ThinkComputers Holiday 2014 Staff Wish List

Jack Wager (Posts)

QNAP TS-569L-US & WD BLACK SERIES 4TB WD4003FZEX (NAS: Amazon | HDD: Amazon)

qnap-nas wd-hdd

Recently I had a 3TB drive completely die, nothing was recoverable. Luckily the drive was under warranty, so I received a free replacement, but that doesn’t bring back my data. I’ve been eyeing this QNAP NAS for a while, and it’s about time to make one mine. Although the price is definitely holding me back, even without adding storage to it. So I’m wishlisting QNAP’s TS-569L-US and five, yes 5, WD 4TB Black HDDs. That’d give me enough storage to fully backup and mirror all data on my current rig, plus I’d leave donate one 4TB to my Xbox One (its 500GB is running low).

ASUS ARESIII-8GD5 Radeon R9 290X 8GB (Amazon)
asus-ares

My current video card is so old, I’m embarrassed to mention what it is, so I won’t ;p ASUS ARESIII-8GD5 would be such a huge upgrade, it’d be like I went from the stone age to present day. ARESIII-8GD5’s dual GPUs and 8GB memory will definitely do the trick to play my newer games on the highest settings. Also, it is so insanely sexy that I’d smile every time I’d look at it!

Pioneer CDJ-900NXS (Amazon)
pioneer

I started DJing when I was 12 years old, and I’ve been through so much DJ equipment over the years, I could’ve probably opened my own DJ store. It’s that time again where my current setup is showing its age, not only in aesthetics, but also performance – upgrade time is here! Currently Pioneer is pretty much the standard for DJ CD players, and they have also recently brought turntables back into the limelight. However, I’m going to stick with CD players, and CDJ-900NXS will do exactly what I need for the foreseeable future.

Rane/Serato SL4 (Amazon)
sl4

Not only are my DJ CD players pretty old, so is my Scratch Live. For anyone who isn’t familiar with DJ products, I have version 1, and now they’re on version 4. Technically the product is called Scratch Live (SL), but is commonly referred to as ‘Serato’, and it is the heart of every modern DJ’s setup. In short, Serato allows a DJ to control their digital music with physical decks. Scratch Live has become industry standard for DJs who are starting and veterans who have crates on crates of vinyl. I’d keep my ancient SL1, but Serato’s latest software no longer works with my legacy equipment. Like my CD players, it’s time to get current with this stuff!

Halo Master Chief Collection (Amazon)
This is a bit silly (I already own the game), but as many people know, Master Chief Collection’s matchmaking is insanely broken! Even after two gigantic patches and an unknown amount of server side updates, it can still be difficult to find a match or run into unbalanced teams, incorrect max party sizes, and some playlists that were removed at launch still haven’t returned (hey, 343, where’s SWAT!). So my wish is for Master Chief Collection’s matchmaking to be fully operational by Christmas morning.

About Author