I finally got a new laptop, and it’s the Dell XPS 13 2016 edition!
You’ll have seen the Dell XPS 13 laptop on my blog before, and if you follow me you’ll know how much I like this laptop, and how highly I rate it. I have actually had this for a couple of months now, but just got round to writing about it, I’ve been too busy using it!
WOW…Just Wow!
Back in the day which feels like a lifetime ago (and it was in tech terms) I got a MacBook Pro. That was the first of the unibody Macbooks, way back in 2008. It was beautiful, a design masterpiece, and it’s something which Apple has tweaked and changed over the past few years, but the general design remains the same. Back then it was probably the best looking laptop on the market, and I fancied trying out OSX too…I was not much of a fan, and put Windows on it, and it was still the best Windows offering at the time; Well there may have been a VAIO but I’d already had one of those and wanted a changed.
So if you’ve been reading my blog you’ll have seen my desk of a fashion blogger post where I shared my physical space of where I blog on a day to day basis.
I love a desktop, but I do have a laptop too, and have been thinking lately of getting an upgrade.
If you’re getting presents for a man, or buying yourself something, you can’t go wrong with a bit of tech. Tech can be cheap, but it’s usually expensive, and with everything, you get what you pay for. If you’re looking for some brand new tech, or looking to upgrade something you have, here’s a couple of ideas to get you started.
I have to recommend the JXD S7800 tablet. It’s a gaming tablet, so it has hardware buttons and controls which is essential for gaming. I bought myself one of these and reviewed it here. It’s a brilliant device for playing old retro games, so if you’re 25+ and remember the good old days of arcades, Megadrives, NES, SNES, Dreamcast, Saturn, PS1 and more, you’ll love this and spend countless hours on it. Better still it’s only around £130.
I have to recommend an iPad Mini 2, because a few months back I took the plunge and got one. I decided that I actually did not need the bigger screen of the iPad Pro, and replaced my original iPad 2 with one of these. Sure, it is smaller, but after months of using it I can honestly say the size has not made too much difference, and I really enjoy using it. The biggest selling point is the price, £259 for a 32GB model is such a good price for this device, which will last for a couple of years, no less than a bigger iPad Air.
If you’re into gaming and have still not got one of the latest generations of consoles, now is the time. There’s great deals on both the XBOX One and PS4, you just have to decide which one is for you (or be greedy and get both).
If you want premium sound, the H6 headphones from Bang & Olufsen is definitely one way to get that. They’ve been around for a while, and now do the H8 which are Bluetooth, but I prefer a hard wired connection which will never compromise the quality. They are expensive at around £280, but are worth the purchase for those looking for a serious sound with style.
If money is not an object, and you want to buy a high end piece of tech which most will not have, the DJI Phanton 3 drone will fit the bill. It will cost you upwards of £600, but this is very much the Rolls Royce of drones. With features like an intelligent flight system, GPS which you can map out a route and it will fly to that and return home, it’s easy to use. The camera records upto 2.7K video, half 4K, and can snap 12MP photos in it’s journey which can be anything up to 25 minutes on a full charge.
The Marshall Amps are an iconic design, anyone who likes rock or guitar music or has any kind of music knowledge will instantly recognise the design of this Bluetooth speaker. Coming in at around £170 it’s reasonably priced, and for that you do get this really nice design, which will look great in any bedroom, lounge, dining room or kitchen.
It was launched a few months ago on the back of the successful Surface Pro 3, the Surface Pro 4 looks to build upon that and goes from strength to strength. If you want a laptop replacement this should be worth considering, and if you travel a lot it could save you lots of space as well as being powerful. These start at £749, for power I’d recommend starting at the 256GB/i5/8GB Ram option, which is £1079.
If a new laptop or an upgrade is something you’re looking at, Dell has the one for you. If I was going to get a new laptop I’d have to seriously consider the Dell XPS 13 with the brand new 6th Generation Processor. The XPS 13 (9350) comes with a touchscreen and an infinity display, with an i7, Windows 10, 8GB Ram and a 256GB SSD Drive. All that comes in at just over a grand, £1149 in fact. High end ultrabooks don’t look better than this, and if you want to spend even more you can max this thing out for £1649 and get a 1TB SSD Drive and 16GB Ra. Did I mention it was only 1.29KG.
So that’s the top gadgets this year for Christmas, hopefully you’ll get something here, buy one for someone or buy yourself something 😉
I love retro gaming! I was lucky enough to be born when I was, and so I had games machines like the NES, and a few SNES and Sega Megadrive consoles too; Those to me are my childhood, and when I got a bit older came the PlayStation/Dreamcast/N64 generation; and I had the best one, the PlayStation.
Between those I had others, in the handheld department I had an Atari Lynx and SEGA Game Gear, I also had an Atari Jaguar, and computers including Atari ST along with a whole host of Amigas, including a few Amiga 1200’s, which was probably my favourite in the computer department.
Christmas is only a week away, so time is ticking away for getting presents! The last date for UK Christmas post is Friday 19th December for 1st Class, some online shops are still offering next day delivery until Monday 22nd December, and of course there’s always good old traditional shops if you wanna go in store and grab a last minute pressie! 😉
I finally got myself a new lens, the infamous cheap “Nifty Ffity“. I read good reviews on this, and it’s a “must have” if you believe what you read. It has some good features such as 1.8f aperture which lets in a whole load of light which is great, coming from a 3.5f aperture on my lens kit.
I have been in need of a new pocket camera for a while. Over Four years ago I got the Sony HX10 which was an amazing camera, really good quality, it fit in my pocket and went with me on many journeys including London and Stockholm, as well as countless nights out.
I’ve been using a DSLR for 2 or 3 years now, and I love it, I don’t think I could do without one, and even thought of getting myself up the DSLR ladder with a new camera. But first thing is first, and I wanted to get a new compact camera.
My iPhone is pretty decent when taking snaps when I have no other option, and it’s always with me, but the quality is lacking. Is there still a market for a camera which sits in-between a camera-phone and a DSLR? I think so.
I have been looking around for a long time for the perfect camera with the qualities I need. First of all I want great quality images. Second it has to fit in my pocket; I’m not talking jacket pocket, I’m talking about it fitting in my jeans comfortably. Those two features are what I am looking for, and everything else is a bonus. I decided on the Samsung NX Mini, and I have to say it’s really good! 🙂
Something we long for is a quality camera in our phones. But we always want more, better quality pics all the time without having to resort to using a separate compact camera or DSLR camera for ultimate in photo quality. Camera phones are pretty good now, and will always get better, we have the Nokia Lumia 1020 which packs a 41MP camera into a phone, and many cameras can be connected to your phone’s WIFI, so you can share your high quality snaps on Instagram or your favourite social networks.
It’s the question I have been asking myself for months, and will probably still be asking after I have bought one of them. Which do you go for, the PS4 or the XBOX One? Here is a little comparison between the two, and how they stack up…
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