Well, finally finished the storage space……..
Just the plaster board, plastering and electrics to do now. However having a forced rest today as my back has gone 🙁 Bugger
Loft update, April 2009
Bit more done, shelves added, more insulation installed…………….
………still got more shelves, plastering, more wood work and electrics to do now.
It arrived……
Piano update
Well, all seems to be going well. Enjoying plinking and plonking along. So I decided to upgrade…….
…..so it’s a Casio. Famous for their 80’s calculators, watches, mini keyboards and sometimes a device that combines all 3!
I decided on the Casio after a little bit of playing with different keyboards. First on my list was the M-Audio ProKeys 88. Which on paper (and in real life) is an outstanding bit of kit for £360. I tried it and didn’t like the keyboard. So that was off. Next up was a choice amongst the following:
Casio CDP 200 – £449
Casio PX-720 – £549
Yamaha P85 – £499
The Casio CDP – 200 is a nice keyboard (as with all tried, the weighted hammer action was good), only issue with the CDP-200 is the pedals or pedal, as it only supported 1. The PX-720 on the other hand had all 3 pedal built in the stand (unit came complete with piano/stand/pedals). Sound wise, this was superb. The built in speakers were great. But feature wise it seemed weak compared to the CDP-200.
Yamaha on the other hand are considered to be ‘the best’ according to a poll on Uk-Piano forum. It was indeed a great bit of kit. But again seemed lacking feature wise. For £50 more the Casio PX-720 had the pedals and stand. Short supply of the P85 and accessories was also a consideration.
Looking around on the internets I read that the Casio keyboards tended to be noisy. So I had a look, they were a little, but then again the Yamaha seemed to be similar. Confused (as usual) I turned the ever reliable internet (yeah right) and looked around again.
I found another Casio, the PX-320. This was selling for around £499, but with no stand/pedals. But it seemed to be better specified piano compared to the PX-720. Looking at the specifications the PX-720 is more of a PX-120 in a better cabinet. That’s not to be disingenuous about either the PX-120 or PX-720. So the search for a retailer with it on display started. Epic fail. Fairdeal music had them, but not on display. In fairness to Fairdeal, they had all the others which I tried. Other music shops in Brum seem to concentrate on Guitars. Understandably we are the home to Sabbath and all budding guitarists need an Axe. The larger stores (Refurb and PMT) had a selection of Roland keyboards but not much else. Oh Well.
So I turned to the Internet and found a site (www.gear4music.com) knocking the PX-320 and stand out for £499. Only thing missing was the pedals, I did look locally, but it was easier to purchase from Gear4Music. So I did. £555 all in (inc £7 postage!). Looking around at the site they have the PX-120, stand and pedals for £449, which is a great price.
Reading a few sites, most seem to be very happy with the Casio. Can’t wait for it to arrive now. The pedals are awaiting delivery, so it’ll slow the order down to the 9th April. But I’m busy knocking holes in walls that week.
Also as a plus, the M-Audio keyboard I bought has gone up in price. So hopefully can shift it for what I paid for.
More Shiney Apples
Readers of the Unibody Macbook rant will be familiar with the content of this post.
Now, I don’t care about the iMac but I did look forward to the MacMini update today. Just so you get the idea, here’s the spec of the old kit.
Core 2 Duo 1.83ghz, 1gb, 80gb hdd, Intel 950 Graphics, Combo (DVD-R/CW-RW) £390
Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz, 1gb, 120gb hdd, Intel 950 Graphics, Superdrive £488
Now new spec is better…….
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB memory 120GB hard drive 8x double-layer SuperDrive NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics £499
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB memory 320GB hard drive 8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics – £649
….but the price. Christ on a bike.
I did expect a price bump, as the pound is weak against the dollar. So price wise it’s close to parity with the USD. But once the pound gets better (and it will), I can be assured the price will not go down.
So, what does £100 extra buy?
A Superdrive, 40gb more HDD, better Chipset (inc DDR3 memory, faster bus and NVIDIA Graphics), FireWire800 and 5 USB ports. In this respect it’s probably worth £100.
Also the update sports two display connectors, MiniDVI (Mini DVI to DVI converter included) and the new Mini DisplayPort – which is the new Apple video connection (Steve Jobs said it would appear on all new Apple computer products). So look as if we can at last dual screen on a MacMini. I won’t hold my breath for a cheap Apple monitor though.
The top end costs another £150 on top, and that is for an extra 1gb of memory and 200gb of HDD. I really can’t see the justification for that price. For £13 (Crucial) I can get another 1gb of memory and a 300gb hdd is around £50.
You can customise the Mini on Apple’s store, main option is a speed bump on the processor, but to be honest it’s not worth it. I just hope that John Lewis stock the entry level Mini as I like the 2 year guarantee.
/edit: John Lewis are stocking the useless more expensive model(MB464) instead of the better value version(MB463). I still hope it turns up a little later as the Mini appeared in the store much later than the iMac.