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And I was hoping for a better price lol. I guess that's what yoy get for a neat designed product right ?

Anyway, looks really appealing. I am happy for Mac users, even if this features must mainly targets north america (Mac almost disappeared here)

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the creation of these mindstorm sets by lego has always been a mystery to me, but i know my former collegues at university love those. engineers and architects seem to use these things for their profession, i just don't think this is still lego.

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This is good news! I've been waiting for quite a while. The price is STEEP, but I guess not that different from before.

It seems to have meaningfully useful new features, not just a rehash of the previous version, which is good.

Well, there goes another paycheque.

EDIT:

WHOA! just had a look at the pictures. WTF is with these wierd motors?? Is this thing compatible with the old RCX and motors?? If not, this would be devastating. I can't believe they would make this incompatible with the old system. Anyone know?

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Mmmmm... mocs I can remote control... sweeeeet.

And having a comprehensive, easy-to-use interface on my computer sounds like programming will be more smooth.

Also diggin' the different color of the unit. The yellow had to go.

I am happy for Mac users, even if this features must mainly targets north america (Mac almost disappeared here)

Wait... it still can be used with a regular PC, right?

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Apparently it is incompatible with old Mindstorms :(

That messes things up. :(

Also if you can only use those specific motors with the new mindstorms, it means everyone has to buy more of these new motors, instead of the more generic 9V motors Mindstorms now uses.

If the motor used on the 8421 giant crane, which has some similarities, is any indication, this will not be a step forward.

Hopefully TLC has been thinking about these issues when they came up with the new version. I guess we'll only truly know when it comes out, but my enthusiasm is waning a bit...

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Looks cool to me. When I bought the first mindstorms I used it for about a month then put it away due to technical flaws... :( Its good that they're continuing what they started, yet I wouldn't buy any for my interests lie in different directions.

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You guys should read the article in Wired.

http://wired.com/news/technology/0,69946-0...tory_page_prev2

Yes, it's incompatible with the old one, but this is because it's better! This is a completely new setup. Designed with the input of several AFOL's, including Hassenplug, who made the Connect-Four robot! and if you only have 3 ports, why would you need any more motors? You can accomplish all the rest with gearing. Yes, I'll admit, the styling is a bit funky, but it's starting to grow on me.

I'm looking forward to grabbing one of these.

-Stefan-

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Well, I will no doubt buy it, but I am stepping back from the initial enthusiasm

1) Still battery powered (unlike the very useful RCX 1.0 that can be powered by any common 9V train adapter)

2) total new/old incompatibility

3) very funky motor - they are going to be MUCH harder to put into things in a compact manner than the cubic 9V motors we have now.

and YES, one needs more than three motors in some situations. You may want motors to provide independent sources of power but run together, so you connect two to a single output source. Gearing does not provide extra power. If one of the standard motors broke.... bah, no biggie, you whip out another one from the supply box. Here's a bet these motors will cost substantially more than 20$ each, even IF they are available as single item from S@H

It puzzles me though, that Lego would have made something totally backward incompatible when so many people have so much invested in the old system. It won't kill me - I have only two RCXs, and I can always use the old motors in my Technic jobs, and I am not poor. But I have friends who will not be able to start all over again from scratch.

Well, time will tell. We keep underestimating TLC. I hope they prove me wrong.

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Never had any mindstorm at all...I guess I wasnt into LEGO than..and I would much rather buy about 5 beautiful Pirate ships than this..Ie imperial flagship..BSB, SES, renegade runner, carribean clipper...About the same price lol!

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Ok, since I didn't own a MindStorms set (Except for the discovery one), I'm not one to comment on programming. That said...

HOLY TARTAR SAUCE! That Alpharex robot looks sweet! I know I would have certainly liked this back when I had time to build Lego! Also, the white and orange colour scheme looks rocking! Keep it up Lego! You're doing a fantasmic job!

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Oh my, I must be old.

Minuses:

It's studless

It's RIS incompatible

It's using something even more anti-programming as as default

It looks like some @#$%! Mac or iPod or whatever

It still has only 3+3 ports

All the sensors/motors are large and bulky

Motors are specialized

Pluses:

It has faster processor

Althought incompatible, the cables look interesting

2 new sensors

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I really like this new design they got here, very slik.

I just love that alpha rex robot.

Would've been nice to see some backwards compablity though.

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Oh my, I must be old.

Minuses:

It's studless

It's RIS incompatible

It's using something even more anti-programming as as default

It looks like some @#$%! Mac or iPod or whatever

It still has only 3+3 ports

All the sensors/motors are large and bulky

Motors are specialized

Pluses:

It has faster processor

Althought incompatible, the cables look interesting

2 new sensors

Couldn't agree more. I must be old too.

Wait, I am!

Damn!

:(

Another thought. I was never limited by the speed of the processor, feeble though it was, when making stuff with RIS. However, the battle to mount and gear motors properly is constant. The new bulky and wierdly shaped motors will make this much harder. I hope they at least perform better than the classic motor.

Gyl

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It looks like some @#$%! Mac or iPod or whatever

Thats the 'fashion' at the moment and I like it!

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:oD I'm excited about this one I put off buying a mindstorms set recently because of the rumour of the new sets.

The article says they are servo motors that would suggest rotation position control not just on or off rotation that opens up a whole lot of possibilities for robot designs.

The other item that I noticed was that the software was powered by LabView, I used to work for a company that used Labview to control the machines we produced. It was a very powerful and extremely easy to use piece of software and that was several years ago and it cost considerably more than the 249usd that these sets will sell for so that has to be a great step forward for TLC.

The only negative point would be that the connectors do not look like the standard technic connectors they look more like data connectors. Maybe they will produce an interface to control standard motors.

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hey I can tell my bro to check that out when he goes to the CES show

i went today(jan 5) but did not have a chance to get to the other convention center ( the show fills the las vegas convention center the sands expo and like three other venues) i will tell him to take many pics hopefully he can get a chance to get to that tech zone

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anyone got any model ideas?Or thinking to turn alpha-rex into the Alpha-Mech?

;) Oh yeah, check out what the betas are focusing on

A) Build cool robots with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and upload them to the LEGO MINDSTORMS website

B) Write about LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT

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