a good year in techie acquisitions

It turns out I got a number of upgrades and new tech stuff this year. this is gonna be quick.

I got to sell my HAF 922 and after getting a CM 690 nVidia edition both via tipidpc.com. the sli pc looks slicker on its table now and I’m pretty much satisfied with it. Later in the year, I installed Windows 10 Technical Preview on it and so far so good.

Thanks to the Western Appliances (?) sale, I acquired a 12mp Kodak digicam. I find it hard to handle especially in lowlight, but it works well enough especially when mounted on the tripod that we also got from there.

Mhaelord and I went to globe one day and applied for a postpaid mobile internet subscription. We got the plan 999 and paid a few thousand pesos for a bundled 8-inch skyworth tablet to go with the free pocket wifi. The 8-inch tablet runs impressively well for its price. It must be thanks to its quad core processor. Good thing the 7-inch Samsung was out of stock, and we chose the quad core skyworth over the dual core 7-inch acer.

I’m supposed to be calling this a booklet but it really didn’t get into my system. I also jumped the tablet bandwagon but with a windows 2-in-1 netbook/tablet. I’ve been using my father’s mypad2 a bit but it really wasn’t mine and significantly used. I really can’t remember what made me consider this 64gb asus t100 with a 500gb hdd in the keyboard dock but it was a fine decision. I got to upgrade my netbook and got a new tablet as well. Best thing is the more productive windows environment. This is one of the devices where windows 8.1 makes sense.

The 8-inch tablet was a birthday gift for mhaelord, but I also convinced her that since she wanted my sister’s iphone 4s when she decided to sell it, we’ll also have that as another birthday gift. For an old device, it unsurprisingly smooth. That’s apple for you.

My last purchase for myself this year was the sony xperia z1 compact which I hoped for since the announcement of the xperia z1f japan exclusive. At last, I got a smooth running top-tier smartphone that isn’t as big as the flagships. Funny thing, though, it’s still as large as former flagships like the xperia T. nevertheless, compared to its contemporaries, it is the perfect smartphone for me. It’s a worthy successor to my xperia pro. And thanks to the absence of side-slide qwerty phones, I finally made the transition to a completely touchscreen phone. One fun thing too about this purchase is how I got it a couple of months since its successor got released, and I think I did get the best possible deal with it.

The last one that isn’t really just for me is a 32” Sony TV. At last, we got to get a new TV. I bought it as a year’s gift for my mother although it is something for the household. Favorite feature that’s one for me is screen mirroring since it works with my xperia z1 compact.

A third last, the last tech acquisition was a usb3.0 flash drive. I actually haven’t opened the package. I got it from our struct exchange gifts. I think it was my wishlist item no. 1.

This year was a good year in tech and was also a good year in spending. Hopefully this coming year won’t require me to upgrade. My tech needs are pretty much covered now. As I’ve said, new tech product are released every year, but that doesn’t mean we have to upgrade as often. Good tech lasts. i’m thankful I got to get what I got this year. I look forward to saving in 2015 and seeing just how good these tech stuff are.

Some More Gadget/Tech Upgrades for Me

Gadget upgrade for the month is an Xperia Z1 Compact. At last! And I got it at a pretty good deal with extended warranty. I opted for the brick-and-mortar store purchase over the internet sellers because of the warranty. My strategy of getting the Z1 Compact when it’s successor has been released worked quite well with a little bit of savings and even more value for money given the incremental upgrade in the Z3 Compact.

The Windows part of my geeky life is a bit less interesting with just a few little more time spent on Windows 10 Preview. I’ve upgraded the build once and so far, so good. It complements my Windows 8.1 experience in my T100. Speaking of the T100, I seem to have influenced Dogi to get one. Cara surely got influenced as she got one the day after I told her about it as a recommendation for a “laptop for work stuff”.

Quickly After a Year

It’s been more than a year since I started this geek/tech blog and I have not been as into it as I would have wanted. It’s been mostly monthly lookbacks like my personal blog. I’ve been consistent, at least.

Quickly now, a year ago, I noted the release of the Sony Xperia Z1f in Japan which later became the Z1 Compact internationally. Last month, Sony released the Z3 compact as a successor. It was a minor update and I noticed how I had a draft regarding smartphone upgrades. Yep, to-do list. Of note on that matter is that my girlfriend is using an iPhone 4S now and it still is a very decent phone 3 years after its release.

Also last year, Windows 8.1 was released. I’m using a netbook/tablet hybrid with Windows 8.1 which I got almost a year after. Earlier this month, I’ve installed the newly released Technical Preview of the next Windows version, Windows 10. Due to drive space limitations, I haven’t tried to install it on this hybrid and on my main desktop PC. I managed to install it on my spare SLI PC. Usage isn’t very frequent though so a review of sorts won’t possible anytime soon. Not to mention the frequency of blog activity.

That’s all for this month. Oh, and I found some Youtube channels habit-forming. TechQuikie is one. I’ll link that and some others later—again, hopefully.

Gadget Catchup

My Gadgets

It’s been a month since I got this ASUS Transformer T100 netbook/tablet. I’m still torn between calling it a booklet or a notepad. End up calling it a netbook since that’s what I’ve come to need. The tablet aspect comes in handy and entertaining, but it still is a netbook.

This is my most significant gadget update since I got my Xperia Pro more than 2 years ago. Hipster me, when finally I got a touchscreen smartphone, I had one with a slideout keyboard. When I finally got a tablet, I got one that’s a Wintel device with a keyboard doc. I have now started to transition from my Sony Ericsson Elm feature phone and Neo Vivid netbook for my mobile needs.

Probably the best thing about it is Minion Rush.

Mhae’s Gadgets

Mhae now has devices on the three major platforms—her netbook with Windows, her tablet with Android, and her iPhone 4S with iOS which used to be my sister’s then her husband’s. The iPhone has yet to get action because of urgent matters that we don’t get to get a microSIM.

Parent’s Gadgets

As for my parents, my father doesn’t have a recent gadget update. I’m waiting for price drops for Seagate’s laptop SSHD’s to upgrade his netbook. I’m hoping that would give enough improvement on performance in a similar way an SSD upgrade improved my mother’s Pentium Dual-Core-based Acer laptop.

I finally got my mother a replacement for her failing MyPhone Android 2.3-based phone in an LG L40. I find its price very reasonable for its specs. It’s got decent speed on KitKat and has been serving my mother well and saving us both from headaches.

It’s been quite a gadget blast although noticeably on the more budget-friendly side. It’s nice to know that this is possible in a time of hyped and (un)reasonably expensive products that, whether we acknowledge or not, have become more needs now than wants.

Tablets

Quickly, 10 days ago, we got an 8-inch Skypad quad-core Android tablet for PhP 999 above a 2-year globe tattoo subscription. And today, we got an asus T100 10-inch Intel Atom-based Windows 8.1 netbook/tablet for around Php 24,000 at 12 months 0% installment. Good deals in my opinion.

The skypad’s with mhae now and is currently minion rushing. I’ll do so later on on my t100, or maybe on papa’s mypad from earlier this year.

I’ve finally started going with the tablet trend.

Complete Rebuild

Not as intended, though, but yes, it’s practically complete. Thanks to my sister’s spare generic speakers, I’ve been using my SLI-PC more these past weeks, especially since I’ve been sick at home for a lot of days.

The computer’s chassis is positioned at ang angle so that when I sit on my bed with my back on the headboard, I can see the 22” screen clearly and fully. The right edge of the screen is just a small measure form chassis’ edge so it doesn’t obstruct the view. The green LED fan on the front cannot be turned off when the unit is powered on but it actually has a cool effect. The position of the PC is also good in that I can continue my viewing even when lying down.

Of course, thank to Unified Remote, I can keep my comfy position when I adjusting the volume, turn the subtitles off, skip a few seconds forward, etc.

It feels good that I get to use my second PC more this time. Sure, I still watched some episodes on my main PC and this is still my blogging and surfing PC since it’s more power-saving and more silent, but still, at last, the SLI-PC has been completed. I’ll be buying the better speakers I’ve been planning for it sooner, since I’m enjoying its new-found use. I intended the rig to be a Physx gaming machine but this seems to be more practical since I watch and relax more than game, anyway.

2014 Mid-Year Updates

I’m going to make a quick semi-free-writing rundown of tech stuff from this month.

Phones

o I messed up and got to fix my synchronized addressbook

Videogames

o Since May, EA Origin has given out for free, Dead Space (haven’t played it), Battlefield 3 (haven’t played it either), Plants vs. Zombies (haven’t played it in Origin), and Peggle. Yep, I’ve only played Peggle.

o I realized there ain’t gonna be a new NFS game this year. I guess having watched the movie on the big screen with mhae was more worth it.

o Steam buys and weekend wasters: Injustice and Arkham Asylum. Go DC!

o 2M likes on NFS World got me to run it again. I got 3 random cars that are ok but I wouldn’t have really chosen. At least none are american. Haha.

Hardware

o Still not able to fix that higher than the rest temperature on the 3^rd core of my home pc

o Got to install work pc’s Thermaltake Frio and I’m happy with it. Lost 10 to 20 degrees. And it’s now overclocked to 4 GHz. I should really get myself to finish my 2 years… comparison.

Hardware News

o Intel’s released their Haswell Devil’s Canyon CPU’s and I’m very interested especially with the i5-4690K

o AMD’s new laptop APU’s are interesting

Those are pretty much what I can recall about June. Let’s see how the second half goes.

Speedy Speedy Drives (Part 1)

I’ve never been a big supporter of SSD upgrades. They do have advantages, though, but knowing your priorities, they can be too expensive for what you get.

First SSD involvement this month was having a pair of 256 GB Samsung EVO’s on the new PC at work. They came a few days after the PC so I was the one who installed them. I chose 2 of them to try out the performance benefits of RAID0. In the end, it proved no advantage in Perform3D. Boot times did lessen and I’ve already found that to be great, but for the actual work, meh.

Second SSD buy, this time it’s personal, was a 160GB Intel that I found in TipidPC. I meant to install it the next day, but I wasn’t successful in restraining myself. The result: The sluggish 5-year-old laptop that’s been sluggish ever since, boots under a minute and facebook within the next. Oh, it’s not really that personal as it serves as a gift to my mother who’s the primary user of that laptop.

(to be continued…)

Rebuild PC

I call it my SLI-PC, spare PC, or the Rebuild PC. Rebuild, of course is inspired by the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series. It’s made up of mostly second-hand parts with some bought brand new. Specs are tabulated below:

	Rebuild PC
	1st-Gen i5 w/ SLI
CPU	Intel Core i5-760 (2/h)
MB	EVGA P55 SLI
GPU	Palit 9800gt 512mb (2/h)
	Galaxy 9800gt 512mb (2/h)
RAM	2x Kingston hyperx blu 8GB ddr3-1600 (2/h)
HDD	Seagate Barracuda
ODD	Samsung DVD writer (2/h)
casing	Coolermaster 690 nVidia ed. (2/h)
	Coolermaster 140mm blue led case fan (2/h)
	Coolermaster 140mm fan (2/h)
PSU	Cougar 700w (2/h)
HSF	Coolermaster vortex plus
kybrd	A4tech krs-85 (usb)
mouse	A4tech op620d (usb)
monitor	Lenovo thinkvision 2240pwD (2/h)

I think it’s complete as I want it. I’m satisfied not like when it was in the HAF 922 that I have to sell soon.

The cooling seems better with more fans and the look is definitely cleaner. The problem I’ve had with this are the pretty random hangs. I hope it’s a loose connection issue I’ve resolved. If not, well, let the debugging continue.

Used parts with some new ones, it’s cost me around PHP 27,000.00. I need a pair of usb powered speakers and I think i know where I’ll get them. Soon, hopefully, so I can have another geeky sense of achievement. Oh, and the AVR, I keep forgetting that I have to get the one I bought repaired/warrantied and return the one I “borrowed” from the office.

Cooler Master Cases

I got myself a second-hand Cooler Master HAF 922 some time last year. I was in search for a worthy case with a transparent side panel to show off (to myself, at least) the SLI setup inside. It was a good deal because it was sold with a 700w Cougar power supply and a Samsung DVD writer. What sucked was how I brought it home. It took me a lot of sweat. Nonetheless, it has served me well as a cool (literally and figuratively) case for my SLI setup.

There’s just something about it that doesn’t feel right aside from the stickers that I chose not to remove and two 5.25” meshes that must came from another case—the front fan LED was red. It looked like an AMD powerhouse.

Alas, I found myself a Cooler Master CM 690 Nvidia Edition. Thanks again, TPC. This time, I had the help of my father in picking it up. I also find it a good deal with additional fans installed. There are some cosmetic damages but I’ll live with that. I have yet to transfer

Then I realized, I have 4 Cooler Master cases here in my room, the aforementioned 2, my CM 690 II, and my spare Elite 361. I’ll have to post the HAF 922 once I’ve transferred the SLI setup. As for the Elite, I’ve been reserving it for an AMD HTPC but I’m thinking of selling it, too, preferably packaged the Vortex+ HSF installed in the SLI setup.

So I have these 4, the PC downstairs is in a Centurion 5, my office pc I in a Centurion 5 II, my old office PC (now used by another) is in an Elite model (I can’t remember the model number). Talk about brand preference.

Benchmarks

I finally got myself to run benchmarks on my home PC and my work PC. Long story short, work PC is definitely good for work and home PC is good for home. Short story with details, here are comparisons saved online in futuremark’s website:

PCMark Work 1.0 results comparison:

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/pcm8wrk/43455/pcm8wrk/43413

3Dmark Firestrike results comparison:

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/1697177/fs/1698375

More on this sometime soon…maybe.

January Releases From Sony and AMD

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and AMD’s “Kaveri” APU’s with the Steamroller microarchitecture are probably two of the most anticipated tech stuff that got me tuned in on the tech updates.

The Z1 compact was introduced at the CES 2014. It’s basically the Z1 but with a smaller size, resolution, and battery. But still, it’s nowhere near the midrange specs of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and HTC One Mini. I believe it’s the international version of the Z1 f that got me excited a few months back.

I’ve seen a comparison in size with the iphone 5 and it looks like the ideal phone for me. My cousin recently got himself a Z1. He’s a tall guy so I guess suits him well. The small person that I am makes me much more inclined to the Compact. Praises to Sony, by the way, for doing a mini, or now more appropriately a Compact, in its true sense, like Sony Ericsson did with the X10 Mini and Xperia mini some forgotten 3 to 4 years ago. Actually, for 2011, more like what they did with the Xperia ray. Okay…the mini, mini pro, neo, ray, and pro.

On the x86 side of things, yey AMD! With GCN 2.0, a slowly but surely improving Bulldozer architecture, and the fulfillment of HSA (once known/intended/idealized as Fusion), I’m looking forward to spending some cash again on a new PC. Or maybe I’ll be doing another ideal specs list. Yep, that’s a good idea.

Can’t wait to have these in the local market.