IBV C58: Let’s Get Ready for the Off Collab!

After returning to my parents’ home, I decided to spend one more day there before returning to Nagoya.

“Yuki, speaking of which, you mentioned doing an offline collaboration with Fuwari. Are you sure you’re okay with it?”
“I think it should be fine. Why do you ask, Dad?”

“Well, you’re going to need a reasonably high-performance laptop for an offline collaboration. You obviously can’t just use a camera to show yourselves, right? A corporate liver like Fuwari can’t reveal her real face.”
“Ah, when you put it that way… I might not be prepared…”
I had completely forgotten.
My first offline collaboration was with Kaoru-san, and the memory of that time was still fresh in my mind.

“Hmm, you’re leaving tomorrow, right?
Why don’t we go to an electronics store today? We can take the car.”
“Are you sure?”

“Sure, I am. I have the day off anyway, so don’t worry.”
“Thanks, Dad!”

“Alright, let’s get going then.”
“Okay!”
I quickly prepared to go out and headed to the electronics store with my dad.
My mom apparently had things to do at home, so she stayed behind.

We arrived at the store, about a 30-minute drive from home.
It’s in the countryside, so you have to go to the city center to find a decent shop, which takes some time.
“It’s been a while since I last came here.”
“I think the last time was when I bought my current computer at one of the chain stores in Nagoya.”

“You bought it from a branch of this chain, huh?
By the way, which one is closest to your specs among these on display here?”
When my dad asked, I found a computer worth around 400,000 yen with similar specifications.

“I think this one is the closest? Mine was about 300, though.”
“You got something close to this for 300,000 yen?! That’s dirt cheap.”

“It seemed like they were having a sale then, and they said it was on a first-come-first-served basis. I went first thing in the morning and was lucky to get it.”
“I remember them having a Thanksgiving Festival here in the spring. Maybe that was it.”

“Ah! Now that you mention it, it might have been!”
“What else did you buy?”

“Motion trackers, an audio interface, a capture card, and two types of microphones. One is affordable with decent performance, and the other is binaural. Honestly, the binaural microphone and the motion tracking device were the most expensive.”
“Ah, microphone prices can vary a lot. Which binaural microphone did you buy?”
When my dad asked, I pointed to a microphone.

“That one,” I say, pointing to a well-known brand’s product costing around 50,000 yen.

“A*dio Techn*ia, huh? It’s a reliable major manufacturer. I think it’s a good choice.”
“Phew…”

“Well, as long as you can use it without problems, that’s what matters.”
“Really?”

“The first things we consider are durability, sound quality, and ease of use. Price is the least of our concerns.”
“Ah, I see. Because you’re from a corporate group…”

“That’s right. But most of the equipment I have at home is for my personal enjoyment.”
“Huh? Really?!”

“Of course, I use them for streaming, so the company pays for a part of it, but I also have equipment from lesser-known manufacturers and devices for specific uses.”
“Like what, for example?”

“I have a mic that doubles as a binaural and a condenser microphone. You can switch between them.”
“Is there a use for that?”

“Honestly, not much, but I bought it because it was interesting… That purchase completely out of pocket.”
“Wait, when did that come out?”

“Just recently. It was made possible by some mysterious technology, so I couldn’t help but buy it.
The sound quality is pretty good, and the condenser part serves its purpose, so it wasn’t a bad purchase.
How it works is a complete mystery, though.”
“The efforts of manufacturers are amazing…”

“Right?”
“By the way, Dad, what kind of specs should I get for a laptop?”

“At the very least, you’ll need something that can run 3D modeling software while syncing with a camera and streaming at the same time, so something that costs more than 150,000 yen.”
“Ugh, that’s pretty pricey…”

“Hm? This one’s not bad.”
With that, he points to a 200,000-yen laptop.

“It’s a bit overkill, but not bad.”
“Is it overkill?”

“Yeah, the tracking is done by the camera, after all. As long as you can display the model and stream, there’s no problem.”
“What makes this one good?”

“The built-in camera.”
“How good is it?”

“It has the same performance as a recent smartphone on both sides.”
“So I don’t need to buy a camera!”

“Exactly.”
“And the specs are good enough to run everything?”

“It’s more than capable. In fact, with these specs, I’d even say you could go 50,000 yen higher, but it’s cheaper because its use is far removed from that of a traditional laptop.”
“There’s a lot to consider, huh?”

“Well, the manufacturers run a business at the end of the day. If they know there’s no demand, they’ll want to sell it quickly, even if they have to lower the price.”
“Okay, I’ve decided! I’m going to buy this one!”

“Oh! You’ve made your choice.”
“I’m not an expert on this kind of thing, so I trust you, Dad!”

“Glad I could help. Shall we head to the checkout?”
“Yeah!”

Holding the exchange ticket, we headed to the checkout counter.
I handed the ticket to the cashier, who returned to fetch the item. I waited for their return.
It took about three minutes for them to come back with the item.
We checked to make sure it powered on correctly, and seeing no issues, I went ahead with the purchase.
They told me the same thing when I bought my computer – if there’s any initial defect, bring it to the store or an affiliate branch.

I decided to extend the warranty, just like with my previous computer, and paid for it.
I didn’t have enough cash on hand, so I used my debit card to withdraw from my bank account. It’s risky to carry around a lot of cash, after all.

“Alright, now that we’ve got it, let’s go home.”
“Sounds good!”

With that, my dad and I headed back home.

Getting a new computer always feels exciting, doesn’t it? Or is it just me?

Author: There isn’t a combined binaural and condenser mic yet, but it’d be pretty cool if there were one someday.

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