Electric Gadget Time
Author
Discussion

lazyitus

Original Poster:

19,930 posts

289 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
Come on folks, what shall I buy?

I've got the urge to but some state of the art technology. This doesn't happen very often. The last time was probably 15 years ago.

Do I get an ipod, a plasma telly, a bang & Ol stereo?

What's THE in thing to have at the moment?

Dakkon

7,829 posts

276 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
Herpies?

viper_larry

4,365 posts

279 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
How much you wanna spend???

Mini Mac, that's what I have the urge for...

>> Edited by viper_larry on Monday 14th February 13:39

lazyitus

Original Poster:

19,930 posts

289 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
viper_larry said:
How much you wanna spend???

Mini Mac, that's what I have the urge for...



Not too sure. Anywhere between £100 - £1000.

Depends what takes my eye.

viper_larry

4,365 posts

279 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
You'd be lucky to get a decent plasma telly for that!

How about a Media Centre PC? TomTom Go? Road Angel 2? Mini Mac? iPod...

>> Edited by viper_larry on Monday 14th February 13:44

milfordkong

1,305 posts

255 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
Hmm some serious price difference between an ipod and a plasma/B&O stereo eh?

TV wise, supposedly clever to wait a little for larger LCD sets to emerge, better technology and longer lives apparently.

With the ipod i'd go for the sony equivalent, the NW-HD3 I believe, I have an ipod and aside from being a thing of beauty it's a pain in the ass, battery life and reliability will be greatly improved with the sony. Not as much of a fashion statement sure, but you're less likely to get robbed by little chav morons who see those white earphones and cream themselves.

Andy



>> Edited by milfordkong on Monday 14th February 13:45

thebluemonkey

1,296 posts

263 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
lazyitus said:
Do I get an ipod, a plasma telly, a bang & Ol stereo?

What's THE in thing to have at the moment?



B&O are releasing a new range of stereo systems sometime next year so personally I'd go with a Beovision 7 LCD TV, which happens to be the best about or a home theatre PC as that isn't just technology it's a new way of life as is an ipod if you haven't had anything like it before.

lazyitus

Original Poster:

19,930 posts

289 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
thebluemonkey said:

I'd go with a Beovision 7 LCD TV


Very Nice!

not cheap

thebluemonkey

1,296 posts

263 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
lazyitus said:

thebluemonkey said:

I'd go with a Beovision 7 LCD TV



Very Nice!

not cheap


No, but if you look at it in the context of resale value then it isn't much more expensive than a cheap LCD. 5 year old Avants are still going for large amounts of money on ebay where's other televisions that aren't even 3 years old are pretty much worthless. It is also future proofed with an upgradable HDMI connection on the back which is almost certainly what sky are going to use for HDTV for copyright reasons. 4 years warranty and excellent customer support is also a bit of a bonus. If you pop over to www.beoworld.co.uk and have a look in the forums, there are a few reviews.

cinque

833 posts

305 months

Monday 14th February 2005
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Just a quick Q (and prepared to be wronged!) isnt B&O just rebranded Philips components?????

thebluemonkey

1,296 posts

263 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
cinque said:
Just a quick Q (and prepared to be wronged!) isnt B&O just rebranded Philips components?????


Sort of, they do use Philips components in some of their stuff. They also design all the control electronics themselves. The Beovision 7 uses a Samsung screen I seem to remember. This is actually more common than you think, there are several £10k CD players that use a Philips transport but their own control electronics and DACS. It would be impossible for them to build systems at even twice the price if they designed all the components themselves and so they pick the best from the parts bins and design all the control electronics themselves, that's the bit that really makes the difference in picture quality. They also place glass over the screen with their own contrast enhancing coating on them, hence why they go pitch black when they are turned off. It's just a bit of a myth with some basis in reality.

lanciachris

3,357 posts

264 months

Monday 14th February 2005
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We have a b&o av 9000 at home my mum would be glad to see rid of. My dad would probably strangle you before letting it go though

av 9000 - one of the ones that turns to face the remote when you switch it on!

lotuslad

5,253 posts

277 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
I'm thinking of getting an ipod at the mo. Only thing is I'm not sure that I need one. I don't listen to music when I'm walking along as I have caught myself singing/walking in a bit of a funky way before. I mainly want one because it's a lovely design and I can have loads of albums in the car. I suppose I could have a go at this downloading business too. Can they be plugged into stereos?

thebluemonkey

1,296 posts

263 months

Monday 14th February 2005
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lotuslad said:
Can they be plugged into stereos?


If you get one with a dock then it has a line out on the back of it. Someone also does a remote for them which clips on the top, don't know if they're any good though.

Just realised that you probably meant car stereos, you can plug them into the aux in normally or be really flash and get an alpine headunit which supports a direct interface and shows all your playlists and artists on its screen.

lotuslad

5,253 posts

277 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
Ah sorry, I meant my home hi-fi. Everyone seems to use those iTrip thingies for their cars.

I really want one, but I'm not quite sure why.

b17nns

18,506 posts

270 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
milfordkong said:
TV wise, supposedly clever to wait a little for larger LCD sets to emerge, better technology and longer lives apparently.


Or buy your Plasma from John Lewis (5 year guarantee)

sadako

7,080 posts

261 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
If you want a media centre PC MSI are making a very nice looking barebone. It just itches for a hauppague PVR350 card and mythTV

ed- Dont bother with windows media centre edition, its crap. If you do want windows use XP pro, service pack 2 and media portal - if you remove useless stuff like the themes service its much more efficient

>> Edited by sadako on Monday 14th February 15:28

Zod

35,295 posts

281 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
sadako said:
If you want a media centre PC MSI are making a very nice looking barebone. It just itches for a hauppague PVR350 card and mythTV

ed- Dont bother with windows media centre edition, its crap. If you do want windows use XP pro, service pack 2 and media portal - if you remove useless stuff like the themes service its much more efficient

>> Edited by sadako on Monday 14th February 15:28
It's not crap. It's actually very good. I just got a hoojum Cubit 5 with XP Media Centre 2005. It's a fabulous piece of kit.

_Dobbo_

14,619 posts

271 months

Monday 14th February 2005
quotequote all
I think media center 2005 is the good'un but previously media center was a bit lacking.

IN responseo to another post - I would be amazed if the John Lewis guarantee covered the screen degrading through usage...