During recent week i’ve received plenty questions regarding hardware and software i’m using in my retrograde activities. So, here is a list. The most important thing is a desktop workstation/server. ░ HARDWARE CPU: Intel [Xeon E5-2696v4] COOLER: [Noctua NH-D15 SE] MOBO: [Asrock X99 Extreme 4] RAM: 64GB DDR4 Samsung 2400Mhz ECC NVME: 1Tb Samsung 980 Pro SSD: 1Tb Samsung QVO sHHD: 2Tb Seagate Firecuda (8Gb SSD cache) VIDEO: [EVGA 3090 Ti 24Gb VRAM] AUDIO:[ESI Maya 44EX PCIE] PSU: [Seasonic GOLD 1300Watt] CASE: [Fractal Design Define S2 White] KEYS: [Keychron Q6] MOUSE: A4Tech [ <1$ ] MONITOR: [NEC PA301W 2560x1600] SPEAKERS: [Edifier R2800] Other hardware stuff to mention:

Fastest Windows 7 laptops are still on the edge. Dell & Lenovo ’ve made some enhancements to address following security vulnerabilities: * CVE-2022-38087 * CVE-2022-40982 * CVE-2022-37343 * CVE-2022-44611 * CVE-2022-27879 * CVE-2022-38083 * CVE-2022-43505 * CVE-2023-28005 * CVE-2022-36763 * CVE-2022-36764 * CVE-2022-36765 [Dell Precision 7520] ► Firmware version 1.31.0 [take a note that model 7510 was bumped also] [direct link] [Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen5] ► Firmware version 1.59 [applied to models 20HQ, 20HR, 20K3 and 20K4] [direct link] Nice to see that such older platforms are still maintained.

Unexpectedly Dell released firmware updates for 8 and 5 year old laptops. What a neat occasion! At least some benefit from purchasing enterprise-grade products. Patches are fixing malicious exploits and tweak some stuff. ►[Precision 7510 v1.30.3] [Dec 2022] [direct link] ► CVE-2017-5715 / CVE-2022-34398 / CVE-2022-34463 / CVE-2022-40262 ►[Precision 7520 v1.29] [Jan 2023] [direct link] ► CVE-2022-33894 Imagery by spacedrone808

It’s been a while since i’ve posted useless table comparisions. So here is one! Recently i bought second-hand Dell Precision 7520 in very good condition. Purchased it as an emergency backup for future use. Neat laptops will be hard to find in my country due to tech sanctions. 7510 model is based around Sky Lake architecture [E3-1545Mv5] . 7520 model is based around Kaby Lake architecture [E3-1535Mv6] . Differences between E3-1545Mv5 and E3-1535Mv6 are marginal, but they exist.

Previous owner of my main laptop installed the most modern intel WiFi chip, [AX200] to be precise. Unfortunately, chip does not have drivers for beloved Windows 7. Yeah intel dropped support in 2019. So, i have to downgrade wireless card. Found on eBay compatible [Dell WiFi 1820] : the last one to support Windows 7 operating system. I always loved Dell’s Precision series for super easy installation of hardware upgrades.

Today, I finally fixed my laptop workstation from 2012. Model [Dell M4700] to be precise. Replaced old 2.4Ghz Dell 1504 WiFi module and installed brand new 1540 model with 5Ghz support ordered on eBay. Web speedtest shows around 200 Mbit/s. I’m satisfied with the result. High performance quad-core cpu i7-3740QM (4c/8t) in conjunction with 8Gb of RAM and paired with 2Gb Quadro K1000M workstation video chip can do wonders (of course only within Windows XP abilities).