The "New Toys" Thread

I never really liked the Chromecast approach to things. Sure it's cheap, but I prefer having a device with an actual UI. I use an Apple TV which works very nicely, except for the remote which clearly is designed for form over function.

It didn't used to have Amazon Prime, though... so when TGT came out last week and I subscribed to Amazon again I installed it on my iPad and went through all the hoops of logging in and verifying with a one-time code etc. Then I turned the TV on and got welcomed by a message telling me Amazon Prime is on Apple TV now. Thanks. :lol:
 
Had 1k€ burning a hole in my pocket, so I got a few things while they were on a discount.

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It's damn impressive, more than I expected even. I've got a few issues with my IPD (70mm max on the rift, but my eyes are 73mm apart), so it makes me want to adjust the headset all the time. Rift's fresnel lenses are not ideal, making a ton of ghosting on contrasty images. I wonder if anyone has tried improving the optics...

Also it strains my GTX960 quite a bit. And I want to play Lone Echo on max, and Assetto Corsa at a stable 90fps so I don't get nauseous :p So I ordered new GPU as well.

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The next bottleneck might be a CPU, as I'm still on Ivy Bridge generation.
 
My gen1 Razer Diamondback turned 11 years old. Still works like new, mind you, but the materials on the buttons and scroll wheel are starting to wear pretty badly and it looks disgusting.

So I got this for Christmas:

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ROG Gladius II. Not too bad for 59€. I like the shape and the feel of the scroll wheel. It's accurate and no sensor errors, just as you'd expect from a new modern mouse. Nice braided cord. But positioning of the "sniping DPI" button is pretty terrible, it's right where the thumb wants to rest. Also it comes with ASUS software which is as you'd expect:

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And I doubt it's gonna last 11 years like the Razer.

Now I want a new keyboard too, but at ~175€ for the one I want, doesn't make sense to get at full price when CES is less than 2 weeks away.
 
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55" OLED 4K HDR LG TV (OLED55C7P).

Nice upgrade from our ~7 year old 46" Sharp Aquos.


Now watching TGT last episode of it in glorious UHD.
 
Dude, even in my 1080p Best Buy branded tv, I can see the pores on their skin. That is too much HD.
 
93Flareside;n3543488 said:
Dude, even in my 1080p Best Buy branded tv, I can see the pores on their skin. That is too much HD.

:wicked:
 
My USB 3.0 UHD Blu-ray drive arrived today, more than a week earlier than expected from Japan.

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Despite offering an English option, the copy of PowerDVD included doesn't really do English, the right click menu still showing up in Japanese. I may shell out on the new version (17) but I want to see it play a UHD disc first. It handles normal full HD discs perfectly, even automatically changing the refresh rate of my TV to match the movie.

It's a little noisier than I expected perched on the top of my case, I might try and make a sound-absorbing mat for it to sit on.
 
Have you tried a mousepad or a potholder (or a folded washcloth or stack of napkins) to see if it would even be worthwhile? I had an old external DVD drive that just buzzed internally.
 
Or, cut up a sponge and place small squares on the feet of the device.
 
I'll see what I can find, annoyingly I just threw away an offcut of mousemat material last week. On the plus side the top of my case is totally flat and has no vents so I can build something up for it to sit in if necessary.

It came so early that I was caught off guard, ordered The Martian on UHD Blu-ray today to give it a try. I've wanted to watch that again for a while. I also went with PowerDVD 17 ahead of getting it, they had 20% off ending today (Thursday) and at £28 it's not worth penny pinching after buying a £150 drive.

Edit:

So The Martian arrived today and after fiddling around with Intel HD Graphics drivers (I had previously got the advisor to give me an all clear, suddenly today there were HDCP issues) I was able to watch it in all of its UHD glory. Damn it looks nice and with the distance I sit from my 40" TV it's almost a cinema experience. :)
 
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Picked up an AT&T iPhone SE 32gb in Space Gray for $149, new over the counter. (Leftovers from holiday loss-leader sales - there may still be some out there at Target and Best Buy stores.) And a new Otterbox to put it in, of course.

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Shiny new work laptop:

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Being a developer and having a free choice of a bunch of laptops, I went for the most powerful option currently available: a Dell Precision 5520. Xeon E3-1505M, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD, Quadro M1200 GPU, and a proper matte 1080p 15,6" screen instead of the stupid 4K touchscreen on the old XPS. Finally no more issues with Windows DPI scaling at native resolution. Also feels a lot more sturdy than the XPS did - very rigid shell, solid display frame, this one seems to be pretty much on Macbook levels of hardware quality. Hopefully it'll hold up well, this is my work machine for at least 2 years, and will see quite some private use as well (explicitly allowed).
 
leviathan;n3545325 said:
Shiny new work laptop:

dell-precision-15-car_1000x.jpg


Being a developer and having a free choice of a bunch of laptops, I went for the most powerful option currently available: a Dell Precision 5520. Xeon E3-1505M, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD, Quadro M1200 GPU, and a proper matte 1080p 15,6" screen instead of the stupid 4K touchscreen on the old XPS. Finally no more issues with Windows DPI scaling at native resolution. Also feels a lot more sturdy than the XPS did - very rigid shell, solid display frame, this one seems to be pretty much on Macbook levels of hardware quality. Hopefully it'll hold up well, this is my work machine for at least 2 years, and will see quite some private use as well (explicitly allowed).

looks fine af.


out of curiosity, did you have precision 7720 as an option at anytime?
 
Galantti;n3545343 said:
out of curiosity, did you have precision 7720 as an option at anytime?

No, no 17" in the lineup. We always had 13"/15" Macbook Pros and a "baseline" Dell Latitude (14" with a docking station). Then they added the previous-gen Dell XPS (the rounded corner 15" model that I had before), that proved popular, and was later replaced by the current-gen 13" and 15" models. The 15" XPS was then phased out and the Precision 15" "workstations" taken on instead - hence the 5520. There have also been experiments with offering the "base" Macbooks, Surface tablets and XPS 13" convertibles, but those are a fairly rare sight and usually used by consultants, not developers.
 
leviathan;n3545344 said:
No, no 17" in the lineup. We always had 13"/15" Macbook Pros and a "baseline" Dell Latitude (14" with a docking station). Then they added the previous-gen Dell XPS (the rounded corner 15" model that I had before), that proved popular, and was later replaced by the current-gen 13" and 15" models. The 15" XPS was then phased out and the Precision 15" "workstations" taken on instead - hence the 5520. There have also been experiments with offering the "base" Macbooks, Surface tablets and XPS 13" convertibles, but those are a fairly rare sight and usually used by consultants, not developers.

ah ic, would you consider a 17" for your job?

(i drool over the 64GB eec ram in the 7720)
 
For in-office work, totally. In fact, I'd even prefer a proper desktop workstation instead of a laptop, since I mostly work at my desk with several monitors and external mouse/keyboard anyway. But for occasional travel and work at customer locations or in other company offices (I often go to various events in our offices in Munich and Berlin), the 15" is a nice middle ground between ultimate performance and portability.
 
We bought either a 5520 or a 7720 (I don't remember which, assuming 5520) at work in late 2016 for someone to use for CAD (specifically Revit) and went for the 4K screen, as you've experienced with your previous machine the scaling can be tricky. Otherwise the machine is very good. I'm not completely sold on the USB-C/Thunderbolt docking connector yet, while it isn't as bad as the old USB 3.0 docks that didn't charge the laptop while it was connected it isn't ass convenient as the E-port dock. However it does have the advantage of not being as fragile as the E-port dock connector - yes, amazingly, we have had a few people break the dock connector.

---

Got myself an official GoPro battery charging dock the other day and will be mounting it on my pegboard, I'll then have somewhere to keep the batteries topped up (I always forget to charge the one inside the camera) and I can use the spare battery that comes with the charger to relieve my charge anxiety when using my Hero5.
 
Galantti;n3545387 said:
ah ic, would you consider a 17" for your job?

(i drool over the 64GB eec ram in the 7720)

What’s the argument for EEC (or was it ECC?)?
 
93Flareside;n3545418 said:
What’s the argument for EEC (or was it ECC?)?

for work nothing, for home nothing than something to drool over :p
 
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