With the price and all wouldnt a small netbook be a better "do all" option, especially when you mention the keyboard. I know the size is small on the actual unit, but needing a "real" keyboard seems to ruin some part of the small part. I have an ASUS netbook and other then the -TINY- 160g HD its an amazingly robust machine (even plays my nerd CRACK ok (World of Warcraft)). You mentioned Dreamcast and such, plays pretty much full speed on it. As do PS1 games. I LOVE the thing, but hate the tiny drive as i want to put so much more then I can on it. (new drive means cracking it open and voiding warrenty :( ). I guess the size part is key, Netbooks while small are no where near pocket size. Maybe a small part of me still feels burned by the GPX, I loved the thing and all it could do, but hated the low battery life (i modified a power pack for it, but it negated the size thing) and the crappy thumb pad. I never did mod mine with the better pad. Once the PSP came out i sorta quit using it. And nowdays with the Netbook I never use any of um.
Well, you're talking a device in the Pandora that's only a bit bigger than a Nintendo DS, so the size thing is favorable in comparison to a typical netbook. Battery life is roughly comparable at 10 hours+, so the frustration from the GPX devices should be minimized (I have the F200, so I know your frustration!). If you want a generalized computer, then surely a netbook for just a little more money (for a good one) is a sensible choice, but it still doesn't have onboard game controls and is not going to have otherwise device-specific optimized emulators. Again, to my mind - and I think most others - this is a kick-ass handheld portable emulation device first and a computing device second. I think of this as a clam shell F200 with the battery life issues fixed, far improved gaming controls, and a much needed keyboard to minimize frustration when emulating computers.
clok1966 wrote:
Dont get me wrong it looks amazing and the size makes it perfect for a pocket, big upsides there. But nowdays i just need more (and with phones the way they are, they have my "tiny" portable stuff pretty much taken care of, MAN do i love my droid after that Iphone (opinion only)).
with all that said, im reading all this and want one still.
I'm not one for hacking mainstream devices to do what I want. For instance, I have never jailbroken my iPhone 3G, and I never will. Same thing when I get the new iPhone version in December, same thing when I get a next generation iPad. Same things with my consoles and handhelds, though I don't mind doing stuff that is non-intrusive (like a DS plug and play flash card or the Dreamcast's ability to run CD-R's, etc.). I buy things like that intending to use them as the manufacturer designed them. I know that going in, therefore there's no need for me to add extra functionality. Computers are do everything devices in my opinion, and specialized devices are just that - good at doing specialized, targeted things. That's why the Pandora is a good choice for me, because it allows me to do the things I want to do without having to mod my PSP or mess around with hacks on other systems.
By the way, I by no means advocate anyone going through what I've gone through with the Pandora. It's above and beyond even the sometimes lax homebrew production schedules others keep, and that's saying a lot. You ALWAYS have to allow a good bit of leeway since these are just regular people producing this amazing niche stuff, but really, there does reach a point when something takes TOO long and you could have done many other things with the money. For at least a portion of the 4,000 Pandora pre-orders, they'll have waited TWO YEARS beyond when they expected to get it. That's crazy.
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
With the price and all wouldnt a small netbook be a better "do all" option, especially when you mention the keyboard. I know the size is small on the actual unit, but needing a "real" keyboard seems to ruin some part of the small part. I have an ASUS netbook and other then the -TINY- 160g HD its an amazingly robust machine (even plays my nerd CRACK ok (World of Warcraft)). You mentioned Dreamcast and such, plays pretty much full speed on it. As do PS1 games. I LOVE the thing, but hate the tiny drive as i want to put so much more then I can on it. (new drive means cracking it open and voiding warrenty :( ). I guess the size part is key, Netbooks while small are no where near pocket size. Maybe a small part of me still feels burned by the GPX, I loved the thing and all it could do, but hated the low battery life (i modified a power pack for it, but it negated the size thing) and the crappy thumb pad. I never did mod mine with the better pad. Once the PSP came out i sorta quit using it. And nowdays with the Netbook I never use any of um.
Well, you're talking a device in the Pandora that's only a bit bigger than a Nintendo DS, so the size thing is favorable in comparison to a typical netbook. Battery life is roughly comparable at 10 hours+, so the frustration from the GPX devices should be minimized (I have the F200, so I know your frustration!). If you want a generalized computer, then surely a netbook for just a little more money (for a good one) is a sensible choice, but it still doesn't have onboard game controls and is not going to have otherwise device-specific optimized emulators. Again, to my mind - and I think most others - this is a kick-ass handheld portable emulation device first and a computing device second. I think of this as a clam shell F200 with the battery life issues fixed, far improved gaming controls, and a much needed keyboard to minimize frustration when emulating computers.
Dont get me wrong it looks amazing and the size makes it perfect for a pocket, big upsides there. But nowdays i just need more (and with phones the way they are, they have my "tiny" portable stuff pretty much taken care of, MAN do i love my droid after that Iphone (opinion only)).
with all that said, im reading all this and want one still.
I'm not one for hacking mainstream devices to do what I want. For instance, I have never jailbroken my iPhone 3G, and I never will. Same thing when I get the new iPhone version in December, same thing when I get a next generation iPad. Same things with my consoles and handhelds, though I don't mind doing stuff that is non-intrusive (like a DS plug and play flash card or the Dreamcast's ability to run CD-R's, etc.). I buy things like that intending to use them as the manufacturer designed them. I know that going in, therefore there's no need for me to add extra functionality. Computers are do everything devices in my opinion, and specialized devices are just that - good at doing specialized, targeted things. That's why the Pandora is a good choice for me, because it allows me to do the things I want to do without having to mod my PSP or mess around with hacks on other systems.
By the way, I by no means advocate anyone going through what I've gone through with the Pandora. It's above and beyond even the sometimes lax homebrew production schedules others keep, and that's saying a lot. You ALWAYS have to allow a good bit of leeway since these are just regular people producing this amazing niche stuff, but really, there does reach a point when something takes TOO long and you could have done many other things with the money. For at least a portion of the 4,000 Pandora pre-orders, they'll have waited TWO YEARS beyond when they expected to get it. That's crazy.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.