PSP not quite all it's cracked up to be...

When the PSP first came out, I was thinking to myself finally; a portable "CD" based gaming system that I had pictured and dreamed about ever since about 1996. Well, the PSP came out about 10 years later after I thought of the idea of having a portable CD based gaming device. Obviously they didn't think to credit me for my idea, and of course there is no way to prove that I thought of it first even though I had dreamed about such a device years ahead of it's time.

I purchased the PSP at the local Best Buy, along with a copy of Rock Star's Midnight Club Dub Edition. I have to admit I had high hopes for the system but I was rather disappointed by the PSP. I actually haven't really used the system all that much and I might try to sell it on eBay since I think someone in a different age bracket might get a lot more enjoyment out of this product than I have. I shall explain why.

When I was working backstage at the Opera, we had a lot of downtime where we were just sitting around not doing much of anything and still getting paid for it. I purchased this to pass the time; but it has certainly been a waste of time and money in my opinion. I had high hopes for the wireless internet, but apparently the system can't handle much internet content and it seemed to lock up and lag more that it seemed to work.

I love the promises that the system makes about being a mobile entertainment center, but the screen is not really all that high of definition. I love the idea of surfing the internet with a small handheld device; but the system doesn't really deliver all that well on it's promises.

What is there to hate about the PSP? Well I hate the fact that internet browsing it not really at all practical on this little device. It just doesn't seem to have the horsepower to handle internet content in a timely fashion, most of the time it won't load the pages at all or will give some sort of memory fault. It is worth noting that I am using the basic system as supplied by Sony; I'm not sure if having more RAM on the external removable card would help all that much. The basic card that it comes with is definitely not enough for most users, except to store game data and that's about it.

Conclusion? My recommendation is to think twice before making this purchase. For the amount of money I spent I could have almost bought a computer with certainly much more versatility and utility. Perhaps I am just a practical person, but I am not all that impressed by the PSP, and I'm hoping to unload mine before it becomes obsolete.