When it comes to technology, it can be a grey area for many of us, akin to the techno babble, as it’s called, of sci fi classics like Star Trek. There are a number of terms to keep track of, and a lot of numbers, for that matter, so it can be hard to know exactly what a piece of tech is or is capable of based on the many descriptors in front of the name when shopping for new tech. With the holiday season fast approaching, it can be a good idea to have a little extra tech info in your pocket when you go shopping for Christmas gifts, so here are a few handy tech shopping tips to help you out this holiday season.
For starters, let’s talk about gaming. Gaming has transcended its previous role as a niche hobby that was the subject of ridicule and has actually managed to become a mainstream pastime, and somewhat of a phenomenon at that. With more of our loved ones asking for video games and gaming tech this holiday season, it’s good to know a little bit more about this hobby to better acquiesce to their requests. For starters, know what to get so that you know where to shop. For example, the PC gaming market has two major shopping destinations. Namely, these are the Microsoft store and Steam. Steam is the go to PC gaming shopping destination for its shear volume of options and frequent sales, but it’s currently under going a bit of an identity crisis that entails a lack of quality control as a result of that volume. On the other hand, Microsoft’s offerings are far more limited, but this comes with two upsides. For one thing, the Play Anywhere initiative that’s now going into effect means that some games can be purchased once on either PC or XBox via Microsoft and then owned for both platforms. This is good for someone who owns an XBox and a gaming PC. Another important benefit of this system is, of course, increased quality control.