Geek.com’s 2013 Regret List

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Apple By Russell Holly Dec. 27, 2013 3:10 pm
We all have those moments when we look down at something we bought earlier in the year and wonder why on earth it seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s particularly bad if you spend all day looking at brand new gadgets and toys to play with and you’re acutely aware on the newest, hottest, and best products out there. As a result, we here at Geek.com have made a short list of the things we regret purchasing in 2013.
[h=3]Everyone: Assorted PC games[/h] It’s probably best to just get this one out of the way first, since the entire staff felt this way. Valve makes it so easy to buy games and does such a great job with their Steam sales that it’s just incredibly easy (and common) to load up a cart with titles you’ve never heard of. Fast forward to next week when you decide to install one of these games in hopes of discovering the next great time waster, and it turns out all most all of them are terrible, or they seemed a whole lot more fun as you were sitting at work shopping online.
In the end you’re only usually out a couple of bucks, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find a daily Steam user who doesn’t have a couple of digital bad eggs sitting in their library.

[h=3]Russell Holly: Leap Motion[/h] For two years now, I have wanted nothing more than a way to use my computer the same way I use my Xbox. It seemed like the guys at Leap Motion had my back when they launched this year, and I was all too eager to throw money at them when the time came. As a sit here typing this, the Leap Motion is currently flipped over on my desk, unplugged, with a candy wrapper sitting on top.
Even with the community support that came after developers really sunk their teeth into the platform, Leap Motion just never really took off. The device never did as good a job controlling my computer as I had hoped it would, and so here it sits.

[h=3]James Plafke: 2013 Nexus 7[/h] Tablets are a funny thing in 2013, largely because they are steadily coming down in price now that the core features have been established. This year basically saw tablets get lighter, thinner, and cheaper, but they didn’t change a whole lot when doing so. Features didn’t make any massive leaps this year, and while that didn’t stop developers from making incredibly cool apps for iOS and Android, this is still a device that you may not be able to fit into your daily life. James is one of those people. While he was willing to shell out the $230 plus tax for the Nexus 7 shortly after it launched, the tablet has done little more than collect dust for him since. He acknowledges that it’s a fine tablet and he likes Android, but he’s just not a tablet guy (yet!).

[h=3]Sal Cangeloso: Brother HL-2270DW[/h] This is a tough one to explain. There’s nothing wrong with the printer. In fact, as far as printers go, the Brother HL-2270DW is a perfectly capable piece of hardware that offers an immense number of features, like auto-duplexing. Unfortunately, it’s a printer.
When you’re as digitally connected as most of us at Geek.com are, the idea of going back to printing out pieces of paper to accomplish a task can be a little sad. What’s worse is when you need a printer for a task, and then it sits there until the paper turns funny colors because that’s how long it will be before you need a printer again. Spending money on a rather large single-use device that kills trees? Now that’s just sad.
Also, he needed a new printer because his trusty Samsung SCX-4200 multifunction printer died after 6 years of faithful service. That was a sad day indeed.

[h=3]Russell Holly: Nexus 5[/h] As one of the folks here at Geek that do a little more than lean towards the Android side of things, I can’t help but feel intense regret for purchasing the Nexus 5 this year. Having sold my HTC One in order to cover the cost, in no way do I feel like I upgraded to a better handset. The HTC One has a better camera, better audio, and better battery life, by far. The Nexus 5 offers wireless charging and a chance to play with Android 4.4 as it was designed by Google, but those things are not enough to justify what I lost. Even after the software update that was supposed to include so many improvements to an unfinished device, the Nexus 5 falls flat for me. If I had the ability to go back and do it again, I probably would have sold the HTC One and gotten a Moto X instead.
What was your biggest purchase regret of 2013? Sound off in the comments so others know what to look for in the future!



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