Last piece of Tech that made you go "WOW!!"?

HangTime said:
-Some have nostalgic feeling towards a different era in their lives when they experienced a particular bit of tech
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I think you're right here. I know that if I played any 'WOW' games on computers or consoles of the past today, it would purely be for nostalgic reasons and in a way, most likely spoil them because it wouldn't be how I remember them and would just look very dated.

I think that the other reason there were so many WOWs with old tech, is that, (in my case) the C64 was the first home computer that had proper music from the SID chip and graphics where the colours of the sprites didn't overlap onto other objects ala Spectrum. When I got the Megadrive, the graphics and music were such a step up and almost matched arcade machines.

From a PC point of view, I clearly remember when I upgraded my 486 to a Pentium 100 and played Screamer and System Shock, my jaw dropped when I saw how smoothly they ran compared to the jerk-o-vision from the 486 and likewise when I got the first Voodoo card.

I think that the problem with PC tech today is that when a new CPU or GPU is released, the only way to see their performance gains is through benchmarking. A lot of the games don't show this because they're console ports and you'll only see the difference if you're using a high-end 27"+ monitor or multi-monitor setup where the performance is needed to keep the frame rate up at a high resolution with full AA etc. on, I think that's why my M4 impressed me so much because it provides a noticable difference under normal everyday use.

Also, graphics are so good these days when you look at things like BF3 / MW3, so we've been a bit spoilt compared to the games of the past. I think that's why we're so complacent about how good game graphics are these days and I don't think we'll have our next 'WOW' until we get real-time rendered photo realistic graphics......Elder Scrolls VI with photo realistic graphics, fully immersible 3D graphics using a head tracking pair of 3D glasses and voice recognition so you can speak to NPCs and other players anyone? :D
 
hmmm good question,

original iPhone was a revelation
Going from walking to a car
logitech harmony remote was a recent wow
40'' HD LCD TV after 28'' CRT
OS X in 2008 after i ditched all Windows hardware

that's about it
 
This is a hard one - I really enjoyed the first nintendo DS, getting that and mario kart ds durning free periods was great craic lol

I'm going to have a think some more and I'l reply if I can think of anything extra
 
My G700 Logitech Gaming mouse. It feels and weighs like a quality well made product should.

Also my Dell 2407 Monitor. I went from a CRT to that and was blown away. Showing its age now but I still love it.
 
The new iPad has really wowed me. The screen is gorgeous and the camera is amazing. That and the sheer graphical horsepower it has. Was twiddling around with a 1080p video recording, spinning and zooming it around whilst it was playing and it didn't miss a beat :eek:
 
Definitely my Hazro 27 in screen - has improved my ability to multitask so much compared to my former 1080p monitor. You can actually watch something and browse full webpages side by side
 
hmmm,

- Spectrum 128+2 -> Amiga 500 (from tapes to disks, and crap gfx to full colour).
- Amiga 1200 (installing my 1st HDD).
- 1st 3DFX card.
- 1st mobile phone.
- Going from dial-up to the 1st cable modems in 1998.

Everything else afterwards was just improvements, to stuff I started to take for granted.
 
"a pair of voodoo 2 3dfx cards in SLI dropped into my rig back in the 90's"

Seconded-mine were free-one liberated from a stand and other send by PR company. Wargasm looked amazing and I saw the future! Since then my Hann's G 27.5in monitor replacing my 20.5 inch Iyama CRT and Watching Arma 2 improve from 1 4890 on a Wolfdale E8400 at 4Ghz to 4890 Sli and Overclockers 920 at 4ghz with 4890 SLI to 5970/5870 Trifire to 6990x2 Quadfire -Arma 2 looks brilliant and all other games easily maxed out. Want Eyefinity but CPU's can't drive it yet and GPU's haven't enough memory for 5760/1200 (for Arma 2 and no doubt 3 not console ports)
 
Back in the day Matrox Millennium Gxxxx (something or other) dual Head graphics card. Running two CRT's off one card. I wow'ed and my non-geek friends were just aghast!

Poking and Peeking on a Commodore 64 and the Amiga and Everquest, broadband...and...and..and...
 
Dell 3008WFP - a monitor

Samsung D8000 55in TV (Last year at CES) - a TV

Crucial M4's when the price went down and the rev009 came out - an SSD
 
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