This evening, some of my geekly gadgets gathered together to greet their grandiose new gregarious guest. <G> =;)

I was unable to hold out any longer, apparently. I was able to sell my last-year’s model PSP (the 1000) for $125 on Ye Olde eBay (first time eBayer, woot!), with the intention of buying a new one if I managed to sell the old one for a decent-enough amount. Being that GameStop only gives you $50 for a trade-in, I got $75 more than that with this sale. Which means that the new PSP only really cost me $75. Serious wootage!

I’ve read plenty of reviews about the new PSP, saying that it’s not all that much better, not worth the money if you already have a PSP-1000, flimsier, more-cheaply made, etc. And there’s a lot of truth to all that. They definitely did make the PSP slim models much less sturdy than the old PSP-1000’s. I think they used much thinner plastic all around, and I’m a little worried about dropping it and having it shatter. I mean, the PSP-1000’s had a metal frame and all of the components felt like much higher quality.

All that being said, though, what I was completely shocked by was what a huge difference in weight there is between the slim and older PSPs. WOW! I mean, it makes sense, being that the battery is smaller, the plastic is thinner, there’s no metal frame, etc. But seriously, WOW. Really nice. I read that it weighs 33% less, but it sure feels like more than that.

The screen does seem a tad bit brighter too, which is cool. And being able to charge the battery via USB connection is one thing I was really drawn to, being that I’ll be doing a bit of traveling over the next year and having one less charger to lug around is a very nice plus. Theoretically, I can kick over another ~ $20 and output the video from the PSP to an HD TV or the like, and that’s a nice potential plus, whether I’ll end up doing it or not.

Plus, the ceramic white is altogether downright sexy!

Oh–and I ended up going with the Star Wars pack instead of the “better-value” Daxter pack because:

1. I already have a 4-gig card and the 1-gig card in the Daxter pack would have been nice, but not completely necessary.
2. I looked at the Daxter game and I just really don’t think I’d like it all that much. The Star Wars game is already loved by my progeny, so I’ll be if not the coolest Dad in town for a while, at least able to practice up on my Star Wars skillz and wipe the floor with them when next we play, muahahahah.
3. The silk-screened Darth helmet on the back of the PSP looks really cool!
4. And the kicker: the included “Family Guy” UMD disk would have been completely useless to me being that I don’t watch the show and have no intention of starting now. Had it been The Matrix trilogy, or Office Space, or even Donald in Mathmagic Land, I would have made a different choice, but such is not to be.

So… yeah… I have a new toy. I need to go buy a big plastic bubble
to put it in so I don’t drop it and break it or scratch it or
something.

Note to my 700p: Um. I may not be talking to you much this next month….