out in all that custom BIOS fun (sorry!)) all these years for the wrong reasons, which you may have noticed, affecting my thinking (and posting) process in a bad way.

I realised that all these years, I desired performance on the go and having it all in one place, rather than bouncing around between two or more computers, and as much user-maintainability as possible. And these needs still stay with me, or maybe even amplified due to desiring to travel more while still having less commitments.

This means going back to socketed laptops like the NP8170 still makes sense!

5. Windows 10: Time to Move On...
After some reading through and asking around, I realised that Windows 10 is more or less a necessity. While older OSes may work in newer hardware, their support is not guaranteed anymore. Aftershock even mentioned to me that they cannot provide drivers for OSes other than Windows 10. Also, I cannot be putting off change all the time right? But of course, I will take the necessary precautions

The last straw was when I realised that Windows 7 does not support Samba 3. This is important as I am working with network drives (DIY NASes) on a daily basis. As it is, I am bottlenecking myself by using Windows 7.

This means there is no more urgency to get Windows 7 compatible hardware; I can afford to wait it out a bit more. On the flipside, I will need to get used to Windows 10 somehow.

6. My Stuff still Works!
Perhaps the most important point is... My stuff still works! As silly as this can sound, this affects my decisions too as I can take more time to decide. It's not as if my stuff will die out the next day (touch woord!); rushing into IT decisions needlessly is reckless and bad for the wallet (and sanity)

Barring Murphy's Law, with the right stuff (that's why I checked out the thermal pads and paste thread ), I can make my stuff last for at least another year. I have also some Core 2 era parts to experiment with. This should be long enough for me to decide.

Action Plan:
So, with all these thoughts, here's the plan (in no particular order)

1. Nix the notion that my laptop has to be "stronger"/"weaker" than the PC; it is simply too confusing and restricting.
2. Postpone all PC building activities until further notice (at least post-Ryzen); this includes building a pfSense machine and a proper DIY NAS that are part of number 3. And of course, this means not building the PC mentioned in this thread.
3. Make sure the NP8170 can last long enough to survive the build time of the new laptop (estimated 2 to 3 weeks); this is where the new thermal paste and pads come in
4. Really determine how badly I need a new laptop. I noticed some lag during game streaming but I am suspecting other causes (e.g. needing better capture cards like the new Avermedia Live Gamer Portable 2 or better source devices like a iPad Pro). This is where clearing number 3 helps.
5. Get a socketed laptop once ready (maybe Cannonlake + Volta?)
6. Determine if getting a PC is necessary. Alternatively, gun for good 2nd hand deals once the time comes.
7. Get used to Windows 10 on the NP8170 first. This is where I will need help
8. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst as per usual.

Am I thinking all these correctly this time round?