[Round-table discussion bonus edition] Ask three writers, Goto, Kasahara, and Yamada. what did you buy this year?

[Moderator] First, I would like to ask about the PCs, smartphones, and tablets that you have purchased.

[Yamada] I bought Nexus 5, iPhone 6 Plus, Let'snote RZ4, iPad Air, and LBP7100C (color laser printer). Of these, iPad Air and Nexus 5 are American versions. My main smartphone now is GALAXY Note 3, and since 4 was not released in Japan, I plan to use it for another year. I also like the Nexus 5, but when I used it in the US, I didn't use it much because I couldn't tether with T-Mobile's daily plan.

The PC I bought this year is the Let'snote RZ4, which is the product I've been waiting for. For most of my PC usage, a keyboard is essential, so a clamshell is good. With the detachable LCD, you can put it on your lap at a presentation when you don't have a desk, and you don't have to worry about the tablet part falling off. However, I have never used this product as a tablet with the LCD rotated 360 degrees (laughs). I don't have to rotate 360 ​​degrees, so I think it should be a little lighter. Touch is a must for me personally. I was looking for the size too. The keyboard is also easy to hit.

[Goto] I have a SHIELD tablet and a VAIO Pro 11 (second device).

As for the PC, I planned to use the VAIO Pro 11 for a total of four years. Clamshell is destined to disappear in the future, but since I found out that Broadwell is going backwards from the original plan, I decided to continue with Haswell for that generation. The SSD is different between 256GB and 512GB, but other than that, the specifications are roughly the same. Both are from the Sony era. Those who bought it later will be put into action from January 2015, but the old one will be on standby as a backup in case something happens. I love duplication (laughs).

[Moderator] Mr. Goto, it is well known in the industry that you always bring two or three synchronized laptops to an interview, but isn't it unusual for the hardware itself to be duplicated?

[Goto] In the past, we used to prepare multiple units of the same hardware. After that, we divided them into slightly different types, such as one for carrying around and one for staying at a hotel, but it feels like we've returned to the same two hardware.

The reason I bought the SHIELD was because I wanted to try out the Tegra K1. What I actually thought I should buy is that when I play Ingress (game) and open the Intel map, it's quite heavy on my smartphone. Well, it's too ostentatious to take out a PC. When I play Ingress, I travel by car, but SHIELD is useful because the Intel map moves smoothly. Right now, I have 4 mobile devices running in my car at all times: SHIELD, a smartphone for Ingress, a smartphone for car navigation, and a smartphone for music.

[Kasahara] You're an outcast (laughs).

[Yamada] You're an outcast (laughs).

[Goto] No, no. Because real serious people are not like this (laughs). I'm lightly equipped (laughs).

[Kasahara] Mr. Goto's standards are strange (laughs).

[Goto] I bought few devices because I am waiting for next year's FinFET, so I could hardly buy foundry silicon this year. In 2015, I will buy both Android and iOS. The basic is 64bit + FinFET.

[Kasahara] I buy a lot. HP 14-inch Chromebook (US), ThinkPad 8, SHIELD tablet, MeMO Pad 7 (ME572CL), VivoTab 8, iPad mini Retina display (ME276J/A), YOGA Tablet 2 (10-inch Windows), Xperia Z1f → Galaxy Note Edge ( docomo), ZenFone5 (3G, Taiwan version), Haswell-based self-made PC (motherboard ASUS CS-B).

But this year, I personally haven't bought a single clamshell PC. I bought the Chromebook just for evaluation purposes. I bought the VAIO Duo 13 in October last year, so it's only been about a year. In other words, there was nothing to buy. I will buy at least one from Broadwell next year.

[Yamada] Don't you wait until Skylake?

[Kasahara] I believe in buying one in one generation (laughs).

[Moderator] On the other hand, there are quite a lot of 8 type classes.

[Kasahara] Yes (laughs). The reason is that I simply fell in love with the ThinkPad 8.

[Yamada] So, did you use it often?

[Kasahara] Until recently, I was using it as a backup PC for business trips. Besides that, it's convenient for reading on the plane. From there I moved to the same Lenovo YOGA Tablet 2. It's good to be independent.

[Yamada] Isn't it okay to be independent? (laughs)

[Kasahara] Yes. However, there was one problem with this one, and it became thicker, so I couldn't fit it in my bag pocket (laughs). Aside from that, it is also useful for displaying web and content as a secondary when traveling. The reason why I chose the 10-inch after the 8-inch is that I skip the 2-inch display when I buy it. VAIO Duo 13 and YOGA Tablet 2 are 3 inches apart, but below that is 8 inches, and below that is 6 inches.

I bought another MeMO Pad 7 in the 8-inch class. This is a SIM lock free LTE machine. It's about the same size as the Nexus 7. So, it's lighter than that, and the CPU performance is up, which is why I bought it. I like it too, and I still carry it in my bag every day. I have a former EMOBILE unlimited data flat-rate SIM in it, but I also used it to verify the recent cheap MVNO SIM. Outside of work, I usually use WiMAX, but when that doesn't work, I also use it as a router.

The reason I bought the VivoTab was because I wanted to test the usability of Wacom's pen technology. Then, the parallax was unexpectedly large, and it was a bit unsatisfactory (laughs).

As for the iPad mini Retina, I was doing a series of articles on Office in October, so I bought it to verify the operation on the iPad. That's why I have so many (laughs).

I used an Xperia A smartphone, and changed to the Xperia Z1f in the spring. So, the reason why I changed to GALAXY Note Edge in a short period of time is because it has pen compatibility. Recently, when I can't use a PC for interviews or when I can't use a PC, I use OneNote to take handwritten notes, and that's what got me hooked on the pen.

[Yamada] I've been using the GALAXY Note 3 for over a year and have never used a pen (laughs). Paper and pencil are fine (laughs).

[Kasahara] I'll lose it (laughs). I also used the SHIELD tablet because it was pen compatible, but it was heavy (laughs).

I'm very happy with the Edge, but the battery doesn't last at all with the default settings. So, I customized it by deleting and stopping unnecessary apps, but when I turned off the app that displays the clock on the edge, which is a feature, the battery life doubled (laughs).

[Goto] Android really has something like that (laughs). That's both the good and bad points of Android (laughs).

[Kasahara] That's right (laughs). I don't like that kind of customization on the iPhone, so I use Android.

The other one I bought was ZenFone 5 (Taiwan Intel version). I bought this to see what cheap Android phones are like these days. Recently, even if it is cheap, the liquid crystal is solid, isn't it? The camera is pretty good too.