Microphones and webcams. Remember when you didn't talk to your machine on a regular basis? Nope, me neither. Expensive models do the job well, but there are still some budget picks out there that can compete with the big hitters for less.
I suppose that makes me a frame rate snob, although I'd like to think one of the lesser ones. After all, 60 fps and above is considered by many to be the minimum for a properly smooth experience, and when I sit down for an evening with a game all I really ask for is that I'm not distracted by judders, hitches, or crunchy segments. I lust not for the higher levels of frame rate nirvana, but for something I would consider"solid".
First experiences were good, great even. Using the built-in frame rate counter, I noticed that the early levels of Boltgun stayed comfortably at 60 fps, and I was impressed with the experience. I passed my Deck around to visiting guests, showing off the fast-paced action and the device's comfortable ergonomics. Stomping around as a Space Marine on the go was
I could play Cyberpunk in bed. On the train. Waiting for my friends at the pub. The point is, by putting the game into my hands, and in my backpack, I hadn't just changed the way the game was presented to me, but my expectations of it. Without knowing it, over the years I'd talked myself out of the most simple thing of all: Enjoying what was in front of me, frame rate be damned.
Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn't. After spending over 15 years in the production industry overseeing a variety of live and recorded projects, he started writing his own PC hardware blog for a year in the hope that people might send him things. Sometimes they did.