Posts Tagged ‘usb port’

I am your father…or…at least your USB port

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Happy Friday all!  Dunno about you guys, but I’ve had a bit of a long week, and am looking forward to my weekend.  Therefore, I decided we need a bit of a break today from ‘pure’ gaming news.  Let’s call it Funny Friday…or Just for fun (cause it’s Friday?).

Whatever you want to call it, I found this one for the die hard Star Wars fans out there: Star Wars USB hubs.  They’re both have 4 USB ports available and are going to run in the neighborhood of $66 when the Japanese decide to release them upon the rest of the world.  Geekstuff4u.com is offering a pre-order sale here.

Both of these guys take up a massive amount of desk space, and again, only offer 4 extra ports.  In other words, unless you know who TK421 is, and why he isn’t at his post, there’s probably little chance you’re going to grab one of these up anytime soon.  BUT…if you do know that Han shot first, and think that these things smelled bad on the outside…well then step right up!

Darth and R2 both have animated bodies, light up features, and make sounds (that can be turned on or off…depending on your current state of animosity towards your Star Trek loving workmates) every three minutes while connected to a computer.  Darth’s eye glow red (ummm…which episode was that again?) and scan for intruders, while R2 beeps and spins his head looking for…errr…yeah.

Anyway you look at it, these USB hubs are big space takers, have only 4 ports, glow, beep, and ogle.  Practical?  Absolutely not.  Possibly one of the biggest badges of Star Wars fandom you can display on your desk (while still getting away with….but it’s practical..it’s a USB port)?  You Betcha!

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Best Gaming Mouse? Logitech vs. Razer

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

So here’s the thing, how are YOU controlling your gaming experience? I ask only because I recently got a new rig, and of course I had the “shiny new toy, let me buy some other toys to go with it’s shopping” experience afterward.

That being said, I use my machine not only for pwning some n00bs, but also for graphics (photoshop and illustrator) and purchased a wacom bamboo graphics tablet. I also like to edit video, and purchased a NuLOOQ to rapidly scrub through unedited video (it also makes for a very handy iTunes controller).

But when it came time for a main HID, I really started to look around. I’ve had the Logitech MX Laser pretty much since the first day it came out (before it was even labeled the MX1000 laser) and have been very happy with it. But lets face it, we’re all techno junkies, and if there’s something better out there: well goddamnit, I gotta have it!

So I started searching various other forums and pages, reviews and corporate homepages. The two names that I saw over and over were Logitech and Razer.

Logitech:

Logitech offers 5 ‘Gaming Grade‘ mice with only one cordless option. Sure, everyone tells me that I’m going to get a better response from a corded mouse, but personally, I’ve used a wireless mouse for so long now, I’m not sure I could really go back to giving up another USB port. But hey, maybe I really don’t know what I’m missing.

The two Logitech that showed up most often were the G7 (cordless, btw) and the G5 (corded, but with a swanky skin over it). While the G5 offers a custom weighting option, it looks as though the G7 does not. Similarly, Logitech’s newest offering the G9 also offers the included weights that you can either insert or remove from the mouse to fine tune you playing style. Neat concept, but I haven’t read any “OMFG u gotta get the G9, FTW!” reviews. It also looks slightly odd in my opinion. And alas, none of these mice have Mac support, which may not be the death bell, because technically, the MX1000 Laser doesn’t offer mac support either, but yet, a quick trip to the support downloads does offer a Mac OSX driver. Again, I know it’s time for a new mouse.

Razer:

Razer’s got 10 offerings currently available for your pwning pleasure. Until recently, Mac users were forced to deal with the (in my opinion) cheesy cousin of razer’s badboys. But, as of April 29th, Razer’s added the DeathAdder Mac edition for those of us playing on Jobs’ OS.

What can’t be said about Razer? I had the opportunity to use the Boomslang Collectors edition at a friends place, and I can honestly say that it’s the smoothest, most comfortable, most responsive mouse I’ve ever used, gaming or no gaming. Alas, no mac love for the collectors edition. Sure, I’ve read the forums where I can try and trick the mac into believing that it’s a mouse (as it normally shows up as a keyboard upon a simple plug in), but really, it’s just not as good as original drivers.

Fair enough, I’ll grant that Razer is not offering a cordless option, and maybe I should be taking notes on this one. Razer offers a wide variety of mice each with it’s own twists and quirks, sizes and weights.

So really: now it’s your turn *peeps* hit me back in the comments, what’s your personal preference when it comes to the mouse FTW!?