New Performance Analysis Equipment – Laptop, Tripod and Camera

I purchased some new performance analysis equipment over the past three months and I thought why not do a blog post about it.

NEW LAPTOP – TOSHIBA SATELLITE L50B-1QT

I needed a new laptop because my old laptop was beaten down.  The earphone jack didn’t work properly (my fault), the DVD drive didn’t work at all (maybe my fault) and the keyboard was messed up (definitely my fault).  While I could do without the first two things, having the keyboard not doing what it’s supposed to do was maddening.  For example, when I key the “y” button, it would go back a character before inserting the y.  So if I wrote “fly”, it would come out as “fyl”.  Ten other buttons had issues too.  This meant live stats was impossible to take.  For this reason, I bought myself Toshiba Satellite (L50B-1QT) in September 2014.  It has a better processor (Core i5 to Core i7), more RAM (6GB to 8GB) and more memory (500GB to 1TB) than its predecessor.  So far, it has been great and I particularly like the loud speakers.  Not a fan of Windows 8 though.

NEW TRIPOD – HAMA STAR 75

After three years, my old Hama Star 62 tripod finally succumb to one too many spiked volleyballs and one of the legs broke.  So I bought myself two new Hama Star 75 tripods in November 2014.  So far, I find it’s not the best (smaller and flimsier than the old tripod) but it’ll do for now.  However, if I see another better quality tripod, I’m going for it.

NEW CAMERA – SONY ALPHA A5100

My old Panasonic TZ7 has served me well but 5 years and 7,837 photos later, it was time for a new camera.  I bought the Sony Alpha A5100 camera during the Boxing Day sales.  So far, I’ve taken a few photos and I love the camera (no surprise that it was chosen as the best beginner mirrorless camera in Tom’s Guide).  It’s great in low light conditions, as demonstrated below.  It also records in full HD video.  This will make it useful when I film extra footage for Polonia’s motivational video and footage for SideOut’s Rhodes 2015 promotional video.  It has the added advantage that I don’t need to carry both a camera and camcorder; I can just carry a camera.

*** Update 1 February 2021 | This laptop lasted a good 5.5 years, although each hinge broke twice/ separately, incurring repair charges that could have paid for half of my next laptop.  The laptop basically got slow so I got myself another one in July 2020.  It’s a great laptop but due to Covid lockdowns, I have only used it properly for the Champions League First Round in Trentino (see link).  We will see how long this one will last ***