Apple Macbook Pro 2016 Review

 

First things first, this is only a quick review. Its not lie and you probably guessed it, I am a bit of a sucker for an Apple product but even when I first saw the new Macbook Pro launch I was’nt very impressed with the route Apple took and decided that I wouldn’t be purchasing one.

2 weeks down the line after it was unvieled my old Macbook Pro 2012 decided it wanted to start playing up and after some diagnostics of my own and eventually giving up as I was stumped, I took it into Apple who confirmed the worst …that it was my logic board and the rest is history and now I have a new Apple Macbook Pro 2016 with Touchbar.

So first things first here are the main specs of the new system so you guys know what I’m reviewing:

• 13 Inch 2560 x 1600 Display
• I5 2.9GHZ Dual Core Processor with a Boost of 3.3GHZ
• 512GB PCIe SSD
• 8GB 2133MHz Ram
• Iris 550 Graphics
• Four Thunderbolt 3/USB C Ports

 

Lets first talk about the elephant in the room which is the lack of ports which everyone including myself could not understand why Apple took this approach but after using the device for a couple of weeks, I did find an essential accesory that I think everyone will need to get which is the Avotch USB C Hub but it is rather annoying considering the cost of the system that you would need to spend another £60 on a hub in order to connect your everyday perihirals to the system such as external hardrives, sd cards, hdmi cable and even a network adapter if you prefer a wired internet connection. On the other hand tho I can kind of see why Apple have done it as it is a more versatile port and damn its lightning quick if you have compatible USB C external hardrives to go with it but in all honesty I think it may have been a year to early to completly banish all other ports from the Macbook but it will encourage manfacturers to create new devices which are compatible with USB C as these laptops will sell in mass amounts and manufacturers know that.

By far the best feature for me on this laptop is that incredible display. Going from a non retina macbook to this is a massive leap, every single detail is visable and with the wide colour gamut the colours just pop and look so crisp at any angle your viewing the display from and I would go as far as saying its the best overall display I have ever seen on a device of this size so well done Apple on that one.

Lets move on to the important bit…the performance. This system is not slouch with the i5 processor matched with 8GB 2133MHz Ram and with the ridiculosly overpriced optional upgrade 512GB SSD it absolutely smashes through work loads and applications such as photoshop and premiere pro and general everyday stuff and it is a joy to use. Data transfer speeds are as you would expect, I transferred an 40GB file to this when I first purchased and it done it in less that 3 minutes which is some of the fastest speeds I have come across so once again well done Apple on this one to.

Now for the bits I dislike! Its not all rosey, there are a few things which I do dislike about this laptop and to kick things off I will start with the price. It is incredibly overpriced this laptop costs £1949RRP but I did do some hunting around and luckily it fell on black friday weekend so managed to purchase this for £1849 with an additional £73 cashback from John Lewis but by no means do I still think I got myself a good deal. Why would you spend that sort of money on a laptop? I hear you cry … well for me I do just love the operating system and how Mac laptops seem to just work flawlessly with my other Apple products its just a shame that Apple think its okay to only put 256GB in its base system which for me is just not enough storage and for the 512GB upgrade was a £200 upgrade, not cool Apple not cool at all. Next thing is that touchbar, yes it looks cool and futuristic and touch ID works really well but in everyday tasks and uses it just isn’t compatible with enough programes as of yet but im sure this will only be a short term dislike as more applictions an programmes will be able to use the touchbar via updates but I feel like more should of been prepared for this funtion.

Conclusions and the main question “should you buy one?” in a one word answer for an everyday user looking for something to browse the web and do a few word documents which aren’t to bothered if they use Windows 10 or Mac OS … No! Now if your a kind of person who uses applications such as photoshop, premiere pro, final cut etc … the decision is a little difficult yes it is an expensive machine but damn it is fast and generally a pleasure to use and I don’t think you would be disapointed at all with the screen and with the application support coming from adobe and other companies for the touchbar I do think it could boost productivity for your day to day life and work, saying that tho there are other options which can be explored which would also do the same job for less money on the Windows 10 platform but for me as mentioned above I just love the Mac OS experience hence why I purchased this machine.

 

Thank you for reading my review and for any questions or feedback please use the section below of contact me on twitter @liamstechguide or Facebook

The Low Down On The iPhone 7 & 7 Plus

Well well well, Apple unveiled the not so secret iPhone 7 & 7 Plus to the world at its annual September event and with days from its release, its been received with a mixed response to say the least. Today I am going to do a quick 5 point checklist to provide you with some of the interesting information and features you may need, to decide if you need that shiny new Apple device.

1. As I mentioned in my previous post they have indeed banished the 3.5mm headphone jack an opted to go down the lightning connection and Bluetooth route . This is mainly due to Apple wanting to adapt a change just as they did when they first introduced the lightning connector and to create more room inside the handset for additional features like the taptic module for the new style home button and a slightly bigger battery.
2. It can now go for a splash without a worry. Yes it is indeed water and dust resistant so no more worrying about that heart dropping moment your phone slips out your hand and down the bog it goes.
3. Is this now the top dog in the smartphone camera world? Only time will tell with those all important comparison pictures between the iPhone 7 12mp camera & Samsung S6 12mp camera or even more exciting will be what the iPhone 7 Plus can produce because now the iPhone 7 Plus doesn’t just have one 12mp camera it has TWO. Apple have taken the route to adapt a dual camera lens system which opens up the world for a optical zoom inside a smart phone over the existing software zoom so this means clearer and sharper images when zoomed in. Both phones also have optical stabilization which should produce a sharper and cleaner images. Also just to note for all you selfie lovers the front camera has had a boost going from the 5mp to 7mp and also records in 4k
4. Display Improvements… but not as many as myself and many others would have liked. They have indeed improved the screen by making it 25% brighter with a wider colour range gamut but it is still only a 720p screen in the iPhone 7 and 1080p in the iPhone 7 Plus. So nothing to rave about in this department unfortunately.
5. Classic home button has now had an upgrade! So with the revelation of touch ID back on the iPhone 5s Apple have now upgraded the home button to the next level. It is now pressure sensitive and has a taptic engine built in. So what the hell does this mean? Well it is no longer a physical button that you press down but it is now a capacitive button which with clever software and hardware, gives the impression of pressing a physical button. The reason behind the change is mainly due to making it water tight but it also means in theory less home buttons should stop functioning due to it no longer being a mechanical button. It also provides advantages such as vibration feedback in certain apps and allows developers to incorporate and program there own feedback options through the home button.

Thank you for reading and I hope this has helped some of you guys out. As a last note please see below for the pricing information but be warned you may need a mortgage to buy one:

iPhone 7 Pricing –

• 32gb – £599
• 128gb – £699
• 256gb – £799

iPhone 7 Plus Pricing –

• 32gb – £719
• 128gb – £819
• 256gb – £919

 

iPhone 7 & 7 Plus…What To Expect

So it’s that time of year again. Apples September showcasing of there latest and greatest phones on offer but with last years slightly disappointing upgrades in the iPhone 6s and Samsung seeming to be jumping leaps and bounds, apart from there recent exploding phones which I have a feeling is a feature they didn’t put on the phone. So what can we expect in this years showing with the rumour mill going full steam ahead.

Here is my top 5 list of the rumours that are likely to be true.

1. R.I.P To the 3.5mm headphone jack – Yes it looks like the rumours are true and they are ditching the headphone jack to persue with lightning connection and Bluetooth headphones but fear not I will be highly surprised if there wasn’t a lightning to audio jack lead but saying this do expect to pay extra for this as an added accessorie.

2. More storage for less money – I would not be surprised one bit if the new standard will be the 32gb or 64gb model over the current 16gb standard. So the range will be something along the lines of 32gb or 64gb,128gb & a new 256gb. Why do I feel so confident in this I hear your ask? Well with the enhancements in camera and recording in 4K this takes up more storage and I think Apple know this along with the fact Samsung are now offering 64gb as standard but they have the addition micro SD slot but let’s not get ahead of ourselves Apple won’t be going down that route.

3. Two cameras better than one? – It would appear that possibly Apple may take this route to improve there pictures and videos to the next level but maybe only on iPhone 7 Plus and not on the standard device so for the premium camera you will need to pay the premium price. Saying that I would be shocked if they did not also upgrade the camera on the standard iPhone 7 device.

4. Sticking to what works – Im referring to the design. There has been a lot of renders and leaked images mocked up of the new device and they all point to the same thing… It’s not going to change much in the design department apart from a few tweaks here and there and maybe a couple new colours in the range, which from my point of view is a bit of a lazy approach and one that I hope isn’t true but it’s all pointing in that direction unfortunately.

5. 1080p at long last – Finally 1080p is on its way with Samsung jumping ahead leaps and bounds in the screen department, Apple might now just be jumping upto 1080p at long last. I am hoping they go slightly beyond this with all the technology kicking around but a 1080p screen is better than nothing and sticking with there current 720p which I still can’t believe they use after all this time.

In conclusion only time will tell. So to find out what is and isn’t true, all will be unveiled on 7th September 2016 at roughly 6pm UK time, so keep an eye out.

Live stream available here from 6pm 7/09/2016

Xbox One S Has Been Annouced

Lets get started. Xbox has done its big annual unveiling of all things new at Microsoft at E3 this year. In a bit of a bizarre move they have announced a new console arriving early August of this year. The reason it is a bizarre move is because it is pre cycle in the console world as they have already announced a much more powerful console coming next year which is code named Project Scorpio but expect that name to change to something a little different.

Back to the Xbox One S tho, it is a 40% smaller console over the current beast of a machine in the Xbox One, it has also lost the bulky and damn right annoying power brick which is a nice touch… well done Microsoft. In terms of other hardware nothing major has changed inside apart from it now supports 4k streaming, 4k Ultra HD Video Support including 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray and full HDR (high dynamic range) capability which will mean the blacks will be blacker and the colours will be more vibrant with playback and games but please bear in mind this doesn’t include 4k gaming as of yet, this is something coming in its bigger brother Xbox Scorpio along with VR and you will need a 4k TV for all of this to work.

Compared to the standard Xbox One the only other changes include the USB port being moved to the front of the case for easier access along with the Xbox One controller pairing button which makes much more sense and they have upgraded the HDMI to HDMI 2.0a which means it can output 4k at 60hz unlike HDMI 1.4 which can only do 4k 30hz. It will also include a vertical stand for those who want your Xbox to stand vertical. Microsoft has also made a slight change and upgrade to the already amazing Xbox One controller. These upgrades include a new textured grip for a more comfortable hold and the biggest upgrade is it now has Bluetooth built in which therefore improves range and it makes it easier for the PC gamer to use it with there PC without having to use an annoying USB lead or dongle.

So the conclusion and main question on everyone’s lips…Should you get one? Personally my view is if you already have an Xbox One you are better off saving your money and waiting to see what Project Scorpio brings as there should be much improved hardware as it will be able to play 4k games. Now if you were thinking of getting an Xbox I think the decision is a little harder for you guys and you have to just go with you gut feeling. If you cannot wait for Project Scorpio then go ahead and buy the Xbox S and you will not be disappointed in any way shape or form but again if you can hold out, I would save that valuable cash and wait to see what Microsoft unleashes next year.

On a final note here is the pricing and please note the first edition going on sale will be the 2tb the other configurations are going on sale at a later date:

1. Xbox One S 500 GB Console Package – £249.99
2. Xbox One S 1 TB Console Package – £299.99
3. Xbox One S 2 TB Console Package – £349.99

Thank you for reading my blog and if you have any question please send me a message directly on this page or via my twitter @liamstechguide.

 

 

Steelseries Siberia 800 Wireless Headset Brief Overview

So let’s get to it. After months and I really do mean months of deciding what headset I would like to purchase I narrowed it down to the Steelseries Siberia 800 Wireless.

Why this headset I hear you cry? Well I have been using the turtle beach x12’s from my Xbox 360 with my PC to date. This was due to them actually being a pretty decent headset for the price and they worked perfectly for me on the PC so I didn’t see a need to upgrade the headset until the rest of my PC had been built.

As you can guess the time has come. I have been looking for a quality 7.1 sound, wireless headset which was going to last me and that I would get a decent listening experience from. Also I wanted one that was compatible with my Xbox one which this one is,you must have the Xbox one adapter tho. Yes I do know, generally wired headsets are the way to go but I just wanted to be wire free and create a less cluttered area where my PC is located.

Now for the specs and what’s included in the box. In the box it includes:

• Steelseries Siberia 800 headset
• Transmitter/Control Hub
• 2 Battery Packs
• Power adapter with 4 worldwide plug ends
• 6 connection cables which include optical, USB, power, analogue, mobile and Xbox chat.

The headset has 40mm drivers which you can adapt for your hearing pleasure, due to the very customizable sound options thanks to the transmitter box. As you probably guessed from the box contents this headset is extremely versatile and can connect to almost anything with all its included cables. It will connect to PC,Mac,Xbox,Xbox One,PlayStation,Tablets,Phones or directly into your Home Entertainment System. The transmitter box is effectively the control hub for all of these as you can connect all your inputs into this device and due to its handy OLED display you can select which input you want to listen to along with customized or pre set EQ settings for each device. There is also a clickable wheel and various simplistic buttons located on the headset so you can control the transmitter box without being next to it. The transmitter box also has a handy feature of being a charging dock for the battery you are not using which means you never have to go without battery because when one battery dies you can literally hot swap between the two included battery’s which I think is a very attractive feature for this headset.

My general view and conclusion on this headset is a very impressed one. I have only been using the Siberia 800’s for a few days but I am already blown away with the punchy sound quality that they pump out and the comfort that they provide when using them. They aren’t the most lightweight headset in the world but you do get a feel of a premium product with its leather on the earbuds and across the top of the headset itself, providing a sturdy but comfortable feel and experience. I had these on for around 5 hours straight and I didn’t feel uncomfortable or the need to take them off to give my ears a bit of freedom. Steelseries advertise this headset as lag free and all I can do is back them up with this statement, I haven’t had a single problem with any lag coming from the sound or produced from the retractable microphone. Talking of the microphone, as mentioned just a moment ago it is retractable which again is a nice feature to have for those games where you don’t necessarily need a microphone dangling around your mouth. The microphone quality itself is okay, to be honest from a headset at this price I would of expected a little more but it is what is and that is my only real negative point about this headset. I have seen others complaining that it doesn’t go loud enough but for me I have been using it on roughly 80% and that is more than loud enough for me and it blocks out the constant background traffic noise which I have living next to a busy road.

So would I recommend the Steelseries Siberia 800 Wireless? Yes I would, they tick all the boxes I think you would ever want in a gaming headset and have more than enough features and settings to adapt to any sound that you require. Saying that at £259.99 RRP these aren’t cheap and the only reason I took the big leap into these were because of an offer at box.co.uk for £189.99 (which I believe is still on for anyone wanting to get a set of these) but in my eyes it is money well spent for my needs but if you don’t essentially want or need a wireless headset there are cheaper options out there which produce a very similar sound to these.

The Ways I Save & Make Money Online

 

Everyone loves to save money right? Well today I’m going to provide the techniques and ways I personally save money and make a bit of free money by purchasing stuff online.

Now lets get down to that list:

1. Cashback Sites (Topcashback, Quidco, etc) – You have probably seen these advertised on other websites or you may have seen them advertised on TV and like me you might have been thinking “okay free money as a cashback for just shopping online, whats the catch?”. So I took the dive into this website to find out, there is an easy sign up which just requires the usual email, contact details but it does require bank details which is needed to provide you your cashback so don’t worry it isn’t a scam. Once signed up, you type in the shop you want to shop online with (they have all the major brands and websites), when you have found the shop/website you want to use you simply click on the get cashback link next to the logo of that company and next to the amount of cashback you will get (normally shown as a percentage) and it will redirect you to that companies website and you just shop as normal. The only thing I do see as a con when using this website to make some free money is that you do need to be careful of what the minimum requirements are to get that particular cashback so read carefully and it does take 20+ weeks in some cases for it to physically be payable for you to transfer to your bank but at the end of the day its free money so just roll with it. Over the past year I’ve earned over £100 by just using this website and shopping for stuff I already wanted and to be honest it could of been more if I remembered to use it every time.
2. PriceSpy – An excellent website I use to find the lowest price for that particular item you want to buy. Simply go to the website, type what you want to buy and it will list a comparison of a number of websites that sell that item along with the full costings of each website including postage which means you can find the lowest possible price for that item. They also have an app available from the Android and App Store so you always have this handy website on hand.
3. Hot UK Deals – This handy website is basically a massive forum where people put up deals that they have located online and shared with others to enjoy. It’s not just relevant for buying online but they also post voucher codes or discount codes for restaurants, takeaways and in store. Again there is an app available on the Android store and App Store.
4. Online News Letters – Now I know what your thinking “those company newsletters spamming my inbox are annoying as it is, so why would I sign up for some?” Well 9 times out of 10 they will either provide a voucher code for signing up or they will automatically email you when offers are available before publishing it to the rest of the world. My best advice is to set up a separate email address and input this email when signing up therefore this means all your discount codes and spam that doesn’t include discount codes are all in one place and not showing in your main inbox. Also just to note this does apply to company apps as well such as the official T.G.I and other restaurants apps.
5. Vouchercloud – Again another voucher based website and again they do have there own app but the reason I have added this to the list is because they tend to have exclusive deals to there website/app so it can’t be found anywhere else. This one does require a sign up but only the usual details of email,name,age etc… and then your good to go.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post, please provide feedback or advice if you think I’ve missed an essential technique you use as these are only my personal tips that I use.

Also share and follow my Twitter @liamstechguide or like my Facebook page Liams Tech Guide.

 

WhatsApp Has Arrived For Desktop

 

Are you one of those people who can’t pull yourself away from whats app?

Well your in luck as of Tuesday WhatsApp finally released a official desktop app for Windows and Mac OS. This will allow you to sync your existing conversations from your mobile with your desktop device. It does require you to have Windows 8 or higher and on Mac you need to be running Mac OS X 10.9 and higher. Also you will need the app already on your phone for this to work as it works as an extension from your phone mirroring that device.

To download the app for your laptop/desktop go to this link.

Microsoft or Apple Mac Laptops Which One Is Right For You?

So recently I’ve noticed a lot of people are buying Macbook Laptop’s because either they think its the best thing for them or they own an iPhone or iPad and surely that is what laptop you should have for these devices? or they want that nice Apple light up logo on there laptop for all to see but is it really worth it for what you use it for?

I’m not a team Apple or a team Microsoft as I do have the privilege of owning and having access to both types of system and they both have there flaws. The reason I got my Apple Macbook Pro 2012 was because I can dual boot it, so I can run both Windows 10 and Mac OS when I’m out and about doing my sideline of repairing computer systems. Which I find is very handy for my uses and works perfectly for me day to day.

I’m not going to lie Apple products do have this premium feel about them in the way they look and the way they handle but along with this they do cost a premium amount of money for example the base model Macbook Pro is £999, yes you did read that right its nearly £1000 and if you want one with more than a measly 128gb of storage your looking at £1399 for 500gb. Now if your just an everyday user why an earth would you spend this sort of money just because you want one for no apparent reason? Yes they do work seamlessly with other Apple products via software such as iTunes, iPhoto & iMovie and the integrated link with iMessage, Facetime, Notes etc but that isn’t surprising really and the operating system is very straight forward and they only seem to ever improve it with there updates by not confusing the user or changing the whole layout completely, take note windows! also after spending some time getting use to the different ways to do things in the Mac operating system and having a lesson courtesy of your local apple store it is a very simple and easy system to use but is it worth all that money really?

My personal opinion when it comes to the question of should I get Microsoft or Apple, is that it depends on the user and the user’s needs. If you rely on using the Apple operating system for certain software within your business/work place or you are a video editor, graphic designer, photographer or that type of genre of work then full steam ahead go and get yourself an apple product and you will never look back BUT for the mass majority of users out there which use there laptop & PC devices for everyday tasks such as web browsing, creating documents, checking emails, doing homework, watching video’s or streaming etc… save your money and stick to a middle of the row Windows laptop. However if you still do want to take the Apple route and you don’t need all those extra pixels in the retina display, then go ahead and buy yourself either a used Apple laptop from the likes of gumtree or eBay or even apple’s own refurbished store which is located on this Link or you can still purchase a brand new older generation Macbook Pro Non Retina which is located on this Link and upgrade the ram and hardrive to something a bit speedier, which is what I did and here is what I used for anyone going down this route Ram-HyperX 8Gb SSD-Samsung EVO 850 as this is a simple and fairly easy install to do but will give you most of the benefits of the newer Apple laptops out there without such a high premium.

I hope this helps you guys out there reading this, if you would like up to date tech news and blog updates please follow my twitter at @liamstechguide.

 

Is Building Your Own PC Worth It?

First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of posts lately. It has been a really busy few weeks lately and I just haven’t had the time to sit and fully focus on a blog but rest assure I will be putting time aside to focus on this.

Now that I’ve addressed that let’s start. So for any of you that follow my personal account on Instagram and Twitter (@liammmbrewer) you will know over this past year and a bit I’ve built myself a new PC and have been messing about with bits here and there. This was due to a friend buying a custom selection of parts but pre made build from a company online and after seeing him on his I wanted one myself but after pricing one up for them to build it was a lot of money so after a lot of YouTube videos and advice I decided to try and build one myself for two main reasons.

1. To see if I was capable of building one and to learn more about what the parts do and how they affect a system as I know a bit about software etc but not the core components.

2. To find out how much cheaper I could build either the same one I priced up on the website or similar.

After I’ve completed it I thought I would provide some Pro’s & Con’s of doing this yourself along with a bit of advice for anyone planning on doing this yourself.

The Pro’s:

1. You can buy parts that work for you as if you buy a PC that is pre made normally if you want a certain part higher spec it normally means you generally need to have everything higher spec. Where as when you build one you can pick and choose which parts are high spec and not according to what your needs are.

2. You don’t have to dread the massive outlay of money straight away especially if you are in no massive rush to complete the build as you can buy parts gradually or buy the main components and build on from there.

3. When building you have access to the latest hardware and don’t have to settle for 2 year old processors or a hardrive rather than an SSD which surprisingly a lot of main stream companies do to keep there prices down so technically the system is out of date before you even purchase it.

4. Expandibility of the system (depending on the motherboard you get). Meaning that you can upgrade parts when and if you want. For example you can buy 4gb of ram to see you by but after say a year you want to upgrade to 8gb or 16gb then that isn’t a problem or if you want to upgrade from an i3 processor to an i5 again it’s easily possible. I’m not saying that you can’t do this in a pre configured/built system but in some cases companies solder on the parts to make them difficult to change or they use a custom made motherboard to not allow flexibility in adding or upgrading due to lack of ports.

5. No bloatware and software that takes up storage,memory and process power that you will never use or don’t even know what it is. Every PC I’ve ever purchased from a high street company does come with this, this is usually down to an agreement the company has with other companies to share there software on the machines or to have links to websites that is linked to the company but as you will be the one installing that Windows version on your system this means it will be a pure copy with no add-ons which saves you the hassle of deleting all this rubbish and also saves the time of researching if or if not you can delete it or not.

The Con’s:

1. Even when it’s built it isn’t a turn on and start using kind of machine. It takes quite a lot of time installing all the software you would generally use and setting all the software up.

2. The biggest problem by far is If something goes wrong or you do something wrong with your hardware when installing or after installation, it is down to you to replace it (unless it’s a warranty type of issue).

The conclusion from my point of view is that it does depend on the user and the uses that you going to use your computer for. If you want something cheap and cheerful that isn’t essentially that future proof then stick to the pre made build from the high street but if you fancy a challenge or want something that built for your needs alone then I would recommend a custom build everyday of the week.

My advice for anyone wanting to build a computer or getting a friend/family to build it on your behalf is to do the research, work out a budget and then work out what type of PC you need and then pick your parts wisely. Once that has been decided work out if the parts are compatible with each other by using a website like PC Part Picker. Lastly and by far when your nice new shiny bits of tech arrive, TAKE YOUR TIME in assembling, there is no rush and my personal advice when assembling is assemble outside the case to check everything works. As the one time I didn’t do this the power supply was a dud so I had to take everything out to send that back and trust me that wasn’t fun.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and it becomes helpful to the fellow budding PC builders out there or the people who are just curious.

Gadget Show 2016

Yesterday I attended the Gadget Show Live held at the NEC Birmingham. This is my 5th Gadget Show Live so as you probably guessed I do enjoy it there. For the people that don’t know what the Gadget Show Live is then it is basically a live 1 hour show from the presenters of the hit TV show which is now on channel 5 along with a gadget and technology exhibition where you can test, try out and buy tech from smaller businesses in the tech world to the big giants of it. So this blog is going to be a general round up of what I thought of it this year compared to previous years along with my top picks of some of the bits of tech and gadgets I came across whilst there.

The live show that was put on as per usual was great, yes there were a few blips here and there like it always is when live but the presenters put on a very good show and I wasn’t disappointed one bit. I will be honest tho, compared to the previous years of going the exhibition, that side of things was okay and that’s simply the best word and only word I can use to describe it. I was let down a little with the exhibition due to lack of bigger tech companies and what was on offer to buy especially in the computer and camera side of things. In other years I’ve seen the likes of Panasonic,ebuyer, box.co.uk, overclockers and more. Don’t get me wrong there were some big companies there but they didn’t really have much on show such as Nvidia who I have seen there in previous years showing off some crazy computer builds and graphics cards for sell but this year they were focused on one thing and one thing only and that was VR (virtual reality) which is all good and well but it was a big stand that was just split up into booths where people could test VR headsets and… That was it from them.

I was also disappointed with the lack of things to purchase there, I wasn’t alone in going I went with my girlfriend, brother and dad and we were all hoping to buy something at the gadget show as you can normally get stuff a little cheaper going on previous experiences. I was after a new gaming headset as mine was getting a little old and I want to go wireless, my brother was looking for some computer parts as he wants to take on the venture of building a gaming PC (following in my footsteps) also he wanted to look at DSLR cameras and my dad wanted a Sonos soundbar to go along with his Sonos play one which he purchased at Christmas. So out of all that list we came out with… Nothing!! There was one stand who had headsets but it wasn’t a variation with having only one brand on sell and the cheapest wireless one being £230 and then in regards to my brother there wasn’t a single stand that I found with a gaming PC build or any PC build on display let alone a stand selling and showing off computer parts which left us both very disappointed and this was the same for the DSLR side of things. Again going with the trend we also didn’t come across any stand with any Sonos equipment on at all, there wasn’t even any TVs on display and with the 4K to market on the up this surprised me that brands which were there weren’t showing some of these off, Samsung this is aimed at you guys but I will admit there was a sound and vision stand there by a company called Superfi but the que to get in there was massive so by all means they may have had something in there but compared to previous years one stand just wasn’t enough and again would of liked to have seen some variation.

Now that’s enough of the bad points as mentioned above I did come across some big brands such as TomTom, Parrot,Hive,Car Audio Centre and some interesting tech from some independent brands which I do like to see as it isn’t always about what the big brands bring. So here are some of my top tech picks from the fun to the practical and one which I can only dream of having:

1. Wifi Plug- Website:Wifi Plug – This nifty little device is what it says on the box it is a WiFi plug adapter which you plug any appliance into but instead of reaching to them sometimes awkward places such as behind the TV, Washing Machine or you can use it to plug a light into for those occasions when your away from home but want to make it seem like someone’s in. It’s and easy to set up device and you can control the plug via a Smart phone, Tablet or logon to the Control Panel via a computer or laptop. It also informs you of how much energy that appliance is using and can inform you when you have a power cut to that appliance.

2. The Self Balancing Board (aka hoverboard) – Website:Bluefin – This might not be a new piece of tech to some as these were all the rage for Christmas for many but they have had a lot of bad press as you may have seen, mainly for catching fire but fear not that is where this company comes in, they fully regulate with UK guidelines and are SAFE. This is more of a fun device but can be enjoyed by all and was used as a demo by the gadget show presenters in the show. They come in a variety of colors and only use the highest quality parts to make sure the user is safe and best of all Free Next Day Delivery.

3. Cine Cabinet – Website:CineCabinet – Now this was one of the things that impressed me most at the show and the item I wanted the most (if money was no object). It is essentially a home theatre in your front room but in a stylish and discreet way instead of having a projector on view all the time hanging from the ceiling with cables going here there and everywhere. It is a piece of furniture (available in white, black, grey, walnut and oak finishes) with a built in Sony 1080p projector which produced a crystal clear image and is stored in a discreet motorized draw with a piece of glass above it and can produce screen sizes of 100 inch when the draw is closed and 150 inch when the draw is open. It comes with a 2.1 soundbar and wireless sub woofer which did pack a punch but you could connect something a bit beefier to this if you desire and it connects up to 3 HDMI devices and as its in a draw there is no unsightly cables to worry about with its built in plug sockets.

So in conclusion I would advise anyone interested in tech and general gadgets to attend this yearly show, as it is a good family day out and is fairly cheap in comparison to other family activities. I was just a little dissapointed in the lack of computer and visual tech on show this year and the lack of stuff to purchase in these categories but saying that I can guarantee I will be attending again next year and hopefully they will bring along some of this missing tech.