Wow, I continue to be amazed by what's available to us these days. In no particular order, my recent purchases.

iPhone 14 Pro: Not cheap, but OMG. Hits: battery life, camera, speed, interface improvements, the "bubble" notch replacement. Misses: nothing but the price, but wishful thinking to get all this for less.

2022 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring: Hits: quiet cabin, reliable CarPlay, HUD, great handling and overall driving experience. Misses: fuel mileage is no better than the EPA rating. 15,000 mile average 45 mpg based on a fuel purchase log. This is unusual in
my 1989-present years of Honda ownership. Already had a tire blowout largely due to the low profile set that comes with the Touring Edition. No spare tire, but I purchased one off Amazon before hitting the chuckhole that blew out the tire.

M1 MacBook: Though I only had it for 2 weeks until it bricked and was returned, it was pretty amazing. Hits: battery life, performance, quiet. Miss: it quit working 2 weeks after purchase. Returned the next day for a full refund.

Dell XPS 9510: Purchased to replace the MacBook: Hits: very fast, incredible OLED screen, less expensive than the MacBook, great trackpad. Miss: Core I9 power requirements, low battery life and heat. It gets about 4.5 hours on a charge at full screen
brightness. Fan runs often.

iPad 9: Purchased when the 10 came out. Hits: Quicker than the 7 I had, my old case fits, easy to transfer all my programs and content. The wife is getting the 7 to replace her aging Samsung. Misses: None so far.

Dell S2721QS 4K display: Hits: At $338 this display is a bargain. Bright, almost no bezel, great color and resolution. Misses: None.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 10/28/22 8:41 AM, Thomas E. wrote:

Wow, I continue to be amazed by what's available to us these days. In no particular order, my recent purchases.

iPhone 14 Pro: Not cheap, but OMG. Hits: battery life, camera, speed, interface improvements, the "bubble" notch replacement. Misses: nothing but the price, but wishful thinking to get all this for less.

2022 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring: Hits: quiet cabin, reliable CarPlay, HUD, great handling and overall driving experience. Misses: fuel mileage is no better than the EPA rating. 15,000 mile average 45 mpg based on a fuel purchase log. This is unusual

in my 1989-present years of Honda ownership. Already had a tire blowout largely due to the low profile set that comes with the Touring Edition. No spare tire, but I purchased one off Amazon before hitting the chuckhole that blew out the tire.

M1 MacBook: Though I only had it for 2 weeks until it bricked and was returned, it was pretty amazing. Hits: battery life, performance, quiet. Miss: it quit working 2 weeks after purchase. Returned the next day for a full refund.

Dell XPS 9510: Purchased to replace the MacBook: Hits: very fast, incredible OLED screen, less expensive than the MacBook, great trackpad. Miss: Core I9 power requirements, low battery life and heat. It gets about 4.5 hours on a charge at full screen

brightness. Fan runs often.

iPad 9: Purchased when the 10 came out. Hits: Quicker than the 7 I had, my old case fits, easy to transfer all my programs and content. The wife is getting the 7 to replace her aging Samsung. Misses: None so far.

Dell S2721QS 4K display: Hits: At $338 this display is a bargain. Bright, almost no bezel, great color and resolution. Misses: None.

I am very envious of your HUD in the Honda. I have a NAV system in my
Camry and unfortunately I did not get the HUD option for it.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, October 28, 2022 at 11:41:35 AM UTC-4, Thomas E. wrote:

Wow, I continue to be amazed by what's available to us these days. In no particular order, my recent purchases.

Indeed; I'll have to see how much consumerism I've actually done this year.

iPhone 14 Pro:

Nothing new here yet, but I'm looking at putting an SE2020 into service for picking up a local SIM for a trip.
Also found that I still have an old 5 series too ... on charge for testing now; any idea on how old of iOS version
is still supported for SIMs? Wouldn't hurt to have two phones on a local SIM instead of just one.

2022 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring...

The beast got major restoration work & an LED headlights upgrade...pics on the domain's 'Gallery'. Haven't had
it out at night yet to see how big of an improvement. Found that the windshield washer pump had failed, so
that's being scheduled.

M1 MacBook:

Mac Studio w/M1 Max. Moved the OWC miniStack STX over to it; need to finish sorting out data transfers, apps, etc.
Also did a Windows 11 VM with MS-Office 2021 on the MS side too for a forthcoming winter project(s). Have a new
battery for the 2017 MBP to do when I get a chance...also added a new SSD for it to quadruple its capacity and get
another year or two out of it before seeing where the M2 (maybe M3 by then?) CPUs sort out.

iPad 9: Purchased when the 10 came out. Hits: Quicker than the 7 I had, my old case fits, easy to transfer all my
programs and content. The wife is getting the 7 to replace her aging Samsung. Misses: None so far.

Picked up a 9 this summer when the screen on my ..7? got cracked from a fall; haven't gotten to the change-over
yet (need to get synching on Studio finalized). Boss got an 8 last year, so I'm the one who's currently behind.

Dell S2721QS 4K display: Hits: At $338 this display is a bargain.

Finally ended up going with a 27" LG 4K IPS (27BL85U-W); was just over $400 as I opted for a version with USB-C
input for a little bit of future-proofing. Did look at the Apple Studio Display in the local Apple Store; seemed okay
but something also seemed a little "off" with it.

Next up is probably a new OTA TV antenna, as there's some symptoms that current one is failing; not a surprise
as it survived being knocked over ten years ago in Superstorm Sandy, so its been on borrowed time ever since,
but it could be a coax cable gone bad too too, so needs some troubleshooting. Once winter hits to be indoors,
there's some home automation with stuff from Wyze to putz with...this year's phase will be controllable light
switches. Overall, the PoE based Ubiquity WiFi6 system that I installed during CoVid is doing well coverage-wise.

-hh

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 8:01:08 AM UTC-4, -hh wrote:

On Friday, October 28, 2022 at 11:41:35 AM UTC-4, Thomas E. wrote:

Wow, I continue to be amazed by what's available to us these days. In no particular order, my recent purchases.

Indeed; I'll have to see how much consumerism I've actually done this year.

iPhone 14 Pro:

Nothing new here yet, but I'm looking at putting an SE2020 into service for picking up a local SIM for a trip.
Also found that I still have an old 5 series too ... on charge for testing now; any idea on how old of iOS version
is still supported for SIMs? Wouldn't hurt to have two phones on a local SIM instead of just one.

2022 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring...

The beast got major restoration work & an LED headlights upgrade...pics on the domain's 'Gallery'. Haven't had
it out at night yet to see how big of an improvement. Found that the windshield washer pump had failed, so
that's being scheduled.

M1 MacBook:

Mac Studio w/M1 Max. Moved the OWC miniStack STX over to it; need to finish sorting out data transfers, apps, etc.
Also did a Windows 11 VM with MS-Office 2021 on the MS side too for a forthcoming winter project(s). Have a new
battery for the 2017 MBP to do when I get a chance...also added a new SSD for it to quadruple its capacity and get
another year or two out of it before seeing where the M2 (maybe M3 by then?) CPUs sort out.

iPad 9: Purchased when the 10 came out. Hits: Quicker than the 7 I had, my old case fits, easy to transfer all my
programs and content. The wife is getting the 7 to replace her aging Samsung. Misses: None so far.

Picked up a 9 this summer when the screen on my ..7? got cracked from a fall; haven't gotten to the change-over
yet (need to get synching on Studio finalized). Boss got an 8 last year, so I'm the one who's currently behind.

Dell S2721QS 4K display: Hits: At $338 this display is a bargain.

Finally ended up going with a 27" LG 4K IPS (27BL85U-W); was just over $400 as I opted for a version with USB-C
input for a little bit of future-proofing. Did look at the Apple Studio Display in the local Apple Store; seemed okay
but something also seemed a little "off" with it.

Next up is probably a new OTA TV antenna, as there's some symptoms that current one is failing; not a surprise
as it survived being knocked over ten years ago in Superstorm Sandy, so its been on borrowed time ever since,
but it could be a coax cable gone bad too too, so needs some troubleshooting. Once winter hits to be indoors,
there's some home automation with stuff from Wyze to putz with...this year's phase will be controllable light
switches. Overall, the PoE based Ubiquity WiFi6 system that I installed during CoVid is doing well coverage-wise.

-hh

No clue on the SIM, but my phones of that vintage used that tech. The new iPhone is probably the wave of the future - the "SIM" is baked in.

The LED lights on my Honda are amazing, hope yours are too. Love the auto-bright too.

The 4k displays are an incredible upgrade too.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, October 28, 2022 at 11:45:48 PM UTC-4, John wrote:

On 10/28/22 8:41 AM, Thomas E. wrote:

Wow, I continue to be amazed by what's available to us these days. In no particular order, my recent purchases.

iPhone 14 Pro: Not cheap, but OMG. Hits: battery life, camera, speed, interface improvements, the "bubble" notch replacement. Misses: nothing but the price, but wishful thinking to get all this for less.

2022 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring: Hits: quiet cabin, reliable CarPlay, HUD, great handling and overall driving experience. Misses: fuel mileage is no better than the EPA rating. 15,000 mile average 45 mpg based on a fuel purchase log. This is unusual

in my 1989-present years of Honda ownership. Already had a tire blowout largely due to the low profile set that comes with the Touring Edition. No spare tire, but I purchased one off Amazon before hitting the chuckhole that blew out the tire.

M1 MacBook: Though I only had it for 2 weeks until it bricked and was returned, it was pretty amazing. Hits: battery life, performance, quiet. Miss: it quit working 2 weeks after purchase. Returned the next day for a full refund.

Dell XPS 9510: Purchased to replace the MacBook: Hits: very fast, incredible OLED screen, less expensive than the MacBook, great trackpad. Miss: Core I9 power requirements, low battery life and heat. It gets about 4.5 hours on a charge at full screen

brightness. Fan runs often.

iPad 9: Purchased when the 10 came out. Hits: Quicker than the 7 I had, my old case fits, easy to transfer all my programs and content. The wife is getting the 7 to replace her aging Samsung. Misses: None so far.

Dell S2721QS 4K display: Hits: At $338 this display is a bargain. Bright, almost no bezel, great color and resolution. Misses: None.

I am very envious of your HUD in the Honda. I have a NAV system in my
Camry and unfortunately I did not get the HUD option for it.

Love it, and when using Apple Maps the turn-by-turn directions show up on it. Google Maps don't do that trick, yet.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)