Batlacit's stats
- Review count203
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- First reviewFebruary 13, 2016
- Last reviewSeptember 23, 2024
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- Average rating4.4
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- Answer count55
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- First answerSeptember 21, 2016
- Last answerJanuary 21, 2022
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Explore realistic 3D audio with sound precisely projected from above, in front, behind and to the side of you with the latest acoustic technologies.
Customer Rating
4
Great sound, not so great setup
on June 22, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
I've owned many great Samsung products over the years, and one thing that it's definitely taught me about them is that they love to experiment and push the envelope with creative features that no one else is trying yet. This can be one of the best things about their product when you're using it as part of a whole Samsung ecosystem, and a massive source of frustration if you're not. This sound system is, sadly, no exception.
These days I've come to expect getting a sound system hooked into my home theater setup to be as simple as plugging an HDMI cable into the appropriate ARC port on the TV. In theory the same should apply here, but unfortunately that's not how it worked out. I had to spend two days struggling with the settings on my Hisense TV to get it to a point where it's good enough, and it still refuses to accept any digital audio over the ARC port. Granted this could be an issue with the firmware on the TV, but given that this unit has never had issues connecting with other sound systems before I'm inclined to suspect that the sound bar is to blame. It still works great if you plug everything into the sound bar first and let it just pass video through, even allowing you to use all your existing remotes with HDMI-CEC, but the effort I had to go through to get this thing to talk with everything immediately took it from a 5 star to a 4 star product to me.
That said once it was finally done, I had far less to complain about. Out of the box the balance of the various surround sound channels was a little off, with the rear speakers in particular being so soft you could barely hear them from a few feet away, but after just a few minutes of tweaking with a movie playing I was able to dial it in for my living room. The quality of the surround sound effect is spectacular for a unit of this type. The upward firing speakers on the soundbar do a surprisingly passable job of faking the presence of ceiling mounted speakers by bouncing audio off the ceiling of my room, though I'll admit I'm curious if they'd work quite as well in a room with vaulted ceilings. And the difference that Atmos makes over traditional surround sound systems is incredible. With the older designs the audio was mixed in such a way that which channel got which audio was basically fixed, with no real allowances being made for any eccentricities in your setup. Atmos's approach of treating audio more like point sources moving around a simulated 3D space means that the effect feels much more like it was mixed for your specific room. While this system doesn't include the more complex calibration tools to let you really dial in the exact acoustic properties of your space (unless you happen to be using it with a Samsung TV, that is) it still gets closer to reproducing the kind of soundscape you'd expect from a movie theater than anything I've tried before, including other Atmos systems that lacked the rear satellite speakers.
That being said, the Atmos system isn't the only selling point here. My roommate has a few hearing issues that often makes it hard for her to pick out dialog when watching TV and movies. We'd read that one of the reasons for this is often because audio mixes for these are typically designed to make full use of 5 channels, and that downmixing them to two or three can end up muddying things to a degree. While I'm honestly still not sure how much of an impact that makes, we have definitely noticed that moving from a 3.1 soundbar to a 5.1.2 has made it a lot easier for her to hear what the characters are saying over the last week. Also helping things out is a dialog enhancement option which can bump up the frequencies covering the human voice in the center channel and dial everything else down a bit, helping isolate spoken content. It's not a feature we'd want to leave on all the time, as it can go a bit too far with Atmos content in particular and strip a lot of the richness out of the audio. But it works great for most everything else, and it's great having options other than leaving subtitles on all the time to fall back on.
Which brings us to the question of should you get this soundbar. ...And as you might guess, there are some caveats.
If you have a Samsung TV, I'd say that this is a no-brainer. The system works great, and there are a lot of Samsung exclusive features here that'll make it work even better. And getting it set up with the SmartThings app and its rear satellites was so quick and painless that I have very few doubts that plugging it into a Samsung set would be a two minute job. If you don't... well, as my experience shows it can still work very well, but it definitely makes you work for it. I have a pretty high degree of proficiency in getting this stuff set up, and the fact that I still can't get digital audio over ARC to work like it should after two days of tinkering makes me hesitate to give a full throated endorsement for anyone who doesn't have the option of just passing everything through the soundbar via an HDMI switch (say people who watch a lot of broadcast TV or enjoy retro gaming.) I don't think that my experience is necessarily going to be typical, and hopefully whatever issue I'm seeing can eventually be addressed by a firmware update in the future, but it does seem to be a recurring theme these days that if you want to get the best possible performance out of AV equipment from the bigger brands like Samsung, LG, or Sony, you really do need to stay within the ecosystem they've created.
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Unleash the power of the Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe Gen4 SSD for next-level computing. 980 PRO delivers 2x the data transfer rate of PCIe 3.0, while maintaining compatibility with PCIe 3.0.¹ ¹The NVM Express® design mark is a registered trademark of NVM Express, Inc.* Results are based on a comparison with Samsung PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs and SATA SSDs. PS5 compatible with heatsink as recommended by Sony; heatsink sold separately.
Customer Rating
5
What's a loading screen, again?
on June 14, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
Storage technology has been going through a bit of a meteoric boom over the past ten years, and during that time Samsung has consistently led the pack when it comes to both quality and raw performance. The 980 Pro continues this trend with their usual flare, offering an absurdly fast drive with a five-year warranty, excellent thermal characteristics, and their usual somewhat unassuming package.
In the time since I received the drive I’ve run tests in three different use cases which I think covers most of the likely use cases for this kind of m.2 NVMe drive: a high end gaming desktop, a slightly older laptop, and a separate enclosure. The initial installation for all three is unremarkable for anyone with experience in performing new builds or upgrades. Despite its capacity they managed to cram everything onto a single sided PCB so it shouldn’t have any issues with clearance or thermal issues in whatever you might want to put it in. The usual copper-plated heat spreader/sticker offers good adhesion to thermal pads (and should NEVER be removed, by the way) and based on the temps in my three test cases is very compatible with aftermarket heatsinks should you want to go that route. So long as your system has enough space to fit the 2280 form factor (and virtually all of them do at this point) I don’t think there’s any reason to be worried about not being able to install it.
Performance in all three systems was excellent, and near the speeds quoted on the box in a system that supports PCI-E 4.0. And that is an important consideration, because while it works fine in the older system which only supported PCI-E 3.0 it did bottleneck at a read speed of 3500mb/s, which is as much as the older interface can manage. In the newer system it generally does perform very near the 7gb/s it claims on the box and in some cases actually exceeded it, but in most cases it seemed to hover just below the quoted read/write speeds. Sustained write operations do tend to slow down considerably once the cache has been filled, which is to be expected with this kind of drive, but even saturated it was able to stay well above 1500mb/s. Most impressive however was the drive’s thermal performance. It seems like just about everything in this current generation of hardware has a tendency to run hotter than the one that preceded it, but this one consistently ran cooler than the other m.2 drives I use under load, even with smaller heat sinks. Granted this isn’t as concerning with an SSD as it would be with something like a CPU, as SSDs are usually pretty tolerant of higher operating temps so long as they’re consistent across the various memory cells, but it’s nice to know that I don’t have to worry about it cooking itself in a laptop. What was weirder was to note that the operating temps were very consistent across all three systems despite each one having very different cooling characteristics, with the laptop (which lacked a large heatsink or much ventilation) only coming out a couple degrees higher than the desktop or external enclosure. Apparently Samsung’s new drive controller does have some of its own tools for thermal regulation and this was a system that couldn’t handle the drive at its full speed so it’s possible that I was just seeing some thermal throttling going on, but perhaps someone more knowledgeable about the particulars of SSD cooling will find this to be useful information. Gaming performance is excellent for both of the internal installs, though if I’m being completely honest it seemed like a fairly marginal upgrade over the previous generation of Samsung’s SSD. There are some very big potential gains to be had with the latest generation of GPUs, as they offer a much more efficient loading scheme when paired with this kind of drive, but as I like everyone else am still unable to get my hands on one of those GPUs I can’t really comment on it.
Once it’s in the drive can be managed via the Samsung Magician software, which is quite capable and hasn’t really changed much in the past few years. Only thing I’d note here is that if you want to use all the features it offers it seems that you really do need to have a motherboard with full support for PCI-E 4.0, as otherwise it’s not going to be able to fully recognize the drive for what it is. Of course since you’d be limited to running at half speed anyway due to the bottleneck, I can’t imagine that too many people will find themselves in this situation.
Ultimately while I’d say that anyone would likely be thrilled with the performance this unit offers, I’d only really recommend it to those who are building new systems or making additions to a system from the last year or so. As good as it performed in all the various systems, it really only became exceptional when installed in the latest hardware that could make full use of it. There are plenty of good drives you can get that’ll make an older machine a bit more responsive or make a good Steam archive. But this is the computer equivalent of a race car, and it needs to be treated as such if you’re going to get the most value out of it.
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Pump up the party with the dynamic sound of the SRS-XP700 Portable Wireless Speaker. Sony’s unique X-Balanced Speaker units power MEGA BASS and multi-directional sound that sounds incredible from anywhere, even from behind the speaker. Keep the good times going all day and night with up to 25 hours of battery life plus USB-C quick charging.
Customer Rating
5
Full field audio. As in Cornfield.
on May 28, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
The XB700 continues Sony's tradition of producing high quality portable speakers with bass powerful enough to knock over a small to medium sized dog. It is showy, loud, and very, very good at living up to its role as a party speaker.
Build quality is fairly good overall. The case is very thick plastic with an abundance of grippy rubber feet and sturdy seals around all the seams. The speakers are mounted behind metal grilles, and all the various ports and controls are hidden behind a thick rubber plug designed to keep water out. Controls on the device itself are a little basic but well laid out, making it fairly easy to get set up within a few minutes. The battery claims a maximum life of 25 hours and I basically just had to take their word for it as I wasn't about to risk reprisal from the neighbors by stress testing it, but given the massive size of the thing I don't think running out of power is going to be a major concern for anyone.
If you want to make use of the more complicated features of the device such as equalization, karaoke mode, or controlling the built in lights you'll need to move over to one of two apps provided by Sony: Music Center and Fiestable. In my experience these kinds of apps can often be a bit of a headache that exist mainly to complicate the initial setup process, but I was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward Sony's are. There was no additional setup required apart from just pairing my phone to the speaker over Bluetooth, and all the controls were straightforward and clearly labeled. It admittedly doesn't offer a ton of customization, with the options to configure the lighting in particular being very rudimentary, but it does what it has to. My only complaint is the fact that there are two of them (three, if you count the app you'll need to use for Sony's headphones.) I really don't see any value in having functions split between separate apps like this, and would definitely welcome a switch to a more unified approach in the future.
Audio quality is as good as you'd expect from a Sony. Bass is exceptionally strong and the high end is very crisp, which admittedly isn't going to appeal to everyone. Personally I found that turning the Extra Bass setting off improved the overall tone considerably, but with it on it definitely has more of a nightclub feel. Wireless connectivity is provided through Bluetooth, with all the compromises that implies, but there are two quarter inch jacks on the back for analog connections if you'd like to use it as an amp, PA system, or Karaoke machine. Using these will compromise the waterproofing as it requires you to keep the back ports exposed, but given how deeply recessed they are I wouldn't be too worried about this. They should be reasonably well protected from rain or occasional splashes from the pool, and in the case that you ever have to deal with something more serious than that it doesn't take long to pull the cables and seal it back up.
Overall this is a high quality speaker with a reasonable amount of portability and a stylish package. It's not something I'd recommend as a typical bookshelf speaker, but it'd be a great unit for outdoor movie nights, large events, or serving as a basic digital amp.
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The CORSAIR VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless XT delivers a high-fidelity audio experience for the most discerning players, combining uncompromising sound quality with all-day, all-night comfort from its premium memory foam earpads and headband. Connect wirelessly to virtually any device with simultaneous SLIPSTREAM WIRELESS and Qualcomm aptX HD Bluetooth, or wired via 3.5mm or USB. Make yourself heard with superb vocal clarity thanks to a broadcast-grade, omnidirectional detachable microphone with wide dynamic range. Lightweight aluminum construction ensures long-term durability, while up to 15 hours of wireless battery life and 60ft of range give you absolute listening freedom. Micro-perforated aluminum on each ear cup allows RGB lighting to shine through for visual flair. With immersive Dolby Atmos and CORSAIR iCUE software to enable custom audio equalizer settings, RGB lighting control, and more, you can be the maestro of your gaming experience.
Customer Rating
5
A Headset for everything. Literally, everything.
on May 13, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
If there is one thing that Corsair has never been accused of, it's being unambitious with their higher end products.
The Virtuoso XT seems determined to be the last headset you ever need to buy. With support for USB (Type A and C), 3 1/4" jacks, Corsair's proprietary slipstream wireless, and Bluetooth, I can't imagine any device that you couldn't connect this absolute beast of a headset to. You don't even have to pick and choose - it can support Bluetooth and any other connection simultaneously. Of course the ultimate question is if you really want to. And I have to say, it makes a pretty good case for itself.
In the time I've spent with this headset, I've been thoroughly impressed by pretty much everything about it. It's comfortable to wear for prolonged periods. The audio quality is spectacular (particularly with the RF receiver and USB connections.) The Atmos support works better than any other headset I've tried.
The battery seems to be capable of lasting just short of forever. The controls are well laid out. Even the RGB is stylish, adopting an understated logo shining through the thin metal at the sides rather than the usual in your face gamer aesthetic. And if that's not enough, the slipstream connector is designed to allow you to connect multiple compatible devices from Corsair, reducing the number of USB ports you need to devote to wireless peripherals. This does require you disable PlayStation 4 support, but I'd imagine many won't mind making the sacrifice.
The battery seems to be capable of lasting just short of forever. The controls are well laid out. Even the RGB is stylish, adopting an understated logo shining through the thin metal at the sides rather than the usual in your face gamer aesthetic. And if that's not enough, the slipstream connector is designed to allow you to connect multiple compatible devices from Corsair, reducing the number of USB ports you need to devote to wireless peripherals. This does require you disable PlayStation 4 support, but I'd imagine many won't mind making the sacrifice.
The one complaint I did have has to do with Corsair's usually excellent iCue software, which hopefully should be a temporary issue. When I first installed the beta version that has support for this headset, audio cut out over wireless and wouldn't come back until I'd completely uninstalled the drivers for the receiver and run it through Atmos setup again. There also isn't a ton you can do with the RGB, given that there are only a few very small lighting zones, so unless you need to update firmware or pair additional devices to receivers you won't be missing much if you choose to skip it altogether.
All in all I'd recommend this for anyone looking for a headset that can easily be moved between multiple devices, wants to make full use of Atmos support, or simply wants something a bit different from the typical gaming headset design.
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Life Dot 2 XR is optimized for noise cancelling— changing its settings depending on your surroundings. On top of this it delivers thumping beats, clear calls, and a 35-hour playtime. Using the Soundcore app, you can customize your touch controls and sound profile to perfectly fit the way you listen.
Customer Rating
5
ANC in earbuds that actually works!
on April 12, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
I've owned or tried several different sets of earbuds that boasted active noise cancellation in my life, and have come to the conclusion that there are three basic categories they fall into:
1. The ones that simply add white noise over top of the noise that they're supposedly cancelling out.
2. The ones that only cancel a very specific range of frequencies, making them borderline useless for real world use.
3. The ones that kinda work, but give you a headache in the process.
1. The ones that simply add white noise over top of the noise that they're supposedly cancelling out.
2. The ones that only cancel a very specific range of frequencies, making them borderline useless for real world use.
3. The ones that kinda work, but give you a headache in the process.
Having now spent a few days with the Dot 2XRs in my ears I've been forced to add a fourth category:
4. The ones that actually work!
I cannot understate just how much of a shock it was to discover how good the noise cancellation on these things really is when I put them on. The vacuum was running, a fan was turned on, and my roommate was watching TV when I first popped them in my ears. After a brief pairing and setup process the things kicked on, and all three were either eliminated or strongly muted. It's rare in my experience to find this kind of broad effectiveness even in high end headphones, so to find it in something as compact as these buds was a welcome surprise. It even does a fairly decent job of filtering out voices - something that admittedly caused a bit of domestic friction when my roommate tried to talk to me from about 10 feet away and I simply grinned like an idiot and reveled in the all encompassing semi-silence. And it does all this without creating that pervasive sense of pressure bombarding your ears that you get with most ANC products and can make wearing them a bit of a chore.
Of course all the noise cancellation in the world isn't going to be much good if the earbuds can't insert their own sound into the process, and I'm glad to say that the Dot 2 XRs are no slouch in that department either. Audio quality is fairly good overall (particularly for bluetooth) though perhaps not the most accurate I've ever heard. Like many earbuds these days it cranks up the bass a bit further than is strictly necessary to try and give the audio a bit more body and cover up some minor flaws in the higher frequencies, which come across as just a little wavering when the bass is dropped down. Good news is that they sound their best when playing music, and really only falter when listening to podcasts or other spoken word content where perfect fidelity generally doesn't matter much anyway. The 4 microphone array built into the buds also provides very good audio for calls, making it a good choice for anyone looking for a more private alternative to the speakerphone.
The design is a bit more bulky than some, however they fit nicely in the ears and aren't heavy enough to make their presence known or work their way out of your ear canals during exercise. The rubber wings meant to stabilize them in your ear did feel just a little small in my ears even with the largest ones installed, but it was still enough to keep them in place during some light jogging and walks around the neighborhood. They wouldn't be my first pick for a bike ride over bumpy trails, as there really is very little apart from friction working to hold them in place, but I wouldn't immediately rule them out either. Pass through options are a bit limited however, so if you plan to frequently run, bike, or skate around traffic there might be better choices for an exercise companion.
Controls are straightforward, easy to learn, but somewhat limited. Each earbud has a touch sensitive surface on the side that can respond to either a quick double-tap or a long press, and by default half of these are devoted to controlling the noise cancellation features. I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand I've noticed that most people never really learn the more complex control schemes for their wearables, leaving a lot of features under-utilized. On the other, it's a little jarring not having volume controls out of the box. So if you are one of the few who can learn more than three gestures for their earbuds (and then actually reproduce them on a regular basis) that might be a bit off-putting. Good news is that you can reconfigure everything in the Soundcore app if you want to, which shares the straightforward and effective design of the earbuds. I know most prefer to skip supplemental apps for their earphones given the option, and you are certainly able to do so here if you want, but there is enough added utility here for it to be worth the storage space in my opinion.
In summary, the Life Dot 2 XR earbuds are a solid all-rounder with a standout noise cancellation feature. I'd recommend them to travelers, gymgoers, or anyone else looking for a bit of quiet in places where it's hard to come by.
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The CORSAIR K65 RGB MINI 60% Mechanical Gaming Keyboard combines top-level performance with portability. PBT double-shot keycaps deliver exceptional durability with a premium look and feel. With 8,000Hz hyper-polling enabled by AXON hyper-processing technology, CHERRY MX SPEED RGB Silver mechanical keyswitches, and expansive onboard shortcuts, the K65 RGB MINI offers big performance and functionality in a compact design. Vivid per-key RGB backlighting is fully customizable through CORSAIR iCUE software, alongside key remaps, custom macros, and immersive integration with select games. Save up to 50 profiles to take with you anywhere with 8MB of onboard storage. Full N-key rollover, Windows Key Lock mode, and a detachable braided USB Type-C cable make the K65 RGB MINI a high-performance gaming companion at home and on-the-go, so you can win in any space.
Customer Rating
5
Top tier build quality, little odd to get used to.
on March 29, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
Corsair has managed to build a keyboard that is both the smallest and the biggest I have ever seen. While the K65 Mini has a miniscule footprint, its nearly two inches of height makes for a somewhat imposing presence on your desk. And I absolutely love it. Despite the plastic shell it is a remarkably sturdy piece of gear with absolutely no deck flex, a satisfyingly smooth (though not at all tactile) typing experience, and all the top tier features you'd expect from a premium keyboard from Corsair. It is over the top, showy, and absolutely glorious.
For those who haven't tried mechanical "gaming" keyboards before, I should probably explain that they are one relatively few examples of gaming specific gear that actually does have a measurable impact on your gaming performance. Standard membrane keyboards register a keypress only when you bottom out a key - and generally struggle to accurately register keypresses when you hit several keys simultaneously or in close succession. Standard mechanical keyboards use individual switches for each key. These switches can be designed to trigger (aka: actuate) with much less travel, so you don't need to bottom out the key before the computer registers you've pressed it. Good ones also feature microcontrollers that can better track keypresses as they occur, providing full n-key rollover (registering multiple keyboard presses) and eliminating ghosting (when a keyboard fails to register a keypress because it happened too close to one that was already being processed.) Gamers love them because the more responsive and reliable control inputs improve reaction times and make it easier to use complex keyboard commands or combos. They've also proven to be quite popular among particularly fast typists, who can sometimes have issues with random typos appearing as a result of ghosting when they're going at full tilt.
Corsair, in their typical fashion, has decided to fully embrace overkill with the introduction of their AXON microcontroller. AXON is able to check for new keypresses 8000 times every second. This is far, FAR more than any human should ever be able to take full advantage of, but on the flip side that also means that there's even less time spent waiting between the moment you press the key and the moment it gets sent to your CPU. And as if this weren't enough they also built this particular board with Cherry MX Speed switches (also known as Cherry MX Silver, depending on who you ask.) These actuate after just 1.2mm of travel and require 25% less force to use than the standard clicky blue switches that have been the defacto standard for the last few years, making the keyboard even more twitchy. They're also linear switches, meaning they don't have the tactile "bump" to let you know when the switch has fired and make significantly less noise as a result. Having used both I can tell you that typists will likely not find linear switches to be nearly as satisfying as tactile ones, since being able to feel each keypress land can greatly assist with overall accuracy, but for any kind of twitch gaming you're going to be hard pressed to find much better than these speed switches paired with the AXON Controller. And it doesn't hurt that the keyboard looks great either. Corsair's iCue software has come a long way since it first released and allows you to set up all manner of complex lighting effects and animations if you want, and the diffusion plate installed beneath the keys means that the entire thing glows with a softer and more pleasant effect than you get with most per-key lighting. It's particularly stunning with the optional "radiant" spacebar installed, though sadly this and the optional Corsair escape key are both painted single shot keys rather than the more durable molded double shot keys that the rest of the keyboard uses, which you can definitely tell if you look close enough as the surface finish doesn't quite match.
As far as my actual usage experience goes, the only issues I really ran into come down to the fact that I'm just not used to using a 60% keyboard, which is really just a matter of practice. These keyboards are basically what you get when you decide that the already diminutive tenkeyless designs are just too big for your liking. 60% keyboards have no dedicated arrow, function, or navigation keys, requiring you to use function key combos for all of them. Corsair, to their credit, packed in a lot of these key combos. In addition to the usual arrow keys and function keys there's a virtual mouse (which is just as clumsy as you'd expect trying to replace a mouse with a keyboard would be, but really nice to have if you ever find you actually need it,) media keys, macro keys, lighting controls, and the ability to lock the Windows key to prevent you from accidentally minimizing a game while you're playing it. There is a definite learning curve required to get good at these, and it feels a bit clumsy if you've gotten used to having a full keyboard available, but some will no doubt find it worthwhile to reclaim the desk space. In my case, for example, I'm planning to mount the keyboard in a VR simpit I've built for games like Elite Dangerous or Microsoft Flight Simulator. The fact that I can attach it to a miniscule tray that I can swing out of the way without worrying that I'll accidentally smash something in the process because I can't see out the VR headset more than makes up for having to hold FN-K to scroll to the right.
I'd primarily recommend this to any gamers looking for a way to save space without compromising on quality or comfort who also don't anticipate doing a ton of word processing.
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BISSELL SpinWave wet and dry robotic vacuum provides two ways to clean in a single revolutionary robot. The two tank system actively mops or powerfully vacuums with smart, structured cleaning paths. Use it in dry vacuuming mode to collect pet hair, dirt and other debris on carpet, area rugs and hard floors. When used in wet mopping mode, the mop pads and BISSELL cleaning solution work together to scrub floors clean. And, with the Soft Surface Avoidance Sensor, there's no need to worry about the robot going up on area rugs or carpets when in wet mopping mode. Plus, this product doesn't just clean up after pets, it helps save them, too. BISSELL proudly supports BISSELL Pet Foundation and its mission to help save homeless pets. When you buy a BISSELL product, you help save pets, too. We're proud to design products that help make pet messes, odors and pet homelessness disappear.
Customer Rating
3
Great cleaning head, average robot
on March 26, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
The Spinwave is a straightforward, if basic, robot vacuum mop that could arguably stand to be a bit smarter than it currently is.
The design is the typical hockey-puck with a bumper form that you get with most robot vacuums. It’s decently nimble and small enough to avoid getting stuck under cabinets or furniture and lacks any kind of intelligent mapping system that’ll work out your floorplan to make sure it reaches every spot with a minimal amount of effort. The white bodywork and stylish glass top look quite classy out of the box and it does a very decent job picking up dust and pet hair from the carpet, but the ultimate party trick comes when you pull off the dust bin and slot in the mop attachment. Robot mops aren’t really anything new – but most are basically just self-propelled Swiffers that glide over your hard floor slowly excreting water and/or cleaning fluid. Bissel has opted instead for a pair of counter rotating brushes that’ll actually scrub the floor as it goes and extend a fair bit outside the edges of the robot itself, allowing for some pretty good floor coverage. And just to make sure it doesn’t try to moonlight as a carpet cleaner, it’s got sensors designed to help it identify when it’s moved onto carpet and back off.
It all sounds great in theory and it does mostly work, but there’s definitely some room for improvement to be had. The navigation algorithm it uses seems to favor neat and tidy rows which are easily disrupted by pets, objects in its path, or simply setting the robot down at an angle before you let it start. As a result I found that it often missed spots or got itself trapped running back and forth over the carpet transition because it couldn’t work out that it was time to backtrack. During one of these moments I discovered that whatever sensor it uses to detect the floor type it’s on is a bit lacking in coverage as the left side would always stop the brushes just shy of hitting carpet, while the right would always end up shampooing a 1-2 inch strip. It never let it get any further than that, to its credit, but it’s odd given how adept the other side was at avoiding it. And even after multiple passes in both auto and spot cleaning modes there were still a few bits that I had to go back and do myself because the robot just seems to have forgotten them. With a bit of practice and careful observation you can eventually work out the best place to put the robot to work with the algorithm, but it’s an annoyance I could do without.
And this is a bit of a shame because the mop head is actually really, really good. The thicker scrubbing heads let it get into the grout between tile, you can adjust how much cleaning fluid it uses to help speed up drying time or just save water, and it left my kitchen floors sparkling. It ships with a pair of machine washable cleaning pads and a trial size of concentrated cleaning fluid that dries quickly and doesn’t leave a scent behind. I’d probably set it up to run on a regular schedule in my kitchen if not for the fact that it really does need to be babysat to make sure it doesn’t get itself stuck and start beeping for help, so for now I’m thinking I’m going to be sticking to more pulling it out only when required.
It does do a bit better as a vacuum, possibly since without the brushes it’s got a smaller footprint to work with. The narrow centrally located intake is a little on the narrow side and not the best at getting into corners or right up to baseboards, but it should be able to hit most of the key trouble spots out in the open (particularly if run regularly.) Noise is a bit of mixed bag. I initially thought it was one of the quieter robot vacuums I’ve tried, but then my roommate who suffers from tinnitus drew my attention to a fairly loud high pitched squealing noise it makes while operating. It seemed to bother my dog too, as he tends to get very agitated if he ever finds himself in the same room with it, something he did not do with the other robots I have used in the past.
Ultimately I’d say that the Spinwave is pretty good for its price point, even though there are at least a few features here that are absolutely begging to be included in a higher end model with better navigation that could make better use of them. On balance though I do think that it makes for a more impressive mop than it does a vacuum, and as such would recommend it primarily for people with lots of tile, linoleum, or hardwood flooring.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Fly through the sky in ways that seem impossible. We never lost our passion for flying, and with DJI FPV, those passions have turned imagination into reality. With this immersive and intuitive aerial platform, get ready to go into the beyond. Sleek and aerodynamic, the DJI FPV aircraft delivers powerful propulsion, battery life, and wind resistance, making this system as capable as it is visually stunning.
Customer Rating
5
High powered fun in a box
on March 13, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
One of the first things they tell you in the instructions for the DJI FPV drone is that the device is not a toy. After a few days of fooling around with it, I’m not entirely sure I can agree with that. It’s true that the drone has the power, maneuverability, and advanced features you’d expect from a professional drone platform. But at the end of the day, the key objective with this drone seems to have been to build something fun rather than something practical.
Usually I wouldn’t talk too much about the unboxing experience, but in this case I feel it’s worth it as it turned out to be far more involved than I initially expected. Since this drone is large and fast enough to require registration it’s not something you can just pick up and fly immediately. Before the thing will even work you need to create an account with DJI and permanently bind the drone to it, something which proved a lot more involved than expected since the version of the required DJI Fly app that you can download from the Google and iPhone app stores isn’t the one which supports the FPV drone. For all I know this is something that only early adopters like me will have to deal with, but in case it’s not I’ll try to save you a few hours and let you know that the correct version can be downloaded from DJI’s website. Once this was done and the drone was activated firmware updates were required for each of the three parts in the combo, a process which took about half an hour in total and drained a good chunk of the batteries for the headset and drone.
Once I’d gotten the unit ready to fly though, the overall user experience improved dramatically. In what I’d assume was an effort to keep weight down, the FPV doesn’t use the folding prop design found in some of their other popular offerings. It opts instead for relatively stubby fixed props which, while quite powerful, feel noticeably more fragile and really need to be removed when the drone isn’t in use for their own protection. To make this as easy as possible they’ve adopted a toolless design that lets you pop them on or pull them off just by pressing down and twisting the rotor, making setup in the field a breeze. The controller is perhaps the most ergonomic drone controller I’ve ever used, opting for a streamlined ergonomic design closer to what you’d get from a high-end gaming console than the typical bricks that come with most RC vehicles. And all the controls are well textured and laid out to allow you to find them even with your eyes closed, a necessity given that you’ll likely be flying with the included FPV goggles on most of the time. The screens are sharp and bright, lag times are exceptionally low (though definitely still noticeable when the range opens up or you start pulling off complicated maneuvers) and it’s light enough to keep it from being a nuisance. And the image quality you get from the drone with DJI’s digital FPV system is a marvel to behold. I’ve tried a few FPV headsets like this before (almost all of which use analog signals rather than digital) and the difference between them and this is night and day. The image is clear, movement is crisp as can be, and the signal is rock solid.
Unlike most of the drones which DJI has put out, which look built for level flight and hovering, the FPV has a distinctly angular built which makes it clear that its default mode is meant to be moving forward at high speeds. Don’t get me wrong, it can still hover when it needs to, but when you see it hanging in the air like that you can’t help but feel like it’s slightly disappointed in you for your choices. This more aggressive shape makes for an absolutely striking profile both in the air and on the shelf and is made even more impressive by the translucent gray fairing it ships with allowing you to see the tightly packed electronics inside.I almost immediately swapped out this fairing for the more visible bright green one that shipped in the box so that my spotter would have an easier time seeing it at a distance, which gave me the opportunity to look at the interior though, and I very much liked what I saw. As far as I could tell all the electronics within the drone are split into discrete and replaceable modules rather than assembled into a single board, with all those modules being held together by screws rather than glue or fragile plastic tabs like you’d get with most electronics these days. Fortunately, I have not yet crashed spectacularly enough to need to put this to the test, but I get the sense that it wouldn’t take a ton of effort to effect even major repairs to the unit if required.
The drone also is where you run into a few of the potential weaknesses. The 4K camera mounted here is very good, producing sharp images and video even at speed, but you can’t help but get the sense that it’s there first and foremost to give you a better experience as a pilot rather than to take pictures. With other DJI drones you typically get a gimbal with 3 axes of rotation. This has only one – and it only allows for vertical adjustment. What’s more the 150-degree field of view it offers can’t help but make the images it captures look a bit fish-eyed compared to what you’d get from a Mavic or Phantom, and will catch the props in the frame if it’s pointed straight forward. To be clear I don’t necessarily think this is a bad decision. Given how fast this thing goes it’s probably not a smart idea to make it easier for the pilot to look away from where they’re moving. But it is something anyone looking to use this as a filming platform should consider when choosing which drone to go with.
So, now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s talk about arguably the most important aspect of the FPV: How is it to fly it?
Turns out there are three different answers for this, one for each of the flight modes the drone supports.
N mode is tailored for beginners or anyone who wants to be sure they don’t end up embedding the FPV into a tree. Speed is held down, navigation aids such as automatic obstacle detection will do their best to stop you from doing anything too reckless, and the drone will handle the more complicated maneuvers on its own. It does feel a little bit like you’re flying with training wheels on at times, but if you’ve never tried FPV flight before this is probably the best way to do it while you get used to orienting yourself without being able to actually see the drone. I also found this to be the best mode to use when taking snapshots, as it was easy to take my time adjusting the drone and its gimbal to line up the shot I wanted.
S Mode offers a punchier experience for more confident flyers who’d prefer not to have their hand held. Speed is still limited to about 2/3rds of what the aircraft can manage but most of the other safety features are turned off, giving you the freedom to do something a bit ill advised if you really want. This was probably the most fun mode to fly in for me as everything felt extremely responsive and the footage I got in the goggles was thrilling, but you definitely need to be a lot more aware of environmental factors such as wind and it drains the battery quite fast. While I managed to avoid smashing the drone there were definitely a few close calls that made me acutely aware of how easy it would be to do, particularly if you let yourself wander into tight quarters. It seems like it would be great for shooting video, but unfortunately I can’t really attest to the results as I ended up losing the clip I shot to file corruption brought about by me pulling the battery a little too soon after landing.
And then there is M mode – which offers full manual control.
M mode turned out to be a lot scarier than I expected going in. I’ve flown drones on manual before, but never one with this kind of raw speed at its disposal. I did not crash or destroy anything, which I consider to be a small triumph (and a great testament to how useful the built-in emergency brake on the drone can be,) but afterwards I was more than ready for the drone to go back to holding my hand for a bit. In the hands of someone more competent than me, the kind of high-speed acrobatics you can pull off with full manual control is probably one of the biggest selling points for this drone. But I think I’m going to be spending a bit more time in the simulator to brush up my skills before I try this again.
So, now that all is said and done, who’s this for?
I suspect that a lot of hardcore FPV enthusiasts aren’t going to be exceptionally interested in this. Not because there’s anything wrong with the drone for that purpose, but because so much of the hobby is based in this DIY approach where the drones are constantly being modified and improved on by their pilots/support team. And as easy as the FPV appears to be to work on, it’s all so carefully engineered and laid out that I don’t see it being particularly easy or even plausible to graft entirely new parts on. And as mentioned it’s a little too pilot-focused for me to recommend it primarily as a filming platform. Which means, unfortunately, I must contradict the instructions and say that this is mostly a toy. Or perhaps a starting point for something bigger.
I suspect that a lot of hardcore FPV enthusiasts aren’t going to be exceptionally interested in this. Not because there’s anything wrong with the drone for that purpose, but because so much of the hobby is based in this DIY approach where the drones are constantly being modified and improved on by their pilots/support team. And as easy as the FPV appears to be to work on, it’s all so carefully engineered and laid out that I don’t see it being particularly easy or even plausible to graft entirely new parts on. And as mentioned it’s a little too pilot-focused for me to recommend it primarily as a filming platform. Which means, unfortunately, I must contradict the instructions and say that this is mostly a toy. Or perhaps a starting point for something bigger.
This drone probably isn’t going to be able to compete with purpose built racing drones. But I don’t think there are all that many people who would ever consider sticking with FPV drones if that was the only way for them to get into the hobby either. The DJI FPV is basically a showcase for how good this tech can really be and seems to be built to be just as approachable for a brand-new pilot as it is for someone who’s been flying drones for years. As a toy it will offer you all manner of thrilling, visceral experiences and fantastic views that can delight all ages in twenty-minute increments. There really is something majestic about being able to experience the great outdoors from a bird’s eye view, and if that’s all you want this is a fantastic way to get it.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop. Enjoy everyday gaming with this ASUS notebook PC. The Intel i7 processor and 16GB of RAM let you run graphics-heavy games smoothly, while the potent NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics produce high-quality visuals on the fast 15.6-inch 240hz FHD display. This ASUS notebook PC has 1TB SSD that shortens load times and offers ample storage.
Customer Rating
4
Compact and powerful, but pushing the limits a bit
on February 19, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
The Dash F15 is an ultraportable that makes a valiant effort to do it all. With a modern ultra-thin design and cutting edge hardware it is the kind of machine we could only dream about building just a few years ago. Unfortunately it still can't quite escape the basic truth that squeezing all the hardware of a gaming desktop into a package this small requires some compromises that keep it from being the one machine that can do everything.
First up I would like to talk about the build quality. As expected from ASUS a lot of care has gone into the design, producing a satisfyingly rugged device that still manages to look classy. The case is a mix of metal and plastic with no significant flex to it. The feet at the bottom are quite a bit more proud than you usually get on a laptop in order to increase clearance around the cooling intakes, a very smart design that also makes it clear that you do not want to have this thing sitting on your lap while you game. It also claims to have a self-cleaning cooler, something that I have no idea how to test but would be an absolute godsend if it actually works. Dust buildup in the cooling system is one of the biggest causes of failure in machines like this, so anything that can combat it wins a thumbs up in my book. They've built a generous notch into the back of the monitor to keep it from impeding airflow, which as a side benefit gives the unit a very unique profile when closed. They even bulked out the side of the case enough to include a proper RJ-45 jack for ethernet as opposed to one of the hinged fold-out jacks that admittedly look better, but break easily. While I obviously am not insane enough to throw it down the stairs to confirm it, the feeling it conveys is that of a laptop that's easily rugged enough to be thrown into a backpack and used as a daily driver for years.
Moving on to aesthetics, it's slightly more understated than you might expect from a gaming laptop which, depending on your tastes, could be seen as one of its best features. The only thing that really gives away the fact that it's meant for gaming is the fact that it's got a backlit keyboard which clearly accentuates the WASD keys. But there's no RGB, very limited effects options, and they've opted for a very soft and non-threatening aqua color for the lighting rather than the usual aggressive reds, yellows, and oranges I generally expect from ASUS's TUF line. The monitor features very thin bezels around the top and sides as well as a prominent chin, with no web cam to break up the lines. Overall I'd describe the look as more classy rather than aggressive.
Which brings us to the elephant in the room: performance.
I spent a lot of time mulling over how I could possibly talk about the performance of this laptop without making it look better or worse than it actually is. Ultimately I decided the best way to do it was to establish right off the bat that while the GPU inside it may be called an RTX 3070, it has very little in common with the desktop card that most people are probably judging it by. We've hit an unfortunate plateau in the performance of this new generation of chips where the sophistication of our silicon has outstripped the abilities of our cooling solutions. As such the RTX 3070 chip in this laptop is forced to run with about half the wattage it was originally designed for to avoid melting the thing, which can't help but severely slow down the card. In benchmarks and real world testing it basically tied with the RTX 2080 in just about everything but raytracing performance, where it enjoyed a small (but significant) advantage. Which makes the long term prospects of this thing a bit complex. It can run modern games like Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum settings with a decent framerate, sure. But it's obviously having to throw everything it has into it. As such I do have to wonder how well it's going to be able to play games that'll release in two or three years, which will presumably be leaning much heavier into the kind of advanced features available in the latest generation of consoles and therefore asking a lot more of the GPU. Now, to be clear, I would be astonished if it couldn't still play them at reasonably high performance levels. It is still a ludicrously powerful machine for this price point. But it is important to understand that it's nowhere near as close to matching gaming desktop levels of performance as previous generations of laptops have been, and that this is likely to be the norm going forward.
With that massive disclaimer out of the way though, I would like to repeat that this is a ludicrously powerful machine for its size. The Rocket Lake i7 may not have tons of cores but the ones it has offer excellent performance, and even if it can't quite match the performance of a desktop card the mobile 3070 is a beast of a GPU that makes full use of the frankly amazing 240hz panel that ASUS chose to include. This laptop's screen is probably the best monitor I have ever owned, and I really don't know how I should feel about that. And everything is supported by a slightly cumbersome but extremely well thought out set of software and utilities which will let a skilled user configure the laptop exactly the way they like it. As an example, one of the first things it asked me to do upon getting it set up was configure the maximum level of charge the battery could take based on my expected use. I ended up setting it to only charge to 60% to maximize lifespan, as most gaming laptops spend their lives tethered to a wall outlet anyway. With a battery this big that's still enough to last around 8 hours when needed (provided you're not gaming on it, at least) and it'll probably add years to the battery's life, which makes me always glad to see such an option.
There are a few features that I'll admit I would have liked to see added. While I really wouldn't have thought much about the decision to nix the webcam a couple years ago it feels weirdly out of touch these days, where so many people are transitioning to remote work and video conferences are more popular than ever. I also have found myself missing having a full numeric keypad, as weird as that might sound. And it needs to be said that this might be one of the noisiest laptops I've ever gamed on, as the fans tend to really squeal when they ramp up to full power. But with a decent pair of headphones (which you should be using anyway - the laptop is way too thin to have decent speakers) I can definitely live with it.
So, where does that leave us then?
Well, despite its best efforts this really isn't a laptop that can do everything. A 4 core CPU (even a hyperthreaded one) doesn't have enough threads for serious content creators and the mobile 3070 doesn't have enough power to stay out ahead of game developers for very long. But ultimately, that's okay. For a user like me who already has a desktop to take on the really heavy workloads I don't need a portable machine that can do absolutely everything. I just need one that can do enough. Something that I can take notes on during meetings or do work on a plane during the day, then bring back to my hotel and fire up games on at night. And the Dash F15 is ideal for that purpose. It's not as heavy or fragile as the cutting edge gaming laptops, but it's also not as computationally anemic as your average ultraportable. It straddles the divide, being everything I need in a supplement to my other machines. I'd definitely recommend it to people like me as well as students, hobbyists, or the gamer who doesn't consider "medium settings" to be a dirty word.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Blend, Juice or Bluice. High Performance blender juicer with an innovative and unique space saving design. Featuring our Hemisphere contoured blade & Bowl system, a 3.5" extra wide chute for shortened prep time. Cold Spin Technology extracts fresh juice straight into a high capacity 50 oz blender jug, so you can create delicious fresh, slushies, smoothies cocktails and much more.
Customer Rating
5
Blender+Juicer=Bluicer?
on January 29, 2021
Posted by: Batlacit
from Madison, WI
I'd like to begin with a warning. When I first saw the picture of this thing, I assumed it would take up roughly the same footprint as your average blender while in juicer mode, having never owned a juicer before myself and therefore not knowing that they needed a fairly large collection bin for all the pulp they generate. It's about twice the size of what I was expecting, leaving me in a bit of a bind when it comes to counter space. That said, I think it might be worth figuring out a solution.
The Bluicer fulfills pretty much all the claims made on the box. Over the last week I've tossed just about every fruit and vegetable I could think of into the hopper of this thing, and it's handled each one with flair. Previously I often found myself having to throw out produce that went bad while it was waiting to be eaten, but with this thing as soon as I notice that we might not be consuming it quite as fast as expected I can just throw it all in the hopper and use the results to add a bit of extra flavor to recipes, freeze it for the long haul, or just drink it to get some much needed vitamins. The pulp still ends up as compost mostly, but it still feels like progress from where I was before.
Performance is just about as good in blender mode too. The pitcher design allows the blades to produce a pretty astonishing amount of suction to pull anything that might tend to float or get stuck at the top down to be shredded, noise isn't exceptional, and the locking safety bar holds everything together about as firmly as anything I've ever seen. The pre-programmed shortcuts are a bit sparse in terms of what they let you do, but all the basics are there.
Finally, there's the "Bluice" mode. ...Bluice mode is basically just juicing something, putting the juice into the blender, and then blending that. You could arguably just call it margarita mode.
Build quality overall is excellent. Most of the parts are machine washable, and tools are included to help clean out the bits which aren't. Clean-up times rarely ever took more than five minutes, most of which was spent disassembling and reassembling the various pieces. There is a bit of added prep needed for some fruits, most notably citrus which must be peeled before you throw it into the blender to avoid contaminating the final product with pith, but you make up for that with the fact that running the machine is basically effortless. It also doesn't add much in the way of heat as it works. Any fruit that you pull out of the fridge will produce juice that's almost as cold.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Extend your PC’s RGB lighting with the CORSAIR iCUE LT100 Smart Lighting Towers Starter Kit, part of the iCUE Smart Lighting Ecosystem. 92 RGB LEDs light up your room with ambient lighting that dynamically integrates with your games and media for a truly immersive experience. Cycle through 11 lighting profiles out of the box with push-button control or connect to CORSAIR iCUE software to synchronize your RGB lighting effects across all compatible CORSAIR devices in your system and all external iCUE Smart Lighting devices. The Starter Kit includes two lighting towers with 46 customizable LEDs each, housed in light-diffusing casing that softens and blends light. With an included removable headset holder, LT100 Smart Lighting Towers add convenient, versatile, and stunning RGB lighting to any setup.
how tall are they
Per the spec sheet they're 422mm tall - the headphone holder adds about two millimeters to whichever one you stick it to. In more practical terms, they're just about exactly as tall as a 32" LCD (not including the stand.)
2 years, 11 months ago
by
Batlacit
Meet the Ninja Foodi 14-in-1 6.5qt. Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid. The pressure cooker that steams and crisps. SmartLid slider unlocks pressure cooking, air frying, and Steamcrisping - all under one SmartLid. SteamCrisp Technology steams and crisps at the same time for faster, juicier, crispier results*. 14 one-touch programs unlock even more versatility. (*Vs. Ninja Foodi OL501 in dry mode only)
Does this model have hands free pressure release when pressure cooking timer is done, or do you have to manually release steam after pressure cooking?
You do need to manually toggle the valve. That said, it's very well designed to keep your hands free of any steam that might escape in the process.
2 years, 11 months ago
by
Batlacit
The new Alienware x17 is super thin, extremely light laptop . Now’s your chance to game with gear that knows no boundaries. The Alienware x17 gaming laptops with advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech™ cooling defy boundaries. Introducing Element 31 thermal interface material and a Quad-Fan Design. We are incorporating more fan blades, more copper materials, and vapor chambers to deliver ample power while dissipating the heat more efficiently and allowing the fans to run less resulting in reduced noise. The x17 features five tailored power states, and grants access to thousands of games with Windows. Alienware laptops will bring your favorite games into hyper-reality with Windows DirectX 12 Ultimate. Constructed with magnesium alloy and aluminum parts gamers can experience the evolved Legend Industrial Design that reimagines the way you game. The Alienware x17 is equipped with 11th Gen Intel processors, has more storage options with dual drives featuring SSD and includes powerful NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 30-series discrete graphics.
Can you please give me an idea of what is the most recent AAA game can this laptop play?. I'd love to get an idea of what I am going to expect when purchasing this laptop! like, can it play Deathloop? or perhaps Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for example?.
It can play Cyberpunk 2077 on Psycho (at least while plugged in.)
2 years, 11 months ago
by
Batlacit
The new Alienware x17 is super thin, extremely light laptop . Now’s your chance to game with gear that knows no boundaries. The Alienware x17 gaming laptops with advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech™ cooling defy boundaries. Introducing Element 31 thermal interface material and a Quad-Fan Design. We are incorporating more fan blades, more copper materials, and vapor chambers to deliver ample power while dissipating the heat more efficiently and allowing the fans to run less resulting in reduced noise. The x17 features five tailored power states, and grants access to thousands of games with Windows. Alienware laptops will bring your favorite games into hyper-reality with Windows DirectX 12 Ultimate. Constructed with magnesium alloy and aluminum parts gamers can experience the evolved Legend Industrial Design that reimagines the way you game. The Alienware x17 is equipped with 11th Gen Intel processors, has more storage options with dual drives featuring SSD and includes powerful NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 30-series discrete graphics.
Please confirm if this specific model that is available for sale comes with the standard four zone RGB keyboard or the per key RGB keyboard?
The new Alienware x17 is super thin, extremely light laptop . Now’s your chance to game with gear that knows no boundaries. The Alienware x17 gaming laptops with advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech™ cooling defy boundaries. Introducing Element 31 thermal interface material and a Quad-Fan Design. We are incorporating more fan blades, more copper materials, and vapor chambers to deliver ample power while dissipating the heat more efficiently and allowing the fans to run less resulting in reduced noise. The x17 features five tailored power states, and grants access to thousands of games with Windows. Alienware laptops will bring your favorite games into hyper-reality with Windows DirectX 12 Ultimate. Constructed with magnesium alloy and aluminum parts gamers can experience the evolved Legend Industrial Design that reimagines the way you game. The Alienware x17 is equipped with 11th Gen Intel processors, has more storage options with dual drives featuring SSD and includes powerful NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 30-series discrete graphics.
Internal disc drive or is an external needed
No internal optical drive - pretty much everyone's started phasing them out at this point.
2 years, 11 months ago
by
Batlacit
The new Alienware x17 is super thin, extremely light laptop . Now’s your chance to game with gear that knows no boundaries. The Alienware x17 gaming laptops with advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech™ cooling defy boundaries. Introducing Element 31 thermal interface material and a Quad-Fan Design. We are incorporating more fan blades, more copper materials, and vapor chambers to deliver ample power while dissipating the heat more efficiently and allowing the fans to run less resulting in reduced noise. The x17 features five tailored power states, and grants access to thousands of games with Windows. Alienware laptops will bring your favorite games into hyper-reality with Windows DirectX 12 Ultimate. Constructed with magnesium alloy and aluminum parts gamers can experience the evolved Legend Industrial Design that reimagines the way you game. The Alienware x17 is equipped with 11th Gen Intel processors, has more storage options with dual drives featuring SSD and includes powerful NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 30-series discrete graphics.
Will the 1TB SSD be a Gen3 or a Gen4?
It uses PCIe 4.0. The drive that's included isn't the fastest I've seen, but it'll handily beat any of the last generation NVMe drives.
2 years, 11 months ago
by
Batlacit
The new Alienware x17 is super thin, extremely light laptop . Now’s your chance to game with gear that knows no boundaries. The Alienware x17 gaming laptops with advanced Alienware Cryo-Tech™ cooling defy boundaries. Introducing Element 31 thermal interface material and a Quad-Fan Design. We are incorporating more fan blades, more copper materials, and vapor chambers to deliver ample power while dissipating the heat more efficiently and allowing the fans to run less resulting in reduced noise. The x17 features five tailored power states, and grants access to thousands of games with Windows. Alienware laptops will bring your favorite games into hyper-reality with Windows DirectX 12 Ultimate. Constructed with magnesium alloy and aluminum parts gamers can experience the evolved Legend Industrial Design that reimagines the way you game. The Alienware x17 is equipped with 11th Gen Intel processors, has more storage options with dual drives featuring SSD and includes powerful NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 30-series discrete graphics.
I recently purchased this laptop. It came with windows 10 preinstalled. The product description tells that it has windows 11. Does that mean that I have to wait for the windows 11 update. Or is there an issue with my laptop
That'll depend on what date your laptop was manufactured. As of mid-October the factories aren't set up to load Windows 11 on new units yet, so they're shipping ones with Windows 10 with the keys needed to get the free update ASAP. Windows 11 is having something of a staggered rollout, with certain models getting the upgrade ahead of others. That said the one I received on 10/12 got the option to update within a day, so you might just need to check Windows Update to confirm that you actually want it.
2 years, 11 months ago
by
Batlacit
The Shark AI Ultra Robot Vacuum combines powerful vacuuming with Matrix Clean Navigation, leaving no spots missed for an ultra whole-home clean. Features include: powerful Shark suction power, Matrix Clean Navigation for a deeper cleaning, HEPA 60-day capacity base for collecting and trapping dust and allergens, and CleanEdge Technology for better edge cleaning.
WOW Awesome Can you please help me with what is the actual run time. Confuse with below- Up to 120 minutes of runtime for whole-home cleaning. And with Recharge and Resume, the robot will return to the dock, recharge, and can pick up where it left off
120 minutes is how much you might be able to get under optimal conditions assuming a battery that's close to brand new, a wide open room with nothing for the robot to get stuck on, and a floor that's already clean enough that it doesn't need to ramp up the suction for targeted cleaning. In other words, it's probably more than you'll get in day to day use. I wouldn't be that concerned about it though. The biggest advantage to having a robot with active navigation like this is that it knows where it was when it ran out of battery. So when it gets low it stops, returns to its dock, then picks up where it left off once it's gotten enough charge to finish the job. So long as it doesn't end up cut off from its charging base by a closed door or the like, it can stick with a cleaning job more or less indefinitely.
3 years ago
by
Batlacit
Stream Deck gives you 15 LCD keys to control your apps and tools. Trigger actions, launch social posts, adjust audio, play sound clips, activate lights, and much more. Get visual feedback to confirm your commands. Set Stream Deck to automatically switch key configurations as you jump between apps. It’s the ultimate workflow hack, and it’s fully customizable. Personalize your Stream Deck with custom icons, screensavers, and a growing range of interchangeable faceplates. Use the app to configure keys with ease, and hit the Stream Deck Store for app plugins, icon packs, thousands of royalty free tracks, effects, and more.
Elgato's website is pretty terrible. No real info and only list one model with no model number listed anywhere. What's different about this one versus the KAA model?
In terms of functionality it's pretty much identical. They've adopted a slightly different design for the stand which makes the whole thing look a bit more streamlined, added the option to remove and replace the faceplate for increased customization, and modernized the USB interface. I'd say it's more like a refresh of the original aimed at extending the product's lifespan than a wholly new device.
3 years, 1 month ago
by
Batlacit
Explore realistic 3D audio with sound precisely projected from above, in front, behind and to the side of you with the latest acoustic technologies.
What does this new 850A do that the 2020 year 950T cannot? Would this 850A be the big brother to the 950T or does the 950T provide a better sound experience since it it is a 9.1.4 system. I too am tossed which one to purchase.
The 950 is the next model up from the 850 - even with the 850A being newer it can't compete with a system that's got 6 additional channels to play with. You'll be better up with last year's 950 model.
3 years, 3 months ago
by
Batlacit