Technology Nerd Thread

[The Chosen One]

For once Zito I may have to say you're right.

The matte black Moto360 does not look as great as the stainless steel with stone leather...

I'm going to take mine back today and switch it out for the other one.

Apparently Moto is releasing a stainless steel band for the watch next month but some people have used the Pebble Smart Watch as an alternative and cheap.

[zitothebrave]

I like the Matte black for my styling, I go with very flat colors, but for flash, the stone leather is way better. I think most watch people like the stone leather one.

On an unrelated note, lots of talk from Google today. Announed the Nexus 6, Nexus 9 Nexus Player, and Lollipop.

Nexus 9 is an 8.9 inch tablet (same size as the big Kindle fire), is powered by a Tegra K1 chip, which like the ipad and iphone is a 64 bit chip, and like those devices, it doesn't hvae the 3 gigs of ram required to take advantage of the 64 bit architecture. Pricing is 399 for 16 gigs and 479 for 32 gigs. I'm kinda flat on this one, the spiritual successor to the Nexus 10 is less nexus, more iPad, not really a fan of that.

Nexus 6 though, what a beast. 5.9 inch quad HD, Snapdragon 805, 3,220 MAH battery, and it's price is high compared to other Nexus models, but it's the first Nexus to take top flight specs, at 649 for 32 gigs, it's cheaper than the Note 4 and IPhone 6 plus. Half tempted to pick it up on contract for VZW.

Nexus player is an unneccesary device. Basically Google taking on Fire TV head on. I'm sure it's better then Fire TV cause Google Voice Search is king, but I don't see the need for it aside from trying to take a little market share from Amazon and Apple on the "gaming" side. The one saving grace for this and why I won't call it DOA, I want to see how smart Android TV is.

[The Chosen One]

I don't like the stone leather band, just the silver watch itself. But since I'm getting an alternate band anyways it doesn't matter.

I agree that I usually go plain with black (black gamecube, ps3, 3dsxl, wii, phones, etc) but I do not like the matte black after buying it and holding it. Looked better in pictures. etc. The silver looks much more beautiful and I'll be buying the black leather band from moto and switch it out with the stainless steel anyways from time tot ime.

[Krgrecw]

Apple announced the 5k iMac today. **** looks nice

[zitothebrave]

Apple announced the 5k iMac today. **** looks nice

Looks nice, not sure the application. That high of a resolution is great for many things, but is there anything that will utilize it to it's potential? Or just apple attempting to future proof it's product with some buzz.

[zitothebrave]

Didn't know this about the Nexus 9, kind of crazy

http://gizmodo.com/nexus-9-benchmark...pro-1647454837

Yes is is an over 2 year old model, but a tablet with the processing power of a 2 year old workstation.

[mossy]

Nexus 6 though, what a beast. 5.9 inch quad HD, Snapdragon 805, 3,220 MAH battery, and it's price is high compared to other Nexus models, but it's the first Nexus to take top flight specs, at 649 for 32 gigs, it's cheaper than the Note 4 and IPhone 6 plus. Half tempted to pick it up on contract for VZW.

How would you rate the camera against the iPhone 6? I know there's been a lot of anticipation over this phone, so I'm curious where it ranks. Am I correct that it's probably not on Verizon? Since our family business pays my cell phone bill, I'm tied to that carrier.

[zitothebrave]

It's probably behind the iPhone 6s, I don't know what it is about Motorola but their cameras lag behind the competition, that being said if you're a competent photographer you should rock it.

This site has some camera samples and I can't notice an issue wit hit (that being said, not a photo expert)

http://bgr.com/2014/10/17/nexus-6-specs-camera-sample/

And Verizon is slated to get it. i'm shocked they are but that's the rumor and it' a more than solid one. Verizon has softened their stance on bloatware. IIRC on newer VZW phones you can remove their bloatware.

[Hawk]

My Note 4 arrives on Monday -- will be making an incremental upgrade from the 3 but still excited to see the changes Samsung has made.

In other news: I need to buy a new laptop. The logic board in my first gen 15" macbook retina is on its last legs. I can get about $1K for it in trade ... any recommendations for a portable desktop replacement powerhouse 15" lappy between 1K-2K other than just upgrading?

[zitothebrave]

Some laptops I love in that range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA24G1S91710

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops...w-series/w540/

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops...eries/y50-uhd/

I'd like ethis at 300 bucks cheaper

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/NP940X5J-K02US

There's a few others I can recommend if you let me know why you do or don't like some of them.

[zitothebrave]

Lenovo interested in buying blackberry, could be an interesting deal since they're already owners of Motorola. Maybe their goal is to bring a highly business android solution, or something totally different. I'm not sure.

[Hawk]

There's a few others I can recommend if you let me know why you do or don't like some of them.

Out of those I liked the Y50 alot, had also been considering the ATIVbook.

- I worry about build quality and how well any of them (non-Apple products) might age and retain resell value.
- I worry about losing a Retina quality screen.
- Can they handle a game like Civ 5 for 10 hours straight without the battery swelling? This is how I mortally wounded my Macbook.

I appreciate the fact that I can still move my MBP two years after I bought it, damaged, and recoup 50% of what I originally paid (which was extortionate to begin with, but I digress).

I feel like I'm on the verge of trading my old Mercedes for a brand new loaded Kia. It's weird.

[zitothebrave]

PCs don't hold their value the same as Macs. That being said, a high end PC keeps it's value pretty well. I have a 3-4 year old XPS 15 i5 6 GB RAM, 2GB GeForce graphics, high res screen, etc. Spent about 1,400 on it new, if the case wasn't busted up, could probably still get 500-600 for it, scrapped for parts I could probably about 500 for it (200 for processor, 100 for graphics, 100 for screen, and 100 from assorted other dell parts which hold value. I'm trying to repurpose the parts into a desktop instead as a 500 dollar desktop now typically doesn't give me that nice of a rig For about 600 I can get one with twice the ram and a current gen i5 but it would have intel HD graphics. I'm in PC limbo now. Love my chromebook for things like talking on here. Need something more powerful for games though, my current desktop is almost a decade old and doesn't have the graphics capability I need for newer games.

[Krgrecw]

Out of those I liked the Y50 alot, had also been considering the ATIVbook.

- I worry about build quality and how well any of them (non-Apple products) might age and retain resell value.
- I worry about losing a Retina quality screen.
- Can they handle a game like Civ 5 for 10 hours straight without the battery swelling? This is how I mortally wounded my Macbook.

I appreciate the fact that I can still move my MBP two years after I bought it, damaged, and recoup 50% of what I originally paid (which was extortionate to begin with, but I digress).

I feel like I'm on the verge of trading my old Mercedes for a brand new loaded Kia. It's weird.

Just get the 5k iMac. I'm sure that would be pretty sweet for gaming.

[zitothebrave]

Just get the 5k iMac. I'm sure that would be pretty sweet for gaming.

I may be wrong, but he asked for a 15.6 laptop, I'm pretty sure a 27 inch iMac is the opposite of what he wants.

Hawk, there's a y50 with an ultra HD display,

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops...eries/y50-uhd/

It's resolution is 3840x2160 which is higher than Macbook's 2880x1800

[Krgrecw]

I was being sarcastic.

Hawk, there is a retina MacBook air coming out early spring with a Buttonless trackpad if you can hold out for a while

[The Chosen One]

I just got 2.5 days out of my moto360 on airplane mode.

[Hawk]

Had a price alert set for the Moto 360 and snagged a Grey Leather one for $227 all in from Amazon with guaranteed delivery on Wednesday. Read good things about the latest firmware update, but now wondering if I should just cancel. Owned the original Galaxy Gear but felt buyers remorse within 24 hours of unboxing so want to avoid the same mistake twice.

Zito/Sav -- are you still happy with your purchase?

[The Chosen One]

Depends what you want from it.

I like it as a watch, don't care for texting and all the other features.

I'm waiting for the market to release tons of apps for this soon.

I love the custom watch faces you can download. I have yet to really use this thing to it's potential. If you want a nice replacement band get the Pebble Stainless Steel replacement. It looks like a real watch now.

And as I mentioned above I got 2.5 days out of this on airplane mode. With bluetooth on I get a full day.

Maybe you got galaxy gear remorse because of the square shaped design looking like a gizmo gadget than a watch? This thing looks and feels like a watch on my wrist.

[Hawk]

Just get the 5k iMac. I'm sure that would be pretty sweet for gaming.

I would, but I am on the road 85% of the year so need something portable and powerful. Went with the MBA for about 6 months in 2012 ... loved the mobility, battery life, and aesthetic but found it underpowered.