TL:DR

• This is Part 1 of my two part deep dive on DraftKings (Ticker: DKNG, I will refer to the company as “DK”)
• This first part introduces you to (1) me, (2) the company, (3) my thesis on the company, and (4) digs into how they make money.
• The second part (already released, you can read it here - but get through part 1 first :) ) will go in depth to explore the question “Can we 10x from here?”
• DK is an exciting, disruptive company working to change how we experience watching sports and make it better.
• I am not a financial advisor and this is not investment advice. These are just my opinions to help facilitate learning and discussion.

Hello, welcome to my first deep dive write up.
My name’s Mark and I’m an accountant with a passion for investing. About two years ago, I used to work as an auditor at a public accounting firm and have been behind the scenes at many different publicly traded and privately held companies in the U.S. My goal is to bring my unique perspective from that past experience, my current experience working in a new role at a large corporation, and my understanding of accounting to help break down some of the most exciting growth stocks on the market today.
I’m a long-term investor. I am focused on finding great companies and holding them for a long time. I’m willing to endure volatility, crazy price drops, and everything that comes with this approach as long as the facts that led me to originally invest and believe in that company have not changed. If you want to learn more about this approach. I recommend reading the book “100 Baggers” by Chris Mayer.
Introduction
I think it’s fitting that my first stock pick has to do with sports. Sports has been a part of my life since I could walk at the age of 2. First with baseball and soccer, and then later in my childhood with golf. I’ve always played American football and basketball for fun as well and have always been an avid fan of all the major sports in the US.
I started playing fantasy sports (mostly just fantasy football) about 6 years ago and have always enjoyed it. Traditionally, with fantasy football you draft a team at the beginning of the year and those are your players for the rest of the season. If you have a bad draft, oh well. You can try to improve your team with trades and free agent additions but it is tough. Leagues usually consist of 10-14 teams (each managed by an individual) and there’s obviously only one winner at the end of the season (about 4 months after the draft). This can lead to the managers of the lower performing teams losing interest as the season wanes on. I believe DraftKings’ (DK) founders saw this issue and saw an opportunity. Enter, daily fantasy sports. Now, with the DK platform you can draft a new team every week. Or if you want, every day. This allows fans of fantasy sports to engage at whichever point of the season they want and at varying financial stakes.
The Thesis Statement
For every stock pick I make, I want to provide a quick thesis statement that can serve as a reminder for why I’m buying and holding that stock for the long term. I’ll always aim to make it just a few sentences long so it can easily be remembered and internalized. This helps during times when the price may sporadically drop and you need to remember why you’re holding this position.
The thesis statement I have come up with for DK is as follows:
“DraftKings: The leader in allowing fans to engage financially with their favorite sports, teams, and players. Having money at stake makes the game a lot more interesting to watch. The era of daily fantasy sports games, online sports betting, and online betting (outside of sports), is just getting started and DK is as well positioned (or better positioned) than anyone to capitalize off of this trend.”
Notice how I said “allowing fans to engage financially” as the first sentence and not necessarily “allowing fans to gamble”. There’s a reason for that. According to US Federal Law, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) contests have specifically been exempted from the prohibitions of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). DK has always been, and I believe will continue to be DFS contests 1st, sports betting 2nd, and other forms of gambling/entertainment 3rd. It is noteworthy that states at an individual level can still deem DFS contests illegal if they so wish, but as of this writing (11/26/20), 43 of the 50 US States allow DFS contests and DK, accordingly, is offering DFS contests in all 43 of those US States.
I’ll try to clarify the difference between DFS contests and sports betting real quick:
DFS Contest – Pay a pre-set entry fee to enter a contest. All entry fees go towards “The Pot”. “Draft” 9 players to be on your “Team” for 1 week. Enter your “Roster” into a contest with other players (could range from 1 other person to 1,000s of people, the DK user can choose). Whichever “Roster” amasses the most points for that week out of all contestants wins. The winner will get the highest payout, and depending on the nature of the contest, other top finishers will receive smaller payouts as well.
Sports Gambling – Team A is considered a 10 point favorite to defeat Team B. This means that Team A is expected, by the professional gambling line setters, to outscore Team B by 10 points. This is known as a point spread. You can bet on the underdog or the favorite. If you bet on the favorite, they have to win by more than 10 points for you to win the bet. If you bet on the underdog, you will win the bet as long as the underdog keeps the game within less than a 10 point defeat.
These are just a couple simple examples to help you see the difference. Sports Gambling (the 2nd priority of DK) is a very lucrative market just as the DFS contests are. However, in the US, Federal Laws and regulations are a lot stricter on Sports Gambling than they are on DFS. As of this writing (11/27/20), 22 states (including the District of Columbia) out of 51 possible allow sports gambling.
DK is still in the infancy stages of getting their sports gambling business going. In the 22 states where they could potentially operate, they currently have a sports gambling offering in 11 of those states. The sports gambling business model for DK can be broken into two main offerings – mobile sports betting, and retail sports betting. Mobile sports betting means you can place a sports bet online from the comfort of your own home, while retail sports betting means you must go to a casino and place a bet with the sportsbook in person. I personally believe mobile sports betting is the real potential cash cow for DK out of the two types of sports betting offerings due to the convenience and ease of access. DK is currently working on and encouraging customers to lobby their state lawmakers to legalize sports gambling in more states.
How DK makes money
At the very least, before you invest in a company, you better understand how they make money. In Chris Mayers’ excellent book, 100 Baggers, that I mentioned above, he continually references top line revenue growth as one of the main common indicators of a possible 100 Bagger. This isn’t to tell you that any stock I pick will be a 100 Bagger just because it has great top line revenue growth, but if I am looking at a growth stock to hold for the long term, revenue growth is one of the first things I look at.
For DK, their means of making money is quite simple. I already went into detail above about DFS Contests and Sports Gambling. In DK’s latest 10-Q filing with the SEC (filed 11/13/20), revenue is broken out into two main streams: Online Gaming and Gaming Software.
Online Gaming (82% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20):
Online gaming is the true core business of DK and includes the aforementioned DFS Contests, Sports Gambling and additional gambling (non-sports) opportunities. DK refers to their additional gambling (non-sports) as “iGaming” or “online casino”.
For the 9 months ended 9/30/20, Online Gaming revenue totaled $239M, up 30% YoY from $184M in the same prior year period. Keep in mind, that this is an increase that happened during a COVID-19 global pandemic that delayed and shortened many professional sports seasons.
Online gaming revenue is earned in a few ways that are slightly different, but very similar overall. In order to enter a DFS contest, a customer must pay an entry fee. DFS revenue is generated from these entry fees collected, net of prize payouts and customer incentives awarded to users. In order to place a sports bet (sports gambling), a customer places a wager with a DK Sportsbook. The DK Sportsbook sets odds for each wager that builds in a theoretical margin allowing DK to profit. Sports gambling revenue is generated from wagers collected from customers, net of payouts and incentives awarded to winning customers. The last form of online gaming revenue is earned in similar fashion to a land-based casino, offering online versions of casino games such as blackjack, roulette, and slot machines.
Gaming Software (18% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20):
While the Online Gaming revenue stream mentioned above is a Business to Consumer (B2C) model, the Gaming Software revenue stream is a Business to Business (B2B) model. The Gaming Software side of the business was born out of the acquisition of SBTech, a company from the Isle of Man (near the UK) founded in 2007 that has 12+ years of experience providing online sports betting platforms to clients all over the world. The acquisition occurred as part of the SPAC driven IPO in April of 2020 that combined “the old DK company” with SBTech so that they now are “the new DK company” listed as DKNG on the NASDAQ. SBTech is a far more important part of the story than just being 18% of today’s revenue. The reason for this is because DK will eventually (planned mid-late 2021) be migrating all of their DFS and gambling offerings onto SBTech’s online platforms. Currently, for DFS, DK uses their own proprietary platform but that will move to SBTech with the migration. Currently, for online gambling, DK uses Kambi, the same online gambling platform that services Penn Gaming (PENN), a DK rival. But that’s enough about the software migration for now, back to the Gaming Software revenue.
The Gaming Software revenue stream for DK is essentially a continuation of SBTechs’ B2B business model. DK contracts with business customers to provide sports and casino betting software solutions. DK typically enters two different type of arrangements with B2B customers when selling the gaming software:

1. Direct Customer Contract Revenue: In this type of transaction, the software is sold directly to a business (casino for example) that wants to use the software for their own gambling operations. This revenue is generally calculated as a percentage of the wagering revenue generated by the business customer using DK’s software and is recognized in the periods in which those wagering and related activities conclude.
2. Reseller Arrangement Revenue: In this type of transaction, DK provides distributors with the right to resell DK’s software-as-a-service offering to their clients, using their own infrastructure. In reseller arrangements, revenue is generally calculated via a fixed monthly fee and an additional monthly fee which varies based on the number of gaming operators to whom each reseller sub-licenses DK’s software.

As mentioned above, SBTech was an international company based in the Isle of Man before being acquired by DK. Thus, the majority of their business in their first 12 years of operating independently has always been international and outside of the United States. This has helped DK, which has historically been US focused, expand it’s international reach.
A perfect example of expanding this international reach occurred recently during October (technically Q4) in which DK’s B2B technology (powered by SBTech) helped enable the launch of “PalaceBet”, a new mobile and online sportsbook offering from Peermont, a South Africa based resort and casino company. The deal was headed by DK’s new Chief International Officer, Shay Berka, who previously spent 10 years working for SBTech as CFO and General Manager. Mr. Berka took on the role of DK’s Chief International Officer upon the merger in April earlier this year. I think this deal shows that DK has integrated SBTech and it’s business very well into the larger business as a whole. They are not wasting any time using their newly acquired resources to expand their reach and bring in new sources of revenue.
This is the end of my first article about DK. My goal is to drop Part 2 later this week. The focus of Part 2 will be an in depth answer of the question – “Can we 10x from here?”
Disclosure: I am/we are long DKNG. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

TL:DR

• This is Part 1 of my two part deep dive on DraftKings (Ticker: DKNG, I will refer to the company as “DK”)
• This first part introduces you to (1) me, (2) the company, (3) my thesis on the company, and (4) digs into how they make money.
• The second part (to be released later this week) will go in depth to explore the question “Can we 10x from here?”
• DK is an exciting, disruptive company working to change how we experience watching sports and make it better.
• I am not a financial advisor and this is not investment advice. These are just my opinions to help facilitate learning and discussion.

Hello, welcome to my first deep dive write up.
My name’s Mark and I’m an accountant with a passion for investing. About two years ago, I used to work as an auditor at a public accounting firm and have been behind the scenes at many different publicly traded and privately held companies in the U.S. My goal is to bring my unique perspective from that past experience, my current experience working in a new role at a large corporation, and my understanding of accounting to help break down some of the most exciting growth stocks on the market today.
I’m a long-term investor. I am focused on finding great companies and holding them for a long time. I’m willing to endure volatility, crazy price drops, and everything that comes with this approach as long as the facts that led me to originally invest and believe in that company have not changed. If you want to learn more about this approach. I recommend reading the book “100 Baggers” by Chris Mayer.
Introduction
I think it’s fitting that my first stock pick has to do with sports. Sports has been a part of my life since I could walk at the age of 2. First with baseball and soccer, and then later in my childhood with golf. I’ve always played American football and basketball for fun as well and have always been an avid fan of all the major sports in the US.
I started playing fantasy sports (mostly just fantasy football) about 6 years ago and have always enjoyed it. Traditionally, with fantasy football you draft a team at the beginning of the year and those are your players for the rest of the season. If you have a bad draft, oh well. You can try to improve your team with trades and free agent additions but it is tough. Leagues usually consist of 10-14 teams (each managed by an individual) and there’s obviously only one winner at the end of the season (about 4 months after the draft). This can lead to the managers of the lower performing teams losing interest as the season wanes on. I believe DraftKings’ (DK) founders saw this issue and saw an opportunity. Enter, daily fantasy sports. Now, with the DK platform you can draft a new team every week. Or if you want, every day. This allows fans of fantasy sports to engage at whichever point of the season they want and at varying financial stakes.
The Thesis Statement
For every stock pick I make, I want to provide a quick thesis statement that can serve as a reminder for why I’m buying and holding that stock for the long term. I’ll always aim to make it just a few sentences long so it can easily be remembered and internalized. This helps during times when the price may sporadically drop and you need to remember why you’re holding this position.
The thesis statement I have come up with for DK is as follows:
“DraftKings: The leader in allowing fans to engage financially with their favorite sports, teams, and players. Having money at stake makes the game a lot more interesting to watch. The era of daily fantasy sports games, online sports betting, and online betting (outside of sports), is just getting started and DK is as well positioned (or better positioned) than anyone to capitalize off of this trend.”
Notice how I said “allowing fans to engage financially” as the first sentence and not necessarily “allowing fans to gamble”. There’s a reason for that. According to US Federal Law, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) contests have specifically been exempted from the prohibitions of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). DK has always been, and I believe will continue to be DFS contests 1st, sports betting 2nd, and other forms of gambling/entertainment 3rd. It is noteworthy that states at an individual level can still deem DFS contests illegal if they so wish, but as of this writing (11/26/20), 43 of the 50 US States allow DFS contests and DK, accordingly, is offering DFS contests in all 43 of those US States.
I’ll try to clarify the difference between DFS contests and sports betting real quick:
DFS Contest – Pay a pre-set entry fee to enter a contest. All entry fees go towards “The Pot”. “Draft” 9 players to be on your “Team” for 1 week. Enter your “Roster” into a contest with other players (could range from 1 other person to 1,000s of people, the DK user can choose). Whichever “Roster” amasses the most points for that week out of all contestants wins. The winner will get the highest payout, and depending on the nature of the contest, other top finishers will receive smaller payouts as well.
Sports Gambling – Team A is considered a 10 point favorite to defeat Team B. This means that Team A is expected, by the professional gambling line setters, to outscore Team B by 10 points. This is known as a point spread. You can bet on the underdog or the favorite. If you bet on the favorite, they have to win by more than 10 points for you to win the bet. If you bet on the underdog, you will win the bet as long as the underdog keeps the game within less than a 10 point defeat.
These are just a couple simple examples to help you see the difference. Sports Gambling (the 2nd priority of DK) is a very lucrative market just as the DFS contests are. However, in the US, Federal Laws and regulations are a lot stricter on Sports Gambling than they are on DFS. As of this writing (11/27/20), 22 states (including the District of Columbia) out of 51 possible allow sports gambling.
DK is still in the infancy stages of getting their sports gambling business going. In the 22 states where they could potentially operate, they currently have a sports gambling offering in 11 of those states. The sports gambling business model for DK can be broken into two main offerings – mobile sports betting, and retail sports betting. Mobile sports betting means you can place a sports bet online from the comfort of your own home, while retail sports betting means you must go to a casino and place a bet with the sportsbook in person. I personally believe mobile sports betting is the real potential cash cow for DK out of the two types of sports betting offerings due to the convenience and ease of access. DK is currently working on and encouraging customers to lobby their state lawmakers to legalize sports gambling in more states.
How DK makes money
At the very least, before you invest in a company, you better understand how they make money. In Chris Mayers’ excellent book, 100 Baggers, that I mentioned above, he continually references top line revenue growth as one of the main common indicators of a possible 100 Bagger. This isn’t to tell you that any stock I pick will be a 100 Bagger just because it has great top line revenue growth, but if I am looking at a growth stock to hold for the long term, revenue growth is one of the first things I look at.
For DK, their means of making money is quite simple. I already went into detail above about DFS Contests and Sports Gambling. In DK’s latest 10-Q filing with the SEC (filed 11/13/20), revenue is broken out into two main streams: Online Gaming and Gaming Software.
Online Gaming (82% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20):
Online gaming is the true core business of DK and includes the aforementioned DFS Contests, Sports Gambling and additional gambling (non-sports) opportunities. DK refers to their additional gambling (non-sports) as “iGaming” or “online casino”.
For the 9 months ended 9/30/20, Online Gaming revenue totaled $239M, up 30% YoY from $184M in the same prior year period. Keep in mind, that this is an increase that happened during a COVID-19 global pandemic that delayed and shortened many professional sports seasons.
Online gaming revenue is earned in a few ways that are slightly different, but very similar overall. In order to enter a DFS contest, a customer must pay an entry fee. DFS revenue is generated from these entry fees collected, net of prize payouts and customer incentives awarded to users. In order to place a sports bet (sports gambling), a customer places a wager with a DK Sportsbook. The DK Sportsbook sets odds for each wager that builds in a theoretical margin allowing DK to profit. Sports gambling revenue is generated from wagers collected from customers, net of payouts and incentives awarded to winning customers. The last form of online gaming revenue is earned in similar fashion to a land-based casino, offering online versions of casino games such as blackjack, roulette, and slot machines.
Gaming Software (18% of Total Revenue for 9 months ended 9/30/20):
While the Online Gaming revenue stream mentioned above is a Business to Consumer (B2C) model, the Gaming Software revenue stream is a Business to Business (B2B) model. The Gaming Software side of the business was born out of the acquisition of SBTech, a company from the Isle of Man (near the UK) founded in 2007 that has 12+ years of experience providing online sports betting platforms to clients all over the world. The acquisition occurred as part of the SPAC driven IPO in April of 2020 that combined “the old DK company” with SBTech so that they now are “the new DK company” listed as DKNG on the NASDAQ. SBTech is a far more important part of the story than just being 18% of today’s revenue. The reason for this is because DK will eventually (planned mid-late 2021) be migrating all of their DFS and gambling offerings onto SBTech’s online platforms. Currently, for DFS, DK uses their own proprietary platform but that will move to SBTech with the migration. Currently, for online gambling, DK uses Kambi, the same online gambling platform that services Penn Gaming (PENN), a DK rival. But that’s enough about the software migration for now, back to the Gaming Software revenue.
The Gaming Software revenue stream for DK is essentially a continuation of SBTechs’ B2B business model. DK contracts with business customers to provide sports and casino betting software solutions. DK typically enters two different type of arrangements with B2B customers when selling the gaming software:
​

1. Direct Customer Contract Revenue: In this type of transaction, the software is sold directly to a business (casino for example) that wants to use the software for their own gambling operations. This revenue is generally calculated as a percentage of the wagering revenue generated by the business customer using DK’s software and is recognized in the periods in which those wagering and related activities conclude.
2. Reseller Arrangement Revenue: In this type of transaction, DK provides distributors with the right to resell DK’s software-as-a-service offering to their clients, using their own infrastructure. In reseller arrangements, revenue is generally calculated via a fixed monthly fee and an additional monthly fee which varies based on the number of gaming operators to whom each reseller sub-licenses DK’s software.

As mentioned above, SBTech was an international company based in the Isle of Man before being acquired by DK. Thus, the majority of their business in their first 12 years of operating independently has always been international and outside of the United States. This has helped DK, which has historically been US focused, expand it’s international reach.
A perfect example of expanding this international reach occurred recently during October (technically Q4) in which DK’s B2B technology (powered by SBTech) helped enable the launch of “PalaceBet”, a new mobile and online sportsbook offering from Peermont, a South Africa based resort and casino company. The deal was headed by DK’s new Chief International Officer, Shay Berka, who previously spent 10 years working for SBTech as CFO and General Manager. Mr. Berka took on the role of DK’s Chief International Officer upon the merger in April earlier this year. I think this deal shows that DK has integrated SBTech and it’s business very well into the larger business as a whole. They are not wasting any time using their newly acquired resources to expand their reach and bring in new sources of revenue.
This is the end of my first article about DK. My goal is to drop Part 2 later this week. The focus of Part 2 will be an in depth answer of the question – “Can we 10x from here?”
Disclosure: I am/we are long DKNG. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Okay so I decided to create this guide with the hopes of it becoming a sticky thread for all newbies to the online slots world, to read as we deal with the same topics repeatedly and the same answers/advice are given repeatedly. Not that we do not want to help, but these would prevent you from getting into situations before its too late, or blaming casinos when you were in the wrong.
Signing up or Registration
Registration – Please carefully read the general terms and conditions about every "Right" the casino has and please note that you accepted these terms upon signing up, which means you are saying you are okay with it and agree with what the casino state about what they can and cannot do.

• No Deposit bonuses/Signup bonus – Many players are still NDB (No Deposit Bonus) hunters and register simply for these reasons. Please read the NDB/Signup Bonus terms carefully to make sure your country is eligible to receive the NDB/Signup bonus. We had many players getting upset about this factor and then end up closing their accounts immediately out of anger which leads to SE (Self Exclusion) at times. which I will address later in this thread. However, we do have instances where a casino does not list the eligible countries that can or cannot receive the NDB/Signup bonuses.
• More than one player in 1 house Hold – Many casinos only allow one player per house/IP address to register at a casino. You can ask a casino if you and your partnesibling who stays together can both signup and some casinos would give the "Ok". Just make sure you have this in written confirmation via email or something and not live chat.

Claiming Bonuses
Read the bonus terms carefully before claiming any bonuses and look for the following pointers when reading the bonuses rules:

• Wagering – Many casinos have increased their wagering on bonuses lately which makes bonus wagering very difficult to complete these days. Decide whether the wagering attach to the bonus is high or low for you since you know your game play and strategies. Many factors can influence whether you will be able to meet wagering, which is the x amount of wagering, game providers availability and deposit amount just to name a few. Also note that wagering for "certain countries" are higher than others. For me personally I think wagering between x35 – x50 on the "Bonus" amount "Only" is reasonable and fair.
• Max Bet – 99% of casinos have a max bet rule in place when claiming a bonus. Note what the max bet is for the specific casinos as it can range anything from 1 – 5 euro/$ per Spin. Deposit methods can affect the max bet as well as some casinos limit the max bet rule between 1 – 2 euro per spin for deposits using e-wallets, however that same casinos allow a max bet up to 5 euro per spin for credit card/Alternative deposits. Even though a casino state the max bet rule another tricky rule in the terms that we tend to miss is the coin value. Some casinos state that the max "Coin domination/value" should be $0.20 or $0.50 per spin which means if you want to bet higher you would need to adjust the "Level" portion in the slot if the coin domination/value limit is reached according to the terms. If you breach the Max bet rule and it is stated in their terms, you do not have a case, period. There are some casinos who you can explain your situation if it was a mistake and they do sometimes make exceptions.
• Deposit methods – Many casinos lately have restricted the claiming of bonuses using e-wallet deposit methods such as Neteller, Skrill etc. Note they mention these 2 as they are most popular, but that also means any other form of e-wallets are not eligible to claim bonuses. I have seen a lot of players complain that they did not receive the bonus simply because they did not read the terms before claiming the bonus and the deposit has already been made. Also make sure you deposit using your own card, do not use your parents or any other siblings credit card to make deposits as this would cause a problem during verification which in the end results in to winnings not being paid out.
• Deposit Methods Additional Info – Many deposits are available from Casinos or let's say most casinos have the same deposit methods available, however the country that you reside in has the influence on what deposit methods are available and the same counts for withdrawals. So, for instance if AskGamblers website state deposit by phone which is "Boku" is available at that specific casino it does not mean that it will be available for all players, as that is depending on your country. Deposit by phone is mostly available for the UK players basically as an example.
• Max Cash-Out – Many players claim bonuses and after they complete wager, they tend to withdraw immediately. Some players are left with substantial amounts only to find out they can only get x2 the bonus amount (Casinos like "Viks" casino and "Quasar Gaming" have this rule) or x10 their deposit. I understand this is frustrating and upsetting, but the problem is with the player itself. Stop blaming casinos because you could not do the simplest thing in the world which is just take 5 minutes to read the bonus terms.
• Restricted games – Please check which games are allowed and not allowed to be played with bonus funds. Some casinos have a feature where bonus money is not even visible on the restricted games, but other casinos bonus money will show on restricted games. In many instances these would not lead to confiscation of winnings, it just that it would not count towards wagering. They also have a term where they would say that bets place on all "Other" games other that "Slot machines" will be deemed in violation of the terms and condition and your bonus winnings will be voided – So watch out for this one.
• Double up feature – The only thing to say here is that this will not counts towards wagering.
• Cashable and Non-Cashable bonuses – This one is another tricky one, some people call it a "Sticky bonus". This just means where you receive the bonus you can use it to place bets and for wagering purposes, but the bonus amount can never be withdrawn. I find this term ridiculous and always avoid this type of bonuses.
• Bonus Abuse – This is a very complex/broad subject but mention the basic ones (Thanks for forum members tips which I included on this one), the rest you can do your own research about the rest associated with bonus abuse as we all have different opinions
• Bonus per player, per account, per IP address etc. If you take that same bonus twice or more times, using different accounts under your name, then it's an abuse.
• Claiming free spins offers – Deposit to get free spins and withdrawing deposit after claiming free spins but continue to play free spins is also some form of bonus abuse.
• Accumulating bonus rounds and start playing them when your bonus balance reach zero, and you win those money as real cash.
• Anything you can think of that disadvantages the house (Casino).
• Bonus wagering period – This never really is a problem, but just make sure you complete you bonus wagering with the set time frame the casino provided. This can range anything from 3 – 30 days otherwise winnings will be voided.

There are other bonus terms that I have not mentioned but I think the above ones are the most important as these could affect you in terms of confiscation of your winnings should you breach any of them.
Verification
This is pretty much standard for a casino to ask for some form of Identification, proof of address and proof of deposit when requesting a withdrawal. Depending on the amount win, some casinos might not need documents, however when a substantial amount has been won additional verification or security checks might be done which means a longer withdrawal time frame. Verification or KYC is necessary, however I feel when casinos ask for selfies with your ID next to you etc. in my opinion is just ridiculous. Also, I have noticed some casinos requesting your source of income to see where you get the money to make deposits etc. This seems standard and you would need to do it to get your withdrawal, however all of us have different opinions about this verification procedure.
Withdrawals
Many casinos have different withdrawal time frames and when you accept the general terms and conditions you have to a abide by them, by this I mean stop being impatient and complain that the casinos withdrawal time frames are the worst etc. As you knew this before you started playing provided you have read the terms and condition. You decided to deposit and play so then wait for your money, eventually it will come unless you breached some rule, or the casino is a rogue casino.
Here are some of the tips you should note when it comes to withdrawals at casinos:

• Verification – This is standard procedure and you have to do this if the casino request it.
• Time-frames – This one I feel can be interpreted in many ways but let me give you my version of how I View things. When a casino says e-wallets 0 – 1 or 0 – 24 hours. This means that the casinos use that time-frame to process your withdrawal and after it being processed your money should be instantly available. Credit cards that state 3 – 7 business days and this is where some newbies get this wrong – This simply state the time frame they take to process the payment to your card, it does not mean you will get your money within 3 – 7 days, however this is possible. Prepare yourself for the longest waiting period to avoid becoming impatient and upset – So if a casino says 3 – 7 days expect to get it in 10 days max, however you can get it within 4 days, but sometimes casinos just stretch it to process it on the last day possible with the hopes you would reverse the withdrawal and continue to play. This technique of casinos sometimes works. So, if they process your withdrawal it can take another 3 – 5 days to hit your account based on your location and the banks in your country as they have internal controls with foreign currency. There are however hiccups with payment providers/processors etc. but these are at times out of the casinos control. My best is advice is "Patience".
• Reversing Withdrawals – With the timeframes explanation I just gave above and being impatient, players tend to reverse their withdrawals. They continue playing and end up losing their winnings. Stop blaming casinos as this is your own fault that you Lost the funds. You made the decision to reverse the withdrawal. If you really need to play, make a deposit at another casino or sister website and play there while you patiently wait for you withdrawal. Some casinos have the lock feature, so lock down your withdrawal so you do not reverse the withdrawal or play at other casinos which has quicker withdrawal time frames of 0 – 1 hour instead of days. The key here is "Patience".

Self-Exclusion
Self-Exclusion is a big thing these days and most cases substantial amounts are involved that are being confiscated. There are at times very little that us forum members or even AskGamblers can do when a player self-excluded and played at a sister website or similar, as we know the result and of course the house is kind of right. However, I think it's bad that a casino only realizes the self-exclusion portion on a player profile once it reaches withdrawal stage, because I feel they should have something in place that can detect that you self-excluded upon registration or before you even make your first deposit. People with gambling problems tend to self-exclude but the alternative is to read this guide - https://www.askgamblers.com/forum/topic/2152-sos-i-am-addicted-to-gambling-what-to-do/ . My advice is to keep your casino account open and do not play there anymore, because even if you request a permanent account closure, some casinos tend to self-exclude you without you knowing it and this would cause problems in future since you opened another account at their sister website or something.

I spent the last weeks downloading every single app offer on Swagbucks UK to sort through the ones that are, and are not, worth doing. These are all available on Swagbucks 'Discover' page.
If this list helps, and you are not on swagbucks already please consider joining using my referral link here for an extra 300SB when you make your first earnings, worth £3ish, (non ref, no bonus ). If there's anything I've missed please comment!

• Board Kings Android lvl11 - took 1 week, add the max friends, check the Boardkings subreddit for help adding friends
• TikTok - SB for downloading tiktok, joining, and keeping on your phone for 2 days. Easy.
• Elvenar Academy, reach Magical Academy - took 3 days with active gameplay, however can be done 99% passively with very little gameplay whatsoever, as you just need to wait until you have enough books to upgrade the research tree to magical academy.
• Lords Mobile: Kingdom Wars - took about a week to upgrade to 14, active gameplay and regular checking in..
• Club Vegas: Online Slot Machines with Bonus - about 3 days, leave on minimum spins and leave your phone running. Semi-passive.
• Pop! Slots Level 26 - about 5 days, leave on minimum spins and leave your phone running. Semi-passive.
• King of Avalon - about 1 week, join a powerful guild.
• Harvest Land: Farm and City Building - About a week of active gameplay. I'd only advise this if you actually somewhat enjoy the game, as this one can be a slog if you're not enjoying it
• Star Slots - Lvl 110 - this one was long, required leaving phone running spins overnight, unsure if worth the time/effort.

For each of these games there are usually free coin link aggregate websites, or links on the apps official Facebook group - Just google '[Game Name] free credit/coins'. You will find this for many of these games, and it will level you up faster. It is also worth checking any subreddits dedicated to the games, as there are usually helpful redditors about.

• The Walking Dead: Road to Survival (requires 99p spend, but conversion is worth over £2 in Amazon vouchers). I used free Google Play credit I made from Google Opinions app for this. (these 'purchase required' offers are actually a good way to convert your unwanted Google Play credit into over double their value in Amazon vouchers).

Avoid: Trumps Empire (worst game ever, took too long), King's Throne Game of Lust (took too long, and was gross), Game of Kings: Blood Throne lvl22 (almost impossible without purchases, level 20-21 takes 6 months without power-ups apparently), War Games: Commander lvl21 (seems easy enough at the beginning, but then becomes almost impossible without purchases, you won't find out until it's too late)
Note: Make sure to compare between: ayeT, OfferToro, Revenue Universe etc. as some of Swagbucks Partners offer more SB than others for these apps and it changes constantly. Offers come and go, and fluctuate in value all the time. 130SB=£1 in Amazon vouchers at the best conversion rate (converting to £10 vouchers). So figure out if something is actually worth your time.
When you reach the required level: Take a screenshot as proof, close and reopen the game (I read this updates your progress on their servers), and wait 1 week for SB to credit, do not delete the app right away, wait until credited. If no credit after 1 week, contact SB support with the screenshot. Have never failed to be credited, but have had to chase up a couple of times.

Link Joker is a Chinese based online casino that offers you free slots. This casino is very similar to the popular UK casinos such as the Paradise casino. The interface of the website is simple and easy to use. When you log into the site, you will see a large variety of slots games including the popular slots games such as the No-Limit, Blackjack, Video Poker, Slots, Roulette and Keno. There are also many bonus and promotion codes offered by this website that can increase your chances of winning big jackpots and getting free credits.
The link joker123 is an exciting slot machine that offers you one of the best video poker games available on the internet today. You will find that there are many different variations of this slot machine such as the ninety-two odds machine, the double ninety-two machine, the single ninety-two odds machine, the limited card slot machine and the no-limit slot machine. There are also machine options for baccarat, keno, slots and keno action. The online casino can be accessed through a secure internet connection and you will have immediate play on the web casino when you make your deposit.
The Link Joker is a highly recommended machine because it offers you a great game slot experience with the largest jackpot prize. The game is a mixture of luck and strategy. The Link Joker is played in three different variations. It is available in both the virtual world and on land. The land game version of the online slot machine and the online casino are separated by a virtual wall that makes it easier for players to switch from one version to another.
The link slot joker is a highly recommended machine and is a top ten slot machine in the world. In order to win the huge jackpot offered by this machine, you need to fill out an application form given to you by the staff of the online casino. The Link Joker slot online is one of the most popular games and is used as the payment method by many of the online casinos in Asia.
The link alternatif joker123 is a popular game and has won many awards. It is also known as the "Bollywood Poker" and the "Bollywood Video Poker". The links game is also known as the Bollywood swakker or the "Bollywood street machine". Many professional gamblers have placed high bets on this game and many famous people in Bollywood have also won here.
The Bollywood Untuk Game Slot is similar to the Bollywood Video Poker and has also won many awards. The game is completely based on luck and strategy and you must use both your skill and wits to win. The link alternatif joker123 is an amusement slot machine that can be used at any of the Malaysia casinos. It is popular with the visitors of the casinos in Kuala Lumpur as well as the visitors of other casinos in Malaysia. There are slot machines in all the four walls of the slots machine in the bin walls.

Why not try slot machines online? It is a good way to increase your earnings, with minimum effort required from your part. You can play anytime of the day or night - you just need a computer that has an internet connection. You are sure to find a wide range of slot machines that give you excellent jackpots and bonuses. However, you should be careful when choosing a machine. This will help you increase your chances of winning big and getting loads of free money.
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Playing slot cq9 online with different casino games would increase your chances of winning big. The different online casino games that you can play include online blackjack, bingo, video poker, craps, roulette, instant lotto, keno and many more. You do not have to worry about the rules of these different casino games while playing online. You simply have to focus on your luck while waiting for your turn in the casino. You might also want to read online reviews for slot cq9 before playing with real money.
If you are interested to play slot cq9 online, but not having access to UK casinos, then the internet offers you other options as well. In fact, there are several internet casinos offering you this option. But what you should be aware of is that the availability of slot online tercaya terra is dependent upon the availability of the Macau slot machine. As of now, only a few reliable casinos are offering this option, which includes the eCarmel, Fairlay, MegaNet and the Slotsports. But it is worth to note that despite the presence of Macau casinos offering this option, the slot cq9 machines in Macau remain out of reach of the common people, especially the Asian ones.
Online gambling is gaining a lot of popularity, especially in the areas where people are not allowed to indulge in the traditional gambling. For instance, in Singapore, there are only a few places where people are allowed to play the slot game like the local hawker centres, as well as the arcades, or even the golf clubs. But the sudden upsurge in the demand of slot games has made the internet one of the best options to start sampling different types of gaming. As such, today, the internet is one of the best ways to find out more about this exciting gaming option.
In addition to slot games, you can also find out more about this exciting gaming option through the internet, through blogs and through the various discussion boards. You can even start sampling the different internet casino sites. But if you want to get real good leads on any particular slot cq9 site, then you should make sure that the reviews on any of these sites are from the leading and experienced bloggers and internet gamblers. The presence of these reviewers will help you get a clear insight on the reliability and the safety of the particular slot site. This will also help you get good leads on the particular site, so that you can try out the slot games and get a fun and rewarding experience.

General Information

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 05-Jun-2020
No. of Players: up to 4 players
Genre(s): Party, Multiplayer
Publisher: Nintendo
Game file size: 2.0 GB

Overview (from Nintendo eShop page)

Discover and play 51 tabletop games from around the world
With board games, card games, sports games, solitaires, and even a piano keyboard, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics is an eclectic collection of games of games to play and discover on your Nintendo Switch system.
Each game includes how-to-play instructions and trivia tidbits. Defeat all difficulty levels of CPU opponents to become a master of each game! Play on the go, on the TV, or with others locally or online*.
Play solo or with friends
You can play dozens of games together with another person on a single Nintendo Switch system with one Joy-Con™ controller per player** or sharing the touch screen.
Play using multiple systems
You can connect with friends or family locally using your own systems to play most of the games. With just one person owning the Clubhouse Games™: 51 Worldwide Classics game, up to four people can play.
Play with others worldwide
Connect to the internet to play more than 40 games with friends online. You can also choose to get matched up with rivals from around the world. It’s your chance to show off your skills!
Mosaic Mode
In this mode, up to four players can connect locally using their own systems to allow the action to spread across screens in certain games. Place up to four systems side-by-side to build dozens of Slot Cars racetracks or turn a pond into a river for more fishing fun.
Download the Clubhouse Games™ Guest Pass for free
The free Clubhouse Games Guest Pass includes four games to play solo or with friends: Four-in-a-Row, Dominoes, President, and Slot Cars. Plus, up to four people can connect locally with a player who owns the full game*** to play all the 40+ multiplayer games.
All 51 games plus a piano keyboard

• Mancala
• Dots and Boxes
• Yacht Dice
• Four-in-a-Row
• Hit and Blow
• Nine Men's Morris
• Hex
• Checkers
• Hare and Hounds
• Gomoku
• Dominoes
• Chinese Checkers
• Ludo
• Backgammon
• Renegade
• Chess
• Shogi
• Mini Shogi
• Hanafuda
• Riichi Mahjong
• Last Card
• Blackjack
• Texas Hold'em
• President
• Sevens
• Speed
• Matching
• War
• Takoyaki
• Pig's Tail
• Golf
• Billiards
• Bowling
• Darts
• Carrom
• Toy Tennis
• Toy Soccer
• Toy Curling
• Toy Boxing
• Toy Baseball
• Air Hockey
• Slot Cars
• Fishing
• Battle Tanks
• Team Tanks
• Shooting Gallery
• 6-Ball Puzzle
• Sliding Puzzle
• Mahjong Solitaire
• Klondike Solitaire
• Spider Solitaire
• Piano

*Nintendo Switch Online membership (sold separately) and Nintendo Account required for online features. Not available in all countries. Internet access required for online features. Terms apply. nintendo.com/switch-online
**Additional accessories may be required for multiplayer mode. Sold separately.
***Clubhouse Games Guest Pass is available to download for free from Nintendo eShop on the Nintendo Switch system. Up to three players with Clubhouse Games Guest Pass can enjoy a selection of games in local multiplayer with a player who owns the full version of the game. Full version of the game, systems and additional accessories sold separately.

Reviews

Aggregators

• Metacritic - 83
• OpenCritic - 82

Articles

• COGconnected - 86 / 100
• Cubed3 - 8 / 10 stars
• DASHGAMER.com - 8 / 10
• Daily Star - 5 / 5 stars
• Destructoid - 8.5 / 10
• Digitally Downloaded - 4.5 / 5 stars
• EGM - 10 / 10
• Eurogamer - Recommended
• Gameblog - French - 8 / 10
• GamesBeat - 89 / 100
• God is a Geek - 7 / 10
• Hobby Consolas - Spanish - 75 / 100
• IGN Italy - Italian - 8 / 10
• Impulsegamer - 4 / 5
• Metro GameCentral - 8 / 10
• Nintendo Enthusiast - 9 / 10
• Nintendo Life - 8 / 10
• NintendoWorldReport - Unscored
• Polygon - Unscored
• Press Start - 7.5 / 10
• SECTOR.sk - Slovak - 7 / 10
• Spaziogames - Italian - 6.2 / 10
• The Games Machine - Italian - 8.5 / 10
• TheSixthAxis - 8 / 10
• USgamer - 4.5 / 5 stars
• VG247 - 4 / 5 stars
• Video Chums - 8.7 / 10
• Wccftech - 8 / 10

^{This list exported from OpenCritic at 8:10am ET June 5th}

Being Social

• Join the #clubhouse-games channel of our Discord server for all of your discussion needs - https://discord.gg/switch

Cheers,
The /NintendoSwitch mod team
^{Note: We know we totally missed the embargo date the other day so we decided to put this thread up on launch day instead. Enjoy everyone!}

They are back, the distraught rulers of the Reel King Series which, notwithstanding the first game, additionally includes Reel King Potty, and the 4 Reel King games. Is another an overdose of something that is otherwise good? Indeed, it's a legitimate inquiry, yet in these games protection, every one does things somewhat any other way, all utilizing the reel lord little game in a different auxiliary reward which shifts from game to game. You may have speculated from the title that the essential draw on this game is the free twists round, with 10 of them accessible. 918Kiss 2021 understand that their games are generally dearest in the UK gambling clubs, and furthermore that UK players will in general need a decent twists round! All things considered, would you be able to think about another explanation we are for the most part actually playing Book of Ra six forms later notwithstanding those rewarding free twists? Not at all like different games in the Reel King arrangement, free twists furor is on a restricted delivery at first as an allowed to play slot emulator. It stays not yet clear (we think it likely) on the off chance that it will be delivered as a money slot online inevitably as an elite game, it is accessible in certain gambling clubs as a land based game as well.

Subject

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Interactivity and Features

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Synopsis

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As standard – apologies for the length! I’ve found it quite a cathartic experience, and I seem to have managed to merge elements of the reddit, US and UK R29 templates so please feel free to skip over any boring sections!
Background:
I’m British, working for a British Company in the US on a three-year posting (one year in). My salary is actually £33,000 but due to the increased cost of living here, I get an additional £10,000 allowance for living costs, and my rent/utilities are paid directly by my company. This puts my equivalent salary at $93,000.
I’m aware this is an incredibly fortunate position to be in, especially with COVID, however when I return to the UK, I will be paid my UK salary only, so this is a short-term benefit.
The company can split my pay between my UK and US accounts, and currently 95%ish of it is going to my UK account. This % split was only set up after lockdown as we are currently spending much less on travel/socialising here so are taking the opportunity to focus on building our UK savings. My husband, J, was fortunate enough to get local employment when he arrived in country. He earns an additional $46,000 net which we live on.
For ease/consistency, I have converted all costs at 1.3 as this is roughly the average conversion since I’ve lived here – I will write UK next to any cost/savings that are based in the UK.
Section One: Assets and Debt
J and I (now) combine all our finances, so except for my pension pot, and a small F* Off Fund (FoF - we have one each), everything else is split 50/50. This will likely change when we go back to the UK as we’ll have better access to our own bank accounts.
My personal Net Worth is $72,400
Retirement Balance
UK $104,000
I’ve contributed to work pension schemes since I started working full time age 18. This has been set at around 5% since I joined my current employer 7 years ago, and they contribute around 27%. I’m actually guaranteed £4,000 per year once I retire for as long as I live so have multiplied this by 20 on the assumption the retirement age actually stays at 68 and I make it to my late 80’s. This amount will increase over the years with inflation and as I contribute further to it. I can choose to retire earlier, plus take up to a 25% tax free lump sum on retirement, but that will affect the annual pay-out amount.
Equity
UK $52,000 equity, $157,300 left on the mortgage
J and I bought ($197,600) with just over a 10% ($20,000) deposit 3 years ago aged 24 and contributed half each. I managed to save this as I was living at home until we bought, and J got a help to buy loan through his previous workplace. He’s since cleared this.
Savings account balance
$29,700 made up of:
US $6,700 for fun money here (currently planned for another car – we’ll sell our existing one)
UK $6,500 in premium bonds as my FoF, $13,800 in our joint savings account to upsize when we get back to the UK, $2,600 in one of my side saving accounts as a potential future maternity pot. This is joint but kept in a separate account from the house savings.
Around $22,000 of this has been saved since the beginning of lockdown
Checking account balance
US $120 (+ $1,190 in checking, -$1,070 on AMEX). All our savings accounts are easy access, so we try to keep the balance as low as possible and tend to spend the full amount each month. [We end the week with this back up to $1,559]
UK $660
Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it)
0 – we use our AMEX for our everyday spending, so I’ve included it in our checking account as we usually pay it off each week and use it in place of our checking account. J had CC/loan debt in the UK from the house deposit and wedding which he cleared down before we moved out here.
Student loan debt (for what degree)
0 - neither of us went to University
Anything else that's applicable to you
We paid outright for a second-hand car that is worth around $6,000
Section Two: Income & Further Background
Income Progression:
I started at my current company 7 years ago working as a personal assistant and started on $24,000. I stayed in this role for 2.5 years before promoting into a finance role and onto $31,000. After a year I was temporarily promoted (with pay rise) within my team to a higher finance role and after a further 6 months was permanently promoted into the role and onto $35,750. There’s usually an annual pay rise of around 2%, which I’ve received between each promotion, but as this last promotion pay rise wasn’t as high as usual, my last few annual pay rises have been higher to bring me to my now salary of $43,290. I’ve spent the last three years at the same level, but have changed teams to gain more experience which will be needed for the next promotion which I’ll hopefully be able to get when I return to the UK – this will take me over the $50,000 mark.
Main Job Monthly Take Home:
UK – I get paid once a month, receiving $3,783 after tax, national insurance and pension contributions. This also includes the extra living allowance. $3,510 is paid into my UK account, $273 is paid into the US
US – J gets paid fortnightly, and earns a net salary of $3,546 per month (assuming 2 pay periods per month)
Any Other Monthly Income Here
UK - We receive around $598 per month from tenants in our house in the UK. The letting agents take all management and admin fees directly from the rent before we get paid. This amount can be less if any work needs doing on the property, but again the letting agent will pay directly and just transfer us a reduced amount. We also have to pay tax on any rent received and still need to pay last year’s bill, but we haven’t calculated it yet.
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?:
Not from family. My parents don’t have degrees, and whilst they supported my siblings going, it was our own personal choice. If we didn’t go, we were expected to work full time.
My school did expect me to go. I was in the last school year before UK University tuition went up, so the only advise they could give was to go now as you won’t be able to afford it in the future. I had a place to study events management but turned it down a week before the deadline. Bar sometimes feeling like I missed out on the University life experience (aka. freshers week), I have zero regrets not going.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My siblings and I were always encouraged to save including contributing to pensions when we started working, and prioritise this and bills over spending our money, but conversations didn’t go much further than that.
What was your first job and why did you get it?:
Weekly paper round from age 12 to 16 which gave me $10 a week to pay for my phone credit and to build savings. I started working part-time in a supermarket from age 16 earning around $250 a month, but this was mainly spent shopping and in the pub!
Did you worry about money growing up?:
No – my parents operated on a “what we do for one, we do for all”, so with a house of five kids, we certainly weren’t living the life of luxury, but we never went without, and it encouraged me to earn some of my own money from an early age.
Do you worry about money now?:
No, J and I are in a really good position and try to make sensible decisions so that we can still cope if our circumstances change.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?:
Fully when I bought the house and moved out age 24, although I obviously gained the support from J. I’ve always had to use my own money for wants and non-essentials (phone bill, own laptop, “fun” clothes). I was given a few years grace on rent as my parents helped my siblings at Uni, but this stopped when I turned 21. I’ve always bought my own cars/insurance and would contribute to the household, including buying some food and replacing furniture in my room.
Our parents continue to support us anyway they can, which included letting J and I move back in rent free last year whilst we were replacing our kitchen.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?:
My dad saved around $1,200 from when I was a child which I received aged 18 – this went into savings and then towards my first car and laser eye surgery.
My brothers and I also received $1,950 each from a great aunt when she died, which was a complete surprise (the will was contested so this was several years later). Our much younger half-brother didn’t receive anything, so we split this equally with him. The money left went towards mine and J’s wedding and we also received around $5000 additional from various family members towards our wedding and honeymoon. This was also not expected, and we budgeted not to receive anything, but this was a bonus and it relieved some of the pressure on us to save.
Section Three: Expenses
UK – I auto-transfer $1,170 across various accounts to pay for our UK bills. J & I both kept some bills in our own names to try to maintain our individual UK credit scores as well as our joint one. J’s parents are also looking after our two cats whilst we’re in the US, so we transfer them some money. We’ve discovered our UK entertainment subscriptions work over here so we haven’t cancelled them and pay them from the UK accounts, which is a benefit as they’re usually cheaper.
$910 to our joint account to cover – Mortgage ($986 – includes $130 monthly overpayment), Landlord Insurance ($32), Pet Insurance ($45), our life insurance ($22 – it pains me that the cats cost twice as much as we do. Obviously, they don’t have the NHS covering their medical costs, but they also don’t have a mortgage to pay off….), J’s UK phone bill ($35) – he’s still tied into his contract. The rent income comes into this account so that covers any delta and builds a pot to pay the tax bill. It works out at around $388 per month saved for this. We also pay around ($150) annually to cover IT costs including Microsoft office, McAfee Security and Dropbox storage.
$143 to my bills account to cover – my UK phone bill ($23), a second UK phone bill that I need to cancel as they wouldn’t transfer my existing number to them ($6), Trade Union membership ($19), Netflix ($12), Annual magazine subscription ($19). Any money left over for is for UK online orders and so we have money available when we visit home.
$65 to J’s account to cover – Amazon Prime ($10), Spotify ($20), Audible ($15) and annual Xbox Live ($50)
$52 to J’s parents for the cats.
UK Savings – we have $2,340 to split across the savings. The split varies each month, but as I’ve hit my FoF goal the focus will be on getting J’s to the goal amount and then joint savings.
US – TV, WiFi and Hulu ($131), Phone Bills ($167), Car Insurance ($110), Naked Wines ($40), HelloFresh ($523), Annual Renters Insurance ($152). We currently get Disney+ free with our phones, but this will end soon, and I expect we’ll start paying for it as well.
US Savings – I usually transfer between $500-$1,000 into savings when J gets paid but will vary this based on how much we have left in the checking account from his last pay and what bills are due. We’ll also raid this as needed for big purchases or if we’re running low in on cash in the checking account.
​
Day 1 – Saturday
0900 – I’ve been waking up on and off for a few hours, but the alarm has gone off, so I drag myself out of bed. J and I are booked into a second-hand book sale from between 11 and 12 so we need to actually get out of the house this morning. I tidy up a bit, have a shower and miss a call from my mum whilst I’m in there. I check J is up before calling her back and have a good catch up with her and my Nan.
1115 – We’re a little later than planned, but we make it to the sale. I picked the second slot so that there would still be a good selection of books available and am pleasantly surprised by the amount and overall COVID set up. We spend almost an hour browsing and come away with 15 books between us. $60.01
1210 – We left the apartment without eating breakfast, but there’s a restaurant open next to the sale that we haven’t tried before so we pop in and have a burger each. Discover there’s a cocktail bar underneath and make note to head back and try that soon. $41.92
1600 – J has spent the afternoon building Ikea furniture we bought last week and hiding in the bedroom watching YouTube videos whilst I clean, watch The Haunting of Hill House and drink copious amounts of tea. We bought our car in a bit of a rush when we arrived and to replace his Rightmove house obsession, J spends a lot of his time looking at cars available here. Last week he found an American muscle car that looks in good shape and isn’t extortionate, so in his argument to “buy American, eat American, drive American” whilst we’re here, he’s arranged a visit check it out and test drive it. We’re meant to be there at half past, but we had the wrong address and there’s been an accident so it’s actually an hour’s drive, and we don’t get there until 1715 - Oops. I do not want to like the car, but I’m honestly sold – I knew our current car wasn’t the best, and planned to cope with it for the three years, but this is such an improvement and feels like a fun car to drive on road trips. We arrange to come back next week to buy the car and head back home. Thankfully, the traffic has cleared so it only takes 40mins. We while away the journey by listening to an episode of My Dad Wrote a Porno.
1830 – We stop by Giant to pick up some essentials (loo roll, seltzer, beer, milk) and food for the rest of the weekend. $103.25. I cook pork chops, roast potatoes, asparagus and gravy for dinner, and we spend the evening chilling in front of Netflix with wine before heading to bed at midnight.
Daily total: $205.18
Day 2 – Sunday
0830 – I wake up and sneak out of bed without disturbing J, make myself a cup of tea and settle down to finish off The Haunting of Hill House. J hates scary shows/films, so I try to watch things before he’s up, but he still needs to be in the house otherwise my imagination will go wild. The show finishes and I hear no sign of movement, so I make another cup of tea and discover The Princess Diaries 2 is on freeform so obviously I watch this.
1100 – J gets up and makes us scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for brunch. There was meant to be a bread roll with this, but according to J it had gone off. Silently complain that I didn’t pick up some bagels whilst we were shopping last night. We stick The Office on in the background and binge far too much of it whilst I multitask and convert our savings/bills spreadsheet into $ for the intro to this.
1630 – I had grand plans to spend the day cleaning and assumed J’s mum would do her weekly skype call with us at 3, neither of which has happened, and I only realise this now. I suggest we message some friends to see if they fancy an afternoon pick-me-up, but they are hanging from last night, and I remember I’m doing interviews in the morning so probably not the smartest move. I have a shower, wash and sort my hair out to save time in the morning.
1800 – I get an email reminding me that I have items in my basket on an online order and that they’ve given me 15% off. Seems rude not complete it – J has a quick browse to see if there’s anything he likes but nothing takes his fancy. So it’s just non-wired bras for me and a very cute bee print quilt set. It’s a UK based store so I pay using my UK bank account. $123
1900 – J cooks dinner tonight, a HelloFresh recipe for firecracker meatballs with rice. We stick The Office on in the background, finish the rest of last nights wine and the entire series, getting to bed at half 11.
Daily total: $123
Day 3 – Monday
0630 – Alarm goes off. Ugh. It disturbs J, so I apologise for waking him, hit snooze and repeat 5 minutes later. Rather than getting straight up, I waste half an hour browsing Facebook before washing and getting ready. As an attempt to look semi presentable, I put actual work clothes on, straighten my hair and put on some mascara and powder.
0755 – I make it onto the laptop and do some prep before the interviews. Checking my emails, I spot that I’ve been paid my US pay today. The annual pay rise has come through and there’s a small backdate from last months pay, so I have an additional $127 this month. I clear a few more emails and make a cup of tea before starting the interviews.
1215 – Interviews are done, and as a panel we have discussed and come to a decision. We all need to type up our outcomes for HR, but I take a lunch break before my brain melts. J heats up leftover meatballs and rice from last night and we watch an episode of The Good Place whilst we eat. J’s heading into the office this afternoon so I tidy up, stick the dishwasher on and faff about on reddit before getting back to work at 1. Go straight back into a call with my Line Manager to touch base before he goes on leave – he lets me know he put me forward (and I have been approved) for a bonus for my efforts since joining last year, and the added COVID response. I’m touched and proceed to spend a while mentally spending it. I’m debating between a pair of Louboutin’s and a spin bike…. Slightly different ends of the spectrum I know. Keen to hear any inspiration! It should be around $1000 after tax so reasonably substantial.
1630 – J comes home and attempts to get in, but I appear to have locked him out. I get up, open the door and see that he comes baring this week’s HelloFresh box, which is a relief as I hadn’t seen any delivery emails (we had a few go missing in our apartment block when we started). I have a small break to see how his afternoon has been and reply to some messages with friends about possible Halloween costumes for a small gathering we’re going to. We jokingly consider a group The Office effort, which results in numerous gifs being shared. In a moment of inspiration, J passes me his shirt, tie and blazer to put on… turns out I’m a pretty convincing Sexy Toby. I get changed back into my own clothes and head back to work for a bit.
1930 – J finished work earlier so cooked again. Tonight’s is a HF spicy shrimp pasta. It’s a bit disappointing even with him adding extras from the cupboard. We eat and watch the Umbrella Academy before heading to bed at 11.
Daily total: $0
Day 4 – Tuesday
0730 – alarm goes off, get up, washed, dressed. No interviews today so back to COVID home working uniform of no make-up and trackies. Make a cup of tea and am at my desk for 0830 – in and out of meetings until 10 and spend the rest of the morning trying to catch up on my inbox. J’s headed into the office, so I take the opportunity to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack as I work. Get through the first track before admitting defeat that despite my amazing multitasking skills, I can’t actually sing along and type coherent emails. Settle for the LOTR soundtrack instead.
1215 – make it to lunch and reheat last night’s leftovers (we order HelloFresh for four people for the leftovers, as before we were just ordering in lunch every day). Realise I haven’t physically left the flat for longer than I care to admit, so take my lunch onto the balcony and eat it whilst reading through a money diary on reddit. Remember I have a meeting at 1, so sign back in ten mins before and read through the emails in a vague attempt to sound prepared.
J buys himself and his boss lunch in the office, but his boss will pay him back so $12.17
1900 – long afternoon, managed to start nothing on my actual to-do-list, so feel like I haven’t achieved anything. Yay. J got home half an hour ago (I didn’t lock him out today!) and switched the oven on as he walked past, so I take the opportunity to get up and cook once it’s done preheating. Pork tenderloin with coleslaw and mash tonight. It comes with a cherry jam sauce which I’m not the biggest fan of, so I make it into a fruity gravy. It takes longer to cook than I planned, and I can feel myself getting more and more annoyed with everything from a general mix of feeling stressed and hangry. J sticks toy story 4 on as we eat which doesn’t help my mood (as let’s face it, it’s the worst one). Our friends message asking if we’re watching the debates – J had planned to but had forgotten so quickly changes over to watch it. I have no words.
We make plans to watch the next debate in a group with alcohol, debate bingo and the next day booked off work to recover.
Head to bed at 1120 – still waste time on Facebook despite being shattered.
Daily total: $12.17
Day 5 – Wednesday
0830 – Alarm goes off. I didn’t get to sleep up until 12.30 and J disturbed me at 1.30 when he came to bed so extra sleep was needed. I check my phone, message my stepsister a happy birthday and stick on my dressing gown to make sure I’m online for my 9am meeting. Thankfully, no one has an update, so the meeting is cancelled, and I have time to shower and put clothes on before I properly start work.
1230 – Lunchtime. I have the remaining shrimp pasta and J makes a BBQ chicken sandwich with other leftovers in the fridge and we stick on another episode of The Good Place whilst we eat. We finish up, work for an hour and then drive into the office. J needs to stay in for a while, but I’m only in to sign a cheque so I take the opportunity to walk back home. It’s a glorious sunny day, but with a nice breeze so it’s an enjoyable walk until I’m almost back at the flat and have to walk up a hill and then 5 flights of stairs. It’s a fast reminder of just how unfit I am, and I have to have a quick lie down to recovecool down before getting back to work.
1730 – J and I have plans to meet up with our friends K and J(.2) tonight. In an act of attempting to keep some form of sanity, J and J.2 are heading out to a bar for a “Gentleman’s Club” and I’m heading round to K & J.2’s flat for wine and chick flicks. J gets home from work, kisses me hi and bye and heads straight back out. K’s getting her hair cut, so I continue working until half 6 before walking up to her apartment. I make a pit stop on route to pick up a bottle of white wine as she’s running low. The card machines are down so it’s cash only – I have a mild panic, but thankfully I find some notes in my purse - although I’m pretty sure I withdrew them pre-lockdown! $17
0200 – After a night of homemade mac’n’cheese, wine, films and putting the world to rights, I get ready to head home just as J.2 stumbles back into the flat. It’s lovely to see him, but the state he’s in makes me a bit concerned about what J is going to be like when I get home. Thankfully, when I make it back and he’s already curled up on his own side of the bed, passed out and lightly snoring away. I take off my makeup, do my teeth, get into bed and fall straight asleep.
*I’ve checked the banking app and J spent $50.50 on food and drink. The “club” made their way to our apartment around 9pm and worked their way through our booze which explains the low spend but high drunkenness.
Daily total: $67.50
Day 6 – Thursday
0700 – J’s alarm goes off. He rarely sets alarms and has an amazing ability to sleep though them, so I kick him awake to switch it off. He hits snooze rather than switching it off, so I wake up again 5mins later. Ugh. He actually manages to switch it off the second time.
0830 – My alarm goes off. I’m tired and thirsty, but other than that feeling pretty ok. J is not and I leave him snoozing in bed as I start work. It’s a slow morning (thankfully) and I periodically check on J to see if he’s feeling any better. General consensus is no. The leftovers in the house are not hangover friendly so we put in an order with Panera Bread. $32.25. J has a choose two, but I brought home some mac’n’cheese from last night so just order some crisps and a smoothie to go with it. It takes longer than expected to arrive, but it means a 1230 lunch in front of The Good Place. We finish and go back to work, J heads into the office again.
1400 – I’ve struggled to get back into the swing of things, and as there haven’t been too many emails coming in I take the opportunity to have a break and lie down on the bed (I work flexi hours and have a very high balance so this is done guilt-free). This lie down turns into an hour-long nap and I wake up feeling better, but still while away some time on reddit before deciding to make it back to work at 4.
1920 – J messaged to say he’s on his way back and I’ve already heated the oven, so I finish for the night and start making dinner. Tonight’s HF menu is a creamy lemon butter chicken with courgette and giant couscous. It’s reasonably simple to make, but one of our favourites. I multitask and clean down the kitchen as I go.
2000 – Dinner is eaten, J has made us a cup of tea and we’re settled back into The Good Place. Yesterday was payday into my UK account so I log into the internet banking and transfer to the savings accounts (the bill transfers are set up to auto-transfer on the 1st). $1,170 to J’s savings so he’s now at his FoF goal, $650 to the maternity pot, and $780 to the joint savings. The annual renter’s insurance has also come out of our US checking account today, but that’s counted in the expenses. We both head to bed at 11.
Daily total: $32.25
Day 7 – Friday
0730 – J’s alarm goes off, he’s heading back into the office this morning so it’s valid today and we both actually wake up for it. We both chill on our phones until my alarm goes off at 0830. Up, washed, dressed and on the laptop in time for my 9am meeting. I’m closing off last months accounts and updating forecasts so get stuck into multiple spreadsheets.
1440 – I’d gotten into a good rhythm with the updates, and without J here, I hadn’t realised the time, so I only stop now for lunch. It’s last nights leftovers so couscous and chicken, plus an apple left over from J’s Panera order yesterday. J didn’t take anything in so has stopped by Safeway $14.13 and the work café $9.48. I get the figures from the banking app and realise J has been paid – win. I have an hour break and head back online.
2020 – I’ve been in the swing of things today. It’s a long winded, but simple task so I’ve had Greys Anatomy on in the background as I work. I’d normally have left some of it until Monday, but I have a few urgent requests in today that need the updated figures so it made sense to get it all cleared – it’s also quite therapeutic so feels like a nice way to end the week . J and I have plans to see friends tomorrow, so I don’t feel too bad about not having plans for a Friday night and working for most of it instead. Still, we make the most of it being payday and order in some Steak Frites for dinner and I treat myself to a chocolate cake slice as well. $80.25. We spend the rest of the evening relaxing, finish watching The Good Place (a very emotional finale) and make it into bed for half 11.
Daily total: $103.86
​
Total Expenditure: $543.96
Food & Drink: $257.70
Groceries: $103.25
Clothes/Home: $123.00
Other: $60.01
​
Lastly, reflect on your diary!
This is a pretty average week for us during COVID. We usually go out drinking over every other weekend, but that extra spending would balance out with the home/other expenditure as I try to make sure we spread our spending out. The AMEX balance is a bit higher than the usual weekly amount as J and I both ordered a trunk club a few weeks and kept a few of the clothes but the system errored which delayed us processing our returns (and them billing us). As we’ll looking to buy the car soon, it also feels like a better decision to leave the balance on the card and keep more cash available – I’m not concerned as we’re only just into the new credit statement period and J’s will get an extra pay period this month which will clear it.
Pre-COVID, this is actually lower than our weekly spend, as we also had most of my salary coming into the US account as well and were spending most of it socialising, travelling and just enjoying living in a city. If we had to, we could cut our costs and save a lot more, but we’re here to enjoy ourselves and so long as we can eat and pay the mortgage, we’re happy. We’ve also already reached our total savings goal for our time out here, so anything extra is a bonus.

So you got yourself an XMG Gaming Laptop laptop, huh?

Congratulations! :-)
Follow this handy guide to go through your first steps and some commonly recurring questions. This guide is pretty long and might look frightening on first look, but please note:

• Sometimes it's not a bug, it might be a feature
• Sometimes a thing might be caused by Windows or might be a known issue for a generic hardware components (including NVIDIA Optimus), i.e.: not caused by us
• Some issues covered in this guide are extremely rare, have only been reported once or twice and might be very easy to fix

​
Let's dive right in:
​

I unboxed my XMG Laptop – what are my first steps?

1. If you purchased with Windows.
When building our laptops, we always make sure to install the latest firmware and drivers. If you purchased with Windows, all drivers will already be installed and you can pretty much start working. NVIDIA updates their driver pretty often, so they might already have a new driver out. Open up GeForce Experience, log into your account and see if the app offers any driver updates.
2. If you purchased without operating system.
Your SSD will be empty, but your firmware will be up to date. Even if you purchase without operating system, we will already have updated the latest BIOS and latest Thunderbolt firmware. Now it’s time to install Windows and install our drivers.
If you don’t have your own Windows install media at hand, you can get the latest official version from here:

• Download Windows 10 from microsoft.com

The drivers for your XMG Laptop will be on a USB thumb drive in your shipping box and those drivers will be reasonably up-to-date. Alternatively you can download drivers and firmware for your system from our download portal:

• XMG & SCHENKER download portal on schenker-tech.de

The principle is the same for each model. Download the ZIP files, extract each one of them and install them each by each. Most models have the ZIP files numbered so you know the sequence. In practice, the sequence of the driver install does not really matter. Exceptions: 1) it's generally recommended to install the Chipset driver first and 2) some Audio driver components stack on top of each other, such as Realtek first, Soundblaster or THX second.
​

++ Troubleshooting (all models) +++

The following items might apply to any XMG or SCHENKER model. In fact, they might also apply to laptops from other brands. Further down below, you'll find a section that is more specific to individual models.
​

My Gaming Laptop is pretty loud/hot when playing games

To judge whether or not your system runs at spec, please compare your benchmark values against various press reviews of your CPU, GPU and your laptop itself. If your results are similar to the published numbers, your system is probably working just fine. If they are widely below expectations, please contact us.
If you want to know more about how to tweak your system to run a bit cooler, please check out these threads:

• CPU Undervolting in BIOS Setup for XMG and SCHENKER
• Using a Frame Limiter might de-noise your gaming laptop without losing performance and it's now easier to do than ever before

If you have any additional content suggestions on this topic, please write a PM or start a new thread.
​

My battery life is less than it should be / I have high Idle power consumption / My fans are loud in Idle / my dGPU is not turning off.

Battery life and power consumption are closely interconnected. If your system consumes too much power – even in Idle – your battery life will suffer.
Preliminary: check your CPU usage, sorted by tasks
Your first look should be into Windows Task Manager, tab "Details" and then sort by "CPU" usage. You should know that your CPU has multiple cores and threads. For example, on i7-9750H (6 cores, 12 threads) if one single-thread task is running at 100%, it translates to "only" 8% CPU load in Task Manager (100 divided by 12 = 8.33). 8% might not look like much at first glance. But in reality it's one core that is running at maximum speed, taking almost as much power as if all cores would run at the same time. This is because the CPU would boost a single core to much higher speed than it would boost all cores together.
In other words: CPU usage values in Task Manager can be misleading, especially if some broken or badly programmed software is going rogue on a single thread. Do the math!
So, on a 6 core CPU, if you have any process in Task Manager constantly running at 8%, something is off. Please identify which task it is, and either end it right there it or uninstall the related software altogether.
Another way to check is to separate the Task Manager CPU activity graph into logical cores. Check these two screenshots:

• Right click to change to Logical Cores
• Looking at the graph in Logical Cores

In my example you can see one core in the middle was almost maxed out for a short amount of time. Thanks to the nature of Turbo Boost, this core would induce a boosted clock speed, leading to almost maxed-out power consumption and high temperatures. This is not always immediately visible because most programs would keep jumping from core to core, so you always see individual spikes to 100% on single core. You can try this yourself by using Prime95 and running it on only 1 thread.
All systems nominal? CPU is nice and idle? Check the dGPU status.
If you don't have any rogue tasks clogging up you CPU but your Idle power consumption is still off the charts, it might be because your NVIDIA GPU (dedicated GPU, dGPU) is not turning itself off.
Under the system of NVIDIA Optimus (MSHybrid), all common Windows apps are run on the Intel UHD Graphics (integrated GPU, iGPU) by default and the dedicated GPU (dGPU) should turn itself off when it is not needed. This removes the dGPU from the power source but it also saves power on the CPU side, because the CPU can turn off the PCI-Express x16 dGPU connection and thus achieve lower sleep states in each CPU cycle. This system can be disturbed in a number of ways, leading to higher power consumption which in turn leads to lower battey life.
1. Check which system monitoring tools you are running in the background
Some system monitoring software intentionally wakes up the dGPU. Keeping such software running in the background will inevitably lead to higher power consumption. We will keep a list of tools here which do and which do not keep the dGPU awake.

Does not keep the dGPU awake	Keeps the dGPU awake
CoreTemp	AIDA64 (only when “Sensor” pane is open)
HWiNFO64	ASUS GPU Tweak II
Intel Extreme Tuning Utility	CPUID HWMonitor
NVIDIA Control Panel	MSI Afterburner
Speccy	NVIDIA GeForce Experience
TechPowerUp Real Temp	NVIDIA Inspector
ThrottleStop	NZXT CAM
Windows Task Manager	Open Hardware Monitor
	TechPowerUp GPU-Z
	XMG Control Center (only when “System Monitor” pane is open)

Please check if any of the programs on the right side of the table is running in the background on your machine. If they are, please remove them from Startup in the Task Manager.
Some of the programs on the left side of the table might wake up the dGPU once for a few seconds during initialization. But according to our testing, they won’t keep the dGPU awake during normal operation.
If you want to see, whether or not your dGPU is awake or not, the best bet is to use the “Sensors” function in HWiNFO64 and keep an eye on the GPU Temperature of your NVIDIA GeForce card. If the temperature reads 0°C, the dGPU is sleeping. With a right click on the Temperature value, you can even set up an alarm in form of a sound file, notification popup or logfile entry if the temperature reaches a value ≥ 1.
2. If external monitor is connected, dGPU will be awake.
Both HDMI and USB-C/DisplayPort/Thunderbolt are connected directly to the NVIDIA GeForce card. This dedicated connection gives the XMG FUSION 15 the power to drive very high resolutions, refresh rates and to support G-SYNC and FreeSync on external screens. The trade-off: the dGPU will always be awake as soon as an external monitor is connected. Rendering can still happen on the iGPU (Intel UHD Graphics) - but the dGPU will always be "awake" to deliver the pixels to the screen.
3. The choice of running apps on iGPU vs. dGPU has to be done in Windows Graphics settings now.
Microsoft is taking over the NVIDIA Optimus (MSHybrid) control from NVIDIA. On latest Windows builds and NVIDIA drivers, the NVIDIA driver now shoes a very small warning notification:

Windows OS now manages selection of the graphics processor. Open Windows graphics settings

If you notice that certain apps wake up the dGPU, please see if you can assign them to the internal graphics in this new Windows setting dialogue. Please note that the aforementioned benchmark and system monitoring apps apps will override/ignore this setting anyway. But it should work fine for most if not all productivity apps and games.
4. Every app is running on dGPU as soon as external monitor is connected? No.
NVIDIA’s Control Center has a hidden function called “NVIDIA GPU Activity” which supposedly shows which app is being rendered on the dGPU. You can find it by enabling "Display GPU Activity Monitor Icon in Notification Area".
Unfortunately, this function is not accurate when using an external monitor. As soon as you have an external monitor connected, the notification window shows every newly launched app as if it’s being rendered on the dGPU, even though it is not. This has been confirmed by our NVIDIA contacts to be a general issue that affects all laptops with NVIDIA Optimus (MSHybrid) of every brand.
It does not look as if NVIDIA has any plans to resolve this issue. Therefor, the “NVIDIA GPU Activity” will continue to show inaccurate information and should rather not be used at all.
5. dGPU does not go back to sleep after disconnecting external screen while browser is open
If you launch your browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) while you are connected to an external screen, the browser’s hardware acceleration will use the dGPU. This happens despite the fact that you are forcing that app to run on Integrated Graphics. If the browser keeps running after you connect the external screen, it will keep the dGPU awake.
Even sending the laptop to Standby and waking it up again won’t change that fact. The dGPU will only go back to sleep after you close the specific app that triggered this behaviour.
This seems to affect every laptop with NVIDIA Optimus (MSHybrid) – not only XMG laptops.
We have filed a report with NVIDIA and we are awaiting their feedback.
Here is a short list of apps that are affected and not affected by this issue:

Affected	Not affected (Control Group)
Google Chrome	Microsoft Word
Mozilla Firefox	notepad.exe
Microsoft Edge

This might also affect other apps if they are secretly using the dGPU for Hardware Acceleration. But so far, the 3 major browsers are the only apps we have confirmed to trigger this behaviour.
According to what we heard, NVIDIA does not seem to have any plans to fix this issue on a fundamental basis.
Workaround #1: Restart your Browser
Close your browser and launch it again after disconnecting from the external screen.
Workaround #2: Disable Hardware Acceleration in Browser
You can find this in the Settings menu of your Browser.

• Mozilla Firefox: see screenshot
• Google Chrome: see screenshot

Workaround #3: Disable and re-enable the dGPU instead of closing your Webbrowser
Download here: dGpuCycle Script.zip
Written by Notebookcheck user ‘Stepon’ (source). You can open the script with Notepad to read the source code.
After disconnecting the external screen, run this Batch Script with Admin privileges. The script will disable and re-enable the dGPU in Device Manager. During that moment, your browser will drop the Hardware Acceleration from dGPU and go back to iGPU. Chrome will flicker for a fraction of a second. If you play any videos on your browser while running the script, you might have to restart playback by jumping to a different point in the video timeline.
With some programming skills can be further automated to always run in the background.
6. Same as above, but for most if not all apps that use a browser engine underneath.
The browser hardware acceleration issue applies to apps that are using a browser engine to create their GUI. If you launch such an app while you're connected to an external monitor, they will use the dGPU for hardware acceleration and won't let go of it until you either close the app or manually disable the dGPU. The most popular such apps are:

• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Visual Code
• Slack
• Discord
• Spotify

The most widespread framework for such apps is Electron, but it's not limited to that. For example, Spotify uses a different implementation, based on Chromium browser engine.
We are not aware of any way to disable hardware acceleration on these apps. Disabling hardware acceleration in your browser won't affect those apps. The only workarounds are:

• Start the apps before you connect your external screen
• Restart the apps after you connect your external screen
• Disable and re-enable the dGPU with the above dGpuCycle script

As with other root causes in this section, this seems to apply to every laptop with NVIDIA Optimus. We have asked NVIDIA to comment in April 2020.
7. Outdated Killer Wi-Fi driver increasing power consumption.
We had a report where an outdated Killer Wi-Fi suite caused high background CPU load. If you are using a Rivet Networks Killer Wi-Fi module, please download and install the latest drivers here.
8. Missing NVIDIA USB-C and Audio drivers keep the dGPU awake?
We have a report from a user who made a custom install of NVIDIA drivers and unselected the NVIDIA USB-C and Audio drivers because he thought we won't need them. In this case, not having those drivers will cause the main driver to not shutdown the dGPU when searching for those two drivers. We were not able to reproduce it but we'll leave it in this guide for future reference. Solution: reinstall NVIDIA drivers and include every driver, even the optional ones.
9. Outdated Windows and firmware?
If you haven’t already, make sure you are running the latest Windows updates and the latest BIOS. Some major Windows milestones (also called “Redstone” updated) need to be triggered manually by opening Windows Updates, then “Checking for updates”. Under “Optional updates”, there might be a “Feature update” which you can initiate with “Download and install now” (screenshot).
10. Third party PCIe/NVMe SSD preventing CPU from sleeping?
We had recently a few reports on budget SSDs from smaller brands preventing the CPU from reaching C8 sleep states, severely cutting battery life. If you upgrades your SSD yourself with a model that is not listed in our online shop, please consider to swap it out, re-install Windows from scratch and try again. If you found your SSD to be the culprit, please share the product name with us.
11. Corsair iCue Software causes +10W power consumption?
We have seen this report from multiple users. This one was the first:

I spent a week trying to figure out why the processor on my Fusion 15 was consuming so much power when idle (around 10W!). My battery life was absolutely abysmal at about 2.5 hours on a full charge. I thought I had ruled out the iCue software because I closed the app completely, but it turns out only a complete uninstall will allow everything to return to normal so it must have been the mouse driver itself rather than the iCue software.

Source
We haven't checked it ourselves but any kind of hardware-related 3rd party software could potentially cause power saving issues on any system.
12. Epic Games Launcher running on dGPU
First reported here]. Solution is in the top reply to that thread.
13. Paint 3D causes the dGPU to stay 'ON' by running in the Background, even after Reboot
This seems to be a real issue based on a bug from Microsoft. Check this thread for details.
14. Other reason? Cannot reach CPU Package C8 Residency? Please take part in our survey
Please read this post for an introduction into CPU Package C8 Residency states. The post includes a link to a survey to collect analytical data from users who just can't get their power consumption down despite already having implemented all prior suggestions.
15. Dig deeper? Check out this amazing in-depth guide about Windows power saving optimization and C-States.
Written by user Che0063 on Notebookreview in 2018 and constantly updated into 2020, this guide is a deep dive into all things C-States.

• [Guide] Improving Battery Life on Windows [+Enabling Deeper C States]

You can find a PDF copy (pulled on 2020/05/26) of this guide here.

Random short spikes in lag and stutter

Intel Driver and Support Assistant (DSA) is acting up, causing CPU spikes up to 40% every 1-5 minutes.
Taken from this post:

Intel Driver and Support Assistant (DSA) is acting up, causing CPU spikes up to 40% every 1-5 minutes. See this picture of task manager cumulative CPU time. Funny you already mentioned that it stopped working, as I experienced the same thing.
Solution (TL;DR):
Uninstall Intel DSA for now. You can do this via the windows Apps and Programs, or if it fails for any reason, download the official Uninstaller from the intel website.
[...]

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My laptop randomly wakes up from Standby.

1. Firmware solution for Wake-up 3 hours after entering Sleep/Standby. (XMG FUSION 15 only)
There was an issue with the NVIDIA USB-C driver which caused the laptop to wake up exactly 3 hours after entering Standby. The laptop was trying to transition into Hibernate (Suspend to Disk) but failed to do so. This issue is resolved in BIOS 0062 and beyond.
2. Disable Wake timers (applies to any PC and Laptop)
Depending on your Windows configuration, there might be certain task schedules (including Windows Updates) which prompt the laptop to wake-up from Sleep or Hibernate. To check on these issues, please read this article. The most common solution is to disable the “Allow wake timers” option for both “plugged in” and “on-battery”. Please note: this setting depends on each power profile and your laptop has three of them: Silent, Balanced, Enthusiast. Please switch to each of these profiles and modify “Allow wake timer” in the Advanced settings in Windows power options for each one of these.
3. Check the Wake-up cause
There is a simple command that will tell you the reason why your laptop woke up for the last time. Usually this is something like "Power Button" or "Lid Opening", but in your case it might point to a different driver or Windows component. Find "Command Prompt" in Start Menu and type:

powercfg -lastwake 

This command does not need Admin right. Please copy it by marking the output text and pressing Enter. The marked text from the Command Prompt windows is now in your clipboard and can be pasted into a text file or message box. Alternatively you can take a picture and report back to us.
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My laptop needs a long time to boot up.

Cold Boot and Wake-up from Hibernate should not take much more than 12 seconds between pressing the power button and seeing the login screen wallpaper. If your laptop takes much longer, please consider the following options.
1. Enable “Fast Boot”.
Enabling “Fast Boot” in BIOS is a requirement to use Microsoft’s “Hybrid Boot” technology which saves a lot of time on Cold Boot. Before shipping, we always enable “Fast Boot” in all XMG laptops – but it might get disabled by user operation. On some models, it might also get disabled during BIOS Reset. To make sure, you have “Fast Boot” enabled, follow these steps:

• Reboot and enter BIOS Setup [F2]
• Open [Boot] menu and enter [Boot Priority]
• Find [Fast Boot] and set it to [Enabled]
• Back in [Exit] category, select [Save Changes and Exit], Reboot

(the location of the "Fast Boot" option might be slightly, depending on your model)
2. Flash firmware again
You can clearly seperate the boot process between BIOS time and Windows time. Everything that happens before you see the XMG boot logo is BIOS time. On XMG FUSION 15, it usually takes about 7 seconds between pressing the power button and seeing the XMG boot logo for the first time. If this time period is much, much longer in your case, the root cause might be in hardware or firmware.
One potential solution was found in this post. This user already had a system with Thunderbolt Firmware NVM v56. But based on a hunch, he just tried to update the same firmware again and it instantly fixed his long BIOS time.
It makes kind of sense. VBIOS, Thunderbolt... those are large, complex and kind of external components that are initialized in the very early steps of the the BIOS. If anything is stalling there, you won't see the boot logo because the BIOS hasn't even attempted yet to start talking to the SSD.
Rule of thumb: if you have long BIOS time before you see the XMG logo, please consider to flash the BIOS and the Thunderbolt Firmware again.
Now, let's look at various Windows-based causes:
3. Clean up TEMP folders
Taken from this post.

Found out, during each boot Windows (namely it's ProfSvc service) takes everything you have in users/yourprofile folder and writes over those files. I suspect it's changing some meta data in the files. Probably edditing read/write premissions. But it goes one by one. And logon process waits for it to finish. As long as your computer is relatively clean, this operation takes a second or two. But when Visual Studio update "forgets" 160 000 files in your AppData/Temp folder, it results in 35 secs of profile loading during boot. All I needed was to empty the Temp folder and the bootups are back in normal!

You can either clean the Temp folders manually or use a software like CCleaner. Please beware, we would only recommend CCleaner to clean temp files, but don't clean the Windows Registry. It's usually safe to do but it can sometimes lead to false positive situations and side-effects.
4. Riot Games 'Vanguard' might block one of our drivers
If you have game titles from Riot Games installed, the software 'Vanguard' might be blocking the 'inpoutx64.sys' driver on some of our systems. This driver is related to the Control Center. We have heard of one single case where the presence of Vanguard lead to a significantly increased boot-time. In other cases however, it had no effect despite getting the 'Vanguard has blocked' message in Windows.
We will share this information with our ODM to see if our signed inpoutx64.sys/dll can be whitelisted. Meanwhile, please consider disabling or uninstalling Vanguard to see if it improves your boot time.
5. Consider a clean reinstall
It might be inconvenient, but if you have any boot times that are wildly longer than above reference data, please consider a clean Windows installation. 'Clean' means deleting the system partitions on your SSD in the first step of the installation procedure. Before you do this, you should backup all important data on external storage.
6. Other causes.
If your system still takes a long time to even display the XMG boot logo or to boot into the Login prompt, there might be another issue at hand. Please make sure to update your BIOS, load setup defaults, enable “Fast Boot” again and make sure that your Windows and drivers are up to date. Please also consider to follow the generic advice in this article.
There is currently no other known systematic issue that prevents our laptops from doing a fast boot or fast wake-up. If you cannot resolve the issue on your machine, please consider to backup your data and do a clean Windows re-install.
7. Discussion
For XMG FUSION 15 we have opened a dedicated tread about expected boot times after a clean install. Please move all relevant discussion to this thread:

• Boot and Standby times on XMG FUSION 15

Thank you!
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My microphone does not sound right

^{(I might be using Discord})
First, please make sure you increased the microphone gain to 100% and added the +20dB boost.

• Find "Sound settings" in Start menu
• Scroll down and click on "Sound Control Panel"
• Select "Recording" tab and double-click your microphone
• Select "Levels" tab and put everything to maximum (screenshot)

Now, some apps including Discord put additional processing on the microphone, including echo and noise cancellation. This can have a negative effect on microphone audio quality. Please see if you can disable all such options from your chat application and from the Realtek Control Panel.
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I have random bluescreens / random visual artifacts / flickering / or other random issues / might be memory-related

Bluescreens and other randomly occurring issues can have a number of reasons. Sometimes, the error message or driver reference can already point at a root cause. If there are too many possible root causes, here are some generic tips.

• If you have Undervolting in BIOS, disable it (set it to Zero)
• Update your BIOS
• Reset your BIOS (Load Defaults)
• Make sure you have all drivers installed correctly (at least no yellow exclamation marks in Device Manager)
• Make sure you are not running any 3rd party system software or drivers
• Consider to do a clean Reinstall of Windows
• Test your RAM with MemTest86, booted from USB

How to use MemTest86 to test my RAM
Follow these steps:

• Download MemTest 86 Free from here (you do not need to purchase the Pro version)
• This will download a file called "memtest86-usb.zip". Extract it to a new sub-folder
• Plug-in your USB stick. Make sure there is no important data. The next steps will delete all data on your USB stick.
• In the new folder, run imageUSB.exe and confirm the Admin prompt
• You will be greeted with this interface. Confirm the Drive Letter of your empty USB Stick
• Click the "Write" button and read and confirm all prompts
• With the USB stick successfully prepared, reboot your laptop and enter BIOS Setup (F2)
• Make sure your laptop charging cable is plugged-in and connected to external power
• Find and disable "Secure Boot" and "Fast Boot". Those are the only options you need to change. Enabling CSM or Legacy Mode is not required for this version of MemTest
• Save & Exit from your BIOS setup. During the reboot hold F10 (XMG FUSION 15) or F7 (all other laptops) to enter the Boot Media Selection prompt
• Select your USB drive from the Boot Media menu
• MemTest86 will start automatically and look like this. If any errors are detected, take a picture of the screen and contact support
• If you complete the first pass (Pass: 1 / 4) without any errors, there is a good chance that you won't see any additional errors and you can cancel the test and reboot with Ctrl+Alt+Del. When in doubt, you can also run it overnight with multiple passes. On a typical gaming laptop, running MemTest86 will constantly pull about 100W out of the wall socket
• When you finish your tests, go back to BIOS Setup to undo earlier changes or just Load Defaults to reset everything

PRO TIP: If you have MemTest86 errors, you can try to open your laptop and test both memory modules individually. Remove one module and run the test again. If the errors only show on one of the modules, try the same module again in the other (empty) RAM slot. If the module shown errors when run individually in both of the RAM slots, it might be indeed faulty.
If the RAM modules are actually not faulty, it can sometimes also help to just remove and replace (reseat) them. Sometimes, if they are not properly connected, they might also prompt random errors including iGPU graphics artifacts.
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+++ Troubleshooting XMG FUSION 15 (2019) +++

The following items apply only to XMG FUSION 15. Please check first if your issue is covered under the general section above. The latest BIOS and Control Center update can be found in this thread.
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My speaker sound is underwhelming / I cannot get Soundblaster Connect running.

Sound Blaster Connect is an important app to improve the experience of the audio system. It can increase volume (SmartVol) and Bass of the speakers.
1. Reinstall Audio drivers in the proper sequence
Normally, when all pre-requisites are met, Soundblaster Connect should install automatically from Windows. You can then find it with a simple search for “Sound Blaster” in the Windows Start menu. If Sound Blaster Connect is no where to be found or if it only shows an empty screen, please follow the sequence precisely:

• No prior steps necessary – you do not need to uninstall prior packages
• Please download the Audio drivers again from our download portal
• You only need the file “AudioDriver_Package_3-in-1“
• Extract the ZIP Archive
• Install Audio-with-SST and reboot Windows (!)
• Install Soundblaster-EQ
• Install Soundblaster-Creative_Audio_Effects

If you are connected to the Internet, the system will now automatically install "Sound Blaster Connect" from Microsoft Store. This might take a few minutes or more. When in doubt, reboot once more after the Soundblaster-Creative_Audio_Effects.
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My CPU shows high activity in idle while having devices connected to USB-C port.

We are currently tracking an issue where users have reported >10% CPU usage in Idle while having certain devices connected to the USB-C port.
Current Workaround: Disable Automatic Sleep on Thunderbolt controller
Device Manager > System devices > Thunderbolt Controller > Power Management > Disable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
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I’m unable to turn off my keyboard backlight during boot.

Normally, if you disable the keyboard backlight in Control Center using the slider switch, it should also be disabled during Reboot, Cold Boot etc. We had one report of a rare issue where this settings was not applied to firmware anymore. If you encounter this issue, please click the “Restore” button in Control Center to reset all you Keyboard Backlight settings. Then, try again to disable the Keyboard Backlight and reboot.
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My keyboard backlight is not turning on anymore.

We had a few reports of keyboard backlight not being able to turn on anymore. If you encounter this issue, please reset your BIOS settings.

• Reboot and enter BIOS Setup [F2]
• Open [Exit] menu; select and confirm [Restore Defaults] but do not reboot yet
• Open [Boot] menu and enter [Boot Priority]
• Find [Fast Boot] and set it to [Enabled]
• Back in [Exit] category, select [Save Changes and Exit], Reboot

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I cannot access my BIOS Setup (F2) anymore.

This is another very rare issue that was only reported once so far. If you cannot access your BIOS Setup, you cannot do a BIOS Reset anymore.
Solution: Remove CMOS Jumper from Mainboard and Reboot
The mainboard of XMG FUSION 15 has a jumper to control the BIOS Reset. In order to reach this jumper, you will need to remove the bottom case of the laptop. This is as easy as removing the 10 screws on the bottom side and then simply lifting the bottom cover away from the laptop.
The jumper is located next to the WiFi module

• Picture 1: Top View
• Picture 2: Side View

If the jumper is removed, the laptop will show a special menu after on boot which will allow you to reset the BIOS Settings to Default.

• Picture of Reset & Recovery Menu

After having done this Reset, please place the jumper again it it's original position, connecting pins "1" and "2" as seen in the "Top View" picture linked above.
Now, please see if you can now get back into BIOS Setup with the F2 key during boot.
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My external USB mouse sometimes stops moving.

We have some reports from USB gaming mouse with ≥1000Hz polling rate that sometimes stop working when used together with USB hubs, both on USB-A and USB-C (Thunderbolt).
Please install the latest official drivers from your mouse vendor and see if you can reduce the polling rate to 500Hz to see if it makes any difference.
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My system consumes about 1~2% battery in Standby/Sleep mode

This is normal and also affects both XMG FUSION and XMG NEO series with opto-mechanical keyboard. Reason: the keyboard consumes slightly over 1W even in standby, because it is still firing up the Infrared barriers for every individual switch. This is to make sure that the keyboard can wake the system from standby. This translates to a power consumption (witch charger, measured at wall socket) of up to 1.8W in Standby if the battery is already fully charged. Due to a hardware design constraint, the power of the keyboard switches cannot be turned off, unless the system is sent to Hibernate (S4) or Shutdown (S5).
Workaround: use Hibernate. By default, Standby automatically transitions into Hibernate after 180 minutes. You can shorten this timespan in the Advanced Power Options in Windows (Screenshot). You have to do this for each of the Performance Profiles that you use (Silent, Balanced, Enthusiast). Before that, you have to enable Hibernate in this menu.
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I would like to improve my DPC Latencies.

For guaranteed low DPC latencies, please check out our SCHENKER Audio Editions. For all other models, we're going to collect a number of tips here over time.

• Please check BIOS 0114 and Control Center 2.2.0.15 to see if it improves your results
• Uninstall NVIDIA GameReady driver and switch to NVIDIA Studio driver
  • Go to geforce.com/drivers
  • Select Studio Driver as seen in this screenshot
• Uninstall Sound Blaster and other 3rd party audio apps
• Uninstall any 3rd party app that is deeply webbed into the system, including: system monitoring and tuning, anti-virus, firewalls, copy protection and anti-cheat etc.
• Follow the tips on this website: Sweetwater Audio: PC Optimization Guide for Windows 10
  • Especially those about Power & Disk Optimization
• to be continued

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I have issues with USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 adapters on XMG FUSION 15

XMG FUSION 15 (2019, XFU15L19) had a bit of a shaky history with some USB-C adapters and Thunderbolt Docking Stations. It seems like the most serious issues have been ironed out with BIOS 0064 and Thunderbolt Firmware-Update NVM v56. If you plan to use USB-C port and you purchased your laptop before May 2020, please make sure to update your firmware as explained in this thread:

• Thunderbolt 3 Update for XMG FUSION 15

If you are still not sure which USB-C peripherals to buy, please check out our list of validated products in this thread:

• Validated USB-C Peripherals for XMG FUSION 15

Thank you!
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That's all, folks.

For more FAQ on XMG, SCHENKER and Bestware, please check our FAQ Page: https://bestware.com/faqs/
// Tom