My last couple of supposedly 'never go back' purchases, a SSD drive and a mechanical keyboard, have left me somewhat nonplussed. Nice, to be sure, but far from the overwhelming experience I'd prepared myself for based on the reactions of others. They carried a big price premium (compared to conventional drives/keyboards) and the improvement certainly didn't feel like it outweighed the cost associated with it.
So anyway, that got me to thinking. What was the last tech purchase I've made where I've gone "WOW, that is totally awesome, way better than I was expecting, money well spent!". So I thought...
...and I thought...
...and I thought some more.
I'm actually struggling to come up with something. Not strictly computer hardware, but probably my phone (HTC Desire HD) that I got around 15 months ago. Did pretty much everything I wanted from it, loads of great usability tweaks like automatic text wrapping, making it easy to search for stuff, unexpected extras that I've ended up using a lot like the Flashlight app.
If I restrict it to PC hardware, it gets even more tricky. I'm looking around my desk, looking at what I've got plugged in, what's in the case, what boxes I have scattered around. What have I got:
-Logtech G5 mouse: Seems no better than the MX518 it replaced
-Zowie Celeritas keyboard: Doesn't seem earth-shattering compared to my old G15
-Shure SRH840 headphones: Very nice but cost over £100 and not a massive step up from my Sennheiser HD555
-Viewsonic VX2268WM monitor: Obviously a lot better than 75hz TFT alongside it, but aside from the practicality (size/weight) no better than a big CRT
-OCZ Agility 3 SSD: Windows is a bit slicker but boot times nothing to write home about and transfer speeds don't seem noticeably better than my better mechanical drives. Only running in SATA2 mode but was expecting more.
To be honest, I think the most recent bit of kit that impressed me was probably my motherboard, an MSI P55 GD65. Only cost £64 about 2.5 years ago which seems like a pretty good deal to me, good for overclocking, good features for the time, although the lack of USB3 and SATA3 is showing a little now.
So how about you?
So anyway, that got me to thinking. What was the last tech purchase I've made where I've gone "WOW, that is totally awesome, way better than I was expecting, money well spent!". So I thought...
...and I thought...
...and I thought some more.
I'm actually struggling to come up with something. Not strictly computer hardware, but probably my phone (HTC Desire HD) that I got around 15 months ago. Did pretty much everything I wanted from it, loads of great usability tweaks like automatic text wrapping, making it easy to search for stuff, unexpected extras that I've ended up using a lot like the Flashlight app.
If I restrict it to PC hardware, it gets even more tricky. I'm looking around my desk, looking at what I've got plugged in, what's in the case, what boxes I have scattered around. What have I got:
-Logtech G5 mouse: Seems no better than the MX518 it replaced
-Zowie Celeritas keyboard: Doesn't seem earth-shattering compared to my old G15
-Shure SRH840 headphones: Very nice but cost over £100 and not a massive step up from my Sennheiser HD555
-Viewsonic VX2268WM monitor: Obviously a lot better than 75hz TFT alongside it, but aside from the practicality (size/weight) no better than a big CRT
-OCZ Agility 3 SSD: Windows is a bit slicker but boot times nothing to write home about and transfer speeds don't seem noticeably better than my better mechanical drives. Only running in SATA2 mode but was expecting more.
To be honest, I think the most recent bit of kit that impressed me was probably my motherboard, an MSI P55 GD65. Only cost £64 about 2.5 years ago which seems like a pretty good deal to me, good for overclocking, good features for the time, although the lack of USB3 and SATA3 is showing a little now.
So how about you?
.
