Who changed the graphics? Impressed.

A few days ago I updated the graphics driver on my (old-ish) laptop, and last night I logged into to WoW. The change was immense. Where the old display was set for speed, the new one seems to be be set back to a max setting.

Translucent water and particle effects look wild, and the animations are so much more … fluid. Who knew the game had grass!

I had no idea the game could look so darn good. The bad (because there is always a bad…) is that now I want a new laptop. Time to start doing more overtime at work I guess.

Happy Killing, TyphoonAndrew

Edifier MP300

Th second little groovy audio system I have to try is the Edifier MP 300. Like its smaller Soundbar cousin, this unit is designed to be portable. But while the Soundbar unit is a single solid item, this unit is three separate pieces.

This lends itself to places where you want an unobtrusive sound unit, have limited space, but also are probably going to be setup for more than a few hours. For me this is perfect for our study, where space is a premium, but I stillwant good audio.

The unit produces far better sound that a laptop, and better than the crappy plastic pillar upright units that you see for sale in bargin bins by far.

The good:

  • Sound quality is nice and full. More than enough to fill a study, bedroom, or small living area.
  • Attractive design, which is a refreshing change from the black plastic or beige hardware seen in most rooms. Its also not overed in “extreme” icons and stupid symbols.
  • Setup was easy when using with an iPhone, basically plug in and turn on.

The Bad:

  • Many cables and cords, while needed are not handy if you have to pack up quickly. Thus the use in a semi-permanent or fixed position rather than a road device.
  • I had a terrible time getting the unt to work correctly with my laptop’s audio port. After a good 20 minutes of playing around, I just piked and tested the iPhone hoolup. This is totally the opposite of the SoundBar which worked straight away. This is probably due to the laptop having pretty strange audio devices in teh windows system, so not a total mess.

Overall: I’d be ok to have a set of these speakers, but would probably hook them up to a desktop unit, rather than a laptop or portable device. They are good enough for most sound applications, but do not require an extensive nest of cables, and also not as bulky as a full 5.1 sound system, which would be totally under utilised in out home office.

I still have a full 5.1 sound system sitting in my garden shed, as it is too power intensive Continue reading