Jeremy and Morry
Jeremy
Monoprice Large Diaphragm Condenser USB Microphone: $105 @ Amazon
This is the microphone which brings you the new sound of the PC Perspective Podcast and now that I have used it I would dread going back to a headset microphone. It ships with a desk stand but for not too much more you can upgrade to a boom-style stand. If you are even considering recording or broadcasting audio it is worth picking up, after all it is the same price as a decent headset.
Otterbox Defender: $50 @ Amazon
I deal with broken phones almost daily, it never ceases to amaze how casually hardware which costs over $600 is treated, from being drop to sat on to dropped in the priv. The Otterbox Defender will protect your phone from just about everything but the latter, doesn't cost a huge amount and looks decent. Call me old fashioned but the belt clip is also a huge plus.
Printrbot Play: $400 @ MakerShed
Thinking about trying out 3D printing but you aren't sure where to start? The PrintrBot Play won't cost you as much as the larger and higher end models but the size and quality of the print will not disappoint you as much as less expensive models. It is 4x4x5" and light enough to move around so you won't have to devote a lot of space for it, not to mention it can print untethered thanks to the SD card slot. This is a great way to determine if you want to make the investment in a larger model down the road or if 3D printing is just going to be an occasional hobby.
Morry
Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD: $197.99 @ Amazon.com
Courtesy of Samsung
Since the introduction of the last gen Intel chipsets (Z97 and X99), manufacturers have been integrating PCIe X4 capable M.2 slots into their board designs. The challenge has been waiting for manufacturers to catch up with high performance and affordable parts. Samsung finally has delivered on that performance promise with their 950 Pro line of SSDs. Available in both 256GB and 512GB sizes, these SSDs promise blazing fast read and write performance by themselves. They are still a bit pricey compared to the SATA form-factor SSDs, but for the performance you get (and compared to how much previous gen PCIe x2 / x4 M.2 SSDs cost), they remain very competitively priced.
ASUS ZenPad S 8: $194.99 @ Amazon.com
Courtesy of ASUS
My next pick is something I have been looking into, but putting off getting for a while because my Nook was good enough. Well, not so much anymore. ASUS' ZenPad S 8 offers an 8 inch tablet standard with Android 5 (Lollipop), a 2k resolution screen (2048 x 1536), 2GB RAM, and 32GB of on-board storage. While there are a bunch of tablets that sport similar or better specs, this one offers these higher-end specs at a reasonable $200 price point. A comparable Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPad tablet would run into the $300-$500 range easily.
I can build an entire system
I can build an entire system for what ONE intel chip costs.
Wellll if you wanna play that
Wellll if you wanna play that game, I can get an entire system for $5
Well played. (Too bad it’s
Well played. (Too bad it's sold out everywhere.)
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/
except it wasn’t sarcasm.
except it wasn’t sarcasm.
The AMD Athlon X4 860K (quad
The AMD Athlon X4 860K (quad core Kaveri sans graphics) is indeed a great budget choice. It has not let me down yet when it comes to budget builds, and when paired with an SSD system performance is plenty fast for more tasks — even gaming with a dedicated GPU.
TRUTH! Great chip, killer
TRUTH! Great chip, killer price, can’t go wrong on a budget box with the 860k.
but…….. you must use a dedicated GPU, the 860 has no video.
Yup, some may think this
Yup, some may think this blasphemy but I've used a GeForce 750 Ti in both those 860K-based systems ;).
oh yea, who cares whatever
oh yea, who cares whatever good graphics you can grab for the $$$ I mix match nvidia cards in my AMD builds all day long haah.
860k and a 750Ti sound like a perfect match perf wise.
I could use a new tablet to
I could use a new tablet to use about the house. I haven’t seen the ASUS’ ZenPad S 8 in person. I would wonder about the build quality. Can you easily find protective cases for it or is it relatively impact resistant from the start? People make a big deal about phones being made of glass and aluminum, but if I didn’t have my iPhone in a strong plastic case, it would have been broken shortly after I got it and probably several times since.
I was thinking of a dell venue tablet, since the main thing I care about is the quality of the screen, and I have seen several reports saying that the screen is excellent. Some of the other features are lacking though. The AMOLED screens kind of worry me though. I was looking at some Samsung phones a while ago at Best Buy. They had been left in some kind of demo mode, and it looked like they had some screen burn in.
The Zenpad S 8 is a nice
The Zenpad S 8 is a nice peice of tech. Screen looks nice, fits in the palm of your hand (well, mine at least), and seems to have a bit of power. The 64GB version has the upgraded CPU, but I opted for the 32GB because of the price. I was able to find quite a few cases for it off of Amazon as well…
It’s a good job folks. I
It’s a good job folks. I like these sort of things.
You did great with many of the products like the 850 EVO. I’m not in love with 3 figure headsets, but it’s nice to know.
Can I make a suggestion?
Could you expand the list to address budgets and product fans? There are many that are stuck on Apple, AMD and $$$. Perhaps you can expand the list to include those as items rather than waffle on some of them in the narratives. I know it might make the article too long, but maybe have multiple articles?
Well, just some ideas.
Whats the minimum dollar
Whats the minimum dollar value video card / video card combo to feed a 4K TV at 30 FPS?
Just 4K video or gaming?
Just 4K video or gaming?
Gaming.
Gaming.
I think an AMD 390X or NV 980
I think an AMD 390X or NV 980 Ti would be minimums from newer gen. You might be able to get away with an older gen dual gpu single card but eh it would depend on how well the games you play support multu gpu.
Thanks!
Thanks!
I find my GTX 980 fares
I find my GTX 980 fares pretty well at 4K. I play on a 4Ktv from my Ultra HTPC. Personally I prefer to either play at 1440p at 60 max graphics on the 980, or 4k 60 at slightly reduced settings. A great example is Metal gear Solid 5. It runs great at 4k at medium to high settings and still ooks leagues better than the consoles.
I recently bought the S710
I recently bought the S710 and have been happy with it. Of course up here it costs double what it does in the USA.
That SanDisk Ultra II is a
That SanDisk Ultra II is a screaming deal in any of its available capacities. Decent (if not remarkable) as an OS drive, but really comes into its own as a place to install Steam and enjoy SSD load times on the cheap.
Am I the only one that thinks
Am I the only one that thinks that GPUs are WAY overpriced these days? I see no compelling upgrade to my “old” Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X I bought online slightly used for $275…
What is the better $200
What is the better $200 tablet the shield or the zenpad
Gaming isn’t a factor