Millhouse

OK - so we pretty much all have our 'essentials' that clearly are not essential at all. What are yours?

hnd

Three iPads between two of us

Patsy Stoned

Never less than a dozen bottles of bubbly in my fridge or wine rack.

Bob

WD TV Live media player.

Kettle.

auzdafluff

My two Macs. Would never touch a PC again if I could help it (well, until Microsoft manages to create a better OS than Apple does).

shiva

2 x wd live . brilliant little gadgets


I think it was Thesiger who once said if it doesnt fit in a saddle bag you dont need it. as much as i agree with that statement i couldnt live without tinternet

Autonomy

a few come to mind....

all my vinyl, CDs, books and DVDs (I love them, but don't need to own the physical item anymore)
an emirates ID (ok I wish to avoid a fine by not having one, but is it that useful)
loyalty cards
an alcohol license
a mini mac to watch UK TV via VPN

hnd

Oh, forgot to mention the rest of the stuff -

Siemens laptop which simply acts as a printer server

HP laptop which has been cr@p from day one (replaced by new laptops by Jumbo as they really are cr@p) and which we wish we'd never bought

MacBookPro 15" screen

MacMini

iPod

iPhone - also have three Nokia mobiles

So, as well as the three iPads it's pretty obvious that we really, really don't like Windows.

@ Patsy - our fridge always looks somewhat naked without at least one bottle of well chilled champagne and there has to be at least two or three or more in reserve in the wine rack. There is always something to celebrate, be it getting your ID card without having to spend half a day driving to a different Emirate because that's where they've sent it, a birthday, anniversary, getting through another week without being involved in an accident on the roads - even waking up to another sunny day. Even on the worst of days we can find a reason to open a bottle of bubbly - in fact on the worst of days that's the best reason to open a bottle of bubbly

A 1 + 7 4x4 for (most of the time) just the two of us - but if you think that the driving in the UAE is crazy you should try it in Muscat - especially in Ruwi during rush hour!

Finally I'd say it would be the purely non-essential things with which we surround ourselves which make our homes our homes - not things like photos of family and friends but the extra bits and pieces which in some way go towards, I don't know, showing or defining who or what we are or our individual characters.

Millhouse

I'm on my third one of these things - I find them very unreliable...!

There is literally nothing that I couldn't cope without except for the internet and probably my blackberry (i'm a addict). But, 'essentials' that really aren't in my house is probably my collection of watches ... I must have about 15 ... and a decent razor. We noted when we moved house that Mrs Millhouse's stuff filled three vans, whereas I had one small box and a suitcase of clothes.

Essentials for me are more consumables... Like the three yogurts a day I eat, or the odd massage I enjoy.

Bahtatboy

Can you explain why they're so good?

norsk

Hook it up to a portable USB drive or to your NAS if you buy the network enabled version and of course your tv (and home cinema system if you have one) and it will play more or less everything you throw at it in terms of movies in full HD in addition to music. Firmware is regularly updated to cope with the newest codecs. Best of all they are super easy to use, there is no faffing around with changing config every time you want to watch something...

britexpat76

My 3D TV

rowell

Which make did you go for, looking at new TV at the minute and whilst don't want 3D now probably will do in 12-18 months time when more films out

Alexa

I have 2 of everything I really like (not husband though ) Because if one thing breaks, I just know it won't be available when I need it here in Dohell.

Bob

I've had one for years and apart from the odd wireless network glitch, works pretty much all the time and haven't had to many things not be able to play through it....gets updated regularly, but the hacked firmware you can get adds loads of extra features too.

Made better if you run something like Serviio as a media server on the computer/drive with all your media as it seems to handle things better that way.