Here’s my list:
1.
Desktop PC: Purely for gaming. 2+ years old but works flawlessly. (Specs: i5 2500k + Corsair H60 liquid cooled, 8 GB DDR3, 6950 2 GB GPU, 128 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, 14 TB storage, Essence STX connected to a pair of stereo speakers, TVSE Gold Mech. KB, Razer DA mouse, Dell U2407 WFP display, Lian Li full tower enclosure)
2.
Lenovo B490: Laptop for 24x7 downloads, web browsing at home and media server connected to the desktop PC over WiFi. (Specs: i3 2348, 8 GB DDR3, 500GB, 6 cell battery, 2 USB 3.0 ports).
3.
PS3 80GB: Done with the last title that this console would probably see for its generation - Beyond: Two Souls. Not a big fan of racing sims so GT6 is out. This belongs to the last of the phat (
mota) generation PS3, played over 60 titles to completion and hasn’t given me a single problem so far, not even the Li-ion cell inside the Dualshock 3! The controller’s analog sticks however, had become oily and gluey and thus, were recently replaced using iFixit’s DIY guide. This one’s a keeper!
4.
X360 slim 4GB: For all the console exclusive titles. Completed most titles barring a few which have been backlogged. Two pairs of Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable cells and the Eneloop charger for the wireless controller. No Kinect since I don’t like motion-based games.
5.
Samsung 40” LCD (LA40C630): 3 years old and still kicks ass in the IQ department. Calibrated the display from day 1 and the S-PVA panel on this one produces crisp blacks! Of course, nowhere close to a Panasonic plasma. The best feature of this display has to be the USB playback feature. Almost all the formats are supported. It also has Dolby D/DTS passthrough via optical out.
6.
Philips 5.1 HTIB: A no non-sense 5.1 HTIB system but one of the better investments I have made in years. The DVD player doubles up as an aux. amp. for 2 digital inputs over optical and coaxial inputs. So the TV’s optical out is fed into its optical input. Never felt the need to upgrade to the more expensive Marantz or Onkyo systems.
7.
NAD C316 BEE: The most basic NAD stereo amp. out there. With a set of good sounding stereo speakers, it converts a drawing room to a concert hall. Listening to music relaxed on the couch, has never been this awesome!
8.
PSB Image B6: Stereo speakers hooked to the NAD amp. NAD and PSBs are told to pair well and I concur. Although I was originally inclined to buy the B5, I chose to go with the B6 because these would later be serving as the fronts when a proper AVR comes into the scene.
9.
Lumia 920: Got it during January this year when the device was launched. I love the WP8 ecosystem - fresh and extremely user friendly. One hell of a camera esp. for the dark shots with bare minimum lighting. The only downside being, it is heavy! I sold my iPad 2 as a result of this phone - it was gathering dust in my desk drawer.
10.
Canon 600D + 18-55 IS II + EF 50mm f/1.8 II: The DSLR and the pair of lens that goes with me wherever I travel to. The 50mm prime produces wonderful bokeh! A zoom lens is missing unfortunately. And so is a good ball-head tripod, both of which is in my wish-list.
11.
Buffalo 150 Mbps router: 3 years old and does what it is supposed to. The basic purpose being streaming internet to my phone, the consoles and the laptop. The PC is connected to the router through the Ethernet cable. Larger file transfers (> 4 GB) are queued to Filezilla and are scheduled to happen overnight when I crash.
12.
Sandisk Extreme 32GB USB 3.0: One of the fastest USB 3.0 pen drives out there and since both, my desktop PC as well as laptop supports USB 3, this is a worthwhile investment. Although pen drives do become slower eventually when due to the NAND wear owing to constant read-writes.
13.
Couch: Not a gadget but I couldn’t help but include this in the list. During those days, when I come home extremely tired and worn out with absolutely no energy, this couch and some nice music is all I need to unwind.
These are some snaps of the drawing room and the rack:
Being a bachelor has its niceties you see.
