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Some Alienware PCs banned in California, CO, HI, OR, VT, and WA. YHGTBKM.


RadiantFlamberge

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21 hours ago, Abby_TheLastofUs said:

 

What does BLM and COD have to do with California's power consumption regulations? Geez, some of you are just itching to get on your soapbox. 1f606.png

My whole point is that activist democrats are trying to change video gaming in multiple ways. Whether it be the how gaming regulations need to be implemented for climate reasons or how gamers need to learn what morals they should have in what they play. It’s much more connected than you might think. 

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45 minutes ago, Grunking1212 said:

My whole point is that activist democrats are trying to change video gaming in multiple ways. Whether it be the how gaming regulations need to be implemented for climate reasons or how gamers need to learn what morals they should have in what they play. It’s much more connected than you might think. 

 

"Activist Democrats" had nothing to do with BLM messages appearing in COD, Apex Legends or any other game.

 

The devs working on those games wanted to show their support for BLM in their work, so they did. 

 

That's completely different from California's government setting power consumption regulation. These regulations were set based on how much power was used by products, not to target video games. 

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I'm not qualified/informed enough to comment on the issue of states banning certain electronics. I just wanted to drop in and say that for the last few years at least, Alienware PC's have typically been very poorly designed. Some of them are so bad, a person has to come to the conclusion that the company is either extremely incompetent, or that they are unusually brazen with their planned obsolescence. People should definitely avoid the brand.

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On 7/27/2021 at 10:17 PM, Sicho said:

I'm sorry to say this but the majority of the comments in this thread are beyond stupid and full of idiotic whataboutisms. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism ) "But what about the ACs, the crypto mining, the plastic... "... stop doing that!

50kWh/year works out to 5.7W continuous consumption, assuming the computer is in a sleep state all year long. This is a completely reasonable limit for standby power. In my opinion, it should even be less because remember: the PC is doing NOTHING!
 

To understand WHY they are doing this, you need to do a bit of math.

For the individual, the consumer, the saved energy will barely have an impact. But in the large, overall picture, it is a lot.

 

Example: If your computer draws, let's say, 20W at standby, and your computer was on standby for an entire month, that would work out to be something like $5.76 per month, in Hawaii where power is $0.40/kWh. In the rest of the lower 48 states, it would be more like $1.73 ($0.12/kWh). The bottom line is that, for most people, this is unnoticeable.

 

However, when you manage the grid for a state, you don't see 20W, you see maybe 10 million computers drawing a total of 200MW - and those 200MW are used up for doing nothing productive! 

If they can shave that down to 50MW by only having the standby computers use up a fourth of the power, that will help them reduce demand on the grid in the future and save energy (and carbon and air pollution).

 

The regulation is also helping the customer out since standby power usage is not a feature that you would know about without taking the computer home and testing it.

Check the testing referenced here: https://standby.lbl.gov/data/summary-table/ There was at least one computer that was drawing 80W at Standby! Imagine if you bought that one and you are wondering why your power bill is suddenly so high! This is very bad design and a customer would have a hard time figuring it out.

 

So by having rules that prevent a crappy computer from running up your power bill, they are actually protecting consumers!

 

In the long term, what will happen here is you won't see separate CA, WA, OR, HI, VT computers and you will not have to worry about this. Most vendors and manufacturers are just going to design all the computers to be more energy efficient on standby. The limit they have set is not unreasonable. If they put some engineering time into the problem, they could probably reduce the standby consumption even more. And since the computer in standby is literally doing nothing productive, using less power in that state is a win for everybody.

 

By the way: next year, the regulation will go into effect for monitors as well.

 

Also, for PC gamers, make note that this affects ONLY pre-builts! If you built your own PC, it doesn't affect you at all. This targets the mass market, not the enthusiasts.

 

Thank you ?

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10 hours ago, RadiantFlamberge said:

Daily Mail links should be disallowed going forward. I know now that DM is conservative-leaning, and has some bad biases... sounds somewhat like Fox News. Not the kind of things I support. Like I said, I've blocked it in my browser.

You might as well block all mainstream media with this logic lol, unless you are interested in the confirmation bias some of them can provide depending on your political beliefs.

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1 minute ago, pot1414 said:

You might as well block all mainstream media with this logic lol, unless you are interested in the confirmation bias some of them can provide depending on your political beliefs.


there are plenty of reputable right-leaning publications that present factual news, but with a conservative viewpoint.

 

The DM isn’t one of them.

 

Regardless of political leanings, it simply isn’t a credible source for news of any stripe.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:


there are plenty of reputable right-leaning publications that present factual news, but with a conservative viewpoint.

 

The DM isn’t one of them.

 

Regardless of political leanings, it simply isn’t a credible source for news of any stripe.

 

 

I don't disagree with you. My comment was constructed specifically for the quoted reasoning.

Edited by pot1414
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Just now, pot1414 said:

I don't disagree with you. My comment was constructed specifically from the quoted reasoning.


Fair point ?

 

Personally, while I am certainly left-leaning in my own politics, I do try to read the news from ‘both sides of the aisle’ as it were to get a view on how it is being portrayed across the spectrum, but the DM certainly wouldn’t be one I’d go to, as I cannot rely on even the basic facts being presented correctly.

 

It’s not a left / right thing - it’s just a shite journalism thing ?

 

 

 

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Someone who builds their own PC isn't affected. However, OEMs will need to make a product that can be sold in all 50 states, as well as British Columbia. It's PC manufacturers being cautious and self-regulating... they just aren't sure if the product will comply with the laws. Some of the restricted Alienwares could go back on the market in the affected states if they're found to actually be compliant.

 

At 2:10 there are two similar but not identical Aurora R12s. The first one is the better deal- more total drive space and a higher GPU for only $10 more.

Both: Intel 11th Gen Core, Win10 Home, and 8GB DDR4 XMP @ 3200 MHz

#1: No shipping restriction, because it complies with CEC regulations. Graphics card is GTX 1660 Super 6 GB. SSD 256 GB and HDD 1 TB. $1460.

#2: Can't be shipped to BC (Might or might not comply... Dell isn't sure). Graphics card is GTX 1650 Super 4 GB. SSD 512 GB and no HDD. $1450

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On 7/28/2021 at 9:06 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

in politics, and particularly local politics, there is no difference between what government is doing and what "we the people" are doing - "We the People" are the government. If they aren't representing you, then vote them out, and vote for someone who will. It's a slow process, and a bureaucratic one, and one inherently plagued by inertia and corruption and false promises, but it's the best one we've got, so we've got to use it.

 

This is a very conservative, and in my opinion naive position to take. Particularly in the UK, where we have a 'first past the post' electoral system, the government certainly isn't 'the people'. Can you name one time in your lifetime when a government has received the support of even a simple majority of voters, let alone the population as a whole? 

 

Take the recent Batley and Spen by-election, where Labour won the seat with 35% of the vote on a 49% turnout. I'd argue that Kim Leadbeatter is more representative of her community than many MPs since she comes from the constituency and is a prolific and energetic local campaigner but even she is far from representative of 'the people'. 

 

I recently carried out a piece of research and found that less than 40% of UK MPs come from the constituency they represent. Even if MPs are deeply rooted in their local communities, the vast majority will fall in line with their 'party line' rather than vote in line with what their local communities want. Of course knowing what your constituency wants when an average constituency contains aproximately 70,000 voters is impossible - you can't speak to them all, and if you could, you'd get tens of thousands of differing and contradictory opinions! 

 

We need to make dramatic changes to our electoral system if we are to have an even vaguely 'democratic' system and that will only happen with a combination of direct action, education, electoral politics and extra-parliamentary organising.

 

On 7/28/2021 at 9:06 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

How many times have you heard people being called 'Liberal', as if the term 'liberal' is somehow inherently a bad thing.

Whether or not 'liberal' is a bad thing or not is a matter for personal opinion, but 'liberal' is certainly not 'left'. 

 

It's true that the left and the liberals share certain views on social issues, but liberalism is a very distinctive group of political traditions from leftism. 

 

 

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19 hours ago, JoesusHCrust said:

This is a very conservative, and in my opinion naive position to take. Particularly in the UK, where we have a 'first past the post' electoral system, the government certainly isn't 'the people'. Can you name one time in your lifetime when a government has received the support of even a simple majority of voters, let alone the population as a whole? 

 

Take the recent Batley and Spen by-election, where Labour won the seat with 35% of the vote on a 49% turnout. I'd argue that Kim Leadbeatter is more representative of her community than many MPs since she comes from the constituency and is a prolific and energetic local campaigner but even she is far from representative of 'the people'. 

 

I recently carried out a piece of research and found that less than 40% of UK MPs come from the constituency they represent. Even if MPs are deeply rooted in their local communities, the vast majority will fall in line with their 'party line' rather than vote in line with what their local communities want. Of course knowing what your constituency wants when an average constituency contains aproximately 70,000 voters is impossible - you can't speak to them all, and if you could, you'd get tens of thousands of differing and contradictory opinions! 

 

We need to make dramatic changes to our electoral system if we are to have an even vaguely 'democratic' system and that will only happen with a combination of direct action, education, electoral politics and extra-parliamentary organising.

 

Whether or not 'liberal' is a bad thing or not is a matter for personal opinion, but 'liberal' is certainly not 'left'. 

 

It's true that the left and the liberals share certain views on social issues, but liberalism is a very distinctive group of political traditions from leftism. 

 

 


Well, not for nothing, but I live in Scotland, and so Proportional Representation is a feature of local politics more than down south…

 

… but my point wasn’t that government is always representative of the majority of constituents, it was that simply grousing on an internet forum is not an effective way to achieve anything - engagement with politics is necessary to make political changes - whether that is simply voting, or writing to your representatives, or getting involved in local politics via action groups, lobbying, protest etc.

 

I don’t think my view is conservative (I certainly don’t consider my personal politics conservative) - I see it as pragmatic and realistic (with maybe a hint of optimism)

Edited by DrBloodmoney
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2 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:


Well, not for nothing, but I live in Scotland, and so Proportional Representation os a feature of local politics more than down south…

 

… but my point wasn’t that government is always representative of the majority of constituents, it was that simply grousing on an internet forum is not an effective way to achieve anything - engagement with politics is necessary to make political changes - whether that is simply voting, or writing to your representatives, or getting involved in local politics via action groups, lobbying, protest etc.

 

I don’t think my view is conservative (I certainly don’t consider my personal politics conservative) - I see it as pragmatic and realistic (with maybe a hint of optimism)

Oh yes, I agree with you there of course. Complaining on a forum isn't generally an effective way of promoting change. I didn't mean to suggest that you are a Conservative, but rather that the notion that change is achieved solely through voting is a (small c) conservative position to take. Of course that isn't what you were saying but I'd miss-understood your position. 

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5 minutes ago, JoesusHCrust said:

Oh yes, I agree with you there of course. Complaining on a forum isn't generally an effective way of promoting change. I didn't mean to suggest that you are a Conservative, but rather that the notion that change is achieved solely through voting is a (small c) conservative position to take. Of course that isn't what you were saying but I'd miss-understood your position. 

 

Yeah, I reckon we broadly agree, but probably my Scottishness recoiled a little hard at the word Conservative there?

 

I still remember primary school - Thatcher stole my milk goddamnit, and I’ve never forgotten!?

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15 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Yeah, I reckon we broadly agree, but probably my Scottishness recoiled a little hard at the word Conservative there?

 

I still remember primary school - Thatcher stole my milk goddamnit, and I’ve never forgotten!?

I'm from South Wales so Conservative is definitely an insult 'back home'!! No offence meant!!

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11 hours ago, JoesusHCrust said:

We need to make dramatic changes to our electoral system if we are to have an even vaguely 'democratic' system and that will only happen with a combination of direct action, education, electoral politics and extra-parliamentary organising.


Sounds like you guys are a lot like us in a lot of respects.

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