As nerds, many of us yearn for the latest and greatest gadget. The newest game. The most up to date Operating System. The fastest PC.
The net result is a dwindling bank account, bragging rights for having the latest piece of electronic kit and, in theory, some never before possible functionality.
And, believe me, I get it. When a new video game console is announced, I scour the inter-tubes searching for every picture, video and spec I can find. And I have spent more money than I can count on PC upgrades over the years — or, more accurately, decades.
But is it worth it?
I am going to put this out there: No. It is not worth it. In fact you can earn far more “nerd cred” and turn more heads, due to device-envy, by going a little retro. (And you’ll even have more functionality & enjoyment… and it will be cheaper.)
Allow me to give you a quick example:
In my living room I have a nice, High-Def, Sony LCD TV. Hooked up to it is a PS3 and a Wii. The entire setup cost me somewhere in the ballpark of — too much (give or take).
On the other side of my living room is a Super Nintendo Kiosk from nearly 20 years ago (the kind you’d find in a Toys-R-Us, back in the day, with a neon SNES light over the top). I bought it at a garage sale for roughly 70 bucks. The tray of old SNES games next to it cost me about the same.
Guess which item is a bigger hit at parties? When people come into the living room… nobody is interested that I have a nice LCD TV or a PS3. But that Super Nintendo kiosk? That turns heads. That sparks conversations.
And people stay glued to it, playing some of the best games of the 16-bit era, all night long.
This same principle: That “retro” (meaning: more than, say, a few years old) gear can provide more value, more features, more fun and deliver more “nerd cred”, than the latest-and-greatest, holds true for all aspects of technology. PC’s, hand-held devices, gaming systems, servers, etc..
Let’s take a moment and go through some of the big ticket, modern items in each category… and the alternative “retro” items you can get — and what the advantages in features will be (and what the price savings will be).
Let’s start with gaming (because gaming is fun), then we’ll get into PDA’s, tablets and PC’s.
Handheld Gaming:
– Modern –
Nintendo 3DS / Playstation Portable Go : Both are great handheld gaming consoles. Both have some great games available. The 3DS will set you back around $250, the PSP Go around $200. The games themselves will run you around $30 to $40 each (new).
– Retro –
GP2X : The GP2X is around 5 years old now and you can easily pick one up for less than $100 (or slightly more for it’s newer brother the GP2X Wiz). These handhelds have a large homebrew gaming scene with emulators galore for everything from the Atari 2600 through the Sega Genesis and the Neo Geo.
Sega Nomad : The Nomad is roughly 15 years old now and is, in a word, awesome. A hand-held gaming console that plays Sega Genesis cartridges on a beautiful color screen. These can be easily found for less than $30 and Sega Genesis games can be found for a few dollars at any thrift store or pawn shop. All your iPhone-toting friends got excited when Earthworm Jim came out for their handheld. Show them what it looks like to play the original on a device with an actual, physical D-Pad.
Both of these provide an amazing gaming experience that is, oddly, almost graphically on par with modern systems. With larger catalogs of affordable classic games, and the fact that these devices (especially the Nomad) turn heads, makes going retro for your handheld gaming a no-brainer.
Console Gaming:
– Modern –
Xbox 360 : For about $180, the XBox 360 is actually a pretty good deal. Good graphics and a great online system. It’s hard to knock it.
Playstation 3 :Same goes for the PS3. At around $250 bucks, the great graphics (and some very cool games) make this one heck of a system.
Nintendo Wii : At $200 the Wii can be loads of fun. Unique controls and some cool fitness oriented and party games.
– Retro –
Original Xbox (Modded) : It’s hard to believe, but the original Xbox is almost 10 years old! And a modded Xbox allows you to play a ton of (now extremely cheap) Xbox games as well as emulate all your favorite consoles. In addition you can load up XBMC to turn your Xbox into one of the best video/audio playing set top boxes available today, capable of playing almost any video format on the planet. A quick search turns up many people selling their modded Xboxes for less than 70 smackers. And you still get to play Halo 2.
Classic Consoles : If you look around on eBay and Craigslist you can make out like a bandit on classic gaming. Atari 2600, NES, Master System, Jaguar, Turbo Grafx-16, Dreamcast, Saturn, Vectrex… all can be found for dirt cheap on eBay and Craigslist. Even without shopping around, you can spend less than $100 and have 4 or more of these consoles with a boatload of games. ”But why?”, you ask. ”Why fill up your house with these old systems when you can use new systems?”. Oh-so-many reasons. Not least of which: Busting out games such as Combat on the Atari 2600 is a blast at parties.
People get excited when you turn on these older systems. Part of it is nostalgia. Part of it is the uniqueness of playing something older… something simpler. But a big part is that these systems have some truly incredible games the likes of which simply do not exist on modern consoles.
Handheld Computing:
This section covers all PDA-like devices. Including smartphones. Things like iPhones and Android phones are just glorified PDA’s to me. So that’s how I’m treating them here.
– Modern –
Android / iPhone : Costs range all over the map (typically a few hundred dollars + a contract with a cell phone carrier that will set you back another thousand or so per year). Are the devices cool? You bet. Nice pretty touch screens. Lots of horsepower.
– Retro –
N8x0 Tablet : Nokia’s line of tablets (roughly the size of a larger smart phone) haven’t been in production for a year or two, which means you can pick them up on the cheap (an N800 or an N770 will go for sub-$100 typically). These devices have gorgeous screens (easily rivaling the fanciest smart phones being sold right now), multitasking and a large suite of software available (including Adobe Flash plugins inside mobile browsers and the ability to run full Linux Desktop software). Other than Cell Phone service there is little reason to use an Android/iOS phone over one of these Nokia Tablets.
Newton eMate 300 : Some 13 years old now, the eMate 300 is an amazing device. Nearly 30 hours of continuous, active usage, battery life from the built-in, rechargeable batteries. Add to that a great touch screen and an extremely good keyboard and you’ve got a great portable machine for writing, contacts, etc.. All that is yours for less than 20 bucks. 20 bucks! And I guarantee you’ll get a lot more attention with an eMate 300 than an iPhone 4.
Tablet Computing:
– Modern –
iPad : Let’s be straight here. The iPad is the king in the tablet world at the moment. There are competitors… but this is the device people think of when you say “tablet” at the moment. But at between $500 and $700 clams… heck that costs more than all the retro devices we’ve talked about so far purchased in bulk!
– Retro –
HP TC 1100 Tablet : This little beauty of a tablet has been out of production for over 5 years now, and yet it has a larger screen, faster processor, more memory and more features (and flexiblity!) than an iPad. Comes with a detachable keyboard for when you need to type more than a few paragraphs and can easily run Windows XP or Linux (which is the way I would go myself). I’ve seen them selling for between $75 and $125. In other words you could buy 5 of these for the price of one entry level iPad.
And, you know what? The HP TC 1100? Yeah. That can play flash games and video just fine.
PC’s:
– Modern –
PC / Mac : This one is a bit tougher. A modern desktop PC, running Linux, Windows or MacOS X, can range in price from a few hundred to several thousand dollars (especially for the Mac’s… *cough*).
– Retro –
Amiga : You heard me. Amiga. Multi-tasking. Modern web browsers. Great selection of applications (heck, even Twitter applications). You may not use an Amiga 1200 hooked up to a TV to play the latest games… but it works, it’s stable, it’s fun to use… and it is just plain cool.
Retro is Awesome.
Some of my recommendations here are a few decades old. Others only a few years. Either way the results are much the same: Money saved. Fun enhanced. Coolness (in nerd terms) achieved.
It’s much like driving a vintage car. Which is more awesome: A 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria… or a 2010 Ford Focus?
The Fairlane can be picked up for cheaper. Looks cooler. Is more fun to drive and work on. And will turn heads. Guaranteed.
(Luckily, going retro doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing” thing. Am I giving up my modern PC running Linux? Nope. But, let’s be honest, Linux is the cool kid on the block and can run on half the retro devices out there anyway…)
Filed under: Linux, Tech Stuff |
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