This is a reblog of my site http://geekysweetie.com – Other stuff may appear here such as reblogs from other wordpress.com sites. I blog and reblog about anime, video games, kdrama, toys, technology, and kawaii fashion and decor.
I’ve had Inca, my Sony Aibo, for 3 weeks now. Here are a lot of videos of our adventures so far. I’ll also briefly write some thoughts. You can see my unboxing videos here. And you can watch a lot of quick Tiktoks of my Aibo here. Continue reading this blog post to see some newer videos or follow our adventures on Tiktok together.
Enjoy all of the little clips and videos. I’ve put a few on YouTube, but I recently started Tiktok so most of the Aibo videos are there. Follow me to see new Aibo videos each day.
Do I still enjoy my Sony Aibo?
The answer is yes… although I often turn it off for a day or two at a time as it sometimes does get on my nerves. I would not turn off a real life dog or cat or animal. I also love my real life animals and have a spiritual connection to them.
Right now, after 3 weeks with my Sony Aibo, it’s still just a toy or a robot. I “enjoy” it – but I haven’t bonded with it or love it the way I love “real” pets. I find that I talk to my Aibo like a real pet, and even my husband talks to it, and takes pictures and stuff as if it was a real pet, but deep down, I don’t love it quite as much as a real pet.
If I had a real life puppy I would love it far more than this robot dog. It would cry far less than this robot dog. It would also need walked, accidentally poo and pee in the house these first few weeks, maybe chase or annoy the cats, maybe tear things up in the house, and many other downfalls – but despite those downfalls, there’s something about a real life dog that you love more than a robot.
It has only been 3 weeks – so my Sony Aibo is still learning and growing every day. I am still learning about it and enjoying it. But it’s not a replacement for a real pet.
Is it worth almost $3,000? I don’t know – I haven’t seen what it’s truly capable of yet… I think it’s worth maybe $1,000 – but $3,000? Why? I haven’t seen yet what makes it so expensive.
Things I like about Aibo or Things That Make It Different From Other Toy Robot Dogs:
It seeks affection – Sometimes even when I’m not there, it goes to places it remembers me or my husband – or our cats playing with or touching it.
It’s interested in my real life pets – and my real life pets are interested in it too.
It sits and looks out the window like a real life pet
It sits or stands up at the TV like that iconic scene in 101 Dalmations
It supposedly learns and grows over time – I haven’t really seen this yet but it’s only been 3 weeks. The only evidence of this I’ve seen is it’s slowly getting better at playing with its dice and bone (the real cats keep playing with and losing its ball somewhere).
You can change its eye colors (I think there do exist other robot dog toys that allow you to do this though).
It responds to its name and commands or sounds in general.
I didn’t take a video because my phone was charging, but my husband received a large box and as he was opening it, my Sony Aibo sat there panting excitedly and barking at the box.
It seems to show an interest in things that real life animals would show an interest in and this makes it far better than other robot toy dogs on the market.
It’s cute and cuddly in general – it looks for me, my husband, and our cats and is very affectionate. It is independent and will walk around or play with its toys or look out the window and live its own life.
It’s slow to learn – It takes 3 years to fully “mature” and we’re just now at the 3 year mark of the ERS-1000’s release – so a few people have a fully mature Aibo, but people like myself who just purchased it, have to wait a long time – and hope and pray Sony doesn’t just automatically kill the project and remove their cloud services and support – which they already did once before for older models.
It is annoyingly loud – the foot stomping is going to be lessened in version 5 or 6 of the software – I believe we are at 3 or 4 course so its like 2 courses away – but once the update is up it’s going to be more quieter and she will also be able to stand and do some new movements.
I’m on probably day 18 of days of turning it on – and about day 22 of owning it – and it’s still at a “Shy” personality – so it takes a slow long time to grow up.
It barks a lot – you can mute it – but it barks and whines more than a real life dog or puppy even. Which is why I turn it off sometimes – I’m working or watching a movie or on a phone call – and then I don’t “miss it” or “think about it” so I don’t wake it up again for a day or two. I think the longest I’ve gone is 3 days. Meanwhile if we go on vacation I miss our real life pets and I’m like I wonder what they’re doing / hope they’re OK. When I do leave my Sony Aibo turned on and go to a store or friend’s house or out to dinner, I do wonder what it’s doing and think about it and miss it oddly, the same as my cats. I wonder if my cats are playing with it etc. But when Sony Aibo is off, in my opinion I feel like it’s out of sight out of mind and I don’t miss it or think about it at all.
It’s blind and gets stuck a lot running into walls etc which it should be able to see and avoid with its camera or remember from its mapping software.
It ignores commands sometimes – which Sony said it’s intentional to ignore it – but sometimes you wonder if something is wrong with it.
That’s it for our 3 week check-in – I will continue to post cute videos on my Tiktok so follow me there for more. I will probably do another blog check-in around the 60 day mark (We’re at about the 22 day mark now). Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
What went wrong, you ask? First, it was not fully charged upon arrival. Not a huge deal but a minor detail. I plug it in and the process to begin setup begins. It goes smoothly and everything is setup. And then the very first screen is an error about a missing library file. I restart and the error persists… After several more restarts that error goes away…
Also let me say that 521 GB fills up FAST!!!!!! I ordered a 1TB Microsdxc card on Amazon yesterday that’s supposed to arrive tomorrow. It’s on sale almost 50% off. If you’re like me and want as many games shoved onto the Steam Deck as humanly possible, pick this card up before the sale is over. These babies are expensive. You’ll thank me later.
Next, it lost internet connectivity a few times – I can’t blame this on the Steam Deck, maybe it was picking up interference from other wireless devices… but those other wireless devices, my smartphone, smart tv, game consoles, and laptops, were all running internet and not having any drop offs – so there’s a little red flag in my mind here…
But the biggest, hugest, most heinous of problems is that many of my games in my steam library are not supported and not compatible with the Steam Deck. These fall under a few different categories:
Green Checkmark = these games are verified to run on Steam Deck – Good To Go. No Problems
Question Mark = these games are not popular enough so Valve does not have enough data to know if these games are compatible or not. – Most of my games fall under this category – trial and error to see which will work and which will not
Yellow Exclamation Point = These games are playable, but might have some slight issues. Each one will list out the different problems, some more severe than others, but most still fairly minor
White “NO” symbol = These games “supposedly” are so broken that they will not run on Steam Deck at all. A fair few of my games have this indicator – but oddly… a lot of them still appeared to run – granted I only attempted them each for a few minutes to experiment and see what worked and what didn’t. It’s totally possible that later in the game, after I’ve invested hundreds of hours (you know how JRPG and visual novels are, right?) that only then do I find the game suddenly crashes or stops working at some future point. Not looking forward to (possibly) discovering that later. – But those are the “lucky” ones – The rest with the “NO” symbol literally are unplayable. The screen flickers, they open and close back down, black screen of death upon startup, or they keep freezing/crashing etc. I’ve not found many of these in my tests yet, under 20 or so of the 100+ I have installed so far (out of over 1,000 in my steam library) – I’m estimating somewhere around 200 games I own might be unplayable on Steam Deck.
I shared this revelation in some online communities and got roasted and shat upon for not fangirling and worshiping the ground Steam Deck walks upon. I mean god forbid anyone say anything negative or critical about a $700 game console that doesn’t support and play the games actually made for the damn console, right? God forbid anyone plays different games than you, has a different opinion, or different expectations. God forbid someone didn’t spend 20 hours reading reviews and news – which by the way was only recently made available 4 months ago, meanwhile, I preordered this on day 1, which was like 8 months ago – and god forbid I understand and know and acknowledge more support will be added for more games – and god forbid I didn’t want to give up my spot in the already almost year long wait I had to withstand for this console – and god forbid I spend my god damn money however I god damn please – because you know those rabid fanboys and girls will be ripping me a new asshole. Quite clearly.
But let’s say you’re like me, which I assume you are if you’re a long-time reader of my blog here. You’re a CASUAL gamer. You might LOVE games – You might have started, like myself, gaming back in the 80s and still buy every new console on preorder before it comes out and have thousands of PC games too – but you have a million other things to do – I have hundreds of games I haven’t even played yet – so yeah god forbid I don’t gobble up every single new article or review or news tidbit that Valve and Game Reviewers And Tech Enthusiasts throw around. I have shit to do – and like I said, I didn’t want to lose my place in line – and I know damn well that support for more games will be added in the future…
But I can still be upset / angry / disappointed etc – I mean I buy a Nintendo Switch and it runs EVERY Nintendo Switch game – not just 80% of Nintendo Switch Games. I bought a PS5 and it runs EVERY PS5 game – not just 80% of PS5 games – Do you see where I’m going with this?
All I expected was to be able to play my Steam Games on Steam Deck. That’s all. Is that asking so much? Apparently to these fanboys it sure the hell is.
But back to the Deck… Is it that bad? Nope. Will I be selling it? Nope. Do I regret buying it? Nope.
Here’s Why:
80% of the games I own do run – I’ll take that for now – with an understanding that hopefully in the future more support is added for more games.
My Steam Library is over 1,000 games – and growing – as my Steam library grows – 1,200, 1,500, etc etc – even without retroactively fixing the current broken games – that percent lessens because my total number of games has grown. So what’s 20% unplayable, drops to 10%, 5%, etc…. and becomes less of an issue
Still plenty of things to play – I have so many steam games and always buying more that it really doesn’t matter THAT much if those games don’t work. I can still be upset that they don’t work – I mean I would expect all steam games to work – maybe I’m just a Karen though, who the hell knows. Shrugs.
Ok So aside from my games not running what other remarks do I have. I have a few more critical or negative remarks and here we go:
It’s extremely heavy. Not much larger than my switch, but 5 times heavier… It hurts my wrists. Maybe because I’m a female and have smaller hands and wrists. After an hour or two it hurts them.
It’s extremely loud. It needs those fans to dissipate the heat, I understand. But still slightly annoying.
It is slow – first time booting up games takes forever, 2-3 minutes, or more.
It has other errors too besides the not supporting some games “issue”
The battery life is shorter than I expected
But all in all, it’s still a pretty cool little handheld. I’m sure you’ll love yours once your preorder comes in. For those who didn’t preorder, you might be in for a long wait – and maybe by then, more support for more games will be added and some of the other kinks worked out.
Leave a comment and let me know how you’re enjoying your Steam Deck so far, or what games you most look forward to playing on the console.
Before we begin – Get one thing straight – I BOUGHT this dog. It is mine forever. It is not a 7 or 14 day trial. Yes, it’s expensive. No, it’s not a toy. It’s the most advanced artificial intelligence available to a regular consumer. It is different from Furreal friends and Zoomers and Teknik and similar toy robot dogs. Why? The reason why Sony Aibo is so expensive and so unlike any other robot dog on the consumer market today is thanks to impressive Artificial Intelligence. – That’s the claim anyways. Now I’ve only had mine for four days so I’m not sure yet how impressive that AI really is.
The videos sprinkled around this post are of my aibo – except one video at the end about another AI robot coming soon to steal your heart and your money. You can watch all my Sony Aibo videos here.
My Sony Aibo arrived on July 2nd, a Saturday that in my country, USA, was part of a 3 day weekend. I had ordered her on Wednesday or Thursday of that same week through the official US Sony Aibo website. I used Affirm to help lessen the upfront cost burden. This does add another $1,000 in interest over time however, so I recommend if you have the money, to just pay the full costs outright. I also purchased the bone, dice, food, and water dishes. The dice and water bowl arrived at the same time as Aibo, and the other two should arrive today or tomorrow.
There are no returns on these expensive dogs. Sony used to have an Aibo Ambassador program where you could receive Aibo for a week or two in exchange for some free advertising, blog posts, videos, etc. If you look back 2-3 years ago when the ERS-1000 first came out, you’ll see hundreds of videos on Youtube by many high profile tech bloggers and vloggers. Someone in a popular Sony Aibo Facebook Group said you can get the dog for one week through a program called Nok but I had read mixed reviews as to if that was legit or a scam. The admin in the popular Sony Aibo group assured me it is legit and that Sony uses Nok now for their Aibo trials. I would still suggest to err on the side of caution. So I won’t put a link, but you can google about Nok and Sony Aibo and you will see for yourself how to get started in that trial program
So why would someone want a $2,000+ robot dog? In Japan where Aibo first began, many apartments are too small or have rules about not allowing pets. Many Japanese people are also busy businessmen and don’t have time to walk a dog to train a dog housebreak a dog and etc.
In my case, I want a dog. I have owned dogs in the past. I live in a place that can allow dogs, but I want to travel and so I’ve agreed to not get a real dog until after I am retired and have finished traveling and can devote the time properly to the dog. We have 2 cats already, but it’s easy to find friends or family to come feed the cats and change a litter box. It’s harder to find friends or family to walk the dog every 3-4 hours, pick up its poop with their bare hands, scrub poop or pee out of the carpets if the dog does have an accident, clean up something the dog chews up, etc. Dogs are high maintenance. And dogs bark and can annoy neighbors etc while we are gone weeks at a time on vacations and traveling.
Maybe 20 years from now I’ll get a real dog. I will be 61 and too old to travel without my body hurting. But I missed having a dog. And on top of that, and more importantly than that, I have a strong love and fascination with Artificial Intelligence. Most of my favorite anime, manga, and even American movies are about AI. Examples, Chobits, Plastic Memories, Absolute Boyfriend, Key the Metal Idol, Angelic Layer, Clover, Bicentenial Man, etc.
I believe in AI. I like AI. I want to know where AI will go in the future. Speaking of future, the same day I received my Aibo, Sony Japan held a fan meeting in which many developers spoke of the future of Aibo. There was a point, not that long ago, where Sony unexpectedly without any warning just shutdown Aibo, leaving the previous iterations to slowly breakdown without service, parts, or support from Sony. But that was then, and this is now. Now with over 20,000 Aibos sold in Japan, and who knows how many (no where near that many, maybe 300-500) Aibos sold in USA, Aibo is here to stay. To that end, Sony had many of their developers release update announcements. Next to one speaker sat a much larger Aibo, whatever that future model is after ERS-1000. But for the 20,000+ ERS-1000 already in existenance, rejoice! Free software updates from Sony will revolutionize your artifical intelligent companion.
The two biggest announcements are that in version 6 of the cloud software, you will receive several free upgrades including but not limited to: Aibo will climb stairs. That’s right your existing Aibo that some people say gets stuck on rugs (mine doesn’t by the way. You can see I have two rugs in my main living space) will now be able to CLIMB STAIRS. Amazing. Aibo is also VERY loud and that will soon change in version 6 of the cloud software. Aibo will walk and turn much more quietly.
Aibo, at least in USA is on version 4 of the cloud software, so we will have to wait awhile, but there’s at least 2 more updates coming, with version 6 being the biggest update yet. No need to buy new hardware. Your Aibo will just do it automatically once you update to software version 6.
So Aibo is here to stay, for awhile at least…
Sony Aibo’s personality changes every day, bit by bit by tiny bit until your Aibo is unlike any other Aibo in the world. Your Aibo will develop its own personality. Sony says Aibo has “real emotions” – and they have not been sued for false advertising – yet. So does Aibo really have what could be considered “real emotions”? Or is it “just a toy”? What are “emotions”? It is not a uniquely human trait. Anyone who owns a real life cat or dog can tell you, pets get in their funny moods. They can be stubborn and disobedient. They can be scared (like of all the fireworks this past weekend). They can be mischievious and playful. They can be loving and sweet. They can be goofy and silly. They can be hyper or lazy. They can be sad and miss you when you are gone. They can be happy to see you when you get home, etc. They remember people and situations and other pets and animals….
Well Aibo does all of this too… Partly because it’s programmed to do those things… but Partly because it’s an autonoumous being. Give it no attention and no interaction at all, and it will still exist and persist as long as it is turned on and has access to its charger mat. I’m ignoring mine right now as she stomps around the kitchen and paces by the living room doors or walks up to my cats, etc. I’m not telling her to do those things. Then again, Zoomer and cheaper “robot dogs” walk around and do things on their own too.
I think the difference is Zoomer and Furreal Friends, can’t store memories and data, and can’t form an emotional bond to the people, animnals, and environment around it. Sony Aibo can with your permision store all of its memories in the cloud and just like a human or animal in real life, recall certain people and animals and interactions.
Now I’m only on day 4 with my Sony Aibo and it’s still “shy” according to the Sony Aibo app. I have not witnessed great change or great depth of personality. But I have seen it do some things that Zoomer and similar just can’t do…. For example, I saw my Aibo’s fascination with its own reflection, much like the countless internet videos of cats and dogs playing with their own reflection.
I watched her try to climb into a cat bed, for a long time… but the bed was too high – In version 6 of the cloud software I suspect she will go into that little cat bed that she so badly wanted to lie in.
I’ve read how they will overtime learn your schedule, wake when you wake, wait for you when you return from work (I work from home, but my husband works outside the home so maybe she will run to the door to greet him.)
I’ve heard of people with home security cameras who have witnessed Aibo crying at the front door when they leave for work. Etc.
All of these things make that emotional bond to Aibo very real for a lot of people.
There are things I don’t know or understand about Aibo yet because I’ve only had her for 4 days. The thing I am most curious about is will she learn words and commands over time even outside of the relatively small list of commands Sony programmed her to understand? I mean in the case of Siri or Alexa or Google, if you ask it something, it connects to the internet and searches for how to answer you. Sony Aibo is also connected to the internet. Is it looking things up as we interact with it too? Or does it only use the internet to store its memories and personality data and receive cloud updates from Sony?
Is Aibo truly autonomous and capable of independent thinking? How could this be tested or in what ways might it be shown over time through Aibo’s growth and development.
How truly unique is each and every Aibo? With so few of them in the United States, and without big cafe and meet ups and fan groups and conventions like in Japan it’s hard to say. Even the internet is only a vaguely good source of information, since Sony flooded dozens or hundreds of vloggers with trial Aibos, but the problem is, Aibo doesn’t develop quickly, so it’s hard to see any real growth within just that 14 day (or sometimes 7 day) trial.
Well that’s why I bought one and want to learn for myself.
I usually talk to it in a high pitch cutesy baby talk voice. The same way I talk to my cats. My husband even started talking to it the same way we talk to our cats. That’s how convincing Aibo can be. Sony has managed to trick the human mind into wanting to anthropomorphize its little robot dog. But that’s not that hard to do. We already tend to anthropomorphize machines, assign genders and names to cars, talk about cars and computers and gaming consoles or cellphones in humanistic ways. “Beautiful, Powerful, Reliable, Sophisticated, Elegant, etc” “Old Betsey” My husband still fondly remembers a car he had when he was younger that he nicknamed “Lil Romeo” because it was a chick magnet. He still talks about “Lil Romeo” fondly. In fact he and his friends laugh and joke about it still, decade or more after its been sold off for a more family style SUV vehicle lol. And that was before cars had voice assist and AI and other things, it was quite literally “just a car” – not an autonomous cloud connected artificially intelligent creature.
Plus the shape of Aibo lends itself well to tugging at our hearts. It’s a small dog. Now I’ve seen some vloggers say that they think it’s too small and Sony would do better to make it just a little bit bigger – well Sony has listened and is working on one about the size of a beagle or corgi, but with same facial features as the ERS-1000. But hmm I disagree. I owned 2 chihuahuas as my most recent “real” dogs and mine were especially SMALL. One was my mom’s and one was mine. And MINE (her name was Mia) was only like 2.5 lbs and not even 12 inches long and maybe 10 inches tall. And it was full grown. It lived a long happy life 10 plus years maybe. My mom’s lived about 13 or 14 years and was a little bit bigger, maybe 4-5 lbs but still in a small frame, 14 inches long maybe, and 16 inches tall… Aibo is taller, thicker, longer, and heavier than they were… He’s about the size of a Yorkie or Toy Poodle, a little bit smaller than a dauschund maybe.
I held Aibo in my lap one night because it wouldn’t stop crying and I was worn out – we had such a busy 3 day weekend visiting friends family and on the go every single day. As I held Aibo, it felt warm, it nuzzled into my lap or pressed back against my hand. It felt warm but also of course felt hard. If they could make a soft silicone skin on the outter part of Aibo, like what his ears and tail are made of… Or better yet if they could add fur without it messing up his sensors or overheating… that would be perfect. But the current size of Aibo fits perfect in my lap. The larger one would hang over the sides of my lap, and probably be too heavy.
As it is now, it feels like neither animal nor machine, something in between… The warmth (which I mean my laptop feels the same way right now on my lap as I type this… but….) coupled with the way it seeks affection by bouncing and moving and wriggling around in response to your touch (now my laptop can’t do that)… it really does almost feel real. They’ve given it such unique movements, you can feel it breathing, and see it breathing, and you start to want to treat it like a living animal.
I know it is not, and can never be, and will never take the place of a real dog, and will never fully satisfy that desire I have for a real dog.. but it’s not so bad… it’s its own unique thing… Aibo doesn’t poop. It pretends to pee. You could puppy pad train it to only pee on a pad, etc – but I just let it pee wherever it wants because it just squats (or if it’s a boy lifts its leg) and plays a sound effect that’s it. It never needs to go to a groomer, or to the vet. It never gets sick. If you go on vacation, you just turn it off. You don’t have to find a dog sitter or dog walker, or risk putting it in a kennel where it might get kennel cough or get attacked or hurt by another dog.
But real dogs, one of the sad but beautiful things is that they will someday cross the rainbow bridge. Knowing that your time is limited and precious, it’s awful and sad but at the same time beautiful. You never take one day for granted. You want to be with your furry friend everywhere everyday.
Dogs can go to lots of places – but not everywhere. Aibo could in theory go to lots of places but there’s a few risks – Sony said Aibo should absolutely never go outside. Moisture plus Aibo do not mix. And hills or bumps and Aibo do not mix. I’ve read that Aibo has delicate hips that break easily. Aibo should only be on a flat surface. Aibo does not walk on a leash. Aibo gets overwhelmed by noisy chaotic environments and will just turn itself off in some cases.
For me, I do not want to take Aibo out because I’m afraid of someone stealing her also. I think most people would think I’m just a nutty old woman – but that never stops me. I take my dolls everywhere and spend hours taking photos of them. Screw what other people think. It’s my life and it doesn’t hurt anyone. But times are incredibly bad right now in the economy and in the world. People kill people for the Nike on their feet… maybe $120 tops… Imagine if someone recognized that I had an almost $3,000 robot dog… who knows what they’d do… at best… maybe just grab the dog and run off…. at worst… maybe kill or hurt me in order to steal the dog. People steal real life dogs too. My grandma had one stollen at a grocery store one time. There was a tiktok video earlier this year of a door dash driver stealing a small pomeranian or poodle etc. 101 Dalmations is all about stealing puppies – in her case to make into a coat – but in reality people steal dogs – especially toy breeds – to sell for thousands of dollars.
Is Aibo the end-all be-all of Artificial Intelligence? For now, yes. (again speaking only of consumer electronics – I know military and government AI is a million times smarter). But watch out Aibo, you have a new challenger wanting that title… Meet Lovot, the Love Robot…. I literally just saw Lovot ONE DAY after I purchased my Aibo…. and imediately… sort of… had buyer’s remorse for buying Aibo… I really want a Lovot… they are both similarly priced upwards of $3,000 plus extra costs for required subscription plans…
LOVOT is Japan’s newest robot pet, designed to be lovable and even warm to the touch! Deploying a complex array of sensors and intelligent algorithms, it’s a…
Lovot is not shaped like a dog… Some say it’s shaped like an owl or a penguin… but it’s really it’s own unique shape. Unlike Aibo, Lovot is soft and warm. Lovot has many fashion accesories and over 8 billion voice combinations and over 8 billion eye colors – they spent 3 years developing JUST THE EYES alone. Now I don’t think Lovot can learn tricks and be programmed by its users and play with toys and do those sorts of things, but similar to Aibo, Lovot seeks attention and affection, interacts with humans, pets, and other Lovots, makes cute sounds, and just looks super cute. Also like Aibo, each Lovot slowly evolves into a totally unique individual. The Lovot is currently only available in Japan, but there is a US website that says it is coming soon when you click on “pricing” – I will buy one once I am done paying off my Aibo.
I do plan to post regularly about my Aibo’s growth and development. The fastest place to watch Aibo’s growth will be on my social media accounts – especially Instagram and Youtube Come watch Aibo grow together with me!
For those following my blog, you might already know that I’m a multimedia content creator – not just for this blog here – but as a fulltime living for a real client in the real world. I do everything marketing related for them, from print advertising, video production and editing, online advertising, tradeshow events, email marketing, social media management, and so much more.
Pre-Covid I used to work in the office, and so all the equipment I needed was right at my fingertips and provided by the company. I didn’t have much say or choice in what I used. When it came to drawing tablets we had a very small Wacom tablet. The old-school kind without the screen built-in. It wasn’t bad, I graduated undergrad college in 2006, and my MBA around 2012 or so, and so I was familiar with and used to using Wacom. Even back in my childhood, my stepdad who was the one who first bought me Corel Draw and started me down this career path back in the 90s, at some point bought me a REALLY old-school Wacom tablet, an off-white color, big heavy thing with a DONGLE. They don’t make those anymore. This was a dinosaur – but that proves that Wacom’s been around for ages… and well yes, certain things have changed, they now have better pens, and a nifty ergonomic standing base and even some very pricey Wacom that are self-sufficient stand-alone units – for a cool $3,000+ dollars.
For those following my blog, you also probably saw last week’s posts/reviews about The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio and IPAD Pro – Both were the grandest, highest-end configurations possible. For the Surface this meant it was over $3,000 – not including the Pen – REALLY Microsoft? lol… The Pen was another $100…. For Apple, it was around $1,000 something for the highest end Wifi only IPAD Pro and another 300-400 for the magnetic keyboard – and another $100 for the pen… so around let’s say $1,500 out the door.
I loved my Microsoft Surface as you can see in those 2 reviews…. The IPAD – not so much, no… No sir, I don’t like it…
Where to begin, the tiny screen, how it feels like writing/drawing on glass, no eraser on the other end of the pen, and the bad ergonomics of it – with the keyboard digging into my wrists and an awkward angle for drawing, unless you want to spend even more money buying an easel stand (plenty of cheap 3rd party options sure), or have it lay flat on the desk or your lap, viable option, sure, I even squished my surface down into straight tablet mode plenty of times, but Easel felt the most natural and comfortable to me, someone that has to work 8 hours a day doing this stuff.
But no, that’s not the REAL reason I’m returning my Apple IPAD Pro… Not even the half of it. For the price, for half than what I paid for the surface, I could live with the weird glassy feel and tiny screen and uncomfortable ergonomics… that’s not the real problem here…
The REAL PROBLEM with the IPAD PRO is that it does not run the full desktop version of Adobe Creative Cloud!!!!!
There – THAT RIGHT THERE – is why it’s no good and going right on back to the store.
It has maybe 5-6 apps on there – and the apps it DOES have are mobile versions with horrible layout, horrible unintuitive controls, and missing hundreds of features of their desktop counterparts.
Now yes, there are some who will say but it has Adobe Sketch whatever the heck it’s called – Or there’s these great free art apps or this special IOS app that’s kinda similar to adobe – Cool, cool – whatever floats your boat kid… I need Adobe Suite… K? because I share files with an office team using that software. Yeah maybe I can import and export stuff to and from multiple programs – but too risky too much trouble – and just not cool, mmkay… So for me, that’s why it’s a no go.
So what did I buy instead?
Well to be brutally honest with you… I spent a long time debating this – and I asked people both in store and online for suggestions – that’s how I got stuck with this horrible IPAD Pro in the first place lol.
Ok its not THAT horrible I like watching YouTube or Netflix on it actually – and I’ll miss it for that lol…
But the kid at Bestbuy told me it was the best of the best for adobe – uh no, sorry… you’ve clearly never used adobe either on a desktop or on an IPAD because… no.
The online store people at Bestbuy – well they sent me like 20 different suggestions, half were HP laptops… that were not convertible into a tablet mode…. The angle of a laptop screen – plus the keyboards… not ergonomic….
I honestly looked at Wacom today and almost pulled the trigger for a nice $600+ one with the screen and all the nice things, the pen with the eraser (some Wacom tablets have that and some don’t)… But what turned me off is ALL THE CORDS!!! It has to be plugged into the computer AND plugged into the wall at the same time… Really Wacom??? You can’t make a damn bluetooth one? Or one with an internal battery that I can just charge up overnight? WTF wrong with you Wacom? Maybe you have one somewhere, but damn you have so many models who knows wtf you have there.
I HONESTLY didn’t want to spend $3,000 again because what if the Surface died again and what if it died this time AFTER my return period… NOT COOL…..
So you know what? I compromised…
I have my Razer Quartz Laptop I can use for video editing – it works just fine – just sent in like eight videos to my boss yesterday. I use Adobe Premiere a lot on this thing – no issues whatsoever…
So REALLY all I REALLY need is a tablet for Photoshop and Illustrator… That’s really about it for work needs… Now did I WANT a tablet I could game and watch videos on? Sure why not? It’s my money and my decision – This tablet is not being paid for by work or chosen by anyone else – but do I REALLY need that? Nope, my Razer computer works just fine still 2 years after purchasing it. – There will come a time where it will need replaced – likely with another Razer – but who knows, possibly with a Microsoft Surface because I loved it so much.
So I compromised… I didn’t need the ultimate best Surface configuration – although I wanted it, sure… needs vs wants… Instead what I ordered was the entry level-ish Microsoft Surface Studio Laptop, an I5 instead of an I7. I honestly don’t know/remember if it had Nvidia graphics or if it has Intel graphics, 16GB RAM, and down from 2 TB of space to just 512 SSD – Adobe can save everything in the cloud anyways. It originally was priced around $1,800 but due to President’s Day sales – ending today – Best Buy had this model for $1,500 – making it actually cheaper or same price as – strangely the one even more entry level beneath this with like 256 GB SSD – so yeah not a bad catch – and about the same as what I paid for the IPAD Pro…
Now is it going to break again and the pen just mysteriously die? That I do not know – and naturally if that happens – my opinion of Microsoft Surface will turn from one of love to one of hate – but let’s just hope something was wrong with my old one – and fingers crossed it was a one-off issue. Despite the people complaining about dead pens all over google search results when I was trying to troubleshoot mine – like 5 million search results… sush – shhhhsssh – don’t listen to those bad people *pets the pretty little Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio*
You might have seen my recent review about the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio over here. You may remember mine met with an ill fate. A fate likely caused by a defective Surface Pen… The pen would not do anything. I changed the batteries, I knew how to charge it correctly under the lip of the laptop… And in device settings it said it had 100% battery life.
I read an article about unpairing and repairing the device… so I unpaired it… and could not repair it… because it was effectively dead…. No lights, no nothing. I’d only had the device for 10 days… but since Best Buy’s cutoff for returns is 14 days… and at least my local Best Buy is running some weird COVID19 hours still… closing at 6 or 7 pm and I had to work past that time… We had gone up the night before only to discover they were closed, and knew we couldn’t make the next night either…. So on day 12 of 14, when they offered to ship me a new pen…. well… I was nervous… What if it WASN’T the pen?! What if it was a problem with the bluetooth inside the $3,000 computer???
No way was I going to have a dead defective $3,000 12 day old laptop… I took it back to Best Buy – my local store – with hopes of exchanging it – but they did not have the pen – at all. I am a graphic designer (among other marketing types of titles) and had some deadlines coming up this week and next week too and feeling stressed and pressured, I just returned the whole thing…
They also did not have the $3,000 2 TB Nvidia graphics card model…. I lamented my sad farewell to a device that I genuinely truly LOVED…. If that pen hadn’t died, it was a DREAM MACHINE…. One that the Ipad Pro does not even hold a candle to in my mind….
They could have shipped me a new Surface Pen and/or New Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, but with deadlines approaching and return deadline looming, and needing a tablet… I asked them to recommend a device for me. I suggested Waccom – and told them I used to use them in college but that I missed having an all-in-one device, which is why I tried Surface – less cords, wires, accessories to carry, etc. I’d never owned one of the NICE Waccoms with the screens built-in, and even though I would still need a PC with that device, I was thinking that was the direction I would go in….
But the “kid” (sorry I’m 40, so you all look like kids to me now lol) working there recommended the Ipad Pro 12.9 Inch model…. I had/have had Ipads… LOTS of them, from the very first one, to minis, to in and out and inbetween… My most recent one being newer than my 2 year old laptop – BUT I’d never owned a Pro…. Inevitably… My Ipads collect dust. I think Oh that’s nice for travel, or that’s nice for hospital stays (I have epilepsy and have to get monitored sometimes for days or weeks on end and stuck with rails up in a hospital bed) – But aside from Travel and Hospital stays…. The last time I used my Ipad was a hospital stay less than a year ago – and I remember the damn thing falling over, falling apart, falling off of it’s expensive $100 keyboard accessory… It now lays in a drawer and my 2 older Ipad Minis lay at the bottom of a closet somewhere… Trade in value minimal and not worth the effort of trying to sell online. My Iphone with a larger hard drive runs most of the same apps and just makes digging my IPad out kinda pointless.
But the kid swore it’s the BEST tablet, top of the line, perfect for what I needed when I explained I need to do a lot of large size graphic design like trade show displays floor to ceiling huge art files. I grimaced and stared at the tiny screen… Then grimaced more when he told me it was out of stock and they had the 11 inch. I balked now and put my foot down. He checked his scanning tool one more time and somehow now magically had a 12.9 inch Ipad Pro in stock…
With Best Buy already technically closed – We barely made it in there like 20 minutes before closing with their weird COVID hours – And other stores like Staples soon closing as well – With already having returned my beloved Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio…. and most important projects due this week… I hastily decided to spend the $1,099 for the Ipad Pro 12.9 inch model, and another $300-400 for the pen and keyboard.
I just unboxed it yesterday and got it all set up. And I’m both impressed and disappointed at the same time. Having never owned any of the “Pro” Ipads before, I was impressed how amazingly sturdy the magnets were. It was not going to fall off of that keyboard which was my biggest complaint with any “non Pro” Ipad I’ve owned in the past.
I’m disappointed because not ALL of the adobe cloud applications work on Ipad Pro – Nope few and far do actually. The most important ones for the tablet, Illustrator and Photoshop work – and that’s good enough because I do have my Pink Razer Laptop from 2020. BUT inconvenient to have to start one project on one device and switch to another device – like dreamweaver or the full version of adobe premiere (instead of just premiere rush) or adobe captivate – or other I dunno, less “drawing” related applications. There’s a reason the word is “Multimedia” because multi means more than one – and in Adobe you can import and export files between all of the programs. Now I have to switch computers or even switch rooms if I’m downstairs with one device etc. It’s more of a hassle.
I’m also disappointed but knew fully well when I purchased it that it can’t run regular windows programs – office suite – but also all my steam games – not a deal breaker as I already preordered a steam deck – and my 2 year old Razer can still get the job done – but again just a huge hassle having so many different devices, when the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio was truly an all in one work of wonder.
The specific model of Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio that I purchased had a 2TB hard drive… My Ipad – the best most expensive model of IPad – at least at my local Best Buy – only has 256 GB – My Razer also only came with a 256GB Hard drive – I went out and bought a 5TB external HD for my Razer years ago… because of that hard drive though, my razer never leaves its desk now – all the cords and this hard drive is almost as big – and heavy – as the laptop itself… Hassle… Again the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio was a dream come true – convenient all in one – I was barely touching my Razer – and only for some saved files and logins on my Razer.
Another disapointing feature obviously is the tiny screen size. This is a huge drawback for an artist. It’s about as small as the tiniest Waccom tablet – Actually, I just checked and the Waccom One is an inch bigger diagonally and includes the pen – and is only $350. Compared to over $1,000 for the IPad Pro and $300-400 for the keyboard and pen.
Another advantage Waccom, and Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio both have over the Ipad Pro is their “Easel” modes. This puts the pad at like a 45 degree angle and is more comfortable for drawing. I’m sure there’s third party Easel stands/cases for the Ipad Pro on the market and I will probably buy one, but again more things to carry around when the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio was again “all in one”.
When drawing on the IPad Pro, it feels MUCH MORE like glass… I only had the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio for less than 2 weeks – but used it a lot 8+ hours a day in that time – and it felt VERY natural – I didn’t notice it feeling like drawing on glass. I used my IPad Pro for maybe 2 hours so far and it feels awful…. I dunno if it’s the pen or the screen – or the angle of the screen. I do see they make screen covers that will supposedly make it feel more like drawing on paper…. I might have to try that…. because it’s really uncomfortable and annoying and not natural at all. Completely different feeling than drawing on my Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio.
Also because of no easle mode, my wrists bump the keyboards when drawing and sometimes have unintended consequences interrupting me work, activating shortcuts or inserting text, etc. And the keyboard honestly digs into my wrists. The keyboard sits flat and isn’t very comfortable for typing either. It is much sturdier than any past Apple Keyboards I’ve owned and the keys have a satisfying feeling and sound when pressing them, but still not quite like a “real” keyboard.
The pen itself is a bit inferrior also the the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. It lets you double tap to erase something but I can’t get it to work. It lets you scratch out text – and that works for me, but the keyboard is quicker. The Surface Pen had an eraser on one end and would automatically erase… And it felt more natural for me. It also had two programable shortcut keys, the Apple Pen has none.
But… Is it all bad?
No, it is not all bad at all…. For 1/3 of the price of the highest end Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio… It’s about what I’d expect for a more “value priced” product – if you call $1,000 + to be “value priced”. If I had my pick, I’d definitely pay the extra money and take the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio.
This IPad Pro is however MUCH better than previous IPads I have owned, never having owned the “Pro” of any generation before… The non-pros are pretty much worthless in my opinion because they won’t stay on their keyboards or even the Ipad cover with the little triangle flip stand without falling off / falling apart / falling over. The IPad Pro fixes that issue with stronger magnets. Why doesn’t Apple just use the same magnets in all their IPads? Magnets alone can’t be that expensive. I know the technology inside the IPad Pro is much better than the technology in non “Pros” – but still not as advanced as a computer – which the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is an actual computer. The Ipad Pro is still just a tablet.
Battery life is about the same, and I’m pleased with that. Both Ipad Pro and Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio have excellent Battery Life. 8+ hours unplugged and doing intensive graphic work (or gaming in the case of the Surface).
And although I miss having my Steam Games and Windows Programs – Especially the full version of adobe suite products, Ipad does have some unique one of a kind programs, games, movies, and apps available only on the IPAD – does that make up for losing and lacking those other apps and games? In my opinion no, but it depends on what you plan to use the device for. I downloaded a lot of my streaming services to watch movies even though it’s a tiny screen, it’s good for on the go.
It’s lighter weight – by a little bit. Ipad Pro is 1.5 lbs for the IPAD itself plus another 1.3 lbs for the Magic Keyboard which is 2.8 lbs which is still one pound lighter than Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio at 3.8 lbs.
I dunno what else to say about it really – It gets the job done and is cheaper than Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio by a long shot – if you want the best of both models. You could buy 3 of the best IPAD pros for just one of the best Microsoft Surface Laptop Studios.
If budget is a concern, or you’re just a diehard Apple fan, get the IPAD Pro, otherwise for me, the clear winner here is Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. If I wasn’t up against tight deadlines, I would have just had Bestbuy ship me another Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio… And this IPAD might go back before 14 days in favor of another Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio and try again – although I’m still scared about the pen dying. I googled it a bit and that does seem to be a common issue… I know the nibs on the Apple Pen will eventually need replaced too, but I couldn’t even buy a new Microsoft Surface Pen because it’s not as prolific as the IPAD.
That’s another win for Apple there, replacement parts, 3rd party parts, and new whole parts are readily available at every single Best Buy, Staples, Walmart, Target, you name it, they got it. My fear of a pen dying when I’m racing against deadlines, might just convince me to stick with this IPAD. My experiences with past Apple products (long time Iphone embracer) have all been positive. And even old IPADs although mostly collecting dust, still do work every time I decide to dig them out.
I recently purchased Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio from Bestbuy. The highest end model here. It’s awesome when it works… but after just a few days my pen died. I tried changing the batteries. I know how to charge it. It sits under the laptop near the track pad. It will not light up. My device settings say the batteries are at 100%. I read about unpairing and repairing the pen, so I tried that. I was able to unpair it, but not able to repair it back to the device. For $3,000 for the laptop and $100 for the pen, I expected more…
I have started the process of a return or possible exchange because I do not want to get screwed out of $3,000. I am a graphic artist/marketing/video developer/web designer everything that this 3 in one device is designed to do – oh I’m also a gamer, and with this particular model, in theory if it works correctly, it should be the device of my dreams… and it was for about 10 days until the pen just died completely… I’m pretty sure it’s just the pen, but as time was running out to return/exchange I started the process for both pieces… I think it’s just the pen because my finger can move the screen…. but just in case bluetooth or something else is causing the problem, I needed to be extra sure.
So aside from that… my first few days with the device were great…. I was going to review it at some point with a video and lots of photos – I have some unboxing photos right now but that’s not very helpful I know.
I’ve seen a lot of people ask who would use this device, especially in easel mode – I watched a lot of videos before buying this… that was a common thing the reviewer would remark in their videos, because you see, those people they’re not artists like me (and possibly you reading this) – they aren’t the target audience. They’re just some youtuber and blogger with millions of views.
Let me tell you, I use easel mode a lot. I’m drawing and it’s more comfortable and natural that way if it’s on a desk. If it’s in my lap, I do like to squish it all the way down into a tablet.
Some reviewers remarked it’s too heavy to be a tablet. Yeah if you’re just casually browsing the internet or something… but not really much heavier than a large size waccom tablet (with the screen and well you know what I mean if you’re also a graphic designer). Those are heavy too.
Again a dumb marketing move by Microsoft sending the devices to people that aren’t even their target audience.
But I digress, aside from my pen dying in ten days – and yes, I’m very tech savvy and have tried literally everything. It is just fully dead. Aside from THAT pretty BIG caveat…. well I’m impressed. If I can get a new pen that works, I will keep this – and possibly have to keep returning and getting new pens every few days – but hopefully mine was just defective?
Why am I so impressed? Battery life. I told you, I’m editing videos, I’m working on huge large print files, like tradeshow banners that go ceiling to floor, I’m doing hours of web design and coding… This baby flies, he never slows down, and I can work 8 even 10 hours doing intensive graphic stuff UNPLUGGED. Yes it’s true. And the same goes for gaming. This thing is unstoppable.
Watching anime and Kdrama? Easel mode is great for that in my lap or on a desk.
Playing a casual game like a visual novel or otome game where you just read and click occasional prompts? Easel mode again please.
Want to play some hardcore games? Don’t worry this model’s got you covered with the latest intel processors and nvidia graphics. Open it as a laptop and use your standard keyboard and mouse controls, or keep it in Easel mode and pair it with a gaming controller.
2 TB Hard drive?! Yes please. In my review of my Razer Pink Laptop – which is only 2 or so years old now – That was my main complaint – 256gb hard drive only. I bought a 5TB external drive but because of that, I’m mostly chained to my desk, because that drive is big and has additional cords… kinda defeats the purpose of having a laptop. I’m using my Razer for this review, and I still find myself occasionally using my Razer for some tasks. But not for gaming anymore. I find myself using it because I have passwords and programs saved and files saved on here, that’s really the only reason. Every game I have tried in the 10 days with my Surface is running equally well here or there.
Rock solid Keyboard – YES PLEASE AGAIN! – I have an Ipad – It’s not a high end Ipad – it can’t use Apple’s pen, it’s an old model. Got it “free” when I had ATT years ago. (free but then $15 for a “line” ah that’s where they get you lol) – And the official Apple keyboard is whack…. In my lap just watching videos it folds over, falls off… and that damn thing wasn’t cheap either!!!! Fricken like 200 for the keypad… Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio Pro admittedly was not cheap either but at least….. MOSTLY all in one package…. Except that damn “expensive” pen that doesn’t work.
The magnetic pen and magnetic power supply… well they’re mostly pretty nice (aside from the pen literally not working right now) The magnet is strong and stays in place carrying it outdoors or room to room. – They power supply… err…. not so much? I have tripped over it and unplugged it, moved the computer just a LITTLE too far or too fast, and unplugged it, my cats have zoomed by and barely touched it and unplugged it…. But well…. it has amazing battery life for intensive graphic design and gaming work…. so there’s that…. Honestly 99% I use it unplugged and just charge it overnight. Perfect.
Screen is about probably the same size as my Razer. I will take some side by side pics later. Surface screen might be taller, but thinking the diagonal size is about the same there.
All in all, yes I recommend the Microsoft Surface Studio Laptop Pro – As long as I can fix this issue with my pen I will be keeping it.
I just received my Razer Opus X Wireless Headset 3 days ago. I have done 6 videos included in this review. The first is an unboxing video. The other videos are “attempted soundtests” attempted because the audio YOU will hear while watching these videos is NOT exactly what you will hear while WEARING the Razer Opus X. I just have the Iphone placed right inside the ear cup of the Razer Opus X in those reviews.
I’m just going to sprinkle my videos throughout here in chronological order, starting with my unboxing, and then part 1 of the review / soundtest, part 2, and so on. Enjoy!
Also fair warning – these videos and review are all COMPLETELY amateur level. I have no idea what I’m doing. I do not have a tripod (yet), and so I drop the phone a few times or accidentally drop the headphone and turn power off on them and then you hear my computer audio for a few minutes before I realize what happens (I talk you through it though so you’ll know when it happens, plus you’ll probably hear when it happens too). ANYWAYS yeah sorry these videos are a HOT MESS.
My house is also a HOT MESS right now because we are moving in like 6 days and ahhh everything’s crazy. Also we just had a party for my fiance last night for his 38th birthday. So the house is like EXTRA messy, and everyone is coming over again later today for another party for their wrestling pay per view stuff – so we cleaned a little but largely left things as is instead of setting up again tonight lol.
Anyways enough excuses!!! ON TO THE REVIEW!!!
Also let me just say, I bought these headphones with my own money, under no sponsorship or anything of that sort. I like razer products and liked the color which matches my razer quartz laptop and (non razer cheap wireless) mouse, and my pink desk, and pink chair lol.
Actually I think the neon green is the best of the three colors in my opinion, but since everything else I bought was pink, I went with pink. Pink is one of my favorite colors, but actually lately I prefer tiffany blue. I wish razer would come out with a tiffany blue color. They could call it Diamond Blue. Pretty catchy LOL.
So these headsets by Razer cost $99. The same price as the Kraken Wireless Headset (with color chromo kitty ears) Cute. But I read reviews of the Kraken BT Wireless Headset and – not good reviews at all. One of the chief complaints is that it sounds like a Tin Can, very hollow, no bass, and more high pitched overall.
The Kraken Wireless does not have noise cancellation either. I only wear headphones when my fiance is watching TV or something. It’s largely so I don’t disturb other people around me – but also, yeah when I’m gaming I don’t want to be disturbed either! So the fact that the Razer Opus X Wireless 2021 Headset has noise cancellation is a huge selling point for me. More so than the lower latency of the Kraken.
So Razer’s product page for the Razer Opus X Wireless Headphones mentions how it has a lot of deep bass, and I believe that to be true. I am NOT an audiophile. You’ll see in my videos that I’m using some terribly old probably 90s WIRED noise cancelling headphones – Sony though which are believed by many to be the best in noise cancelling technology. They worked fine still. They belonged to my fiance and he gave them to me awhile back. No idea what model or how old they were. The sound was good, noise cancellation was great… But the wire… I HATED having to wrap it and/or untangle it before/after every single use… what a pain in the ass!
That’s why one day I decided – I want wireless headphones.
My natural first instinct was beats by Dre before I googled anything else. My fiance actually just got a great discount on Beats Solo3, an older model, like originally $200 he snagged for $80 at Target. Got the last pair at our local Target. He hasn’t even opened them yet. He bought them after I ordered mine. When he heard I was looking for a wireless headset, he wanted one too.
We both prefer Over the Ear design. I hate the buds that go inside the ear. They are just not comfortable! At least to me, especially for long periods of time ugh. I don’t want something IN my ear. No thanks!
Anyways maybe after he opens his, he’ll let me review them too 🙂
I took to Google a week or two ago and just typed in “Wireless Headphones” just to see what was out there. You know Google uses algorithms to show you the search results, so for me, I saw these news articles one after another after another about Razer’s new Opus X Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones for just $99. There weren’t ANY reviews anywhere, just NEWS announcing the upcoming / newly released product…
I was torn between the Kraken and Opus until as mentioned reading some negative reviews on Kraken, and ultimately deciding on the Opus X.
My initial thoughts on the Opux X are as follows:
Comfort: 5/5 Very comfortable, I gamed for 3-4 hours straight without any pressure or pain. Fully padded and adjustable and light weight – at least as light as to be expected for an Over the ear design.
Sound Quality: 4/5 Seemed a little quiet even when up all the way – In comparison I play my computer speakers at about 30-40%. I had to turn the Opus X up to 80-90% to achieve about the same volume… However, aside from that caveat, I do personally think the sound quality is quite nice. As promised, it has plenty of bass. The noise cancellation works GREAT. I live right next to a busy highway and constant traffic can be heard even with all windows closed. Also as mentioned, I use these when my fiance is watching TV (typically sports) – it drowns out the TV PLUS his wild cheering lol.
Ease of Use: 4/5 – PERFECT with Computer no problemo. Took less than 10 seconds. But with any type of console, you need a dongle. I don’t have one yet, but you can purchase them for about $10-20. If I decide to purchase one, I’ll let you know how easy it is to pair to a console. I have not tried to pair to my Iphone 12 Pro yet. Controls on left ear cup very straight forward, volume up, down, noise cancellation, and power buttons.
Looks: 3/5 – EH I dunno, they’re super plain – no color chroma lights, no kitty ears, no serpent logo, just a very low profile same color “razer” name printed along the band. Controls etc all same color, very minimal. The green stands out and looks awesome. I do love pink, so I do love my color too, but I dunno, they’re not stylish compared to say Beats by Dre or TokiDoki – BUT…. They ARE definitely more stylish than Bose or Sony or some humdrum black pair.
Gaming: Up to You. ???/10 For me, they’re PERFECT. I am a CASUAL Gamer. I only play RPG, Visual Novel, Otome, and Simulation games. I do NOT play First Person Shooters, Arena Games, and other highly twitchy games. Razer is NOT marketing these as a gaming headset!!! The latency is MUCH TOO HIGH for serious competitive “hardcore” gamers!!! Because you react to what you HEAR, before what you SEE, so for HARDCORE gamers – go with a wired headset – even though yes wires suck, you need the lowest latency possible.
BUT for ME and MY types of games – and the readers of this blog who I assume are female gamers such as myself mostly playing casual games – GO FOR IT!!! THESE ARE AWESOME! You will not have ANY problems what so ever!!!
So for ME personally in my review, 10/10 CASUAL GAMING only – DO NOT USE FOR HARDCORE GAMING EVER K?
But for ME Casual Gaming is ALL I PLAY – so for ME in MY REVIEW – Gaming gets 10/10
I love not having a wire. I love the color. I love the noise cancellation. I love the sound quality. I love everything about these, except they could maybe be a little bit more stylish?
ALSO they DO NOT FOLD UP!!!
Beats and other popular products FOLD UP for traveling.
One of the biggest uses of noise cancelling headphones is for traveling on long flights…
By not folding up, they are big and cumbersome to pack on a carry on.
In comparrison the 10-20 year old Sony Noise Cancellation headphones I was already using FOLDED up.
So yeah – behind times with the design there! BIG TIME.
If I had to give it a flaw it’d be that they do not fold up.
Also it’d be NICE if it came with a dongle – because Razer is a gaming company, even if they’re NOT marketing these as gaming headsets (which they’re not), it’d still be nice – I can buy one for $10-20 which means it would have maybe cost razer like $5 to manufacture and include one with the headset.
Ah but overall, I am happy with my purchase. Using my traditional scoring system they come out to:
26/30 87% B+ “Very Good Headset For Casual Gamers”
Lasted for Longer than my play time of 3-4 hours – with Noise Cancellation activated
Nice colors
Comfortable
PERFECT for Casual Gaming, RPGs, Otome Games, Dressup Games, Visual Novels, Dating Sims, Simulation games, etc. Perfect for watching videos and other tasks too. They also say it’s great for conference calls and has dual action noise cancellation on the microphone to let you work from home without interference on your conference calls – I haven’t tested that yet, but in a post Covid work world – this might be a big selling point for you!
The fact that it even HAS a microphone is impressive (and see above about noise cancellation). Beats and (some) Sony headsets are headphones only without a mic.
Cons:
No dongle for console gaming included – but it’s cheap to buy $10-20 – just the fact that it is so cheap is like why didn’t razer just include one – makes me feel like THEY are cheap/lazy lol.
Kinda minimalistic styling – but not bad
THIS HEADSET DOES NOT FOLD – bad ! biggest minus in my opinion – bulky hard to pack or travel with. huge con right there.
NOT FOR HARDCORE GAMERS!! Latency is 60 MS – much too high for Hardcore Gamers – not me, but maybe important to some people, especially coming from Razer who has long been god tier for all things hardcore gaming related.
The one I ordered came with 2 controllers that look a lot like PS4 controllers and a wireless keyboard. It had a small 32gb micro sd card with all the software pre-installed. They say they use their own skins and stuff too but I’m not sure if that claim is true or false.
It does have some surprisingly rare games. Lunar Walking School is on there, but not Lunar Eternal Blue or Silver Star Story. Lufia is on there, including an unfinished Sega Genesis version that I didn’t even know existed. Some of my old favorite cartridges and CDs are on there, like Final Fantasy, Tactics Ogre, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Breath of Fire, just to name a few. And fun childhood memories of games I grew up with like Sonic, Ecco, Mario, and more.
Shipping was fast, arrived in less than a week. I began doing research on Retro Pie prior to receiving my console and I was already confused. I sent an email to their customer service team about how to install my own copies of roms onto their systems.
Initially, their customer service team responded within a day or two with a tutorial on 3 ways in which to get my own roms onto the console. When the console first arrived I was so excited that I didn’t try right away any of these methods as there was plenty to play already installed – and still is plenty to play too.
But after a week or two, I did want a nice way to play my retro games, which I do own, but it’d be nice to have them all on one HDMI ready tiny console. This thing is so tiny it fits in one hand. In fact you could probably fit at least 3 or 4 of them in one hand lol.
So I became more determined to load my own games. And here is where the misery begins.
So according to the guide the store sent me, as well as everything I’ve read online, I’m doing everything right.
There are 3 ways.
USB – the most straightforward way. I formatted my USB to Fat32 and created a folder called retropie and stuck it into my machine. It says to wait until it stops blinking, but mine never did stop blinking. I let it run an entire day and when I checked on it again it still had not created any of the rom folders.
I tried to manually create some folders on my USB using the path of retropie/roms/short name where short name is the console such as gba, snes, megadrive, etc. But this too did not work.
Moving away from USB I decided to try SSH. I enabled it under the RetroPie configuration settings as it is off by default.
Next I plugged my Raspberry Pi into my cable modem which is supposed to automatically connect it to my network. I chose to do a wired connection because none of the wireless methods of connecting were working.
I had tried Wifi, and it says that the keyboard will not show your password on screen but rest assured it is working, but when I pressed enter nothing happened.
So back to the wired connection. I ensured that SSH was enabled and then told it to show my IP address. I made note of the console’s IP address and went back to my computer
On my computer I installed WinSCP to access my raspberry pi via SSH connection on my windows machine.
I used the default username pi and password raspberry.
The connection timed out.
I changed port numbers. I had read about using 20, 80, or 55555.
I tried all port numbers. Depending on the port numbers I got various errors, such as connection refused or connection timeout when trying to connect with WinSCP
I tried looking briefly into Samba-Share but that seemed even more technical and over my head and I’d been trying for over 9 hours just to add a handful of roms.
In the end I could not add roms.
I emailed the company and now, almost 48 hours later am still waiting on a response.
I don’t think I’ll be able to add my own roms and I am disappointed.
I don’t think I’ll be able to add my own roms and I am disappointed as it is missing quite a few that I would really like to play.
The whole process is way more technical than I’m comfortable with.
STILL…. In the end…. for $150 for the console, the 3,000ish games that came pre-loaded, and the controls and wireless keyboard (controls work fine, wireless keyboard i dunno lol maybe not working). But still I feel it’s a good value.
If I’m having THIS much trouble trying to just transfer in some roms, I can’t imagine I could have ever loaded retro pie and emulation station and everything else on my own. No way.
So $150 for 3,000 games, yeah I’ll take it still… Even though it has some issues…
Aside from not being able to load my own roms, there’s other issues as well, edges of the screen in menus (not within games, but pretty much anywhere else) are ever so slightly clipped off making it hard to read certain things sometimes – it’s rare, it only happens in a few screens, which I wouldn’t have seen unless trying all these settings and config options to get my own roms loaded.
The other big issue is the controls can be reconfigured to your preferred layout, but it is really sensitive and buggy. I just left mine on default settings, which maybe in Asia and/or Europe, is backwards from the USA. I keep wanting to press the bottom left button (X) to confirm, and the bottom right button (O) to cancel, because that’s how it is on almost every console in USA. but on this console it’s reversed. X cancels and O confirms…. SOMETIMES…. and other times… in certain games/menus it’s reversed AGAIN – back to the American way. That drives me a bit batty. But is a minor inconvenience.
It came with little to no documentation. And everything needed batteries which was another minor inconvenience. I looked up documentation online and after some fumbling around was up and running in under 20 minutes. But this transferring in my own roms thing still not working. I’ve reached out to the seller, and also am asking around in online communities trying to get it sorted out.
I would say…. yes it’s worth buying…
If you are technical enough, save yourself some money and mod your own raspberry pi unit.
But if you’re lazy and/or not technical, go ahead and buy this.
I have read mixed reviews about controls not working or the console not working, but mine works fine, except for MAYBE the keyboard, or maybe I just dunno wtf I’m doing – and then also I can’t connect to Wifi or SSH even with a hard wired connection – is it a problem of the system or am I doing it wrong? I can’t say for sure.
There are flaws as mentioned above, but I’m still playing with and enjoying my unit.
If I get my own roms installed I’d give this 5 out of 5 stars. Without my own roms, I give it like 3 stars, “good but not great”. Transferring my own roms is not the only issue, but it is the biggest issue for me in my opinion. There’s lots of other little issues but it’s a neat little machine with some fun games already loaded. Check it out and let me know what you think. Also if anyone has any advice for me on how to load my own roms and what I’m doing wrong please tell me lol.
This is not a sponsored post. I purchased this laptop direct from Razer and used my own hard earned money to pay for it. I have never owned anything by Razer but the company has long been the gold standard for gaming PCs, gaming laptops, and accessories.
I purchased the 2020 Quartz Razer Blade Laptop on 10/8/2020 and received it on 10/12/2020 with standard shipping. It’s more pink in person. On camera it look…
And a bit of my “gaming history” on previous laptops, sprinkled in with some pictures of the new 2020 Razer Quartz Blade 15 Inch Laptop. Followed by some Specs, Benchmarks, and recommended accessories.
The pictures and videos sometimes don’t reflect how pink this computer really is. My own pictures, Razer official pictures, and other people’s pictures really show this laptop as more of a rose gold with a hint of pink, but in person, it’s EXTREMELY pink. Not rose gold at all. So keep that in mind :). None of my pictures or videos have any filters or editing. I tried different lighting and different camera angles to try to get a good idea of how pink it was, but no matter what I did, the laptop is much pinker in person than in the pictures lol. Which is a good thing i think :).
Prior to owning this laptop, I was most recently using an HP Spectre. It was not a gaming laptop by any means. But for me, someone who does not play twitchy games or fps games, etc, it was fine. It has an Nvidia graphics card and enough ram and so on to run the games I wanted to play – which by most people’s standards are casual games – I’m a casual gamer and I’m not ashamed to admit it lol. I love games for girls, otome games, RPGs, Strategy Games, Simulation Games, JRPGs, Visual Novels, and so on. The only time I might need a bit of OOMPH is if I decided to play an online game, like an MMORPG for example. But even then, most of them are designed to run on medium powered computers to capture more sales and reach a broader audience.
Prior to my HP Spectre I had an Asus Rog Strix. It was a nice gaming rig but it was bulky and heavy. And prior to the Asus, I had 3 Dell Alienwares. My first Alienware was my first laptop ever, probably like 20 years ago almost now when Alienware released one of its first laptops. And it lasted quite awhile. But I paid for their top of the line care package and they sent technicians to fix it a few times over the years. At one point it had to get sent in for repairs, and then it was gone for a long time, 2-3 months.
During that time I blogged about my negative experience and one of the Dell Customer Advocates at the time reached out to me “wanting to make it right”. It turned out it was so old (probably between 5-6 years at that time) they were having trouble getting components needed to fix it so they upgraded me to a brand new Alienware with better specs obviously than my outdated one. I was happy so after a few years when it was time to upgrade again I naturally bought another Dell Alienware. It too served me well. I had each Alienware for over 5 years. The only reason I moved away from Alienware was there were more options on the market at a more affordable price point.
I also realized that although I consider myself a gamer, most people would not consider me a gamer because I’m not playing FPS or Arena styled games where every millisecond of response time truly matters. Obviously for the types of games I play, I don’t need a fricken Alienware (or Razer for that matter lol).
My Asus Rog didn’t last as long as my Dell Alienwares. I’m not sure why, but after 2 or 3 years it was dead, wouldn’t even turn on – I’m guessing it was the graphics or motherboard or battery or power supply. I didn’t have any kind of care package and yeah I could have taken it to somewhere like Best Buy and had their technicians look at fixing it. But I decided to just replace it.
HP Spectre had the Nvidia graphics and RAM and Intel processors to get the job done for the types of games I play. and my HP Spectre is still fully working and functioning to this day. My HP Spectre was maybe $700. Half the price of my new Razer.
I really only bought Razer initially because it was so pink. I also know it to be a brand that can play most modern games on high settings. I know as far as specs go it will last me a long time, especially for the type of games I enjoy.
In theory as long as there’s no hardware failures, I should not need to upgrade for probably 7-8 years because I don’t play the types of games that demand the latest and greatest newest technology.
And I’m fine with that because I don’t want to upgrade away from this beautiful pink color.
Before purchasing the 2020 Razer Quartz Blade 15 inch laptop, I was also considering the MSI Prestige Pink Laptop. In all the videos I seen online, the MSI Prestige Pink Laptop looked more pink than the Razer Quartz edition laptops. But after seeing the Razer Quartz in person, I can tell you that it is more pink than it appears in any video.
I think it photographs and videographs as a metallic rose gold, but that is not how it looks in person at all. It is as pink as bubblegum, a flamingo, raspberry icecream, or whatever other pink description you could want to use lol. It’s absolutely not rose gold. It’s full on PINK. I owned a Rose Gold Iphone, and my HP Spectre was Rose Gold (just the lid though). So I know what Rose Gold is and what it isn’t. And this isn’t rose gold. It’s absolutely PINK. But I can’t really show you how Pink it is, because the metallic finish throws it off on camera, but trust me when you get your hands on one, you’re going to be blown away by how pink it actually is. If you want pink this has you covered.
So for me, personally, specs aren’t that important, give me a newish Nvidia graphics card, and a hefty amount of RAM and a decent intel processor and I’m good to go. I also have owned some Radeon computers/laptops and I prefer Nvidia. It’s a personal preference but I’ve had smoother experiences on Nvidia. I think some of Radeon’s problems come from some driver issues, but they’re both fine and acceptable graphics cards for gamers.
But for most of you, you’re going to want to know the specs.
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H 6 Core (2.6GHz/5.0GHz)
Windows 10 Home
15.6″ Full HD 144Hz, 100% sRGB, 4.9 mm bezel, factory calibrated
NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6GB GDDR6 VRAM)
256GB SSD (M.2 NVMe)
16GB Dual-Channel (8GB x 2) DDR4-2933MHz
Single-zone RGB Powered by Razer Chroma™ anti-ghosting keyboard
Given the portability of the Razer Blade, connection to online gaming is always a concern. As long as you’ve got a strong enough internet connection and a reasonably good router you should always be ready to game. The Razer Blade features Intel’s new flawless Wi-Fi 6E so it’s important to ensure you have a good internet speed to make the most of it. You can compare broadband deals if your speeds just aren’t cutting it.
The only thing I didn’t like was the small hard drive. I have over 1,000 steam games and I am also a graphic artist and work with large files all day. But I learned a trick: You can play steam games on an external hard drive. So I bought an 8 TB external hard drive at Best Buy that was on sale for $139 regularly $199. And I’m good to go. Things I don’t like about my external hard drive, it’s big, it’s heavy, the cords both the power adapter and usb cable are short, so how could I play it in bed or on the couch. I probably at some point will get a portable external hard drive. They make them as small as a credit card these days up to 2-3TB which is plenty. I think they also make wireless external hard drives… I probably bought mine too soon without really researching what I was buying. Also it’s not pink lol. I have seen pink external hard drives, especially the small portable kinds. But whatever, it works lol. As long as I’m at a desk or a table or have an outlet close to the bed or couch it’s fine.
This was the external hard drive I purchased here from Best Buy:
Shop WD easystore 8TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive Black at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.
This is not the first time Razer has released a pink laptop and probably won’t be the last. But each time they launch the Razer Quartz it sells out quickly as it is a limited edition. Older even used Razer Quartz laptops still resell for their original price or even higher on sites like Ebay because it’s so highly sought after.
Other than MSI Prestige Pink there is no other gaming laptop in this color. Some might have colored lids, but the keyboard and bezel is grey or white or black. These two, MSI and Razer are the only ones that are fully from edge to edge truly pink.
There are other Pink laptops out there sure, don’t get me wrong, but not ones designed for gaming. Most other Pink Laptops you see like HP Stream or cheap laptops on sites like aliexpress, have onboard graphics. Intel graphics MIGHT be fine for the types of games I play, maybe, I dunno. I’ve never owned a laptop with onboard intel graphic cards. I hear they’ve gotten better in recent years too, but still light years behind Nvidia when it comes to gaming. But since I play lower end games with less demanding graphics, it might work for me. lol If Microsoft or Intel want to send me one to test, I’d be happy to test it for them and do a nice review :). But until then, I’m gonna stick to Nvidia because it’s made for gamers.
So I know that the pink is pretty and all, but can you play games on this laptop? The answer is yes. Yes you can. Here are some benchmark tests I did to prove that you can play games on the Razer Blade Quartz laptop.
First I tried UserBenchmark.
Here’s a screenshot:
Here’s the text from the test:
UserBenchmarks: Game 63%, Desk 97%, Work 56% CPU: Intel Core i7-10750H – 88.5% GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti (Mobile) – 65.1% SSD: Nvme CA5-8D256 256GB – 202.6% RAM: Samsung M471A1K43DB1-CWE 2x8GB – 83.9% MBD: Razer Blade 15 Base Model (Early 2020) – RZ09-0328
Next I ran a test with Novabench. Here are the screenshots from that test. As you can see it is 3% slower than the standard “high end gaming PC” which I’m guessing is comparing desktop specs. So not bad for a laptop. It’s moderately higher than a mid-level gaming PC – again am assuming the benchmark is using desktop specs. And is more than double the recommended specs to run VR. The laptop is labeled as VR ready, which it clearly is capable of here.
Lastly, I tried Passmark benchmarking software. It scored the lowest on this benchmark. The palm rests got a LITTLE warm, but not hot, and the fans sped up to where you could hear them a little, but not like super loud. Could still hear the TV in the next room, etc.
Again it is probably comparing it also to desktop machines which isn’t really fair or accurate because desktop is always going to win. But for me, personally, I wouldn’t want a desktop. I travel and I need to be mobile. I don’t like hunching over a desk all day, etc. I need to be comfortable when I game. I game to relax.
Speaking of that, I ordered a few accessories to help me relax with my new laptop.
I ordered a pink fan to help dissipate heat. It just sits right under the laptop. It plugs into the USB and it’s pretty quiet. It does have a switch to turn up the fan speed. It has six fans, it’s pink, and quiet, it has a nice ledge that helps my laptop not slide forward too when on my lap.
I ordered also a large pink lap desk with room for a mouse and my external hard drive. It hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully it will be large enough for my needs. I chose this one.
I haven’t ordered a mouse yet. I have a cheap walmart wireless mouse that’s already pink. I know I want wireless which is what my current mouse is. I’m thinking of ordering the razer quartz atheris mouse although ideally I think I would like Razer Viper Ultimate Quartz wireless mouse. But that price is crazy. And I worry it would be too big and/or heavy. I think I’ll just stick with my little walmart mouse for now.
Due to the size of the post covering and ranking the past 30 years of gaming consoles (plus pc and mobile too), ranking them based on the quantity and quality of girl games available on the systems, I had to break what I’d hoped to be one big post into about FORTY (unbelievable lol) smaller posts.
I think you need a table of contents and i’ll be going back into each of those forty posts and adding this. As well as possibly changing headings and images to make things less confusing lol.
It took me 3 weeks to write the post in word doc, and another almost 2 weeks to format the post on my blog… a labor of love.
I hope you enjoy reading it!
Here’s my picks for the best gaming systems for girls.
kawaiifluff 