Entries Tagged 'Poker Hardware' ↓

In early December I picked up a 24″ Westinghouse LCD monitor, and gave it glowing reviews despite the dead pixel in the middle of the screen.

Unfortunately, the 2-3 week RMA process in fact ended up taking 9-10 weeks!  Soo…time to re-review it.

The only reason I got the unit back in ~10 weeks was because at the end of week 9 I called Westinghouse Corporate and made a stink.

So, I finally got my replacement unit. Fire it up, no dead pixels, hooray.

I turn the brightness down on the unit, and it starts emitting a high-pitched whining noise. Fantastic. I can’t work with the sound of a bunch of mosquitoes buzzing in my ear, so I call back Newegg.

No refunds on RMA’d units. Great.

Call Westinghouse.

Their friendly support staff informs me “No refunds”, but they’d be happy to send it through their (9-10 week) RMA process again. No thanks.

Call Westinghouse Corporate.

Sit on hold for 20 minutes.

Informed that “We can’t give any more refunds.” “More” refunds? Have they given too many? Did they run out of money?

Long story short, the gentleman @ Westy sets me up with a 32″ Westinghouse LCD TV (retail: $700) in lieu of the monitor.

I’d still rather have a refund, but at least now I’ll be getting something somewhat useful instead of the paperweight excuse for a monitor I currently have.

So, if you can find a perfectly-working unit at BestBuy, go for it - the monitor is good quality. However, this model is riddled with problems (a quick googling turns up more probs than I found) and you are taking a BIG risk ordering it online.

Monitor quality: B+
Reliability: C
Westinghouse Customer Support: F
Newegg Monitor Customer Support: F

Having a good mouse is paramount. A bad mouse can give you sore wrists, frustrating responses, and worse - a repetitive stress injury.

Some tips when deciding on a mouse:

It Should Feel Comfortable In Your Hand

The mouse should sit easily in your palm of your hand, with fingers gently extended over it. If you have to curl up your fingers into a claw to click the buttons, it’s not the right size.

There should be no uncomfortable pressures or bumps from the shape, stop by a local store and give ‘em a test run to see which feels the best.

Motion Should Be Effortless

If you are straining to move the mouse or trackball, you will eventually develop a repetitive stress injury(RSI).

Muscles should be relaxed most of the time, and it should take minimal effort to move the mouse or ball wheel.

If your wrist or fingers stiffen in a slightly uncomfortable fashion when manipulating it or clicking it, that’s a no go.

Check Your Posture

One’s mouse arm should come straight down from the shoulder, with the elbow bent at 90 degrees.

The hand should rest gently on a flat, even surface, and the wrist should be perfectly straight, not bent to the left or right or tilted up or down.

Having good posture will greatly ease the strain on your muscles and joints.

Some Good Mice(Mouses?)

Logitech makes great input devices, I’ve used them for the last 7 or 8 years.

If you’re looking to splurge, this is a great wireless mouse:

MX Revolution

Multiple scroll wheels, a Lithium-Ion battery, and precise laser optics make it a great buy, though a bit pricey.

If you are more economically minded:

MX 400

Still plenty of bells and whistles, but at a better price range. These are both hand-specific models, logitech has many that are ambidextrous.

Trackballs

An alternative to a conventional mouse is a trackball. These are great because you can control your mouse pointer with 1 finger, and you are never running out of desk space sliding around.

I currently use one of these:
Trackman Wheel

It takes a little while to get used to moving the ball with your thumb, but once used to it movement is effortless and precise.
There is a wireless version for those who don’t like cords.

I used the Marble Mouse for 5 years, and eventually started to get wrist trouble.

I would flick my hand up to pull the ball back towards me, stiffening the muscles on the top of my wrist - if i had better habits I could have avoided the beginnings of an RSI.

Still a solid choice, works for righties and lefties. Definitely build good habits of using gentle pressure with your fingers and not the whole hand to move the ball.

Marble Mouse

Let me know if you have any suggestions for a good poker mouse!

A new Westinghouse 24″ LCD monitor arrived at my door this week. Excited to upgrade from my 20″, I quickly unpacked it and hooked it up.

First Impressions

Despite the big-ish box, the unit is surprisingly light - it doesn’t weigh any more than my 20″.

It’s REALLY bright. It hurt my eyes a bit before I turned the brightness down, but this may be helpful if it is going to be used as a television.

The picture is amazing. Colors pop crisp and beautiful, and there is no graininess. I played Lord Of The Rings for 15 minutes, it looked awesome.

The housing is slick. It has a glossy, stylish look, no buttons or unsightly interfaces on the front of the panel.
There is a glass bezel along the bottom that looks really cool, too.

I played poker for about an hour, there’s such a difference on a big wide-screen monitor.  My eyes were relaxed and the tables were big and clear.

I Run Bad

To my dismay, I spotted a dead pixel in the center of the screen horizontally, and about 3.5″ up from the middle vertically - right where my gaze falls.

I’d be happy to keep the unit if there was a dead pixel in the lower-left corner or something, but dead center is unacceptable to me.

I called newegg.com, they gave me the runaround about needing 8+ dead pixels(lol) to return a unit.

Fortunately, Westinghouse customer support was friendly and helpful. They got me set up with a RMA number and I sent it off to be replaced.

Unfortunately, now I have to wait 2-3 weeks to get my replacement unit. Most online reviews said no dead pixels, I guess I just run bad in dead-pixel draws, haha.

Aside from the dead pixel issue, I highly recommend this monitor for anyone looking to upgrade. It’s slick, the picture is stunning, and it’s a great price at $350 after mail-in rebate from newegg.com.

If you don’t want to deal with online, you can get it at bestbuy for $550.

You do run the risk of a dead pixel, but most units are clear and if it’s in a bad location (or you have 2+) Westinghouse will replace it.

This new series entitled “Poker Hardware” will cover the different computer hardware that is available.

Spanning everything from mice to monitors, I’ll go over specific items that make your online poker experience better than ever before.

LCD Monitors

LCDs take up much less space than old CRTs, they look cool, and they have larger viewable areas which is key for poker.

A good monitor is a must-have for any serious player.

The Basics

Some tables are re-sizable, but they still look best in their original size.

If you are multi-tabling then being able to put up four tables with no overlap is optimum.
This means that the minimum resolution for your ideal monitor is 1600×1200 pixels.

This is the amount of data the monitor displays, not necessarily its size in inches.

Which brings us to…

How Big Do I Need?

If you are only playing 1-2 tables, and don’t mind a little overlap or can re-size tables, then you have many options.

Anything from 17″ to 19″ should suit your needs just fine, there are lots of inexpensive monitors in this range.

However, to 4-table comfortably you need a 20″ minimum, 1600×1200, like this: Samsung 20″

or, slightly more expensive: Planar 20″

If you play more tables, you can buy a pair of the above monitors and do a dual-screen setup.

For those with a laptop, or who just want more real estate on your desk, there are a number of attractive options in the 24″-28″ range.

24″:
LG 24″
This is a clean, crisp monitor. It’s getting a bit on the expensive side, but it’s well made and looks good.

Westinghouse 24″
This is a really slick monitor. It’s got a sleek design, and after viewing it in person at BestBuy the picture quality blows away all the other monitors on display, even ones $250 more or 4″ bigger.

I just ordered one of these, I’ll write a review on it when I get it later this week!

26″:
Acer 26″
After viewing this in person it has decent picture quality, the big thing is the price - you get a 26″ monitor for the same price as many 24″ or even 22″ monitors!

28″:
HannsG 28″
Similar to the Acer, the HannsG has decent picture quality, but poor viewing angles.
This means if you are 45 degrees to the left or right the picture gets dark and hard to see.

Again, super-cheap for such a mammoth monitor. There are some better quality 26″-28″ monitors out there, but they are near the price of our next category, so I skipped them.

Mega-Monitors

If you want to go all-out, and you have the expensive dual-DVI graphics card to support them, these monitors will blow you away.

Most laptop owners (like myself) wont be able to support these monitors, since only super-high-end laptops have the necessary video card at this point.

30″:
Dell 30″
I know a few people who have this beast, and they love it. If you can afford the price tag and have the computer hardware to support it, it’ll blow you away.

Gateway 30″
This is it, the king monitor.
With every input imaginable, amazing picture quality, USB ports, a remote control, optional attachable speakers, this has it all!

I’ll follow up with my review of the Westinghouse in a few days. Happy Shopping!