IT BS thread

ASUS makes fantastic motherboards. My last one lasted 11 years, and just became...old. My dad has an ASUS laptop he games on (in his RV) and loves it.

Don't buy a computer from Staples. You'll have a lot better luck buying directly after determining what your key requirements are. Box stores sell systems that are strong in two or three areas but weak in others. Your best bet is figure out what your needs are, and then look for that.

It's a lot like buying a truck.

 

I don't know how box store computers are these days, but I've had to work on some in the past. They're usually built with weird proprietary components, like the mainboard or power supply being odd sizes, or the bios supports a very limited range of parts.

 

You're probably not going to get much in the $400 price range. What I've found lately for that price is the displays tend to be poor, and trackpad and keyboards can be substandard. Also, outputs, or versions of the outputs, can be behind the power curve.

Kid had an Asus laptop I bought for him several years ago that seemed to last pretty well. Lord knows what it went through, but when it failed after a some years he refused to bring it to me to fix. I highly doubt it was the laptop's fault.

I've had decent luck buying two Lenovo Yoga laptops from Best Buy. Got them at separate times during Covid when what I was looking for was hard to find. Bought each one on sale ~$600. Knew what I was looking for and there was no extra crapware or weirdness associated being purchased from BB. Not saying this is the way to go, but one advantage of buying from a local brick & mortar is if something's wrong it's a bit easier to return/exchange.

There's a Reddit thread I followed when I was shopping: https://www.reddit.com/r/LaptopDeals

 

I'm not a Windows user, but I find Synaptics touchpads to be good.

 

Thank God that ISC2 is accepting podcasts for CPE credit. I just started getting into "Zero Trust Thirty" because I get to manage updating our assessment and authorization program to either show where we're meeting (or exceeding) the requirements of a zero trust architecture...or I get to make a shit-to-fix-list for various application managers so that we can meet the new CIO's goal of being a demonstrable zero trust organization.

Which we already are...mostly.

Maximum least privilege exists throughout most of the applications we run, and those that aren't able to meet that (and MFA) are facing sunset.

 

While I sit here in the middle of Great Value IT pretending it's just as good.

 

Making presentations to SESs about how we're already doing everything the CIO is telling them to start doing.

And proving it.

We're going to have to update thousands of controls because they want the ZTA language in there. We should be done by the 22nd of Never.

 

I pretty much had this idea in my head the other day. For me, I think it was anything after 30.

 

Who has two thumbs and gets to fully document our implementation of Zero Trust Architecture? This guy.

Anyone else hunting for resources and finding them slim? I have the SP-800 207, and some other stuff that makes control documentation extremely helpful.

 

I've noticed the prices dropping on my regular Newegg spam emails. Some have been signficant enough to make note of.

 

Wonder if there is any correlation between GPU prices falling and crypto prices being in the tank?

 

Is this a place to chat about home-ish networks? I'm refreshing our WiFi with a TP-Link Omada setup and have been gabbing about it in the 60's thread, where I mostly get a bunch of blank stares in return.

 

Why not? We can at least confuse you further.

 

Confuse away! I'm almost finished with it now -- the outdoor AP has yet to arrive, but I did run the wiring so it's ready whenever I get it. I added up everything I've spent on hardware and, to my surprise, it comes in hundreds of dollars LESS than a 4-unit consumer grade mesh WiFi system. I get PoE, full ethernet backhaul, a pretty wide choice of AP's, central control -- what's not to love.

EDIT: Come to think of it, the WiFi side of things comes in WAY LESS than a consumer rig, because that price includes the TP-Link WAN gateway which gives me multi-WAN capabilities and a bunch of other cool trickery.

Here's a link to an album with some words and pictures, if anyone's interested. https://photos.app.goo.gl/hshqt1Cp3nFKXf7D8

 

I like it! Job well done, I say.