Why you should consider AMD.

In my guide for building a setup for gaming/streaming, I talked a lot about Intel processors and in my i5/i7 comparison post, I talked up the similarities and differences of both. I'm realizing that I completely left out one other chip maker: AMD. There were a couple of reasons for this. The first being is my series was written and released before the advent of Ryzen, their newest generation of CPU'S. Ryzen is a game changer because prior to it, AMD simply was not competing and was not trying to compete that Intel held for most applications. Because of this lack of competition, there was never proper support for features on motherboards that Intel users enjoyed for many years. Therefore, it was always tough to recommend AMD. Since that is no longer the case, let's break it down.

There are 3 tiers of processors that AMD offers under the Ryzen line: Ryzen 3,5, and 7. It is very similar to Intel i3/5/7 naming scheme and just like Intel, as you go up a tier, you get a much better processor. Ryzen 3 are 2-4 core processors, without AMD's version of hyperthreading (remember: hyperthreading creates a virtual thread for every physical CPU core to double the number of available threads). Ryzen 3 is suitable for stream-only applications much like the i5. The Ryzen 5 processor is 6 core processors with hyperthreading, which equate to a total of 12 threads. Ryzen 7 is an 8 core processor that with hyperthreading equals 16 threads. 

Whats amazing about AMD's offerings is that they offer the same or more cores as Intel's offerings, while also being cheaper than Intel. This competition in the market means that Intel must either increase its core count offered or lowered prices. When companies compete, the consumers win. For the budget gamer, the Ryzen 3 is the cheapest (even cheaper than i3) option for a streaming-only box, while the Ryzen 5/7 gives you the room to have an all in one gaming and streaming machine without it ever breaking a sweat.

This is great because now your decision can be based mostly on the features that each platform offers instead of defaulting to Intel due to lack of competition. If you don’t desire specific features (such as U.2 ports) you can pick the cheaper option. If you do need specific features, you adjust your budget accordingly. Options are great. But none of this matters unfortunately if computer components are priced out of proportion, then it is probably not a great idea to even build your next PC right now. This is for two reasons. One is the price of flash memory being priced high due to a shortage of overall flash. Another reason is the insane pricing of Graphics cards due to the cryptocurrency craze. But when prices come back down to reasonable level, you will be able to have a legitimate conversation about what your next system should be. Team Red Vs Team Blue!
 

Should you buy the Sony NEX-7 (TL;DR: depends on your needs)

Should you buy is a series that will focus on whether a specific item is worth the investment of your money. This will be based solely on my personal experiences and is ultimately just my opinion. In this post, I will discuss if the Sony NEX-7 is worth the money. The NEX-7 is a 24-megapixel mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. This means that it does not have the multiple mirrors that allow a normal DSLR camera to function. It is also able to be used with multiple lenses ranging from Sony branded ones or third party lenses with an adaptor. The lack of mirrors means that the camera is very small compared to a normal DSLR and therefore extremely portable. It has both a mic input as well as mini HDMI for external monitors. It is also incredibly cheap and can be had for anywhere from 300 to 500 bucks, depending on where you look. The camera is great for recording video due to its size, portability, and the ability to record at 1080P at 60FPS. The only real issue with it is that it will not record at 4k. This is mostly because the camera is dated at this point (the NEX-7 was released in late 2011) and since that time, its bigger brother Sony A7 has been released with many iterations that address this issue. Regardless, I believe that you should buy this camera as its size and price compared to much bigger DSLR’s in the same price range make it perfect for people starting out with photo or video work. You can go buy this camera here. 

Should you buy the amps air (TL;DR: Hell No)

Just.....No.

The AirPods have sparked a massive interest in truly wireless headphones. The market now seems to be flooded with headphones which all promise a truly wireless experience. In this post I will talk about my experiences with one particular wireless headphone called the Sol Republic Amps Air and let you know what you came here for: should you buy them or not? The short answer is no. Hell no. The long answer is no because of a few factors, starting with the form factor. The headphones feel very awkward in the ear and they always felt like at any moment, they can get knocked out if my head jerked suddenly. While this did not happen during my time with them, I believe that this is something that can happen to other people as everyone ear is shaped differently. Probably the biggest issue I have with these headphones sadly is also the selling point for the headphones in the first place, which would be the lack of wires. The Amps Air can be used as a mono headphone, meaning you can only have one headphone in and it will play from that one earbud. This is great if you still need to hear the world around you and it came in handy on many occasions. The issue with this concept comes into play when you have to...you know...pair your headphones? Sometimes pairing would consist of a game of tag that is played to make both earphones sync up with each other, then connect them to your device. By design they are supposed to sync to each other right out the charging case, which is a total fail in execution. What this meant is that the earbuds would, if not properly paired with each other from the jump, be paired as a mono headphone. You then would have to turn off both headphones and re-pair to each other. Then you would have to perform a rain dance in order to get your now-paired headphones paired with the phone itself. If this failed, you would have to turn off the earbuds, put them back in the case, and start all over from the beginning. 

Think about that for a second. Now think about having to possibly do that every other time you use the Amps Air.......

That sounds pretty annoying, but....actually its really fucking annoying. I could ignore all the issues with the earbuds if they simply WOULD PROPERLY SYNC WITH EACH OTHER OUT THE CASE. This removes all the convenience of having no wires and makes it a complete hassle to just take them out and start listening to music. This is a big difference from say, the Airpods which connect almost as soon as they are inserted in your ear  Could an update maybe solve this issue? Sure, it can. But at this moment, it is hard to not just suggest “wireless” headphones such as the Jaybird Blue buds x3, which still give you the same experience, just with a wire connecting the buds. The Airpods would  also be a great choice If. you could actually get your hands on it. (Click here for the review of the Airpods when it is up). If after all of that you still want to buy these, dont say I didn't warn you....