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naughty001
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If you try it again maybe try a different browser or is everything you do tied into chrome
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Question of the Day: Are you pro-AI?
Samsung Dex setup
- Thread starter naughty001
- Start date
If you try it again maybe try a different browser or is everything you do tied into chrome
ShloshMalosh
Executive Member
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this comes to R6430 - i removed the cost of the laptop bag
Nexdock XL = $299 = R5900 excl shipping and customs. (no option to ship to SA
) So will probably cost the same for a more mobile setup with less moving parts. but if you dont need mobile then i guess its ok.
Found this but the XL has some improvements over the 360 https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?threads/nexdock-360.461419/
naughty001
Expert Member
this comes to R6430 - i removed the cost of the laptop bag
Nexdock XL = $299 = R5900 excl shipping and customs. (no option to ship to SA
So will probably cost the same for a more mobile setup with less moving parts. but if you dont need mobile then i guess its ok.
Found this but the XL has some improvements over the 360 https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?threads/nexdock-360.461419/
you are counting everything - the stuff for the laptop (SSD and Battery plus windows) and the USB hub for the TV box shouldn't be added to the Dex stuff because it isn't for the Dex setup - it was only spoken about since the idea is to replace the laptop with the Dex stuff for casual usage purposes where you don't have to wait for updates to complete ..... the Dex stuff alone is just R4480 including the laptop bag to carry things around
so to do what the Nexdock does the price using my method is R4480 including the bag, tripod and power bank while the NexDock only equals the screen and keyboard
though i will concede that the NexDock XL is an easier and more elegant solution if you can find a way to get it here
Adenoid Hynkel
Executive Member
Does Dex use the full Chrome desktop browser, or is it still the mobile one?
naughty001
Expert Member
it just uses the apps on your phone - but presents them in a windows emulated interface on the screen - so it will be the mobile version ..... everything happens as if you were just using the phone - so obviously the better the phone the better the desktop experience
naughty001
Expert Member
update on this - spent an hour or two trying different methods to make this thing work - its a waste of time - even when connected to a wall plug instead of power bank it doesn't work - but even if it had worked from the wall plug it would have been pointless since then it cant be used as a load shedding solution - this setup just cant get a hard drive to work on the phone and also connect the monitor (tried sacrificing touch screen and working via HDMI with the hub plugged into wall power and still a no-go)
so for now just have to work without using a hard drive and just stick to netflix and youtube for video entertainment when there's no power available - still can use the setup for e-mails and web browsing and doing whatever the phone is supposed to do ..... just with a bigger screen than is available on the phone itself
so sadly i have to make the laptop work decently as well - since i can still use that with Kodi and connect the hard drives and play that content via a battery still if i need to
so summary of this post is that the cheapie hub was a bust and thankfully at R250 (+ R75 shipping) it wasn't a really expensive mistake - will try a different more expensive hub with way better specs at a later stage when i have cash to spare but this hub doesn't work in form or way with the phone with anything connected to it - though i have to confirm whether its possibly just because it needs too much power to make the hard drive work - will see if it works with less power hungry items like flash drives or SD cards then i can keep some content on those particular storage mediums
naughty001
Expert Member
regarding the Hub - i seem to be blaming a lack of power and possibly lack of PD capability BUT i tried some flash drives in NTFS format as well as EXFAT and the 128GB stuff just recognises and works with and without the hub - I can actually plug a flash drive into the USB A port on the opposite end of the monitor and the phone reads it using the file manager software i tried so i don't need a different hub - all i need is probably some form of small capacity SSD drive in a USB based dock that i can have stuff stored on for those emergency situations maybe with a max size of 512GB (the phone should have no issues reading up to that capacity but it cant recognize and read the 2TB and 4TB drives)
one of my buddies has a slightly smaller capacity external SSD and i want to give it a try and see if it works - if it doesn't i will just stick to getting a flash drive or two since those seem to work without too many issues - but if my buddies SSD works then i may just get something like this since it wont break the bank account
https://www.takealot.com/hiksemi-po...2gb-mini-usb-3-1-type-c-external/PLID93732418
one of my buddies has a slightly smaller capacity external SSD and i want to give it a try and see if it works - if it doesn't i will just stick to getting a flash drive or two since those seem to work without too many issues - but if my buddies SSD works then i may just get something like this since it wont break the bank account
https://www.takealot.com/hiksemi-po...2gb-mini-usb-3-1-type-c-external/PLID93732418
naughty001
Expert Member
okay - in terms of the Non Dex bit of the setup ie the stuff for the laptop - i have the battery in hand - just going to a bit of a backup and get the Windows key then i plan to install the Battery and SSD over the weekend - so i still have the laptop if i need to use it
naughty001
Expert Member
so i got the windows 10 key for the microserver (i don''t think that win 11 is going to work with it) and i got a win 11 Pro key for the laptop and i'm busy downloading fresh copies of the install files onto my flash drives in order to do the re-installs
funny thing though is that in prep of the re-install i updated the bios of the laptop and also switched off memory integrity which is what was giving me the grief and now the laptop is running absolutely fine - its gone back to the speed you expect a PC to be working at but i'm hoping that the new fresh install on the SSD is going to make things faster (especially boot-up times) - gonna keep that updated Dell version of win 11 on the regular hard drive - so if i have any issues with the SSD i still have an operational laptop with the regular conventional drive (just have to change the default boot device in the bios)
then in terms of the dex setup - i found this unit here which might just work a helluva lot better as an 8 in 1 USB hub
https://www.takealot.com/orro-8-in-1-type-c-hub-40gbps-thunderbolt-hdmi-usb-c-a-ethernet-/PLID95953517?colour_variant=Pro
so going to order this one and see if it does what i want - it most likely wont allow my 4TB hard drives to recognise but if i connect this to the phone then connect the power bank to the PD USB C-1 connection and then the monitor to the USB C-2 connection and the display signal passes on to the monitor for Dex purposes then its a perfect unit for Dex while there is no wall power to connect to - then i know i will be able to connect either a small portable SSD or large Flash drive with media to the hub as well and then everything will work as i need it to ...... just depends on whether can make that video signal pass through this but R899 for this pro version is a bit of a heftier amount to just lose if it doesn't work - but i'm going to take a bit of a punt on this one doing what i need it to ...... as they say YOLO
funny thing though is that in prep of the re-install i updated the bios of the laptop and also switched off memory integrity which is what was giving me the grief and now the laptop is running absolutely fine - its gone back to the speed you expect a PC to be working at but i'm hoping that the new fresh install on the SSD is going to make things faster (especially boot-up times) - gonna keep that updated Dell version of win 11 on the regular hard drive - so if i have any issues with the SSD i still have an operational laptop with the regular conventional drive (just have to change the default boot device in the bios)
then in terms of the dex setup - i found this unit here which might just work a helluva lot better as an 8 in 1 USB hub
https://www.takealot.com/orro-8-in-1-type-c-hub-40gbps-thunderbolt-hdmi-usb-c-a-ethernet-/PLID95953517?colour_variant=Pro
so going to order this one and see if it does what i want - it most likely wont allow my 4TB hard drives to recognise but if i connect this to the phone then connect the power bank to the PD USB C-1 connection and then the monitor to the USB C-2 connection and the display signal passes on to the monitor for Dex purposes then its a perfect unit for Dex while there is no wall power to connect to - then i know i will be able to connect either a small portable SSD or large Flash drive with media to the hub as well and then everything will work as i need it to ...... just depends on whether can make that video signal pass through this but R899 for this pro version is a bit of a heftier amount to just lose if it doesn't work - but i'm going to take a bit of a punt on this one doing what i need it to ...... as they say YOLO
naughty001
Expert Member
i have a laptop - the object of this exercise is that each time i try to switch the laptop on during a blackout it wants to do updates and then takes half an hour to bootup - whereas with the Dex setup i just connect a few cables to my phone and im going
besides the Dex stuff was around R4,5k and the laptop stuff to sort out the laptop was R2.5k and if i get the 8-in-1 thunderbolt spec hub then im just adding a grand to the bill - a decent i7 laptop would have cost around R15k (and a good one would have been closer to R25k) and i would still have had to wait half an hour for it to bootup
and this deserves its own paragraph - i would have to spend R20k+ on an Apple laptop and then it would be the only Apple thing i have, so ...... DEFINITELY NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN
naughty001
Expert Member
the speakers on the JVC monitor are fairly poor but last night i experimented with sending the audio to another device ..... you can chose to send either to Bluetooth speakers or headphones or even allow it to keep playing on the phone which isn't bad since the phones generally have fairly decent speakers and you can even set the phone speakers with Atmos to create a few spatial effects and enhance the actual stereo effect of whatever audio you are playing
you can also choose specific apps for this ..... for example i tested it with youtube and also USB audio player pro and it works perfectly well and why this is of great interest to me is that if that Thunderbolt standard USB Hub actually works as i need t to ie if i connect ti to my phone and then i can connect a PD powerbank to the PD enabled USB-C port on the hub and then use the second data USB-C port to connect to the monitor and then if i can get a hard drive or flash drive or portable SSD working on one of the USB3 type A ports via the hub and also i can connect another one of those USB-A ports to a DAC (digital to analog converter) and i can then use the Dex setup as a hi fidelity source connected to the DAC and controlled by USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) and then have the DAC connected to a Hi-Fi and its going to be like a big tablet playing proper Hi-Fi standard music into good amps and speakers (which will add another layer of functionality amongst the things that interest me in this setup) and while a laptop with Foobar would work also, i reckon some kind of Android Unit with UAPP would work just as well ..... if not better, and would be reminiscent of those old Logitech Squeezebox touch units we used to use from around 2001
you can also choose specific apps for this ..... for example i tested it with youtube and also USB audio player pro and it works perfectly well and why this is of great interest to me is that if that Thunderbolt standard USB Hub actually works as i need t to ie if i connect ti to my phone and then i can connect a PD powerbank to the PD enabled USB-C port on the hub and then use the second data USB-C port to connect to the monitor and then if i can get a hard drive or flash drive or portable SSD working on one of the USB3 type A ports via the hub and also i can connect another one of those USB-A ports to a DAC (digital to analog converter) and i can then use the Dex setup as a hi fidelity source connected to the DAC and controlled by USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) and then have the DAC connected to a Hi-Fi and its going to be like a big tablet playing proper Hi-Fi standard music into good amps and speakers (which will add another layer of functionality amongst the things that interest me in this setup) and while a laptop with Foobar would work also, i reckon some kind of Android Unit with UAPP would work just as well ..... if not better, and would be reminiscent of those old Logitech Squeezebox touch units we used to use from around 2001
naughty001
Expert Member
okay - while the actual phone can handle video recording as well as playback of 4k resolution video the screen of the phone itself is not 4k capable but i saw a video that used good lock to enable high resolution video playback on a 4k monitor and my TV is 4k capable as is my USB-C to HDMI adapter cable - so i used Multistar on good lock to enable 4k res while i'm connected to the TV - now i just need to check if it will default back to full HD (1080p) when i use the monitor or if need to manually set it back to 1080p before i disconnect the phone from the TV and use it with that portable monitor
settings to go to 4k resolution
so now i can be using Dex at my TVs native resolution of 4k and it looks topnotch - just as good as a PC with a decent graphics card connected to that TV at a 4k res (the below pic was snapped with my phone while it was connected via the HDMI cable, so i could not move far enough back to get the entire screen in the shot frame because the cable is only 2 metres long and i stretched it as far as i could and the picture quality output on the TV looks a lot better in real life than that picture can convey because you are sat a fair bit further back than the camera would be at the point that this pic was taken from)
pretty happy with the results - and when i restart Dex it automatically defaults to the 4k res while connected to the TV so yep absolutely satisfied with the effort
EDIT : i forgot to mention that another side effect is that if i ever win the Lotto - can go get a proper larger 4k portable monitor
settings to go to 4k resolution
so now i can be using Dex at my TVs native resolution of 4k and it looks topnotch - just as good as a PC with a decent graphics card connected to that TV at a 4k res (the below pic was snapped with my phone while it was connected via the HDMI cable, so i could not move far enough back to get the entire screen in the shot frame because the cable is only 2 metres long and i stretched it as far as i could and the picture quality output on the TV looks a lot better in real life than that picture can convey because you are sat a fair bit further back than the camera would be at the point that this pic was taken from)
pretty happy with the results - and when i restart Dex it automatically defaults to the 4k res while connected to the TV
so yep absolutely satisfied with the effortEDIT : i forgot to mention that another side effect is that if i ever win the Lotto - can go get a proper larger 4k portable monitor
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naughty001
Expert Member
also progress on hardware of the laptop - just need to install the windows into the SSD now but heres a pic of the new battery as well as the SSD installed in place - just hope that the install goes okay - had some small issues with the download of the win 11 installation files so just going to re-download onto the flash drive - and hopefully by Monday i will be using the SSD full time on the laptop
so the spec of the laptop is now pretty much improved - it has 16GB ram and a 1TB SSD as well a new battery and its a fairly sedate 8th gen i7 but it will get my job done and i'm not going to waste my time getting a new laptop while this one works fairly okay and i have the Dex setup if this thing is busy doing updates and i need to do something in a hurry
so the spec of the laptop is now pretty much improved - it has 16GB ram and a 1TB SSD as well a new battery and its a fairly sedate 8th gen i7 but it will get my job done and i'm not going to waste my time getting a new laptop while this one works fairly okay and i have the Dex setup if this thing is busy doing updates and i need to do something in a hurry
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Hmm did not expect to see an Aston Martin Valkyrie up in this thread
naughty001
Expert Member
Hmm did not expect to see an Aston Martin Valkyrie up in this thread
i just have to laugh when people see that wallpaper and in all seriousness ask me "so when you getting one of those?" and then i seriously reply "maybe after my next 20 lifetimes"
then i have to explain to them that the car is not R4 million (ZAR) it is actually $4 million (US)
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naughty001
Expert Member
okay - this Orro thing arrived - everything is marked properly on the box and it seems like its the real deal but the box looked a bit damaged and tampered with ..... so i cant be sure that someone did not open this thing and give their buddy the correct pro unit and then replace it with the cheaper and lower spec home unit - and sadly while things are properly marked and printed on the box the unit itself has no distinguishing marks ..... so no way to know if its the correct unit or not - in fact there isn't even a sticker with a serial number on the unit itself that you can match to the unit inside
i tried to connect it up - and it doesn't work much better than the old R250 differing brand unit that had which was a way lower spec than even these guys home unit - so i'm going to have to log a return - i don't want to keep this thing if its the wrong thing and if there's no way to verify that they are giving me the right thing ....... that is wasting my time and money - and sending a damaged packaging box that looks like it was opened prior is not the most confidence inspiring move ever ..... especially with an item that doesn't state a brand or product name on the unit itself or worse still doesn't even have a serial number printed onto it (how the hell do i know if i got what i was supposed to get or not?)
if this is the correct item and i'm not 100% certain that it is ...... then it doesn't even work for the USB video signal and it should with the thunderbolt speed cable connections from the main unit to the phone combined with the data USB-C port being USB-C 3.2, so that's another thing that's putting doubt into my mind as to whether they actually sent me the "right thing" or if that right thing even exists
i don't care about any information printed onto an unsealed packaging box ..... end of story
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naughty001
Expert Member
i have basically decided to give up on trying to make the hard drives work in the setup - just gonna use a single 256gig flash drive because flash drives dont need the extra power while portable hard drives and SSDs do
i just need some emergency viewing material but i already have showmax and DSTV working on my phone so i can view those on the bigger screen because i have a data contract that i don't even use to its fullest because 95% of the time i use the Wi-Fi at home - so for emergency multimedia streaming i can just use the data contract and stream - and a 256gig flash drive will fit a series or two - or even a couple of seasons of one series - and how much can you watch during a 2 hour load shedding timespan anyway?
SO
just going to forget the USB hubs - i don't need them for anything too serious - just gonna rather get this after i return the hub
https://www.takealot.com/peachz-adj...p-stand-for-desk-aluminum-laptop/PLID95523604
will use this first one for the monitor and then next month will get another to use with the laptop - and since i'm not going to use it very regularly i will just get a cheapie flash drive - this should be good enough
https://www.takealot.com/patriot-supersonic-rage-lite-256gb-usb3-2-flash-drive/PLID93034101
EDIT : here are some pics of how the laptop stand will be used :
folded for storing
slightly horizontally for use as a laptop stand
slightly more vertical for use with the monitor
then i also purchased a stylus pen that works on all capacitive screens so most devices with a screen can use it - its got a 7mm tip on one end and a 5mm tip on the other for slightly more accuracy - but you can use it for most stylus functionality and while its NOT as functional or accurate as an S-Pen it still does a job in my setup and only costs R99
i just need some emergency viewing material but i already have showmax and DSTV working on my phone so i can view those on the bigger screen because i have a data contract that i don't even use to its fullest because 95% of the time i use the Wi-Fi at home - so for emergency multimedia streaming i can just use the data contract and stream - and a 256gig flash drive will fit a series or two - or even a couple of seasons of one series - and how much can you watch during a 2 hour load shedding timespan anyway?
SO
just going to forget the USB hubs - i don't need them for anything too serious - just gonna rather get this after i return the hub
https://www.takealot.com/peachz-adj...p-stand-for-desk-aluminum-laptop/PLID95523604
will use this first one for the monitor and then next month will get another to use with the laptop - and since i'm not going to use it very regularly i will just get a cheapie flash drive - this should be good enough
https://www.takealot.com/patriot-supersonic-rage-lite-256gb-usb3-2-flash-drive/PLID93034101
EDIT : here are some pics of how the laptop stand will be used :
folded for storing
slightly horizontally for use as a laptop stand
slightly more vertical for use with the monitor
then i also purchased a stylus pen that works on all capacitive screens so most devices with a screen can use it - its got a 7mm tip on one end and a 5mm tip on the other for slightly more accuracy - but you can use it for most stylus functionality and while its NOT as functional or accurate as an S-Pen it still does a job in my setup and only costs R99
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naughty001
Expert Member
so the one laptop stand arrived and its underwhelming in one very important way ...... it looks great and it functions mostly great with the monitor and it weighs only around 1250 grams which is manageable in my bag (2 would also be manageable because thats lighter than my laptop) but any claims that these guys made about 40KG or even 20KG weight capacity is the biggest utter bull faeces under the sun
the actual spec sheet says "MAXIMUM LOAD CAPACITY = 1,5kg" which is a far cry from the sellers and Takealots literature that they provide on the webpage. The Actual load capacity in the spec sheet seems accurate because you really cant adjust the height and tilt settings of the stand while the laptop is on it but the JVC monitor is a lightweight so it works perfectly with the stand.
if you try to use this thing with a heavy 17.3 inch laptop i can promise you not only will the stand give up BUT you will be looking for a new laptop as well .... it is very disappointing that the specs quoted on Takealot and Amazon are mostly utter fabrications nowadays - the item will not and does not work as advertised and you have to be careful what you buy ..... because in this instance i'm pretty sure that i would have been able to get cheaper laptop stands that would hold a higher weight
it works in a fashion but i don't know how long before its going to give up the ghost if i keep using it with the laptop - so im not sure if i should change my plan in regards to getting another one or whether the cheaper ones will actually be worse than this
in better news - the tilt of the stand works exactly as i wanted - i can get the entire thing to stand at exactly 90 degrees in relation to the base and the 360 degree rotation feature of the base works pretty spot on but im just not sure if the bearings on that button adjuster/rotator between the base and legs, and then the legs and the laptop platform will actually handle the weight of the laptop long term ..... and another negative is if you have a thickish laptop which starts getting narrower in profile at the front - it is pretty likely to slide over the hooks at the bottom of the platform intended to hold these things in place and stop them from sliding over so you cant use a very steep angle on it when in use
so i will be keeping this one for the monitor since its perfect for that application but i might just buy a cheaper stand for the laptop that doesn't have fancy features like button adjustments etc in the hope that it will handle the weight better ..... something more like
https://www.takealot.com/laptop-tab...djustable-foldable-heavy-duty-gc/PLID97286048
one last point - i'm definitely not going to trust any of those so-called user reviews on takealot - most seem like they are completely fraudulently submitted and completely made up utter balls ..... sadly its very hard to find professional reviews on all this cheap Chinese crap that takealot and Amazon seem to be peddling now so its all a case of pot luck and good luck to those who get something conforming to the actual descriptions and specs provided by the sellers (which all mostly belong in the fiction section of a library)
the actual spec sheet says "MAXIMUM LOAD CAPACITY = 1,5kg" which is a far cry from the sellers and Takealots literature that they provide on the webpage. The Actual load capacity in the spec sheet seems accurate because you really cant adjust the height and tilt settings of the stand while the laptop is on it but the JVC monitor is a lightweight so it works perfectly with the stand.
if you try to use this thing with a heavy 17.3 inch laptop i can promise you not only will the stand give up BUT you will be looking for a new laptop as well .... it is very disappointing that the specs quoted on Takealot and Amazon are mostly utter fabrications nowadays - the item will not and does not work as advertised and you have to be careful what you buy ..... because in this instance i'm pretty sure that i would have been able to get cheaper laptop stands that would hold a higher weight
it works in a fashion but i don't know how long before its going to give up the ghost if i keep using it with the laptop - so im not sure if i should change my plan in regards to getting another one or whether the cheaper ones will actually be worse than this
in better news - the tilt of the stand works exactly as i wanted - i can get the entire thing to stand at exactly 90 degrees in relation to the base and the 360 degree rotation feature of the base works pretty spot on but im just not sure if the bearings on that button adjuster/rotator between the base and legs, and then the legs and the laptop platform will actually handle the weight of the laptop long term ..... and another negative is if you have a thickish laptop which starts getting narrower in profile at the front - it is pretty likely to slide over the hooks at the bottom of the platform intended to hold these things in place and stop them from sliding over so you cant use a very steep angle on it when in use
so i will be keeping this one for the monitor since its perfect for that application but i might just buy a cheaper stand for the laptop that doesn't have fancy features like button adjustments etc in the hope that it will handle the weight better ..... something more like
https://www.takealot.com/laptop-tab...djustable-foldable-heavy-duty-gc/PLID97286048
one last point - i'm definitely not going to trust any of those so-called user reviews on takealot - most seem like they are completely fraudulently submitted and completely made up utter balls ..... sadly its very hard to find professional reviews on all this cheap Chinese crap that takealot and Amazon seem to be peddling now so its all a case of pot luck and good luck to those who get something conforming to the actual descriptions and specs provided by the sellers (which all mostly belong in the fiction section of a library)
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naughty001
Expert Member
advertised nonsense
specsheet of what they sent me with the reality printed on it
so whats the odds that they sent me a lower and cheaper model than the one advertised, and for the amount i paid should i not be getting what was advertised because compared to most of the other units sold there i actually paid a comparatively premium price ie in amongst the average R300 to R400 stands i paid over R700 bucks so am i unreasonable to expect that they give me what they claimed they would give me?
specsheet of what they sent me with the reality printed on it
so whats the odds that they sent me a lower and cheaper model than the one advertised, and for the amount i paid should i not be getting what was advertised because compared to most of the other units sold there i actually paid a comparatively premium price ie in amongst the average R300 to R400 stands i paid over R700 bucks so am i unreasonable to expect that they give me what they claimed they would give me?
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