Gaming Laptop Screen Upgrade!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,403 words · ~7 min read
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So the thing about modern laptops
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is that there isn't a whole lot
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that's designed to be upgraded about them,
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except for one thing
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that most people probably wouldn't think of.
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Some laptops out there
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can actually have their displays upgraded.
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So we, and by we, I mean Alex,
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ordered a replacement screen for our Acer Predator,
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whatever this thing is.
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What is this?
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Something Helios 300?
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So we can go from 1080, 60 Hertz to 1080.
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120 Hertz.
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Also a bigger color game.
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Really? Yeah.
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Well, why don't we do just that?
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iFixit's Manta Toolkit comes with 112 bits,
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including standard ones like Phillips and Flathead,
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but also specialty ones.
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Check it out today at the link in the video description.
0:54
So much like many of Alex's videos these days,
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he doesn't appear to have done a whole ton of planning.
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In fact, he hasn't even opened the package
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for the replacement screen,
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but you validated that this works?
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Forums have said it should work.
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Forums have said it should work.
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Okay, yeah, hopefully.
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I figure if this one doesn't work,
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we also have a Dell G3 that also should work, so.
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With this?
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Yeah.
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There's a couple of key things
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that you need to look out for.
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One is the actual physical size
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of the display that you're buying,
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but there's more to it than just,
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oh, I've got a 15.6 inch laptop.
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I buy a 15.6 inch panel and bippity boppity,
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because there's also the mounting points
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of which there are many standards.
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Also, there are a shocking number
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of display interfaces for laptops.
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So hopefully we're gonna have some luck today.
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Why don't we, should we unbox this first?
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That's the one thing iFixit kits don't have.
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I don't know.
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I think this will work.
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Ha ha.
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It said on the eBay listing
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that it should also work for this and some Dell laptop.
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So we'll see, I guess.
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I mean, especially given that back
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when we reviewed the Helios 300,
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as I recall, we said pretty much the only issue with it
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was that the screen wasn't
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that great.
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Yeah, pretty much.
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So you guys gotta remember
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when you buy an LCD display assembly like this,
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it includes the front glass,
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the actual LCD in the middle and also the backlight.
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So we should be able to address the fact that it's 60 Hertz
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and the fact that the backlight isn't particularly bright.
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And then this says, don't touch.
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Oh, like was I really not supposed to touch it?
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I figured we might as well liquid metal it
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while we're in there, so.
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Let's just replace the display and call that the project.
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But it can be just a bit quieter.
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It's not even a loud laptop.
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Have you like Googled anything about this?
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Do we need to pop these rubber doohickeys off
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or like what's our deal here?
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I don't know.
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I'm good, I'm clear.
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Why are things assembled with clips?
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Hold on, hold on.
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Well, that was easier than I expected.
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This might be the shortest Linus and Alex
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do a weird thing adventure yet.
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There's no way it's just that easy.
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Cool, okay.
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So those mount points look pretty similar.
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That interface looks pretty darn similar.
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So you can check that out there.
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Still plenty of time for us to break this.
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Should we get some more tape to put on there?
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Yes, based on that it just slipped out.
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The other cool thing about this
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is that there's lots of reasons
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why you might want to replace the display in your laptop
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other than being on the lookout for a performance upgrade.
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Like, oh crap, that's not the right spot.
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Oh shoot.
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Like for example, it's a pretty common issue
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to end up with an outline of your keyboard
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scratched into your glass.
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So for 55 bucks, you can get the thing as good as new.
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That's freaking awesome.
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Okay, hold on.
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We may have spoken too soon.
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Is it a touch wider?
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No, it's the same.
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Okay, what's going on here?
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Maybe I just didn't pay close attention
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to how this came out.
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Oh, I think it just shifted a little.
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Yeah, these just shifted.
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Oh, okay.
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So that's fine.
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Yeah, if you wanna hold that.
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So you just wanna make sure before you screw it in,
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these little pieces right here,
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you make sure those are popped all the way through.
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So you can see the frame, like the brace thing here.
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It's not quite aligned.
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See, now it's popped through.
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So we should end up with a nice flush mount now.
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So we don't even have to put the bezel on in order.
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What?
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No way.
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That easy.
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Dang.
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All right.
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So first thing we'll test is the brightness buttons then,
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I guess, right?
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Wait, are they working?
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It doesn't look like it's doing anything.
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But let's go ahead and change it to 120 hertz.
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See if it works.
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So this is a handy dandy little utility by ToastyX
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called custom resolution utility.
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And as far as we've been able to find,
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it's the only one that allows you to actually set
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custom resolutions and refresh rates
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when you have Intel integrated graphics
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and an NVIDIA dedicated graphics card
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running in like hybrid GPU mode.
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It's really frustrating.
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The Intel utility has an interface for it.
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You can key it in.
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And then from my experience anyway,
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it just spits out errors.
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For the most part.
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Yeah, it just says like bandwidth not available or something.
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Which is ridiculous
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because you could even set something lower in some cases
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and it'll be like, oh, maximum bandwidth exceeded.
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Oh, for crying out loud.
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Why always?
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Didn't even warn us either.
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I just hit restart.
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One eternity later.
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Quick, quick, get over here.
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It rebooted once already, but it's...
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What?
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That is definitely 120 hertz smoothness.
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Look at that.
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Isn't that beautiful?
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It's beautiful.
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So we can go ahead and pull this off.
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That is a much, much nicer display
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than what was on here before.
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We should probably like fire up a game or something then.
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Right?
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Oh, for crying out loud.
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Oh, I managed to walk into a trap already.
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That, okay.
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Gaming in 2018, ladies and gentlemen.
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So there you have it.
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There's not really much else to say.
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Everything that's good about high refresh rate,
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120 hertz gaming is now officially good about this laptop.
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And all you have to lose.
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is 55 Canadian rubles, about a half an hour of your time,
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assuming that you're totally incompetent,
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and well, brightness adjustment,
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which is sort of the biggest problem,
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but something that if your use case is predominantly gaming,
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I think you still might wanna consider.
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Speaking of things to consider, our sponsor.
6:37
Rosewill's Prism S500 case offers RGB lighting
6:41
with a sleek and unique design at an affordable price.
6:43
It's got dual LED RGB ring fans
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that emit more light to your internal components.
6:48
That is sort of the point of RGB fans.
6:50
It's got a tempered glass panel to show off your internals,
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not to mention the beautiful RGB.
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RGB is kind of a theme here.
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It's got a top power supply mount and shroud
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to help tuck away extra cables for easier cable management,
7:00
and it's got an RGB front strip for still more RGB.
7:04
Check it out at the link in the video description.
7:07
So thanks for watching, guys.
7:08
If you disliked this video, you can hit that button,
7:09
but if you liked it, hit like, get subscribed,
7:11
and maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff
7:12
we featured at the link in the video description.
7:14
Also down there is our merch store,
7:15
which has cool shirts like this one
7:17
and our community forum, which you should totally join.
7:19
I can't believe how smoothly this went.
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It almost takes the fun out of it, almost.
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I mean, this puts the fun back into it.
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This is great.