20 Best Workstation For 3D Rendering (2023 Updated)

I have owned a Tyros 3 and 4 – I still have the 4. I thought I’d splurge on the Genos since I had nothing better to do with my money (and the wife said ok!). I have read a lot of reviews where people are complaining that the OS is very difficult to navigate compared to the Tyros.

I can tell you it’s not. It does so much more than the Tyros, so yes, there’s a learning curve, but it’s an easy one. What I really love about this is that it’s lightning fast compared to the Tyros. I copied 200 midi files from my Tyros to a flash drive.

Put it in the Genos and they were copied in 2 or 3 seconds. Everything on the Genos is 1000 faster than the Tyros. An added plus is the unlimited registrations. This is great when I play live, as I store all my set list songs in the registrations, and can set them up depending on the venue.

I no longer have to clear my registration banks and create set lists every time I play. Now I just create folders once for each venue, and then call that folder of registrations up at the gig. Also, you can copy/paste in the registrations.

Makes it 100 times faster when removing and adding songs to a bank, or rearranging your set lists on the Tyros. And yes, you will have to modify the midi instrument setups when you port them over from the Tyros – but only if you want to, because the Genos will automatically match the Tyros instruments, so you’re ready to go immediately.

Saving midi setups is a breeze – press save, and in a blink of an eye, they’re saved. So many outstanding features of the Genos makes it easy to justify the hefty price tag. Of course, the sounds, Wow! Great board.

Disclamer: This product is used in a software development workstation by day, and gaming rig by night, with a SuperMicro SuperChassis 747BTQ-R1K62B barebone kit, as an upgrade to a pair of Xeon E5-2630 v2.

I came to this part with great hopes of reviving my old workstation as I patiently wait for Zen3 Threadrippers. I have been considering it since the day I built the machine originally, but the 2k+ price tag per chip was way out of budget for me and I had to settle for way way less than I wanted.

Since this day, my only concern was the cooling performance of my current gear. While the case is designed to withstand pretty much anything you could throw at it, I wasn’t so sure of the tower coolers than came with the kit.

Fast forward 6 years and, as expected, these CPUs are clear top of the line products. The performance difference with the previous midrange chips that were in this system is outstanding and, even higher than expected.

It is amazing to see the difference 800 mHz extra base clock can do. My cooling concerns were also way overblown as going from 65 to 150 watt TDP only raised the temps from 35 to 68 deg C under a heavy Prime95 load.

While it isn’t a modern CPU with tons of features like AVX2, fancy new virtualisation extensions, and insane performance, a pair of those is still more than capable today. I often run multiple VMs for development and.

well. I frankly don’t even care to close them when I fire up a game. The amount of PCIe lanes is more than enough to get a GPU, sound card, and multiple NVME SSDs in your system, just like you would expect of a modern high end machine.

Besides the still limited clock speed by today’s standards, it will perform incredibly well in almost every scenarios and are a great value with perfs that are on par with an 8700k (per chip) as long as your workload scales well.

The Xeon E3-1275 v2 was the perfect CPU upgrade to keep my 2011 pre-built PC relevant in 2021. I had been running the original Core i3 2120 for the entire time, but it had been showing its age lately.

I felt this platform was still very much usable even 10 years later and I was not willing to part ways with it just yet in favor of an entirely new system, which would have cost quite a bit more money.

This particular CPU model comes with integrated graphics, something many Xeons do not have enabled. A significantly more expensive Core i7-3770K might yield a slight performance advantage, but my Joshua H61 motherboard would not be able to overclock it and even if it could, the motherboard only supports the included proprietary cooler, which I dont believe would be able to keep the 3770K comfortably cool anyway.

So, I opted for the E3-1275 v2. Yes, it is the end of the road for this platform processor-wise, but it has brought snappy performance to and breathed new life into my aging system. (I also maxed out the motherboards memory capacity to 16GB, which certainly helps.

) Id say its good for another 45 years. I recommend this CPU for those who: 1. Want to squeeze a little more life out of their LGA 1155 systems, 2. Have anything less than a Core i7 or non-hyperthreaded Xeon,and 3.

Can find one of these for under $100.

Went from a 3600x to this. Prior system config had a number of issues, some were known causes (5700xt + PCIe gen 4, looking at you). With new setup, there were improvements across the board. Everything is smoother and faster.

Used primarily for gaming and photo editing, I was a little surprised at the improvement it brought to gaming. The fps improved noticeably, but more importantly everything also became smoother, fewer stutters and moments of lower frame count.

I don’t think the 3600x should have been bottlenecking anything on the prior configuration. I was able to rule out thermal paste or CPU cooler issues (and used the same on the new CPU) so whether some problems I had before were due to bad luck on the CPU lot draw, or improvements in other areas of CPU tech between generations, etc.

the end result was that the machine actually feels like it’s now high end, especially after upgrading the GPU now as well. Bottom line is that this is a great processor. It was hard to justify at the prices when released, but once it dropped below 400 after the 5800x3d cpu came out, I couldn’t pass it up.

It should last me some years before I feel the need to jump to the new socket. If you’re already on AM4 this is easily worth it, but if you need a full new system and can wait a bit, it might be better to get the newer gen socket when it comes out.

The Ryzen 9 5950X is an astonishing processor that delivers excellent multi-threaded performance at the consumer level. You have a basic high end desktop (HEDT) without the accompanying high end price.

It’s an expensive CPU, but in the context of its performance it’s a bargain. There are plenty of other reviews out there that attest to this. The main issue I would like to highlight are the thermals.

I upgraded from a first generation Ryzen 7 1700 which used an AIO 240 water cooled setup. This was fine for the 1700 but it cannot cope with the 5950X when it is running with all its cores. The temperature rapidly rises to 90 deg C and then thermal throttling kicks in to declock the processor cores and reduce the temperature.

I’m very impressed because I had run into heat issues with the 1700 at one time (I think there was a bubble in the water loop) and that CPU would just shut down rather than declock. I’m not at all disappointed.

I had purchased with an open mind knowing that an upgrade to the CPU cooling might be necessary — but not before I installed it to see whether it really was needed or not. This review is to let others know that if you want the best, you’ve got to be prepared to support it with some quality cooling.

Great processor even though its four years old. If we aren’t counting refreshes and only architectures this Devil’s Canyon chip is only one generation behind current Intel offerings. Some people say that you’re better off upgrading to a whole new system; but if you are looking for a decent performance boost and you have a Haswell-compatible i3 or i5 system, this is a reasonable avenue to take imho.

These cost between $185 and $210 in early 2019- the price of new RAM, a competing processor performance-wise, and a worthwhile motherboard would be over double that. Though beware- stock coolers are not an option with the Haswell i7’s.

It stayed around 40c at idle, but once it was under any load longer than a few seconds it thermal throttles. It probably wouldn’t if Intel kept the same size aluminium heat sink and copper lug design from the Core 2 days, that thing was a decent cooler, but they are almost half the size with this series of processors.

Water or high thermal capacity air cooling only with these guys. That being said, I have delidded mine and applied liquid metal between the die and heat spreader. I have it nudged up to 4. 6ghz on overclock (seller, dont worry, i’m not going to demand a return)I see temps around 30c at idle and 50-55c while gaming.

Intense load like Aida64 or Prime95 get me up to the low 60’s, with my highest core peaking around 64c. I could push it higher, especially if I had a better motherboard than I do, but this setup should last a couple years at least.

I ordered an i7 4790k CPU, and that’s exactly what I got. No problems or hiccups, it just works like I would expect it to. I haven’t tried overclocking it or anything, not that overclockability would reflect on the seller in any way.

4 cores, 8 threads, handles all the multitasking and gaming I want to do with ease. It’s a pretty dated CPU at this point (late 2021), but it’s easily capable of doing what I want it to do (occasional gaming and heavy multitasking/productivity).

This is a replacement for an ASUS RoG rig and it leaves the ASUS in the dust. Granted, the ASUS was five years old when replaced. The NOT SO GOOD computer was damaged PRIOR to purchase but I didn’t notice it until two days after purchase; the screen is discolored, a few F keys are loose and some cosmetic damage.

It appears the unit was dropped. Unfortunately, this model is not in stock anywhere. The GOOD almost everything! AAA MMO’s played on high or ultra with 100 frame rates, The Nvidia GTX3050 may be a high end entry level card but for the games I play it is phenomenal (FFXIV, STO, LotRO, ESO and American Truck Simulator etc).

Comes with on screen adjustable cross hair for FPS’s, and full size keyboard with keys comfortably spaced except for the number pad keys which are a little smaller and closer together than I would like.

Has both Intel integrated UHD and discrete video capabilities. You can choose which chipset to use for different programs/games through the Nvidia control panel. Comes with the Trusted Platform Module 2.

0 (TPM2. 0), important, if you plan to upgrade to the upcoming Windows 11 release. Speakers are OK, sounds a bit tinny but this may be due to the damage. Sound is great with headphones. Comes with Nahimic which allows you to customize the sounds for different applications i.

e. gaming, movies. MSI Center lets you adjust and monitor several parameters of the system, the best one is the ability to turn the keypad off for specific applications like games! The BAD. Fan noise.

It’s loud, really loud when it kicks in. My wife can hear it from 27 feet away in another room. This unit gets pretty hot to the touch even with the Technet 5 fan cooling pad I have it sitting on. Although, that may be due to damage done with this unit was dropped pre-purchase.

OVERALL. Great value for the money. As stated this replaced a mid-range ASUS RoG rig (that I paid $500. 00 more for) and and performs better than my ASUS ever did. Understand though, technology and components have gotten better and cheaper over that time.

I bought this strictly to play games and I was honestly expecting so-so performance from this rig, was I ever surprised at what it delivered! Unfortunately I have to take it back and prospects for a replacement look dim as I have checked several stores thru the country and there are none available.

IF you can find one grab it, you wont be disappointed over all a 9/10 because of the fan and heat.

I was lucky there was 1 left in stock last week at my nearby Walmart so I didn’t delay my decision to buy. I’m using it for online gaming and image editing. Having an SSD is so nice and anything less than 16gb RAM won’t cut it.

I do wish the graphics in this laptop had a top benchmark score but then that’s asking for a miracle. The tiny annoyances (such as the WASD and arrow keys not having a different color backlight) probably aren’t a concern to most.

Mine also had Intel UHD set as primary graphics – I disabled it and changed NVIDIA to primary. Also issue with it turning off after 10 min idle. It required changing things in power options. There is some bloatware and I uninstalled it immediately.

I’m pleased with my purchase so far.

Please read this review all the way to the end. I believe in honest reviews, and while this computer is NOT the best in the market, and is in truth, most accurately described as a slightly overpriced, mediocre at best gaming laptop, so is Alienware.

Anyway, I digress, because I believe that THIS, TRULY IS a great laptop. The sad fact is TRULY all things are/will usually be overpriced these days. Let’s face it. This is a $1,000 gaming laptop. The quality it offers for a nominal price is PHENOMENAL.

The games it CAN play, and what it DOES allow people who cannot AFFORD an Alienware is amazing. Now my wife has an Alienware M15 R4, and I have a Corsair Vengeance, and BOTH in my opinion were overpriced.

This laptop, though while not able to perform at THOSE specs, MORE THAN ADEQUATELY handles what I desire to play on it, but to me, the TRUE value of this laptop is in the company who creates it. The community, the information, and the customer service the provide is SPECTACULAR !!! They seem like they really DO care about their consumers.

Also, if you WANT Alienware quality, they provide that too, just not for $1,000. As a matter of fact, they are in the top 3 gaming laptops this year I believe. I don’t know who the winner was. Anyways, GREAT LAPTOP OVERALL.

Well done MSI. You give ROG a run for their money. 5 star.

I’m a renderer and a gamer, so wanted something which was the best of both worlds. I wanted a 7900X but decided to see, for a few hundred more, if I could go nuts with a second hand 7960X. What a monster.

Even with windows set in “balanced performance” mode, this thing is noticeably faster than my last rig (2600K overclocked to 4. 5Ghz) doing single threaded work. I was planning on overclocking it, but not sure if I need to.

My GTX680 is now the new bottleneck with heavy video rendering. In Windows 10 Balanced mode it sits all cores at 1. 2Ghz when idle, 2. 8Ghz when a little bit busy, and easily full throttle to 4. 4Ghz on 2 cores (or 3.

6Ghz all cores) when doing something strenuous. The most strenuous thing I did recently was a 6GB exe file winzip compress, with munched 100% CPU and all 32GB of RAM (nice to see all resources being used), and it did it in under a minute, which would have taken my last machine 5-10 mins to do.

Runs surprisingly cool and draws only 26W when in balanced power mode at idle. Obviously it rockets when you do anything strenuous. Cooling wise, I’d recommend an AIO waterblock as it turbo’s so aggressively it requires the heat to be taken away quickly and efficiently.

I’m using a Kraken 62 and it’s as cold as an iceberg. It is rumoured to have better thermals than a 7900X because of the larger die-size (spreads the heat out over larger surface area under the heat spreader) which might be true.

But it might be more because its clocked lower. I had also read that anything above 20 threads and older apps may not work (20 logical core max). As this has 32 with HT on, and I am an avid user of oldskool programs (including oldskool games like Unreal 1998), I feared I’d be turning HT off.

However, with my full compliment of apps and games, I report no issues. Even Unreal and Soundforge XP from the early 2000s (the latter notoriously unstable). The increased CPU PCIe lanes are a godsend for expandability, but make sure you get a motherboard with a sensible configuration of PCIe slots.

Motherboard manufacturers still insist in supporting the unpopular KabyLake-X CPUs, which causes the designers to do things a little silly with CPU PCIe lane slot configuration, and often makes for awkward placements of GPUs if you don’t want the heatsinks covering up valuable CPU-driven PCIe slots.

What I’m saying is, plan your PCIe configuration before buying the motherboard (Gigabyte have done this a little bit on my Designare EX, which is a shame). With X299 mobos you also often have 1 slot less than mainstream processor boards, as the 8 memory channelsand lower CPU position take up space.

Something to consider. Back to the processor; absolutely nuts, worth the money if you’re going to make use of all 32 threads. I will say this now, if all you want to do is play games, don’t waste your money.

These are hybrid server-class CPUs which have been modified by Intel to be the best of both worlds (single & multi thread) but you really don’t need any more than 8 threads if you’re gaming. Streaming however, and VR, are other matters which you may want more than 8 threads for.

5/5, money (for me) well spent. What a beast.

Pros: You may heard lots of negative comment about X299, but please forget them if you want both single and muti-thread performance. OMG, this thing is fast, fast at stock, and can be overclocked to over 4.

5GHz while Threadripper start to struggle just over 4. 0GHz. Simlar mult-core performance to Threadripper 2950x, but in term of single thread and overclocking performance, 7940x is miles ahead. It’s not really that more expansive that Threadripper because x299 motherboards are usually cheaper than x399 boards, and you need a very expensive cooler designed just for Threadripper socket while i9 can use most cooler on market, the overall cost is similar.

You will not run into any software compatibility issues like Threadripper. Forget about Threadripper, this is what you want if you are a professional CAE engineer or content creater. Cons: Intel is still using their bad theremal interface materal in a 1000 pound CPU, it gets really hot when you overclock it.

You need to delid it and add some real theremal paste or liquid metal to unlock it’s true performance, but you will risk damageing a 1000 pound CPU. It’s your choice.

Well. it was an expensive toy for me. I write code, compile code, run tests, have a couple of browsers with tons of tabs open, run a couple of VMs. All of this under Linux. I upgraded from a i7-4770 which would normally run on its boost clock around 3.

7-3. 9Ghz on all four cores. The i9-7900x boosts to about 4. 16Ghz on all 10 cores and generally single-threaded tasks complete 20% faster. But that’s only when I measure them. Otherwise the extra speed is not felt.

Temperatures haven’t been a problem for me. I run it air-cooled with Noctua NH-D15S (which itself is quite ridiculous). During the heaviest builds when all 10 cores are maxed out at 100% I observe temperatures of 78-85C.

Well. it feels nice to own such a beast. But frankly for my workloads a Ryzen 1800x would have been a much more sensible purchase. [EDIT] Actually after doing some heavy compiling on it, I take it back: the performance is pretty insane.

Let 3. 3Ghz base clock not fool you, because it’s only applicable to AVX512 workloads, which isn’t something most people do every day. For all intents and purposes it’s a 4. 16Ghz 10-core Skylake which boosts to 4.

5Ghz on two cores when needed. It is more or less twice as fast as my Ryzen 1700 compiling the same projects (and the Ryzen itself was quite an upgrade for me). What a beast. the performance is simply obscene.

I’ve been running a 2nd user FX-6300 for 7 months now and the first thing to know about these is forget air cooling. Water cooling is so cheap these days and thanks to the multitude of “All In One” systems its as easy as fitting an air cooler if not easier because you dont have a huge lump of ally and copper to fit in along with ever more extreme fans.

You do need a case that accommodates 12cm fans but that is most these days. I run mine with 2x12cm sized Corsair rad with fans either side but I chose to butcher a Thermaltake case to make that all fit on top rather than undo a factory sealed system to use the holes in the case, it was only a tenner though so I didnt mind and I will sell it as a system when I upgrade (not for ages I love this machine).

I idle at 11c. Brousing with SEVENTY tabs open now I’m at 16c. I use 8g of mushkin ram. Used to run 16 but I noticed no difference at 8 with less power used. I inherited my sons HD7950 graphics card (aka R9-280X) when he got upgraded so I have very fast machine for little cash.

My 2nd hand FX6300 was around 68 inc postage. I use my PC for processing music files (Mixed In Key, Platinum Notes, Tagscanner) , watching HD movies, listening to music (Foobar), browsing and occasionally as a Digital Audio Workstation and it excels at whatever I throw at it.

My motherboard, an Asrock 880g extreme runs my CPU in turbo mode at 4. 1ghz. AOD got to 6ghz before I bottled it, but to be honest I run it mostly at stock 3. 6 purely for longevity. For less than 70 (50 recently if you stay up very very late) for 2nd hand prices you can have computing power which could cost you a LOT more.

Finally a word on the Bulldozer, or this CPU type, it has got bad press here and there for compatibility issues my advice is check your motherboards web page THEN the overclockers forums about your too.

As a rule you need a BLACK PLASTIC CPU socket which is the AM3+ but there are reports of some not working. Both mine and my sons CPU/Mobo ( He runs FX-8150 + AsRock 970 Extreme 3) required the BETA BIOS download which ends your warranty.

However theres LOTS of people using them successfully and If like me you buy 2nd user or shop returns to save spondoolicks its a moot point. Theres instances of people on forums getting 6 core and 8 core FX cpus working with motherboards that dont officially support them, so research research research!!! Good luck and enjoy building and using your new baby.

Exactly what I needed for testing a customers MSI 970 Gaming Motherboard that I suspect had power delivery issues. This helped me confirm my diagnosis and figure out how to best configure the board to live for as long as possible.

Now that testing is complete and the PC is back to it’s owner I’m thinking of putting together a PC based around this 6120 CPU as a loaner PC for clients. It works great and was a great bargain.

AMAZING – but PLEASE NOTE!!! This came in PERFECT condition and exactly as advertised. And, I got it BEFORE it was expected! BUT – for technical people – 2 important things to note: 1) The OS was not installed with a Recovery Disk! This is really important.

It had a fresh Big Sur install, but to do any support, Command+R was not available, and on checking there was no data in the recovery disk (or it was too corrupted for the system to see it). I’m glad I checked (and I usually do my own fresh OS install, anyway).

A fresh re-installation of the OS created the recovery disk made this perfect. 2) The 32GB RAM came on one chip. This is a great thing, if you use this for major work (I do a lot of video work), so another 32GB chip (matching Samsung, in this case) gives me that bit of speed boost, and it’s very inexpensive 64GB machine.

Hard to find a single chip, but I did. Aside from these minor issues – this is an excellent purchase.

Looks as promoted, new in a open box. I had some minor issues setting it up , only because I did not know the keyboard has a power switch as does the cordless mouse. I prefer a mouse with cord, because I do not like that on desktop if you right click it does not give option for new folder the way my mouse with a cord does.

I did not think it moved as smoothly as the mouse with a cord. You can still open a new folder on desktop you just have to open file at top of desktop. I just found it clumsy. Also my new Mac came with a real short keyboard.

The numbers all at the top not the numbered keyboard also on left with my previous Mac. I have to use the top of keyboard for doing invoices, not as easy to use. I will be using my old keyboard and mouse.

The computer itself is fast on its feet and I saved about $ 600. 00 over buying a brand new machine. I am happy with my purchase.

Ive had this unit for about a month now and its everything I need from a desktop for photo, video or music production. Its processor, SSD and video card makes using these intense apps quick and responsive.

The hardware specs (WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, etc) also means you can feel relatively safe that you wont absolutely need to buy a new desktop in 7 years if kept in good condition. Tips: I bought the 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD option to save on the overall price.

I added 32GB for a little over $100 which is a third of what it wouldve cost to find it on eBay already installed. I use a $70 1TB external drive for permanent storage most of my photos, videos and music files.

Moving onto them into the computer only during the workflow saves money and space on the computers hard drive. Using these two options saved me around $500.

I just wanted to say ive seen the ads for the new Microsoft surface pro and unless things have changed do not believe the ads ive seen on roku. If the way they dealt with the pro 7 has not changed from the pro 6 they are lying to you.

It shows a child getting something made by apple and a pro surface 7. I got my wife a surface 6 and yes it was it was alright in regards to the quality of the device. Around the price the child in the ad had said; something around 900$.

Not bad if you think of quality. But it wasnt $900 it was around the $1500. They dont include the pen, mouse or even the keyboard. In the ad, however the boy had gotten the pen and keyboard implying those things come with the price he mentioned (less than a thousand dollars) they don’t provide those things in the initial price unless things have changed and i very seriously doubt they have.

Keep that in mind when you are buying the surface pro. Even the keyboard is an accessory in their eyes and that will cost you. It’s probably gonna cost you around $1500.

I originally started with the i5/4GB/128GB Memory model and I loved it so much bc it was a tablet computer. I went from being an Apple Fanboy to loving MCSFT especially the Surface Pro 2017. It’s light, versatile and just a work horse.

I decided to upgrade to the i7/8GB/256GB Memory bc I always have at least 3 windows open at the same time and I would notice that the model I had was lagging a little bit and it was taking a long time to load documents.

What I mean by long time is more than a milli-second which isn’t a major deal to most people and this tablet is by far the best tablet that I’ve owned. I’m a FT Mortgage Loan Processor and sometimes I work from home bc I need to catch up on e-mails or I need to update a customer’s conditions.

I came from the world of Apple. I had all the iPad models starting with the iPad 1 up until the iPad Pro 12. 9″ and I couldn’t do as much work on the iPad Pro bc it doesn’t work with native MS apps and it didn’t work with windows IE11.

When I found out that MS came out with a tablet pc I knew I had to get it. It was by far the best purchase that I’ve made. Yes. It was expensive but I can use this as a tablet or a full blown laptop with the keyboard cover.

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it other than the price could be a little lower. I bought the SP 2017 i7/8GB/256GB memory bc I needed something efficient and something I could use for multiple purposes and will last me a long time.

Now, I have 1TB of OneDrive free and that’s where I keep all my customers documents so I can access the file from home and from work. There’s absolutely no lag on this laptop even with multiple windows opened up at the same time and I haven’t experienced any crashes since I upgraded.

The I5 works well with people that doesn’t need to have multiple apps running at the same time and it’s perfect for a college student or a mobile professional. I find that this laptop offers more than any other laptop bc it’s one of a kind and there’s others like it.

Apple’s iPad Pro can’t even compare to it bc the SP runs like a full windows operating system and Apple only has native apps in the app store and that’s it. With the Surface Pro, you’re able to do everything you can do on a PC.

The i7 is really worth me money and if you’re like me and need to look at documents back and forth then this is the perfect option for you. If you’re just using it for it’s basic functionalities then the i5 will do you just fine.

It all comes down to how much speed/ram you need. I need my SP to compete with desktops bc sometime my boss lets me work from home and ifI didn’t have a windows laptop I would not be able to do any work outside of normal work hrs.

I also love how they have the Alcantra Keyboard that they made just for this tablet. I couldn’t imagine using this tablet without a keyboard. If you don’t need the keyboard, you’re better off with the iPad Pro 12.

9″ bc if all you’re doing is drawing and video editing then iPad beats this SP but it’s also very limited. I have both devices and I tend to use the SP more bc it’s just like a tablet but with a perfectly designed keyboard bc it has a great feel to the keys and it has a trackpad, something the iPad Pro doesn’t have.

I know the i7’s are more expensive but there is a reason for that and I’m really trying to keep myself in the game and not have a very slow laptop like my MacBook Pro late 2012. It still works well but it’s so out of date and it’s so old that my cellphones are starting to get more ram in it than the MBP.

This will be my last purchase for a computer for a while and now that I know MS makes good products, I highly doubt I’m going to be an Apple fanboy moving forward. The only gripe I have is that the battery doesn’t last as long as it’s advertised or I’m using it too much, who knows but I can barely squeeze 8hrs of on screen time with the SP.

I haven’t checked it against the MacBook pro but I would say they’re about the same. You can only put in such a big battery for such a small and light device. I’m glad that I found the SP when I was looking for a tablet like laptop.

I can do all my work from the laptop and that’s all I need it for. I can have multiple windows up now without experiencing any lag whatsoever. If you’re looking for something compact yet powerful then you’ve got it in the Surface Pro 2017.

I needed a new laptop and wanted one with a built-in DVD/CD drive, but no company manufactures those anymore, so the only option was to get a refurbished one. This is the first time I have purchased a refurbished electronic device and I am very pleased with it.

It’s in very good condition, with no visible scuffs or scratches. It works better than my old laptop ever did, an HP 2000, which I was never happy with because it was always slow and had Windows 8, which was horrible and not user-friendly at all.

This laptop has Windows 10 and Bluetooth, which my old laptop also lacked, and is essential for listening to audio with wireless headphones. You can also unlock it with your fingerprint, which is a kind of neat new option to me.

The only thing that isn’t great about the laptop is the battery doesn’t hold a charge long at all, maybe an hour, but that isn’t a dealbreaker for me as I will be using this mainly at home and not anywhere where I can’t plug it in when needed.

I would deduct a half star for that if I could, but I’m giving it a five-star rating because overall the refurbisher did a very good job. They also packaged the product very professionally and I received it safe and sound and expeditiously.

As an added note, I had to download an app to play DVDs, I would recommend Nero, it was free and works well.

On the negative side: The laptop came with a slower Intel Core i7-3720QM instead of the advertised Intel Core i7-3840QM. It came with a 130W A/C adapter (which works) instead of the required 240W A/C adapter.

The metal piece holding the SSD in place was broken, so the SSD kept popping out, so the metal piece had to be duct taped to the side of the case before the laptop could be started up and used. The screen and keyboard were very dusty, so they had to be vacuumed and wiped off.

On the positive side: The low $398. 00 price. The battery has plenty of burn time. All hardware, including the built-in webcam, works fine.

This is a very alright pre-built computer. There’s a lot to like, and a fair bit to criticize but it’s all based on the users’ personal preferences. $1299 is a very compelling price and is what ultimately led me to purchasing this computer in the first place.

A 3060ti, ryzen 7 3700x, and 16gb of ram sounds phenomenal on paper, and in practice isn’t all that shabby, either. Where the PC falls short in my experience is cooling performance, the lackluster components (with the exception of GPU and CPU) and the very unappealing case.

Starting from the top, as of writing this review in a relatively cool room, the GPU is averaging 50°c on idle under 1% load, where as the CPU is averaging a similar 54°c. For a case that is borderline comically large considering the components within it, it is quite concerning to say the least in regards to longevity.

For reference, my previous computer would idle around 30-35°c idle and ramp up to about 60-70°c under a relatively heavy load, at least in the GPU department, where was while just playing a game such as genshin impact, this computer easily hits the high 70s to low 80s.

Cooling is at the very least an issue to me, but your mileage my vary. In regard to lackluster components, the CPU is quite decent, but doesn’t come with the stock cooler but has a different cooler, which is a bit strange but it’s passable.

The GPU however is an ASUS 3060ti mini, which performs a bit worse than the average due to the smaller form factor which can be a non-issue to some users, but considering the case is a very large case that could fit a standard sized GPU, it just seems a bit strange.

The ram for me is 2400mhz at CL16, but there have been different reported ram speeds, so your mileage my vary, but my particular configuration is a tad lackluster considering the price. Lastly, I’ve touched on the case throughout the course of the review, but it needs to be emphasized that it is just.

not that great. It’s very large, it doesn’t cool well, and more-so on the subjective side but in my opinion just doesn’t look good especially in comparison to other options. If the case itself was smaller and or cooled significantly more efficiently then I would give it pass, but as it stands now it’s just a bit of an eyesore and doesn’t perform relative to its size.

Overall, I think the pre-built is workable at the very least but has some glaring flaws that at the very least need to be considered. I truly feel as though the only reason this computer is competitive at all is due to the GPU inside of it that is insanely over-inflated as of right now, and for some people that’s all that matters and if you are that person, by all means.

It’s a pretty nice performer, but I just can’t bare certain qualities of it. However, if you able to look past the issues that are within the PC, then I feel as though it is a fine buy.

I loved how easy it was to setup! This was a gift for my 12 yr old for a combination birthday and elementary school graduation. My oldest son whose 24 took it out and set it up for him as my husband was working out of town.

My grandson loves the lights on the tower and that he can change the colors. The keyboard is only a white light but we will be replacing it with a c wireless gaming keyboard in the near future (this would’ve been a nice upgrade for this system; even if it was added as an option to add a lighted wireless keyboard for a small upgrade charge we would’ve paid it) so this really isn’t an issue.

He likes playing all his games on it from Fortnite to Call of Duty and the graphic card that’s included is more than adequate for this system. At first we had a lot of lagging issues till we realized it wasn’t the computer but our service as it just couldn’t handle all of our devices.

I called and was told we were in the fastest one for our area. That said, I changed internet providers and all the issues totally disappeared. So my advice is to be sure you have enough speed to handle all of your devices prior to calling the company about your computer not working.

It’s now been over 2 weeks on the new internet provider and we’ve had no issues at all! My son is thrilled with his setup. We’ve hooked up a lighted mousepad and a stereo system with speakers and he loves his setup but most importantly the computer is able to handle all his gaming requirements as well as homework when school starts.

We’ve added monitoring and an antivirus program for added protection. For the price this system can’t be beat (and I did over 6 months of research prior to my purchase and still was a bit skeptical of how well this system would deliver.

). This system outperformed my 24 yr old’s gaming computer to the point I will most likely purchase a second one!.

Up and running for 3 days now. System runs like butter. Have not yet tried to put it through some high-demand graphic games, but so far it runs all my old favourites, like Skyrim and Far Cry on Ultra High, maxxed out settings without a glitch, and running dual monitors.

The reason I left 4 stars instead of 5, is that my original build was going to be a Corsair Vengeance i7800, and due to graphics card and chip shortages, chose this system as the “next-best-thing”. After reading prior comments about running hot, I swapped out the 600w power source for an 850w Corsair 850X right out of the box.

I am finding my CPU temp stays between 26C and 33C, and the RTX 3060 is around 40C with normal use and maxxed out at 67C during stress tests (a little high, but acceptable IMO. ). The need to upgrade the power source to meet NVidia’s minimum requirements on the RTX 3060 right out of the box is a simple fix at the supplier / mfr level IMO, and should have been a consideration.

All-in-all; after considering how long a custom build would take me waiting to get an RTX 3060 / 3070 / 3080, and the a-la-carte end price, this system was a competitive option that allowed me to get my hands on the RTX card without breaking the bank or compromising performance in a pre-boxed PC.

A few minor tweaks out of the box and this system promises to be a close compromise to my original criteria. Time to take it out for a spin – maybe Frostpunk next.

A very compact computer that is a bit underwhelming as a CAD workstation – you can only put in a mediocre GPU with a 35W T-class CPU before the PSU start struggling – so you won’t be looking at a rendering beast or modelling an international airport in LOD500.

But that is entirely missing the point – this is not a Workstation. This is a 1 litre chassis that has – AMT management, – official Ubuntu support (if that helps procurement signing it off), – 2x SODIMM slots up to 2x32GB, – 2x PCI-E4 x4 NVMe bays, and – an internal PCI-E3 x8 Half height expansion bay allowing non-proprietary cards.

This combination of factors make the P350 Tiny fairly unique in the SERVER market. The flexibility the PCI-E slot makes this a very versatile edge solution – with a single 40GbE QSFP+ NIC like a MCX353A-QCBT you can have a low footprint on prem storage/SQL etc solution; with a small Quadro you can have a competent CUDA compute node; with a PCI-E capture card you can have a video capture station you can stick behind a VESA monitor.

The possibilities are endless. The only thing to consider is whether 11th Gen P350 warrants the higher price over its older siblings 10th Gen P340 and 8/9th Gen P330, which still offers everything listed above at a bargain price.

However if you are reading thisreview when Alder Lake P360 is already out – do have a think about those as the Efficiency cores might drastically improve the utility of a small node like this.

I’ve been doing PC’s for both personal and professional use, in one iteration or another since my first Apple II GS (with the optional 1 megabyte of RAM). I’ve owned hardware from several different manufacturers.

Some have been great, some not so much. I had my first experience with Lenovo back in 2014, with a pair of ThinkCentre M83’s (Windows 7 Pro, updated to Win 10). They were recommended by a friend who is an IT consultant.

The experience with them has been excellent, and by that I mean they have been used daily, seven days a week without a hitch. While they take a little longer to boot now than when they were new, once up and running, they are still quick.

I have also purchased Lenovo Chromebooks for my (now) 10-year-old grandkids. I can’t quite say the kids have abused them, but aside from me making sure they stay updated, the kids haven’t exactly treated them like the crown jewels.

They are also still running fine. To the P348, I’ve always preferred to spec my own tech. It’s getting more difficult to find “customize and buy”. The P348 had the best number of options in the function and performance categories I could find, and I did spend a fair amount of time looking.

The price was, I thought, very fair for what I was getting, and I managed to hit the timing right with a coupon or two. Without going through the whole list, I opted for the i9 processor, 32 GB of memory, and the NVIDIA T-400 video card, among other things.

It did take a couple of months to build and ship, but that’s the nature of today’s world. It came very well packaged and arrived a little earlier than I expected it to. The video card requires mDP cables, which I had ordered in advance.

Once unpacked, I was up and running in about 10 minutes. The machine, even with the fan running is very quiet. With the SSD as a boot drive, from power on, it is ready to go in around 30-45 seconds. While not specific to the hardware manufacturer, the Windows 11 is pretty simple to set up, and is functionally close enough to Win 10 so as not to cause any real headaches.

Performance wise, the thing screams. I haven’t had it long, I’m writing this review about two weeks after receiving it. Not that I expect to need it, but I did opt for the 3 year premier support upgrade.

It’s priced very reasonably, making me think that Lenovo has enough faith in their equipment to feel I’m not going to need it.

The system overall is a work of art, it’s amazing. The problem was the fact that I got a custom brand new system which took 2 months to come in, then when it came, 2/4 ram slots did not read anything.

I called premium support (signed up for 5 years) which they did a diagnosis and came to realize that the motherboard might be DOA. So, they send a NEW RAM to diagnosis. Tech came in the next day to diagnose, figured it was a dead motherboard, so the tech called lenovo to send in the motherboard.

I did get the motherboard on the next day in which lenovo sent out a tech after 1 day of the part arriving. problem was, the motherboard that the factory sent is again DOA. so they had to send out another motherboard, took another 2 days to get the tech.

fortunately the tech from peopletogo was amazing and accomodating, he installed the new motherboard and the PC was finally up and running! After being so excited, I started installing all the programs and all and yet again found that the microsoft office I have bought is a subscription and not a permanent license.

(when I bought my old lenovo t470p, the option for microsoft office on the first page of building your system was always permanent, now it’s not) So, be wary of what software you purchase!!! read them first because lenovo wont tell you it’s a subscription.

overall experience is terrible but like I said, the PC is a work of art. I am just overall sad.