To upgrade or not to upgrade

[Eight Bit]

I love my 1st batch Pandora to death. I'm completely hooked on Starcraft atm and the thing is on almost always.

I was one of the lucky 1st 100 people who received their Pandora from Craig so I have a true 1st batcher. It's still in a great shape too. The lid has a minor crack in the corner and the battery cover has some scratches and is starting to bulge a little but that's it.

Now because I love my Pandora so much I decided to treat it to a new coat and ordered the aluminum case, but then I thought that, a little more memory and speed would be a welcome addition too. I could upgrade my Pandora to a rebirth or GHz... but then again... with the Pyra coming along quite nicely.. would it be wiser to save the money and wait for that? I'm guessing that if I have a Pyra, my Pandora will be obsolete...

Then someone told me I shouldn't upgrade my Pandora because of collectors value being an early 1st batch unit and all... but should I put the alluminum case on it instead of the original case then?

RAAAAH! 

I don't know.... What would you do?

8

 

[Null]

I'm an early first batcher as well and I upgraded mine. I felt that the speed benefit outweighed the paltry extra amount of money I might get for keeping it as a stock unit.

 

[sebt3]

the GPU performance increase alone justify an upgrade. N64 playable !

also the pyra is a year away at minimum.

If you plan on upgrading the case, you should also upgrade the board imho

 

[Eight Bit]

Upgrade to Rebirth would be 60 euro, upgrade to GHz is 200 euro. Quite a difference.

In your opinion would the extra speed be worth the 140 euro extra?

I could also upgrade to Rebirth and wait for the Pyra to come out...

 

[ptitSeb]

Upgrade to Rebirth is a first step, but depending what you use, you may want an upgrade to Gigahertz. Basically, if you use 3D, jump to Gigahertz.

 

[Null]

In your opinion would the extra speed be worth the 140 euro extra?

Yep, things run much more smoothly + I can run things that I wouldn't even dream of running on my original unit (PSP emulator, Voxelands).

 

[ekianjo]

There is not much value in upgrading to Rebirth. So I'd say 1 Ghz.

 

[Jumpman]

I'm not to sure of the collector value on an original unit, as they where very defective, and I can't see anyone wanting that kind of headache. Normally the OG ones go for the least amount on Ebay due to those known problems(and they are just a lesser unit to the rebirth and 1Ghz models). So I would say, don't worry about that, as I can't see collector value being an issue.

I upgraded back in January, and I don't regret it at all. My OG was cracking, and I starting having LCD cable issues, so it was time to get a better unit. Since I had to send it in anyways, I just opted for the best option available. I also figured my upgrade was a way of helping the community, as it helps ED pay down debt, and it makes available another unit for refurb, or Craig's queue, or whatever.

When it comes to the speed difference, that falls to personal opinions & thoughts. I actually thought about the rebirth as well, but I figured since the Pandora has so many things it can do, I'll never know when something might come up that may need the speed boost. A new emulator can arrive tomorrow, and it may run 100% on the faster units, would you want to miss out on that?

Years ago, a friend of mine always told me when you buy a closed device(something like a laptop), always get the best processor you can at the time, because once it comes home, you can't change certain things, and your stuck.

I'm sure once I get my Pyra, my Pandora will get retired, but there is no telling when that may happen. We may see it in 6 months, 1 year, 18 months who knows? I would personally say go with the 1Ghz, as it's always better to "have to much, than not enough".

Chris

 

[Eight Bit]

Okay, clear...

Thank you all for replying. I Think I have a destination for my birthday money now.

I will send my original to Ed to have it replaced completely by a GHz model, with a new case and everything.

As soon as the Aluminium case is out I'll change it myself I think.

 

[ingoreis]

When you want to play Sonic Adventure in this Speed:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xSR694H2RwI?feature=oembed

 

[edgex004]

Like everyone else has mentioned, it depends on use case. I'm very happy that I upgraded. 90% of my time is spent with software that works well on both units (gpodder, web surfing, movies, music, homebrew, PSX emulators and below). However, the 10% I spend running much more demanding stuff is highly enjoyable on the 1GHz (Reicast, Mupen, Minecraft). The extra speed is really appreciated there.

I'm sure I'd be happy without it, but I really like having the option to do/play more when I want.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Well, if you like to have the original CC (Craig's Curse) unit in your house, then don't do the upgrade .

 

[FaeMinx]

Well, I'm not going to sell my cc. It does plenty and I'm sure will be able to do plenty even after I get a Pyra.


Once upon a time I yearned for more speed in some apps, but now I'm content to be patient, wait for the Pyra (for the significant upgrade) and appreciate what I already have.


=~. O =

 

[Bosbeetle]

I've upgraded recently and I have no regrets, the 1000MHz just has a little bit extra in all departments thats makes everything seem to run easily instead of just about run.