Evil consumer notions

D

DArtagnan

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I'm having cruel urges…. I want to buy something toyish, like a true consumer.

At this point, my choices are:

1. Xbox One

I'm actually pretty intrigued with the Kinect advances - and I like to have access to as many games as possible. Unfortunately, no launch titles engage me and I don't think there will be anything significant for a few months. So, it would be a very expensive toy at best.

2. Steelseries 9H headset

Supposedly, it's finally a headset with proper surround sound and just a very high quality headset overall. I already have a fine headset that serves most of my purposes - but I don't consider surround sound feasible in my "office" - so it would be a nice alternative.

3. iPad Mini Retina

Now, I already own the original iPad Mini. But I've been extremely impressed with it - and it's shameful to admit it. It's just a very impressive piece of technology and I'm amazed it never runs hot. The Retina sounds like a much faster version with a better screen - and I intend to jailbreak it so I can test a bunch of the interesting stuff. One thing I'm very keen on trying is one of the DOS emulators out there. Anyone with experience on that?

—-

Anyway, those are my three choices - and I don't really need any of them. I'm leaning towards the Retina, because it won't break my budget - and I'll probably get more use out of it than a headset or a new console without strong launch titles. But… I already have a perfectly fine iPad Mini already.

Any suggestions - and reasoning behind them? ;)
 
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I grabbed the iPad Air, and sold off my Mini ... the difference in speed and the screen is simply stunning (I had the iPad 3 before, but went a year without a Retina screen). What has impressed me is the size and weight - after a year with the Mini I expected the Air to feel heavy, but it doesn't. The Mini is supposedly underclocked from the Air with some screen issues on early devices ...

I similarly look at the XBone and have interest in seeing what it is like but no interest in the games as of now ... and right now there will be a rush, and in a few months there will be sales and bundles.

A good headset is one of those things I like but never get terribly excited about.

So my choice is the iPad ... and chances are you can sell off your mini and recoup most of the cost (I sold mine for $290 ... which came down to $0.50 a week for my usage of 53 weeks!)
 
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Thanks for the input :)

Hmm, I've been considering the Air - but I'm very happy with the size of the Mini. I don't have big hands - and I don't enjoy holding heavier tablets for extended periods of time.

Also, it's a bit more expensive - and I don't really see much use for the larger screen. I mostly surf and read on it - and the smaller size is practical for that.
 
Thanks for the input :)

Hmm, I've been considering the Air - but I'm very happy with the size of the Mini. I don't have big hands - and I don't enjoy holding heavier tablets for extended periods of time.

Also, it's a bit more expensive - and I don't really see much use for the larger screen. I mostly surf and read on it - and the smaller size is practical for that.

Totally agree - and by your use-case the Mini is absolutely perfect. For me, as I've mentioned, I use the Air as my 95% computer. While I do most of my gaming on PC and Mac ... the Air handles an amazing amount of stuff for me.

There are a couple of things - syncing my Garmin for tracking my running workouts, adding CDs to iTunes when I get them for review, and one financial site - that I need to do on the laptop.

Interesting aside - I would say that gaming is the area that has advanced LEAST on the iPad in the 3.5 years since introduction. For my music, I can now record 64 tracks of mixed MIDI and audio music streams with multiple synths and effects simultaneously applied and synced to external sources and controllers with a quality of output that would rival pro studios of just a decade ago. But games ... we're still having the same dscussion again and again ...
 
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Yeah, let's not get into the whole gaming thing again, please ;)

I have no doubt a lot of things have happened on tablets that I'm not aware of.

They just happen to be ideal for a few things that I enjoy doing, like reading and surfing - and watching the occasional movie/show while I'm in bed.

I do game on rare occasions - and I intend to bring it along when I go on vacation and stuff. But it's not really my primary intent with the device.

But there's no getting around the fact that Apple knows how to produce beautiful things - even if I still think they're overpriced. That's because I'm really not into design much - and I take care of my gadgets, so I don't need them quite so solid.

Do you have any experience with jailbreaking and that DOS emulator?
 
Do you have any experience with jailbreaking and that DOS emulator?

No experience at all - but I would definitely check into it .. because if I recall there isn't an iOS 7 jailbreak yet.
 
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No experience at all - but I would definitely check into it .. because if I recall there isn't an iOS 7 jailbreak yet.

I'm not really big into jailbreaking - but if I could get DOS games to run on my tablet - that could potentially be a big deal. That said, I doubt the interface would work well :)
 
I'm not really big into jailbreaking - but if I could get DOS games to run on my tablet - that could potentially be a big deal. That said, I doubt the interface would work well :)

I think that is pretty much a given :) Honestly if I wanted to root a tablet I'd grab a Nexus 7 and use that for rooting and installing random crap. Not willing to do it with my Kindle Fire HDX, though ... and certainly not my iPad.
 
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I think that is pretty much a given :) Honestly if I wanted to root a tablet I'd grab a Nexus 7 and use that for rooting and installing random crap. Not willing to do it with my Kindle Fire HDX, though … and certainly not my iPad.

It's supposedly very easy to reverse the process on the iPad.

I was considering the Nexus 7 - but it seems the power of the Retina Mini is significantly higher.
 
Well if you go for the audio gear (and I am always pro better audio gear)Take a look at the Sennheisers (I love mine).

No true positioning of course, but a very wide and immersive soundfield and excellent quality and audio reproduction all around. No headset though and also they are open back (no isolation but that design is what gives them that wide soundstage). Excellent for music and very good for games and movies on my old trusty Audigy2 (I mostly use them for music with the mp3 player these days as I prefer to game and listen to Music on the edifiers on the PC)
 
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Well if you go for the audio gear (and I am always pro better audio gear)Take a look at the Sennheisers (I love mine).

No true positioning of course, but a very wide and immersive soundfield and excellent quality and audio reproduction all around. No headset though and also they are open back (no isolation but that design is what gives them that wide soundstage). Excellent for music and very good for games and movies on my old trusty Audigy2 (I mostly use them for music with the mp3 player these days as I prefer to game and listen to Music on the edifiers on the PC)

Thanks for the suggestion, but I really need it to be a headset - as I play online with friends too often.

I've been going back and forth on what to get, and I can't really decide. I feel reason approaching, which is really boring and it tends to happen once I hold off buying gadget crap for too long.

Woe is me!
 
I use this and its pretty good. Its very comfortable on the ears (issue I had with previous ones). I can easily use it for 3 - 4 hours without my ears getting tired or warm.

The nose cancelling microphone is pretty good as well. Other people don't hear my wife having a go at me for playing too long! Its downside is that it won't block outside noises completely, hence I can hear my wife having a go at me for playing too long! And I doesn't do surround.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-...qid=1384945422&sr=8-1&keywords=sennheiser+360
 
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I ended up ordering the headset and now I've gone and bought myself a Google Nexus 7.

So far, I'm not too impressed with it. Best part about it is that I don't have to jailbreak anything to play DOS games and ScummVM games. It's a powerful little thing, but I don't think it does anything that my iPad Mini can't do - and it was a nightmare getting it to stream properly, though some of that is probably the crappy software available. I checked out an iPad Mini Retina in a shop - and the reason I didn't get one is that I found the resolution doesn't do that much for me.

It's funny, because people are going on and on about the Retina screen - but I think the 1024x768 resolution of my mini is MORE than adequate for everything I do. The screen is so small. Maybe it's because I used to play CGA/EGA/VGA games on a large monitor :)

Obviously, the new mini is more powerful - but I don't have a use for that power, so I figured I'd try out an Android tablet.

I don't regret it - not yet anyway, but I was hoping for more.
 
I am really not surprised - and it really mirrors my experience.

I honestly like the Kindle Fire HDX better, but I have a decent investment in the Amazon ecosystem so it makes sense. It also has the best sound of any tablet I have every used (well, the original HD was louder).

I think the misunderstanding is that people assume because Android is a good smartphone OS that it should work on tablets - it never has, and it is still crap, just less crappy than before. Also, the app food chain hits Android tablets last, as is very evident from the low quality and last-to-update status.
 
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I am really not surprised - and it really mirrors my experience.

I honestly like the Kindle Fire HDX better, but I have a decent investment in the Amazon ecosystem so it makes sense. It also has the best sound of any tablet I have every used (well, the original HD was louder).

I think the misunderstanding is that people assume because Android is a good smartphone OS that it should work on tablets - it never has, and it is still crap, just less crappy than before. Also, the app food chain hits Android tablets last, as is very evident from the low quality and last-to-update status.

I don't really assume much - and I think it's fine as a tablet system. It's not as idiot-proof as iOS - but I would never expect that. It feels much more open - and I appreciate the ability to run emulators on it without issue.

But it's not doing enough of its own thing to really make an impression.
 
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