Disqus - Latest Comments for MathieuB

Re: The Best External Hard Drives, SSDs and Flash Drives: 2019

MathieuB — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 10:58:51 -0000

Hello Orgest,

It is indeed outdated. I will update it next week.

Thank you,
Mathieu

Re: How to choose the best Apple iMac 21.5″ – Spring 2021

MathieuB — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 16:34:02 -0000

Of course, I'll be updating the article when the new iMac comes out.

Re: How to choose the best Apple iMac 21.5″ – Spring 2021

MathieuB — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 16:33:14 -0000

John,

There are numerous rumors that say so.

I've noticed that B&H have stopped carrying iMacs with the 512GB and 1TB storage capacity, usually a sign that an update is coming soon!

Re: How to choose the best Apple iMac 27″ – 2021

MathieuB — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 09:46:03 -0000

Joe,

The iMac is on a slower update cadence than say the iPhone or Macbook and you might have to wait for longer before the next update, which may very well be incremental, not necessarely a big difference.

Assuming that you go with an higher-end model, say at least the 8 core model and enough RAM (which can be upgraded later on if you're comfortable with that), I see no reason why the current model wouldn't last you 7-10 years.

Re: Choose the best Macbook Pro 13 – 2021

MathieuB — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 16:03:45 -0000

Considering your usage, I'd opt for the M1 macbook with 16GB of RAM. Why would you downgrade RAM?

Re: 8 Best Prebuilt Budget PCs for Gaming and Creative Pros – February 2021

MathieuB — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 08:43:38 -0000

Feel free to link me to whatever machine you choose and I'll let you know what I think about.

Re: 6 Best Budget Laptops for Gaming and Creative Pros: Holidays 2020, Great Deals!

MathieuB — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 12:58:45 -0000

Hello Safar,

I'm not looking for guest posts at the moment.

Thank you for your interest and have a good day,
Mathieu

Re: How to choose the right SSD storage capacity and pay less for your computer: 2020 Edition

MathieuB — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:00:35 -0000

Lori,

Unfortunately the SSD is soldered on your 2019 Macbook Pro, so upgrading it is not an option.

Seeing as an external drive is an inconvenient option, I see two alternatives:
1- A physically small USB flash drive, that you can leave in the USB Type-C port full time, or on a keychain/bag. Something like this:
https://amzn.to/2RBApPa
It allows you to have an extra 512GB of storage at a low cost. But you still have to keep track of your files.

2- Synchronised online backup/files
You can set up an online backup with automatic sync, so that your files are automatically backed up and accessible online. I used Backblaze for many years. You have an app on your computer, you can choose which folders and files that you want to back up automatically. You can recover/download any files that you need.

Hope this helps,
Mathieu

Re: The Best Internal Laptop, Mobile (2.5″) and Desktop (3.5″) Hard Drives Buying Guide – May 2020

MathieuB — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 10:22:17 -0000

Be careful with those benchmarks, those are sustained SEQUENTIAL writes, not RANDOM writes, where speeds plummet to 1-2MB/s. Windows, programs loading and workloads are much more random in nature. Look at the 4K read/writes instead, those are much more representative of real world usage.

I see, you're working with a laptop that doesn't support NVMe. Looking at the notebookcheck review of the Thinkpad w541, it looks like it supports a mSATA drive, not to be confused with M.2 (different form factor). Booting from the mSATA drive is possible. The Samsung 850 EVO would be my top choice for a mSATA SSD.

You can still add a 2.5" SATA SSD in the caddy, which will still be way faster than a hard drive. Take for exemple the mainstream Crucial MX500, which offer average random writes of 83.3MB/s, a whooping 55x times faster than the 1,5MB/s of your top choice.
https://ssd.userbenchmark.c...

Trim, wear-leveling, and write amplification are all handled by the SSD, I wouldn't worry so much about it. Here's the TechReport article I was talking about in my earlier comment, where they tested SSD endurance:
https://techreport.com/revi...

Those were older drives, needless to say, technology (wear leveling algorithms too) has improved since. Assuming a 1000TB lifespan, or 1,000,000GB and a 32GB dataset that gets written daily, you're good for 31250 runs or days, or 85 years. Even if you run it 10 times a days, with 320GB of writes a day, you're good for 8.5 years. Pretty sure that you'll have moved on to something else before that hehehe.

Keep in mind performance too. If your hard drive writes at 1.5MB/s, it will write only 5400MB/s per hour, or 5.4GB. So that 32GB dataset would take about 6 hours to write, compared to slightly over 7 minutes for a SSD (32000MB / 85MB per second). A SSD would allow you to get much more work done.

just keep an eye once in a while on the SSD health with SSD monitoring tools and have a backup. You should always have a backup in any case, hard drives are much more fragile and less reliable than SSDs. Besides, if you have two drives, one for the OS/programs and the other for handling workloads, it's easy to duplicate important data across both drives.

Note that SSD take a significant performance hit being run over USB. If you choose to go that way, make sure to get an enclosure that supports UASP and TRIM.

Re: The Best Internal Laptop, Mobile (2.5″) and Desktop (3.5″) Hard Drives Buying Guide – May 2020

MathieuB — Wed, 27 May 2020 13:33:46 -0000

A hybrid drive will cache what is used repetitively, so it's a gamble as to whether it will cache the OS and not other data. Keep in mind that the Hybrid drive flash cache is limited in capacity too. Not to mention, even data served from the cache of an hybrid drive won't match the performance of a SATA SSD, let alone a PCIe one.

Using a small SSD would make more sense for the OS and programs.

If you're worried about wearing out the SSD with too many writes, consider a MLC SSD, such as the Samsung 970 Pro? It offers much higher sustained write performance too and is rated for 600TB of writes on the 512GB model and 1200TB on the 1TB model.

Mind you, those are conservatives figures. The Tech Report tested SSD longevity some time ago and pretty much all SSDs lasted much longer than what they were rated for. Especially quality SSDs such as Samsung or Intel.

If cost or storage capacity is an issue, the Samsung 970 Evo Plus is another option. The are rated for 600TB of writes on the 1TB model and 1200TB on the 2TB model. Write performance isn't as high as the 970 Pro, but still far higher, on another scale, than a hard drive.

I'd consider something like a small SATA 2.5" SSD for the OS and programs, a M.2 PCI NVMe Samsung 970 Pro to maximize write performance for the datasets and a hard drive for archives/long-term storage of data that you don't access on a regular basis.

Re: The Best Internal Laptop, Mobile (2.5″) and Desktop (3.5″) Hard Drives Buying Guide – May 2020

MathieuB — Tue, 26 May 2020 11:26:17 -0000

Albert,

Thank you for letting me know. I've removed it from my recommendations.

It is a shame that hard drive manufacturers are selling more and more SMR drives without clearly stating so. It reminds me of 5,400rpm desktop hard drives that aren't clearly marked as so. Dodgy marketing.

I'll be sure to double-check all my recommendations in the next update.

Thank you,
Mathieu

Re: The 5 Best All-in-One Desktop Computers: Mid 2020

MathieuB — Tue, 12 May 2020 10:38:41 -0000

Stephen,

Well, 'decent specs' are subjective. Quad-core and six-core CPUs used to be in high-end model just a few years ago and offer plenty processing power for the average daily tasks. With a SSD and a modern CPU, you get more than decent performance for everyday tasks.

I mean, to work on this website, multitask, do some photo editing, etc. I've been using a laptop with a quad-core CPU, 16GB of RAM and a SATA M.2 SSD for the last 4 years or so. I have no desire to wait on my computer, as it is a work tool which should not slow me down in any way and I have no complaints about its performance. Sure, I might upgrade in a few years, to another thin and lightweight laptop with a 8 cores CPU, 32GB of RAM and a PCIe SSD, but I'm in no rush.

It all depends on your needs and desires really. Sure, if you do video editing, then a 8 core CPU and 16GB of RAM would offer better performance, or if you want only the best, then going straight to a 8 core CPU also makes sense.

What I noticed over this and the previous update for the holidays is that there is less variety when it comes to All-in-one PCs. Sadly no interesting AMD Ryzen CPUs, despite their more than competitive performance. Hopefully we'll get more choices in the future.

Thank you for the kind words.

Cheers,
Mathieu

Re: buy-best-apple-imac-21-q2-2020

MathieuB — Wed, 06 May 2020 14:25:01 -0000

Hello Christian,

You were right to question that. There was an error with option #18, where the CPU was indicated to be an Intel Core i5, while in fact it is the Core i7. This error has been corrected.

Here's what you really get:
Option 9: $2949 Core i5 CPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Radeon Pro Vega 20 4GB
Option 18: $3149, Core i7 CPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Radeon Pro Vega 20 4GB

So basically, option 18 offers the Core i7 CPU, which offers significantly higher performance, thanks to being able to handle twice as many threads and running at higher frequencies.
– Intel Core i5 Six-Core / 6 threads 3.0-4.1GHz
– Intel Core i7: Six-Core / 12 threads 3.2-4.6GHz

If you plan on running heavier applications, have multiple applications open and lots of web browser tabs, the Core i7 is a worthwhile upgrade.

I hope that clears it up. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Cheers,
Mathieu

Re: Nvidia promises RTX 2060 laptops for $999, this is what we know so far | PC Gamer

MathieuB — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 18:19:08 -0000

Sure, you can get a RTX 2060 for $999, but it gets bottlenecked with a quad-core Core i5-9400H or i5-10300H? Thanks but no thanks. As for the GF65 Thin 9SEXR, with an hexa-core Core i7, it's selling for $1099$. I'd rather spend $100 more and get an ASUS TUF with an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 4800H and a RTX 2060, which is much more interesting and future proof combo.

Re: The 4 Best Prebuilt Budget PCs for Gaming and Creative Pros – 2020

MathieuB — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 08:14:04 -0000

Hello Stephen,

You can easily and inexpensively add Bluetooth with a $10 USB adapter: https://amzn.to/39kMr6Q

As for USB Type-C, you can simply use an USB Type-A to Type-C cable (https://amzn.to/2VHyhZA) or adapter (https://amzn.to/3cxahhR)

Hope this helps you out.

Cheers,
Mathieu

Re: Best Graphic Cards for Gaming: Holidays 2019

MathieuB — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 15:27:47 -0000

1650 Super and 1660 Super: They are both great cards. In the midst of the rush lately (Black Friday/Cyber Monday, etc.), I had completely forgotten about the launch of those two cards when updating the article. I've updated the article accordingly.

Basically, both are worth a recommendation, both are unmatched at their price point.

The Radeon RX 570 is still a good choice if you can find it at $140 or less, but the GTX 1650 Super performs like a RX 580 while consuming a lot less power.

As for the GTX 1660 Super, it performs like a GTX 1660 Ti while costing $50 less!

Re: Best Graphic Cards for Gaming: Holidays 2019

MathieuB — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 15:26:23 -0000

Mark,

Thank you for making me aware of this issue.

I fixed the comments issue, some comments were not loading up, as well as the comment counter.

Re: Honda Accord & Toyota Camry Buyers — What The Heck Are You Doing?

MathieuB — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:33:54 -0000

I'd trust Toyota or Honda over Tesla any day when it comes to long term reliability and build quality.

Re: WD_Black P10 Game Drive Review – 5TB Tested

MathieuB — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 12:25:09 -0000

This review didn't adress the main question: Why would I get this "gaming drive" over a regular, less expensive and just as good external hard drive?

Re: 4 Best Prebuilt High Performance Gaming PCs: 2019

MathieuB — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 09:42:41 -0000

The other higher-end models can also do the job fine, although a notch slower, seeing as the Intel Core i7-9700K doesn't have Hyper-Threading, so it can only handle 8 threads at once and the Core i7-8700K has 6 cores with Hyper-Threading, for up to 12 threads.

Re: 4 Best Prebuilt High Performance Gaming PCs: 2019

MathieuB — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 09:41:00 -0000

Stephen,

Yes, they can handle 1080p video editing without any problem, although I'd add 8GB of RAM to the first model so you have 16GB of RAM.

Ideally, I'd go with the second one, the one equipped with the Ryzen 7 2700X + Geforce RTX 2070 8GB. The 8 core/16 threads CPU will offer better performance when it comes to video editing and it is already equipped with 16GB of RAM.

Re: The Best Internal Laptop/Mobile (2.5″) and Desktop (3.5″) Hard Drives Buying Guide – September 2018

MathieuB — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 10:40:26 -0000

Ryan,

It did not. It has been added, being faster than older models and having a solid 5 years warranty. Thank you for the tip.

Re: The Best SSD Buying Guide – August 2018: Price Cuts everywhere!

MathieuB — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 11:29:33 -0000

Black Hoodie,

Higher performance at lower prices, what's not to like?

Re: 8 Best SSDs (Solid State Drives) – April 2018

MathieuB — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 16:59:12 -0000

You're welcome Michael. There were quite a few changes in the last few months, the new Crucial MX500 bringing better performance in the entry-level market, the new Samsung 860 EVO and Pro replacing the 850 series. We now have the Mushkin Source as the lowest cost SSD, bringing more performance and lower costs as

You are more than welcome to chime in as often as you wish to :)

Yeah, the 960 EVO is the way to go, best bang for the buck, unless you're running a workstation where you need as much performance as possible, in which case the 960 Pro or the Intel Optane 900p might be worth it.

Keep an eye on the second generation of the WD Black PCie SSD, which unfortunately have the same name as the first generation, you can differente them with their capacities, the new ones have a capacity of 250GB, 500GB and 1TB, as opposed to 256GB, 512GB or 1TB for the old models.

Anyway, the new generation of WD Black PCIe SSDs trade blows with the Samsung 960 EVO, even the 960 Pro in some cases, and is being officially released today, so next month update will be interesting, once the prices stabilize.

Re: 7 Best Prebuilt Extreme PCs for Gaming and Creative Pros – 2018

MathieuB — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 14:16:13 -0000

Hi Stephen,

The CyberPowerPC BattleBox Ultimate SLC10040 (https://bhpho.to/2HvqT9h), the second recommendation in the article, would be a great start.

Then you have all the recommendations in the "For creative professionals" section of the article. The first one is more powerful than the CyberPowerPC BattleBox Ultimate SLC10040, each of them is more powerful than the one preceding it.

As for which one is best for your needs: It depends on what kind of video editing you're working with. Are we talking Full HD 1080p content, or more demanding 4K? HDR? High bitrate? The higher quality and resolution the footage is, the more CPU processing power that you need.

Cheers,
Mathieu