Recently, I bought a lot of things. It's been a long time since I updated my blog, so I decided to write a bunch of short reviews to prove that I'm still alive.
There's not much to write about these things individually. There are plenty of professional and detailed reviews online. Here, I'll just briefly talk about my personal experience using them.
I don't have many pictures because I'm lazy. I didn't feel like taking new pictures, so I just used the ones I had before. Plus, I'm not very good at taking pictures.
ROG Zephyrus G16 - 4070 U9#
A fruity Windows laptop#
When buying a laptop, I considered many options. I have certain performance requirements, but I didn't want to buy a gaming laptop. I also wanted a simple and clean design, so a gaming laptop was out of the question.
After much consideration, I chose the Zephyrus G16. After all, there aren't many competitors for this machine, so it offers some differentiation.
The one I have is the top-of-the-line Intel version, Ultra 9 - 185H, with a 4070 GPU. The main difference between the 16-inch and 14-inch models is the storage expansion slot. The 16-inch model can accommodate an extra one. Before I bought it in June, I already knew that a new AMD platform version of the Zephyrus G16 would be released at the end of July. But I still chose to buy it early because who can tolerate a summer vacation without a computer for over a month? Now it seems like my decision was correct?
There are many professional reviews online about its performance, so here I'll just briefly talk about some features and drawbacks.
Let's start with the positives.
First of all, the design. ROG has deviated from its traditional design for this machine and opted for a more low-key approach. I bought the so-called "Platinum Moon" color, but it's not really white, more like silver, because it's made of aluminum alloy and anodized. The light strip on the A-side is cool and offers many lighting effects, but I can't see it, so I turned it off.
The traditional big eye of ROG has become a nameplate, located in the corner of the A-side. It's delicate and low-key, and according to the official description, it's made using sandblasting, CNC drilling, and anodizing.
When you open the laptop, there are two areas on the C-side where frosted glass is used: the power button and the touchpad.
The large touchpad is comfortable to use, and the frosted glass adds to the tactile and visual experience.
The keyboard is decent, with even backlighting. However, the pure white design makes dust very noticeable. The design of air intake from the keyboard also prevents the temperature in the gaming area from getting too high. Sometimes, you can even feel a gentle breeze passing over your fingers. However, this also leads to dust accumulation and the possibility of foreign objects entering. Once, a small bug flew over my laptop keyboard from above and got stuck in the gap of the J key. Fortunately, it got stuck and didn't go deeper into the laptop. Later, I looked at the teardown diagram and found a plastic film below the keyboard, which should prevent similar situations and facilitate future maintenance.
They removed the number pad and replaced it with two large speaker openings on the left and right sides. It's said to be the top speaker in the Windows camp. The sound quality is indeed good, but I won't go into details here.
The 240Hz OLED screen with 500nit brightness and G-Sync support is visually pleasing. The two-year screen burn-in warranty also reduces my anxiety. But it seems like this machine has a screen protection feature? The slim OLED screen, combined with the well-designed hinge, successfully reduces the thickness of this machine.
Now let's talk about the drawbacks. First, for some reason, sometimes the laptop won't wake up after closing the lid, or it freezes after waking up. Although restarting solves the problem, it can be annoying, especially when rendering is interrupted halfway.
Second, the fan noise at high speeds is a bit excessive. When I was using this laptop next to someone else in a high-load scenario, they suddenly asked if it was raining. On the bright side, it provides a comfortable rain sound white noise.
Lastly, the liquid metal cooling is a common topic. My evaluation: if you're afraid, don't use it. If you use it, don't be afraid. In daily use, it's important to keep it flat and cool it before moving it. Apart from being a bit troublesome, there's nothing to complain about. If there's any deviation, just get it replaced by customer service.
Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra#
The big water bucket#
My previous phone was also Xiaomi's flagship, the 10th Anniversary Edition. When I was considering getting a new phone, I naturally thought about sticking with the same brand. After all, I'm familiar with the system, which reduces the learning curve. Plus, I have a lot of Xiaomi's smart home devices at home, so the integration would be better.
There's not much to say about this phone for me. It's decent. The only drawback is that the system updates are infrequent. Let's wait for HyperOS2. Hopefully, it won't be abandoned.
Since it's a flagship for photography, the protruding camera position makes it very uncomfortable to hold. The weight distribution is top-heavy, making it a disaster to hold. I basically avoid holding it by the camera section and can't use it completely with one hand.
When placed on a table, it tilts, making it unsuitable for playing rhythm games.
But the improved camera performance is the result of the protruding camera. HDR support also enhances the viewing experience. Here's a sample of a telephoto shot. It's not great, but bear with me.
The 4-sided curved design of this phone gives it a comfortable front view and feel. The operation of the small white bar and the side swipe gesture for back navigation are smooth.
Xiaomi's smart home integration works well on other brands' laptops. The features are fully functional. The screen mirroring and clipboard sharing that I use the most work smoothly without any issues.
iPhone 13 mini & AirPods Pro 2#
Exquisite electronic wallet, MP3 player & top-tier TWS#
To be honest, I bought the iPhone 13 mini because of the AirPods. They say the AirPods Pro has a great user experience, so out of curiosity, I bought an iPhone 13 mini, the unlocked US version in Starlight White. After buying it, I also subscribed to Apple+'s family plan, just to experience the bundled services.
This phone is more of a backup for me. I rarely turn on the screen. It's mainly used as an accessory for my AirPods.
Let's talk about the AirPods Pro first. After using them for a while, I have to say that Apple's integration is really impressive. After all, they are embedded in the system, and the user experience of many AirPods Pro features is better than that of many TWS earphones from other phone and audio manufacturers. For example, adjusting the basic settings of the earphones using Siri or relying on UWB for finding them. These are things that other TWS earphones struggle to achieve or have a poor user experience with.
The design of the mesh and ear tips together is praiseworthy. If they get dirty, you can just replace the ear tips.
Compared to my other active noise-canceling TWS earphones, Sony's LinkBuds S, the AirPods Pro offers a better experience in certain features. Especially the conversation detection feature, Apple's logic is clearly superior to Sony's. When the AirPods detect a conversation, they automatically switch to transparency mode and lower the music volume. After the conversation ends, they automatically switch back. On the other hand, the LinkBuds S pauses the music with a beep when a conversation is detected and resumes playback with another beep after a fixed period of no conversation. It's quite silly.
In terms of operation, the sliding gesture to adjust the volume on the AirPods is comfortable. But why can't we customize the press gesture to switch tracks?
In terms of noise cancellation and transparency, I personally feel that the AirPods Pro is better than the LinkBuds S. Apple's algorithms are top-notch. Combined with the spatial audio provided by Apple Music, the initial listening experience was quite impressive. The combination of AirPods and Apple Music is a great strategy from Apple. The era of computational acoustics seems to be coming. // The new song from Study Mass is now in Dolby. The producer is ecstatic!
Now let's talk about the iPhone 13 mini. There's not much to say about this phone. It seems that due to its sales, it's unlikely that we'll see another small-screen product line in the future. That's also the reason why the second-hand prices are high.
The mini size is cute compared to current phones. It's comfortable to hold and can be operated with one hand.
It's been a while since I used iOS. The last time was with iOS 7 on the iPhone 4s. Currently, the strongest feature for me is Siri's logic. Many times, I prefer to call out to Siri rather than Xiao Ai, the Chinese voice assistant, because after calling Siri, I can immediately continue the sentence, while Xiao Ai requires a pause before stating the request. It's quite annoying. iOS is indeed refined, there's nothing to complain about. The haptic feedback is better than Xiaomi's. iMessage is very useful and fun, but unfortunately, it's only available for Apple devices. Apple Pay and public transportation are convenient, but NFC payments are not widely adopted in China. As for other aspects, I haven't used them extensively, so I won't comment for now.
Nintendo Switch Lite#
It's 2024, who's still buying a Switch?#
They say Nintendo rules the world, so I bought a Switch to see for myself. I got a brand new Lite in turquoise for 999 yuan. This color is really nice and likable. The original Switch has been on the market for 7 years, and the Lite for 5 years. There's not much to say about the machines themselves.
Here, I'll talk about my personal purchase plan. Since I wanted to play Animal Crossing, but I didn't like the design of the Animal Crossing edition, I chose to buy the original Switch and then bought a digital version of Animal Crossing from someone who bought the limited edition. If you don't want to play Animal Crossing and don't care about the appearance of the console, you can buy the Animal Crossing limited edition and sell the console that comes with it. Then, I registered an Argentine account first. After activation, I received a considerable amount of gold coins, which can be used to redeem some great games in the low-price region. I exchanged them for Hades, Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Vampyr, and Rain on Your Parade. Then, I switched the account to the Japanese region and bought Monster Hunter Rise on sale. After subscribing to the family plan, I bought the Nintendo Switch Online vouchers and redeemed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Sword.
In the end, this console has been collecting dust for nearly two months. I occasionally turn it on to prove that it's still alive.
Xiaomi Smart Display 6#
Desktop decoration#
I actually bought this a long time ago just to fill the cover image. Currently, I don't recommend buying it. I bought it to control my fan and desk lamp, but the control experience is not good. The options available for control are not as rich as in the mobile app.
Recently, the official OTA update added verification, so it's no longer possible to directly push test packages to install third-party software, as was possible before. This greatly reduces the playability.
The sound quality as a speaker is average. It's just okay for playing some music.
I'll probably replace it with a HomePod Mini in the near future.