[Shield General] Deleted member 2496007:
I think the Nvidia Shield is a very good idea, as long as you fit within it’s very, very narrow niche targets. Most people won’t, which is why I think it will sell in low numbers despite being some decent hardware. I think I will be buying one though. I’ll explain.

I fit into one of the very few practical uses for this device. I have a high-end (for now) gaming PC with a GTX670 installed. This gaming PC is in my front room, behind my TV. It is there because my PC room became a nursery when I became a dad in 2011. There is no other room in my stupid tiny house for a PC desk. It has to be behind the TV.

To compound matters, I foolishly went and signed up for TiVo. (Freeview reception is woeful in my area). Now my wife has a hard drive chock full of hour after hour of mindless tat (I hate TV. 99% of it bores me silly) which I end up having to watch most nights. It’s driving me mad. I’m frequently sat there just waiting for her to p*ss off to bed so I can start my evening and bleed off the frustration built up from watching 4 hours of sh*te. This is typically around 11pm, by which time, any of my friends on Steam have also gone to bed.

(Apparently this TV consists of “quality time together” in her mind. When I asked her if she would like watching 4 hours of gaming each night and have to wait until 11pm so she could watch her recordings, she thinks this would be unfair and selfish. But I never have to raise a finger around the house and she brings me cold beer so it’s swings and roundabouts I suppose.)

When I read about Shield it seemed to answer the problem. I would be able to sit on the sofa, next to my wife, (quality time) and play on my PC titles whilst she absorbs hours of Celebrity Pets On Ice Makeover Factor. Whilst I am a little unconvinced that I’ll be able to play games like Planetside 2 on a 5” screen, at least I will have the option to play smaller scale stuff like Skyrim or Sim City. Games I can easily pause when she has something to say!

As I already have a nice setup for my keyboard and mouse and headset already able to reach my sofa, all I really needed was the small, portable screen. I thought I could make my own solution for a lot less than the Shield is likely to cost, and get a slightly larger screen. I was wrong. All small 7” to 10” screens were unsuitable for one or all of the following reasons;

1. USB input only, meaning my CPU would be driving the display, not my GPU. Also possible latency issues depending on drivers.

2. Awful resolution. They can all support up to 1080p inputs, but natively they are rarely above 480.

3. Terrible response times. They seem to be ok for desktop computing or widget monitors, but high speed gaming would be motion-blur city.

4. Cost. The only small, portable, high resolution LCD/LED displays with HDMI input and decent response times were for high-end professional photography DSLR camera rigs, costing around £1200.

Anyone with their own computer desk won’t need an Nvidia Shield. Anyone who wants an Android gaming experience can already do so for £30 with an Android device they already own and a PS3 or Xbox360 controller (http://buy.thegameklip.com/) and won’t need an Nvidia Shield. Anyone who wants the hand-held PC gaming experience and doesn't already have at least GTX650, is looking at a starting cost of an additional £200 on top of the eventual cost of the Shield. How many people are going to go for that?

If I could have found a separate small screen that would have been up to spec, I wouldn’t be looking at a Shield either. I’ll be amazed if Nvidia shift many of these upon release. If they cost it much above £250 I’m going to have a hard time justifying it myself.

I am looking forward to being able to lie in bed and play Sim City before going to sleep. There are plenty of Android apps (I use Unified Remote) that can remotely shut down/hibernate your PC over network. I suspect the Nvidia Shield (if they’ve though this through) will also have this though.