Nov 30th 2017
Know How... 358
2017 Geek Gift Guide II: Man Cave
Holiday gift giving, man cave, music production, NAS, USB-C, Docking, Gaming, Lapboard, Superhot
What do you give the geek who has everything? What about a man cave? Padre & Jason Howell take you through the gear THEY have inside their man caves!
Storage
Synology DS418 Play - $429.99
- 4-Bay (48TB Maximum capacity - 12TB x 4)
- Quad-Core Intel J3355 Processor WITH an encryption engine
- Dual GigE ports (with support for aggregation and failover -- or dual-homing)
- Dual-Channel, on-the-fly encoding (Two simultaneous transcoding streams up to 4K)
- 2GB DDR3 Memory (expandable to 6B)
- ENCRYPTED Throughput (226MB Read/185MB/s Write)
PERFECT FOR
- Media Server
- Backup Server
- Security Camera Server
- File Server (CIFS/AFP/NFS/FTP/SFTP)
Music
Etymotic MP 9-15 - Music Pro High Fidelity Electronic Musician's Earplugs - $299
- Professional-level Ear protection
- Can protect your from noise up to 120db while not affecting WHAT you can hear.
- Uses a three-part process
- Microphone picks up room noise
- A compression processor cleans up the sound, removing overt noise.
- A driver delivers the compressed sound at a sound level you can choose (9 or 15db cut).
- Has an array of tips
- Uses a coin-battery (lasts about 8 days)
Etymotic ER20XS High Fidelity Earplugs - $19.95
- Multiple tips
- Carrying case
- Can reduce noise by 13db
OWC USB-C Travel Dock - $49.88
- 60W Pass Through
- PC & Mac
- 2 x USB 3.1
- SD Card Reader
- HDMI 2.0 (Supports 4K 30Hz)
Anker Premium 60W Wall Charger - $49.99
- 5 Ports (4 x USB, 1 x USB-C)
- Can deliver 60W
Anker PowerCore+ 26800 - $82.99
- 2 x 15W USB POrts (3A max)
- 1 x 30W USB-C Port
- Comes with a 27W USB-C Wall Charger
- Lets it charge at 27W (Zero to Full in 4 hours)
- Supports PowerIQ for compatible devices (fast charging)
- Weighs just under 600 grams (1.3lbs)
- 26.8 Amp/Hours of power (96.48 Watt/Hours)
- To put that into perspective:
- an iPhone 7 has a 7.45 or 11.1 Wh battery
- a OnePlus 5 has a 12Wh battery
- the Acer Chromebook R13 has an 18Wh battery
- a MacBook Pro has either 54.5 Watt/house or 49.2 Watt House
- To put that into perspective:
- It can charge an iPhone 7 8 to 13 times
- It can charge a OnePlus 5 7.5 times
- It can charge a high-end Chromebook 5 times
- IT can charge a MacBook Pro roughly twice (But it won't quick-charge)
Cons:
- It cannot charge while it is being charged
- (You can't charge from the USB-A ports while it's being charged via the USB-C port)
VR
Acer AH101-D8EY Windows Mixed Reality Headset (w/2 wireless controllers) - $379
- Same price as Oculus Rift, but with better sensor tech & controllers
- Uses what they call "World Scale" VR/MR
- It's what the rest of the industry call "inside out" tracking
- That means there's no external hardware that you have to install
- Six degrees of freedom (roll, pitch, yaw, forward/back, up/down, left/right)
Specs:
- 1.35lbs
- 13 foot cable (HDMI + USB 3.0)
- Dual 2.89" Hinged 2880 x 1440 LCD displays (90Hz refresh) (1,440 x 1,440 per eye) (706ppi)
- 100 degree field of view
- Proximity sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer
- Tracking camera
- Bluetooth sync
- Spatial audio
- Motion controllers
Acer Aspire 7 - $899.99
- 7th gen Intel Quad Core i7-7700HQ
- 8GB DDR4 (expandable to 32GB)
- 256GB Intel PCIe SSD
- 15.6" 1920x1080 LCD
- NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)
- Gigabit Ethernet + 802.11ac (with collapsing jack)
- 1 USB 3.0 + 2 USB 2.0
- HDMI
- USB-C 3.1
- 3230mAh LiPoly Battery (7 hours)
- 5.29lbs
HyperX Cloud Alpha Gaming Headset - $99.99
- 50mm Dual-Chamber Drivers
- Memory foam + leather (super comfortable for long sessions)
- Aluminum frame
- In-line controls
- Detachable cord and microphone
- Works for PC, PS4 Pro, Xbox One S, Nintendo Switch, phones...basically anything!
Roccat Sova (Gaming Lapboard) - $149.99
- Full Keyboard (Membrane) - mechanical version is $16 more
- ROCCAT backlit keyboard (6 brightness levels)
- 4 meter breakaway cable
- 2 x USB 2.0 ports
- Includes a write rest and mouse pad
- Cable management (including a cable bungie)
- Swarm enabled (color, control)
What Would Jason Have in His Man Cave
What he does have:
- Pro Tools (yearly subscription - $100)
- Avid Artist Mix - $995
- Akai MPK249 - $399
- HiFiMan HE-400i headphones - $219
- Spire Studio - $350
- Arcade cabinet (with Raspberry Pi 3)
- Hue Gen 3 color bulbs - $49.99 each
What he wishes he had:
- Dell 43 Ultra HD 4K Multi Client Monitor - $749.99
- Pro Tools S3 - $5,000
- High-end VR (any system, preferable with Superhot)
- Nintendo Switch with Super Mario Odyssey
- A lava lamp - $99.99
3M Portable Screen - $100
- 26" Diagonal
- 5lbs
Anker Nebula Mars Portable Cinema Home Theatre - $599.99
- 500 ANSI Lumens - equivalent to 3000 Lumens - Generated by a 3000LM LED lamp
- 1280 x 800
- Dual 10W speakers
- 19,500 mAh batter (3 hours of operation)
- Wireless Connectivity (2.4 & 5G WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0)
- Android
- Remote
- Less than 4lbs
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