u/tbiscus

So, I know we are in DRM hell with ATSC 3.0, BUT my primary interest in ATSC 3.0 is the "potential" better picture quality. I primarily watch the major networks for sports (95% NFL football and 5% other/olympics/etc/) - I am perpetually underwhelmed by most of Fox's 720P broadcast, but NBC's 1080 (Sunday Night Football) is OK. The local stations broadcasting in ATSC 3.0 are all broadcasting 1080P which would likely be better for motion, but not sure how compelling it is overall (I understand it is a more modern compression algorithm too so MAYBE less loss???).

Anyway, anyone have any actual experience A/Bing the content between ATSC 1 and 3?

Thanks!

So I took a few minutes and pulled some scores from Geekbench for recent models (as well as the ORIGINAL Surface Laptop I am typing this very post on!) Lots of margin for error here as scores are a bit all over the place, but I generally chose scores at the "higher quartile" for each model.

Surface Laptop Geekbench single/multi scores (lowest to highest)

1094/2282 - Surface Laptop 1 i5-7200u

2157/9159 - Surface Laptop 5 i7

2863/10811 - Surface Laptop 7 Lunar Lake Ultra 7 268v

2758/14175 - Surface Laptop 7 Snapdragon X Elite

3261/14850 - Surface Laptop 8 Snapdragon X2 Elite

2953/17014 - Surface Laptop 8 Panther Lake X7 368H

Comparisons

3655/19390 - Asus A14 Snapdragon X2 Elite (88100)

A few takeaways:

• There was a material jump from the Surface Laptop 5 to 7 as both Intel and Qualcomm really stepped it up.
• Qualcomm Really Stepped it up on multicore in the SL7
• The roles on single core and multi-core reversed with the SL8 - with Snapdragon killing it on Single Core (much like Apple's chips) and Intel doing so on Multi-core
• Sadly, Microsoft neuters both the Qualcomm and Intel chips (the latter to a somewhat lesser extent) in the Surface Laptop 8 by limiting power...no doubt due to its modest cooling capabilities and small battery size....the Asus A14 comparison shows what the Snapdragon is really capable of when let loose.

It's a shame the SL7 (business) Lunar Lake model has such modest multi-core scores as a leftover one of those would not be a bad machine at all. Heck the SL7 Snapdragon is pretty darn good IF you have no compatibility concerns. The real benefit to these models is their modest power consumption compared to Intel in years past. My wife's Lenovo Lunar Lake is quiet and has great battery life.

In truth though, the Surface Laptop is an ultrabook and favors lower power, lighter weight and quiet fans...and these higher performance chips are a little wasted in the form factor. It is, however, annoying that other manufacturers are producing materially lighter laptops in this form factor with similar (or better) performance. The real opportunity waster is the 15" Surface Laptop...all that extra size with only a marginally bigger battery and same modest cooling capability. The 15 could really have differentiated itself from the 13.8" had MS improved those items....I guess they are just counting on the Surface Laptop Ultra to fill that (pricey and heavy) niche.

So my spouse and I retired early (late 50s and early 60s) and are living off our retirement savings. I have to admit, even though the "numbers" still hold up in the various retirement calculators, I will feel a lot better when we finally have some actual INCOME (beyond the little bit of dividends and interest we have now) from our SSA benefits (planning to start in a couple of years). Who would have guessed a steady "paycheck" would still provide a level of comfort!

Admittedly, our retirement calc "scores" are lower than many...and by "low" I mean a Firecalc score between 90 and 100 at any given point over the last few years (a number some would continue too low while others consider high). If we were at 100 with huge "minimum left" numbers I might feel different...maybe. ;>

I had an SL7 ARM machine and returned it ultimately due to compatibility issues - a shame as a I liked it for more mainstream offerings. However, having played around with my son's M5 Macbook Air and reading benchmark results for Windows ARM under Parallels on a Macbook M5 Air (looks to perform better than Lunar Lake) , I can't help but wonder if the Macbook is actually the best machine for those that can run Windows ARM. Indeed, I could see it being a "gateway drug to MacOS" for at least some percentage of the Windows community - note: I'm still not a fan of MacOs. Even I find myself using a browser way more often than any other app...and could theoretically stay in the MacOS browser for a large percentage of my time.

Had my RTKR on 10/30/2025. Flexion was stuck at 110. Had an MUA on 02/13/2026 and could tell the sharp "block" in my knee was immediately improved. Got to 126 degrees of extension over the next 4 weeks or so. Started to amp up PT a bit and may have done a "hero" bend or two and...by beginning of April I had lost all my gains - back to 110 now and hard to get there - and was in more lateral (outside) and lateral posterior (outside rear) knee pain - even at rest or light flexion. A month later, no improvement. Surgeon put me back on NSAIDS and has me stopping all formal PT (last session was 04/14) for 4 weeks.

It FEELS like I either messed something up in a hero bend and/or triggered more scar tissue build-up since it feels identical to pre-MUA (only with MORE pain...ugh). This is my second knee replacement - the other knee didn't go great either and (at the 6 month mark) I had an arthroscopic scar tissue cleanup. May be headed for the same thing here.

Anyway, anyone else have a similar experience post MUA - how did it play out (or is playing out)? Another MUA? Resolved on its own? Scar tissue cleanup surgery? Revision? Never Resolved? Abducted by aliens?

As I am an early retiree, I occasionally have friends ask me "How much do I need to have saved for retirement?". In general, I tell them "I don't know. How much do you spend each year?". That tends to end the conversation as most folks seem to have almost no idea what their real spend actually is each year...much less what it will look like when retired. They might say "I know it's a lot, but we won't have a mortgage in retirement" or something like that, but surprise that may not even be your biggest annual expense anyway (healthcare can be brutal - especially for us early retirees w/no ACA subsidy).

My wife has been tracking our spend for years (and before I met her). Even I was sort of bummed when I began looking more closely at it in few years before I retired, but it was really important to know the EXACT amount and then REALLISTICALLY determine what that would look like going forward. Many expenses just don't drop at all in retirement or go up. The "inflation bogey" is another item you will clearly start to see in those expenses.

Oh and most folks don't view "income taxes" as an expense. The good news is that they may drop a lot in retirement...the bad news is you will still have to pay some for sure!

KNOW - DON'T GUESS - WHAT YOUR SPEND IS!