Fellow forumgoers,
Black Friday is nearly upon us. Have you got a shopping list this year? Need suggestions for X category of electronic device you’re hoping to pick up? Post your list here, and we can all pitch in to help each other find the best deals on the best gadgets, games, or whatever.
Amazon are already posting deals, but I can’t figure out whether they’re the final deals or whether the deals are going to get better when actual Black Friday week rolls around. If anyone knows, please clarify.
My list this year:
My only “must-have” this year was more HDD space. I currently have 1.5 TB of storage - a 1TB WD Caviar Black that I keep my Steam games on, and an old 500GB Seagate that I ripped out of an external enclosure that I keep data on. The Seagate is filled to bursting, and on top of that, it’s nearly seven years old, so I was looking to replace it. I settled on two WD Caviar Green 3TB drives. According to reviews, it performs respectably for a 5400 RPM drive, and on top of that, it runs cool and quiet and has low power draw. I’ll be striping the two I bought to overcome that 5400 RPM limit. Even so, the most demanding thing I’m expecting to do with these drives is stream HD video from them. Right now on Amazon, the 3TB WD Caviar Green is 41% off, which is the best savings in the entire line. I went ahead and ordered these already, which I hope I don’t regret.
I’m also looking to up my audio game, with either a gaming headset or separate headphones and mic and possibly a sound card to drive them. Amazon has a variety of headphones at 50%+ off right now. The last time a headset rec thread showed up in this forum, the overwhelming consensus seemed to be that you should get separate headphones and a good compression mic rather than an integrated gaming headset. This is one department where I’m a complete novice. I’ve tried to pick a few headphone/mic candidates from roundup reviews, but without even a baseline knowledge of the brands that are out there, I’m finding that I don’t trust my judgement. To be clear: I’m looking for mid-level audiophile headphones and compression mic, as “gaming” headphones seem to universally get a bad rap. Sound cards, on the other hand, seem pretty clear cut: the Asus Xonar Essence line come out on top in most roundup reviews. The Essence appear to be music-oriented, though; the Asus Xonar Phoebus, on the other hand, are gaming oriented, and appears to be good all-around cards. I’m looking to game and record voice. The other thing is that I’m thinking forwards to the Oculus Rift/Virtuix Omni combo, which I’ll be first in line for unless I’m for some reason destitute at that point. As such, wireless headphones would be a boon, as I won’t strangle myself with the cord while I’m circling on the Omni.
I guess I also want a new swiveling desk chair. Preferably with both a mesh back and bottom, cuz I got a sweaty ass.
