I’ve been around the Amazon Prime sales long enough to be sceptical about any savings offered, checking the usual retail prices and avoiding last-minute impulse purchases. But investing in some home office and sim racing upgrades almost inevitably escalated a little bit…
First up, and the least exciting, was a new Belkin plug extension lead with some extra space, as six plugs isn’t enough for my PC and peripherals. So I picked up an 8 way extension lead, having used the same model for years behind my TV. I have no idea whether it’s particularly good or bad, but I’ve got three or four Belkin examples around the house with surge protection making me slightly less paranoid about issues.
One reason for the extra sockets was to plug in an RSHTech 7 port USB Hub so I could stop plugging and unplugging everything each time I wanted to switch peripherals. The good news is that each USB post has a light to show when it’s on, and an individual switch to turn it off when not needed. The bad news is that the hub comes with a plug which blocks the opposite socket on my new extension lead, which seems a bad design choice for a product which literally requires me to already have at least a PC and monitor running. How many wall sockets do they imagine I have to spare?
This mean that I finally had to retire my 10 or 15-year-old Logitech PC speakers as the plug for them is the size of a small bungalow. So after skimming some quick reviews and recommendations, I plumped for some Creative Pebble V3s. And suddenly everything sounds a lot sharper, with much more clarity, as you might expect after waiting a decade or so to upgrade.
Swapping everything around meant spending most of a day unplugging and rearranging cables, so I also took the chance to give my PC and monitors a thorough clean. And it’s amazing how much difference some fairly cheap improvements, and some dirt and dust removal has made to my workspace. The PC is running much better (I’d been a bit lax in cleaning it for a while), the USB hub means less faffing with cables, my music sounds great, and cleaning my screens feels like I’ve upgraded to 4K Ultra HD for my eyes…
The other investment was in some Thrustmaser T-LCM loadcell pedals for my sim racing set-up. Because there’s no point working hard if you can’t treat yourself occasionally, and for under £200, they’re probably the best upgrade you can make for a more realistic virtual driving experience. And now I should be more accurate with my braking, and the magnetic sensors should be they last, and stay accurate, for absolutely ages…
It’s been pretty much 12 months since I last spent anything on upgrades…
As a quick update, I’m still loving my Razer Ornata V2 keyboard, and it’s coming up for a year of hammering out thousands of words each day without any issues so far *touches wood*. The only occasional bug is that I sometimes have to unplug and reconnect the USB cable if the lights don’t ride up (a gentle blue glow is handy when it’s darker in the office).
The cost-effective Trust GSXT960 mouse has lasted longer than I expected and is still working fine, although I’ve started experiencing the occasional double-clicking, so hopefully a thorough cleaning will have sorted that. And having a massive desk mouse pad and some cleaning products has definitely kep my desk and equipment in much better condition.