Ask Paul: December 20 (Premium)

With Christmas right around the corner, things are starting to wind down here. But first, a final Ask Paul before the holidays.
Thunderbolt 3 eGPU
vernonlvincent asks:

Maybe I missed it, but have you had a chance to test a Thunderbolt 3 EGPU with your NUC or comparable device?

No, I still haven’t done this, sorry. Part of it is just that my whole Thunderbolt 3/USB-C dock situation has never been as seamless as I’d wanted, and I feel kind of let down by that. I had hoped to arrive at a point where I could swap the PC out and just have that one-cable experience. The other piece is that I want to spend more time gaming on PCs and writing about that, and I do actually have some reasonable gaming-class laptops. So thee issue combined with the lack of need has led to procrastination.

That said, I still would like to do this and still intend to.
The Mandalorian, take 2
SeattleMike asks:

I know you weren't super enthused about the early episodes of The Mandalorian but has your opinion changed? Also, what are your thoughts on the release of The Rise of Skywalker? And what are your thoughts about the future of the Star Wars franchise with all of the spin-offs and new trilogies DIsney is working on?

It’s gotten a little better, and obviously the addition of “baby Yoda” makes it more enjoyable. But I just feel like it’s too slow-moving, usually, and meandering, and that a lead character you never even get to see is not particularly compelling. And there are way too many insider references to the movies, which I’d like as a fan if it weren’t for the fact that they’re so heavy-handed. (Example: They have an entire galaxy/universe to play with … and they end up on Tatooine somehow? That’s dumb.) It just plays like they’re checking off every single reference they can.

Look, it’s Star Wars. So I’m interested and watching. And I hope they make more TV series. This one is a bit dry.

I haven’t seen Rise of Skywalker yet, but I’ve been immersing myself in spoilers to find out what the story is. (I realize some go in the opposite direction.) I wish the novelization was out first, but it won’t come out until March. Overall, given the constraints of what happened in the previous film, there are some real dead-ends to figure out. But it seems like they’ve done an OK job with it. I feel like it’s time to wind down this big story and go in new directions. But I’m looking forward to seeing it.

I’m all for more Star Wars content of whatever kind. I know there’s an Obi-Wan series in the works, for example. Bring it on.
Accessing a NAS from Windows 10
kevinbouwman asks:

I asked you a number of weeks ago about an issue with getting my Microsoft Account credentialed laptop to work with peer-to-peer network file shares. This is just a vocabulary update. To restate my question using more precise language, "I have an Azure AD joined laptop where I am trying, unsuccessfully, to access folder shares o...