monsterpiece42

Cool write up!

I recommend you play TRAIL OUT, which is a spiritual successor to the best FLATOUT games. I like it a lot and would love to hear your thoughts!

I work in a PC repair shop and I run my tool stick on this way. By the way, you can just put a folder in your Ventoy and store non-iso files so you can have portable apps and so on.

• Acronis (can clone to reduced size drives unlike clonezilla which can only clone to equal or bigger)
• MemTest86 & MemTest86+ (+ is the FOSS one. Recommend both because sometimes one won’t work)
• Don’t forget that you can put other stuff in a Ventoy, not just .isos. I have shitlods of utilities in a folder beside all the .isos.
• Tons more but I just woke up for work. I will make this list much longer when I get there of I can remember to

Edit: ADHD did ADHD things. Here’s some more stuff. A lot of it is Windows-centric because that’s what we specialize in. ISOs:

• PC Unlocker (Windows password remover, paid)
• Gandalf’s Windows Preboot (similar to Hirans, but modern. Paid.)

Utilities:

• CrystalDiskInfo (SMART checks and more on SSDs)
• CrystalDiskMark (SSD benchmark)
• FastCopy (Windows copy utility. Free)
• HDTunePro (v5.00 specifically. After this, license binds to a single machine. HDD SMART checks, benchmark, secure erase, sector scans, and more.)
• OCCT (CPU, GPU, Memory, PSU, and other checks and stress tests. Top-tier tool.)
• F6 Drivers (drivers for NVMe detection on some laptops)
• Spacesniffer (visual representation of disk utilization. Similar to WinDirStat, but looks nicer/runs quicker imo. Free.)

This simply isn’t true. They are still cheap even for decent stuff. I got a T15 Gen 2 when it was 2.5yrs old for about $400 on eBay. You’re not going to get an even remotely decent laptop in most cases for that kind of money. And to be clear, I love old Thinkpads. I have them going back to the IBM days.

Modern Thinkpads: -easy to work on -plenty fast for most things -still made of the carbon composite and magnesium chassis we like -hinges are beefy -upgradeable ram -available with GPU -lighter and easier to daily than any of the old chonks -replaceable keyboard, track pad and track point, and fingerprint -dual thunderbolt connection (and docks are stupid cheap… I find them for $30 sometimes)

Downsides exist but they’re not the end of the world: -one drive slot (drives are huge now, who cares) -8gb of RAM is soldered but the rest is not (max 40gb) -internal battery but laptop is faster and has better battery life than my maxed out T580