Last year you could buy a AI Max 395+ with 128G for 2.5k, now it's almost $4k.

Or maybe you're right, I originally remembered 2k as well. I wanted to wait for the AI Max 395+ upgrade of my laptop, and now it makes no sense to upgrade.

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stymaar 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Last year you could buy a AI Max 395+ with 128G for 2.5k, now it's almost $4

Only if you pay the Framework premium.

https://www.bosgamepc.com/products/bosgame-m5-ai-mini-deskto...

I don't have access to the USD price, but it's 2500€ (tax included), up from 1600€ in November when I ordered mine.

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pixelpoet 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think people buying laptops for AI use are, sorry, just plain crazy. You overpay for the screen and keyboard and battery and whatever, plus you get much worse thermal performance because of basic physics (area vs volume). My Framework Desktop has a Noctua cooler which works really well.

[Tangent: all my life I've been downvoted into a smoking hole in the ground, particularly on reddit r/hardware, for questioning the wisdom of laptops for high performance computing, including gaming. Everyone insists they need the mobility, and then just leave it plugged in the whole time, absolutely refusing to admit it's about aesthetic preference.]

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kamranjon 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I generally agree for everything except Macbook Pros which outperform most available desktop setups for AI tasks - but they are also now out of reach for most people after the price hikes (6.7k now for 128gb, i got mine for 4.7k just about a year ago).

Honestly I think this is just a bad time to be buying hardware - everything is marked up an insane amount that doesn't really make sense.

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rzzzt 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For me the smaller footprint, lower power consumption and portability (admittedly between desks only) are the three advantages of using a laptop over a desktop for these purposes.

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pixelpoet an hour ago | parent [-]

The Strix Halo mini PCs use the exact same chip, and have a much smaller footprint than any laptop. Have you seen the size of these machines? I can and have easily popped my daily driver computer into my very small backpack to attend a demoparty for example.

With the laptop you probably won't get silent operation at the peak 100-140w, i.e. you've now massively overpaid for lower performance.

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throwa356262 an hour ago | parent [-]

Can you get these from vendors like Asus and lenovo these days?

The ones I've seen on aliexpress are from unknown Chinese vendors.

	▲	pixelpoet 34 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I have a Framework Desktop as primary PC (great cooling, beautiful case with handle) and the Bosgame M5 dedicated for AI use. I was also a bit wary about Bosgame but TBH they've been great and the machine is rock solid, if a little noisier than and not as pretty as the FD. You can just buy from them directly and be fine, best computer deal out there by a mile.

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Gareth321 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I’m mostly with you but there are some people who like to use one machine for both laptop and AI work, and it’s much cheaper than buying two separate devices.

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Tepix 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The cheapest ones with 128GB were 1580€/$1840 as late as mid December.