r/techadvice

Looking to create a home server for my dvds I have stored, has anyone used a Mac-book air for their home server?

Hello, I don’t know much about tech and recently experienced some hard drive issues.

It is a P20, 3.2 gen phixero 2TB external hard drive that is only about one year old.

Trying to save files at school caused windows to freeze on two different workstations. Googled a command prompt (chkdsk /r /f), ran it, and found 16 bad sectors or 64kb worth of bad sectors. It says it also replaced some bad clusters.

Is there any fix or do I really need to drop another $150 for a new hard drive? I backed up my files but am bummed as I worked with a lot of important work from my hard drive. Haven’t tried writing to the drive after it froze my workstations yet.

I’m thinking about buying an iPad Pro, mainly for watching movies/TV shows, but I’m worried that I’ll hate the 4:3 aspect ratio.

I currently have a Galaxy Tab S8+ and I really like the 12.4” 16:10 screen for watching movies. The problem is that the tablet is starting to develop the green tint issue at low brightness, and my experience with Samsung hasn’t been great overall.

I also have an S22+, and it’s become pretty laggy over time. Meanwhile, I have an iPhone 16 Pro Max and it still feels like a brand new phone. Because of that, I’m leaning toward Apple for my next tablet. I feel more confident that I’ll get a good long term experience and continued software support, and when i buy new tech i tend to use them for a very long time.

I’ve considered the Galaxy Tab Ultra models, but they’re extremely expensive here in my country, and honestly I don’t think they’re worth the price for what you get.

Another thing that has bothered me with Samsung is the software update experience in my country. Updates arrive 1 year later here compared with some other regions, I also sometimes get the impression that once Samsung releases a newer generation, the older devices don’t receive the same level of attention anymore and what really frustrated me was One UI 8.5 using both Arabic and English on the OS has become a mess because Arabic is right-to-left (RTL), and the way One UI handles the two languages together can make the UI feel inconsistent.

Maybe that’s just my perception, but after owning both the S22+ and Tab S8+, it’s definitely affected how I feel about buying another Samsung device.

So I’m basically looking at the m5 13 inch ipad pro.

My biggest concern is the aspect ratio.

For people who use an iPad Pro for movies:

• How noticeable are the black bars?
• Does the 4:3-ish aspect ratio bother you when watching 16:9 movies?
• Does the larger 13” screen compensate for the less-wide aspect ratio?
• If you previously used a 16:10 tablet, did you miss the wider screen after switching to iPad?

I’m not particularly interested in Samsung recommendations unless there’s a really compelling reason. I’ve already had an S22+ and Tab S8+ and haven’t had a great experience with either.

I’m basically trying to figure out whether the iPad Pro’s OLED/display quality + Apple longevity outweighs the less ideal aspect ratio for movies.

We live in a neighborhood where kids and solicitors ignore signs on the door that say do not knock/ring/disturb. As a telehealth provider about to add a newborn to the household, I will lose it on the next person to ring the doorbell when the sign is posted.

I thus aim to set up Korean intercom system in the U.S. My plan is to use a Ring doorbell cam to communicate with the outside world. The Ring application will run on two on two wall-mounted devices. The main goal is to keep Ring off of the adults' personal devices so it cannot vibrate and possibly distract a patient or wake the baby.

I cannot decide whether to use a refurbished tablet or an old smartphone as our internal intercom devices. My primary concern is the chosen device's operating system supporting the Ring app long term. I use of an old iPhone that cannot download the latest ios successfully. I also do not want to get devices that are overkill for the job - I don't intend for someone to do more than check the weather, check the doorbell, or add an item to the grocery list using these devices.

Any recommendations available on the tablet v. smartphone route? I am open to hearing specific products as well.

Hey so my router and modem are getting kinda old now, and I was thinking of replacing them. If I'm going to do that though, I want to make sure they're really good. Could anyone point me towards what would be considered top of the line for a 6G router and modem in late 2026? I'm not worried about cost, I'm going to save up for it. I just want the best option. I don't know if it makes a difference, but just in case I'll mention our internet is with spectrum and our house isn't all that big.

Hello I’m setting up my work from home desk and I’m not sure if I have a circuit issue in my room or what but I can only run my work laptop, when I try to plug in my monitor too my surge protector auto turns off. For context I just have 1 laptop, 1 monitor, and a docking station. I even decided to buy another surge protector - plug it into a different outlet in the same corner of the room - plug my monitor into that - plug the monitor into the docking station - and then tried powering it on and then both surge protectors shut off. So I’m not sure what I should try now? I could try my outlet that’s on the other side of the wall since the cord is long and maybe it’s a different circuit? Anything helps as I’m working out of just my laptop currently