Brandon Whitehead's Tech Blog

Check out the new listings I just put up if you're interested at all. All of these listings will be live for 30 days over on  Jawa . Acer Predator Z1 Z321QU 32" (inch) WQHD 1440p 165hz Curved NVIDIA G-Sync Gaming Monitor / Display Listing https://www.jawa.gg/product/58977/acer-predator-z1-z321qu-32-inch-wqhd-1440p-165hz-curved-nvidia-g-sync-gaming-monitor-display My Review https://tech.brandonwhitehead.com/2018/03/acer-z1-z321qu-32-1440p-144hz-va-g-sync.html SOLD Razer Basilisk FPS Gaming Mouse: 16,000 DPI Optical Sensor Chroma RGB Lighting 8 Programmable Button Listing https://www.jawa.gg/product/59094/razer-basilisk-fps-gaming-mouse-16000-dpi-optical-sensor-chroma-rgb-lighting-8-programmable-button My Review https://tech.brandonwhitehead.com/2019/03/a-great-alternative-to-g502-mouse-from_18.html SOLD Razer Black Widow Tournament Edition Chroma V2 TKL Tenkeyless Mechanical Game Keyboard Orange Switch Listing https://www.jawa.gg/product/59101/razer-black-widow-tournament-edi...

Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Price to Performance Paid $289.99 (pre-tax) for a 180Hz with adaptive sync, 3440x1440, VESA Certified DisplayHDR 400 monitor Desktop Software  G-Menu /I-Menu for controlling the monitor hardware settings within the windows desktop is a nice addition Hardware Design is fairly tame, not overly gamer looking by any means Plenty of input and output options 2x HDMI 2.0 - Up to 100Hz 2x DisplayPort 1.4 - Up to 180Hz (8-Bit with dithering) or 144Hz (10-Bit) 3.5mm audio out 4x USB [one of which supports Quick Charging] with upstream USB-B port Good stand (although I'm not using it because mine is VESA mounted) VESA 100x100 support Visuals Great Contrast! Black levels are MILES better than the Acer Predator Z1 I'm coming from Hardly any "flashlighting" on the screen from the backlight, or at least I can't see it  High refresh rate Going from 165Hz to 180Hz isn't a huge jump, but it does provide just a bit more smoothness PPI ~110 PPI ...

Back again with another Razer product review, check out this gallery of unboxing images below... Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Physical characteristics Build quality The keyboard feels very solid and the material choice (mostly hard plastics) is sufficient Size The design is very compact with not a lot of "wasted space" for the frame of the keyboard. Wrist wrest  By far THE BEST included wrist wrest I've seen. It is soft but still firm enough to supply plenty of comfortable wrist support Lighting The lighting is very vibrant, customizable and clear Design The design is very clean and definitely not anything I would consider to be "gamery" in my opinion. The overall aesthetic is really muted and tastefully executed in my opinion Switches The Razer Orange switches are quite comparable to cherry mx browns in my opinion. This makes for a great typing experience as well as a great gaming experience. Software Razer synapse 3...

Razer... you either love them or hate them it seems. I've personally never used Razer products in the past so this mouse has been my first experience with them and I have to say that I am quite pleased with my purchase. Before we hop into the review, check out this gallery of unboxing images. Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Shape/Design Very reminiscent of the G502 from Logitech except a little bit wider which is more comfortable for my large hands Pretty clean design with all the essential buttons and no extras Scroll Wheel Very satisfying feeling and I love the fact that you can adjust the tension of the scroll wheel Click feel All of the mouse buttons (aside from the scroll wheel) have a satisfying click to them, including the DPI clutch button Sensor/Tracking The tracking is very smooth and doesn't have any acceleration from what I can tell Software The software has a lot of features and allows you to highly customize the mouse. I will most ...

Here's the first of a new content series I'm trying out called REANALYZED. I came up with this idea after I noticed the modest  "retired tech pile" I have. I either never fully reviewed or stopped using this tech so I decided to force myself to use it once again to figure out the reasons why. Most of this stuff I've had for a relatively long time (4+ years) and have just been holding onto it. Now it's time to figure out if it's still worth holding onto. Anyway, kicking off this series, we're starting with a mouse that I've owned for over 4 years and used for about 1 year. Check out the gallery of images below. Tt eSPORTS Level 10 M Iron White (2012 Edition) Rating ★★★☆ ☆ (3 out of 5) Pros Build quality Aluminum frame gives it a weighty and solid feel Plastics are decent quality Braided cable is nice (albeit, a bit on the stiff side) Satisfying buttons The middle-click is one of the most satisfying middle-clicks I've expe...

Check out this short gallery of images below... Logitech MX Master 2S Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros Design Comfortable grip for my large hands Clean and understated look Usability Side wheel is great for spreadsheets Infinity scroll continues to be one of my favorite features on a mouse and the "auto infinity scroll" on this mouse works wonderfully Smooth movement and the tracking is solid Wireless Bluetooth and Unifying receiver options are nice to have Love that you can have 3 different devices connected and can switch between them easily Didn't get to test the battery life but if it lasts for as long as Logitech claims, that's pretty impressive Cons No hardware profiles Upon boot the mouse goes to default settings until the software service starts Requires the Logitech Options software to be running for DPI adjustments and other preferences to work Other Thoughts TL;DR This is another fantastic mouse from Logitech. The onl...

Here we go with another Keyboard review. Check out some pictures below before reading the rest! View post on imgur.com Rating ★★★★★ (5 out of 5) Pros Simple Design It's a rectangle with all the keys you need No "extra" keys (macro keys/gaming keys) Media controls are well laid out and functional Build Quality The board itself is very solid  Switches are great Overall, the materials used are good Adjustability I like that there are two different height settings for adjusting the keyboard angle (4 degrees and 8 degrees) Relatively quiet Without o-rings installed, the typing experience is relatively quiet. Doesn't "clack" as much as some other keyboards. Price Paid $79.99 Cons SOME Materials Glossy plastic on the sides of the keyboard which is bound to get completely ruined  Definitely not the most "robust" keycaps out there but that's to be expected at this price point No wrist rest includ...

Before we get to the meat of the review, here's a couple pictures of the keyboard... View post on imgur.com This is also my first experience with a TenKey (92 key) layout on a keyboard. Rating ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5) Pros Hardware Build quality is solid Key caps and switches (Cherry MX Brown) feel good Sound is fairly dampened even without o-rings (which is great for a work environment) Size Reminiscent of a TKL keyboard (just barely wider than TKL due to 1 extra column of keys Driverless Every piece of functionality can be controlled via the keyboard. No need for any software to setup and configure macros, lighting, functions, etc… Cons Numpad/Navigation Cluster Combo At work I'm a frequent user of the navigation cluster and the numpad so this is fairly annoying to deal with toggling numlock on and off all the time.  Quite a few things buried under the FN key I could get used to it but it reminds me of the Anne pro where a lot of the function...

Before we jump into the review, check out this imgur album of the monitor unboxing. Acer Z1 Z321QU Rating ★★★★★ (5 out of 5) Pros Price... Only when compared to (as of 180328) the 1 other equivalent G-Sync monitor on the market (LG 32GK850G) Features Refresh rate 144Hz out of the box with up to 165Hz OC G-Sync 144Hz out of the box with up to 165Hz OC Solid stand Very sturdy construction with plenty of adjustment options VESA mount capable Quality VA panel Great contrast, no smearing, no ghosting, no slow response time issues LED underglow The "Screen Color" setting is pretty neat Massive size Massive 32"(inch) gaming experience Curve Reminds me of the 1st Gen Predator X34 I owned except with a more pronounced curve Built-in speakers Sound decent but I won't be using them Cons Price $699 is a lot for a monitor G-sync "tax" Still waiting and hoping for Nvidia to adopt VESA adaptive sync or FreeSync ...

This review was originally written on 02/20/2018 but I decided to not post it on Newegg since I ended up returning the panel for a full refund. View post on imgur.com Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros High refresh  144Hz with 165Hz OC G-Sync  Gorgeous VA panel  Excellent contrast Massive size VESA mount capable  Seriously, every monitor should have this Stand looks like it has a lot of utility  Can't fully comment on it because I mounted this on a monitor arm Cons Price  $799.99 (on sale, normally $849.99) is a lot but that's what you end up paying for something "unique" with minimal competition G-Sync "tax"  Wish Nvidia would adopt VESA adaptive sync already PPI  93ppi isn't bad by any means It's not quite as "sharp" as say a 24" display with this resolution RGB LED Lighting doesn't shut off when the panel goes to sleep  Have to manually shut off with the control wheel Other...

Not too much to add before we jump into the review, but if you're interested in seeing just how much of a size difference there is between 32" and 24", check this picture out... Rating ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5) Pros Gorgeous IPS panel Massive size Price (Got it for $289.99 on sale) VESA mount capable (I don't know why every monitor doesn't have a VESA mount) Cons Only 60hz PPI (93ppi is lower than I'm used to but it's not a problem really) Not sure how new this monitor is but there is very limited information available online about it (as of 02/16/2018) Other Thoughts TL;DR Good monitor but the disconnecting issue ruins it for me with my multi monitor setup This is a massive and gorgeous display. I used to have a 34" 3440x1440 panel but this panel "feels" larger than that one even because of the 16:9 aspect ratio vs the 21:9 aspect ratio of the 3440x1440 panel. The QHD resolution works well on this monitor and I think i...

Hello everyone! Listed below will be a few Newegg reviews that I've recently submitted for some products I've been testing. I figured it would be easier to just include links to these vs double posting the information. Hope you find them useful! Toshiba X300 5TB Performance Desktop and Gaming Hard Drive 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Drive Retail Packaging HDWE150XZSTA Too noisy for me but performs wonderfully https://www.newegg.com/Product/SingleProductReview.aspx?displaytype=share&reviewgroupid=6588885 Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake Quad-Core 4.2 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80677I77700K Desktop Processor It's an i7, it's my first one and it works great  https://www.newegg.com/Product/SingleProductReview.aspx?displaytype=share&reviewgroupid=525527 Dell Gaming S2417DG YNY1D 23.8-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor with G-SYNC A Cheap Yet Premium Gaming Monitor  https://www.newegg.com/Product/SingleProductReview.aspx?displaytyp...

Reddit Crosspost https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemasterrace/comments/77uckc/why_i_left_the_ultrawide_master_race_after_being/?ref=share&ref_source=link TL;DR I love UltraWide displays, I love 21:9 and I love the experience it brings for gaming and media consumption. However, having restrictions imposed by developers and the general need for "tweaking" games to work has slowly turned me away. I no longer want a UltraWide as my primary gaming display. I may never end up switching back because I can achieve the same physical (not in game) FOV covering experience with a larger 16:9 panel. With that being said, I am excited to see what the future has to offer for the 21:9 community and I will always be a follower of the UltraWide Master Race . My First Ultrawide Story Time! I purchased my first UltraWide monitor about 4 years ago without really doing any research on the 21:9 format. I was browsing Newegg in search of an upgrade from my basic 24...