Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be? I was frantically searching for answers to this question, during my exasperating quarter-life crisis.

While I was losing hope waiting for directions, a monstrous laptop came to my house — the Lenovo Legion 5Pi. At first, I wondered how its arrival could mean anything in my situation. Surprisingly, having a gaming laptop helped me take the first step in dealing with my existential issues.

Traveling back to past

When I set up the Lenovo Legion 5Pi, I was taken back to my tranquil past. It felt like I was fourteen-going-fifteen again, cocooned in my bedroom.

Headphones in, keyboards lighting, chips and soda on the side, electric fan buzzing — life back then was untroubled. All I ever worry about was how to finish my homework so I could play online games all night.

At that time, I was stuck between two worlds: my character’s adventures in Grand Fantasia and other titles, and of course, the real world. But now, all I have is this sickening reality unraveling before me.

I’ve thought of playing games again, seeing the laptop as an opportunity to escape my current frustrations. But at some point, I realized escaping wouldn’t help me fix my issues nor provide answers.

What I did instead was sit in my emotions and used the laptop to navigate how I’m feeling — and possibly find out where I’m going next.

If you’re thinking if I went to Google to search for answers… you’re damn right, I didn’t.

Yes, I didn’t. I may be questioning my entire existence and the path I’m supposed to take while my friends are settling down and getting married, but I still believe I’m going to find the answers in a different way.

Honestly, my life felt like I was a character stuck on a puzzling quest. In between my thoughts, somehow it sunk in that maybe, this laptop was just what I needed.

Seeing and using the Legion 5Pi helped me remember how much I loved playing games. How I would spend my hours diving in different worlds, building and developing my character’s skills and personality — and even socializing with players across the world.

Games were my favorite escape

I’ve met several friends from all walks of life through gaming. Looking back, it gave me the advantage to power through this crisis.

I remember Paula, one of my online game BFF turned actual BFF for 10 years and counting. She taught me about going after my passion and what sparks joy in my heart. Surprisingly, I followed her advice until life got in the way.

Reminiscing, I logged into a dear, old game before I dropped gaming as part of my life — League of Legends, if you’re wondering. Previously, I was in my hellish college years; losing myself in depression, suffering from abuse, and other existential crisis I was facing.

But playing it this time around didn’t spark any pain from the past. Instead, I felt relieved clicking through the mouse and smashing buttons on the colorful keyboard. I was glued to the Legion 5Pi’s large screen, consumed by the stunning graphics and gameplay like I was living in the world I used to enjoy.

In this brief experience, I recalled who I really am before I decided to drop parts of myself  in order to fit in, to be accepted. Truth is, I really liked playing games. It has been my escape from the hell that life put me through. More importantly, it helped hone my skills and personality in life — something your education won’t usually provide.

Going back to making art

Recalling what my friend said about pursuing your passion, I realized how I wasn’t creating art anymore. I also remembered Gabriel, a mentor-slash-guildmate (who’s ten years older than me) that I really admired, especially with how he balances his life. Work, gaming, hobbies, relationships… and he even had the time to make art.

During my stint with the Lenovo Legion 5Pi, I enrolled in an online course to pursue some art classes I’ve been meaning to take for years.

I had fun learning through this gaming laptop, and I continued creating art both on this machine and on paper. It was an amusing experience to rediscover parts of myself. How I dropped arts and games to fit in and follow society’s mainstream culture; partying, feeding into wanderlust, crazing over trends.

Using the Lenovo Legion 5Pi reminded me to be true to myself. When the realizations hit me, I started building a stable ground for myself. I considered how I forgot to make my inner child happy — something that we should be doing no matter the age.

Older people used to nudge us to never forget the things that fill joy into your heart since it’s the key to living a happy life. In my case, it was always creating and playing.

Recollecting all these thoughts, I took the first step in dealing with my quarter-life crisis. Having a stable self can help you survive all these life problems, and it’s what I’m actively trying to do.

And maybe, I’ll get a gaming laptop like the Lenovo Legion 5Pi, so I can ensure I live a happy and balanced life, without forgetting who I really am.

Lenovo Legion 5Pi

The Lenovo Legion 5Pi is a competitive gaming laptop, carrying the latest Intel Core H-series processors. It focuses on extreme performance, sporting up to 32GB of RAM, 1TB of NVMe SSD, and an NVIDIA RTX 2060 for a powerful gaming experience.

It also comes with a 15-inch IPS HDR display with a 240Hz refresh rate for buttery-smooth gameplay. The display comes with 100% sRGB color accuracy, making it perfect for gamers, artists, and creators.

The Lenovo Legion 5Pi retails for PhP 74,995. It’s available in Lenovo’s official stores and authorized retailers.

On November 19, the rest of the world will witness the arrival of the PlayStation 5. Sony’s next generation console plans to bring a new gaming experience, fit with the latest hardware. With the release nearing, here’s what you need to know about it:

AMD decking out the internals

The PlayStation 5 rocks an x86-x64 AMD Ryzen CPU following the Zen 2 architecture. For its GPU, it comes with an AMD Radeon RDNA graphics engine that supports active ray tracing. Essentially, what these provide are incredible game quality at higher frame rates.

Speaking of internals, this next-gen console comes with an expandable storage slot that supports M.2 SSDs. It already comes with up to 825GB of SSD storage, with a good portion of it to the operating system. With the SSD in place, expect your games to load pretty fast upon boot.

Supports almost all PS4 titles released prior

The PlayStation will have native support for most PlayStation 4 games

Several sources confirmed that indeed, the PlayStation 5 comes with backward compatibility features. This means that you don’t have to dispose any of your old PlayStation 4 games just yet. As for older PlayStation systems, Sony has yet to confirm compatibility for these yet.

Not only will the PS5 support these titles, but you can even upgrade some of your PS4 games to a digital PS5 version. Sony laid out instructions on how to do this through their support page, so you best keep your PS4 library. However, take note that this upgrade could come for free or with a cost.

The hardware and software integration

Just recently, Sony showed off the PlayStation 5’s new UI, complete with integration with their new hardware. Features like the Control Center and Activities all work seamlessly, especially with their new DualSense controller. With these features, you can continue playing your game while checking on what you missed out on.

Apart from the DualSense controller, Sony also unveiled its lineup of optional accessories that will come with the PS5. This includes its PULSE 3D Wireless Headset, the Media Remote, a 1080p PlayStation Camera, and the DualSense charging station.

Physical or digital, the choice is yours

Upon launch, you have a choice between the Blu-ray physical edition or the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. The key difference between the two is, well the latter does not come with a Blu-ray disc reader inside. The Digital Edition comes in at US$ 399.99, while the Blu-ray Edition comes in at US$ 499.99.

Along with the PS5, several game developers plan to launch their games alongside it. Titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, and Gran Turismo 7 are just some on the list. Also, several current-gen titles will get their own PS5 digital versions like NBA 2K21.

We’ll update this space should there be more information about the PS5.

These past 200+ days of quarantining as much as possible have been horrendous. It’s caused multiple ripple effects on many facets of our personal lives and how we go about our day to day. There’s just so much that’s shifted, we don’t even have the time nor the right timing to get into the nitty-gritty of every change.

Stuck at home with family?

Alright, who else has been going through the motions of unlearning and relearning lifestyle changes at home? Everyone? Sounds about right. The pandemic really forced us to not just live with ourselves but also, deal with our families. Anyone tired of their family yet? We’ve got nowhere to run, boys and girls!

Work, study, and home chores just blend altogether at this point. And, it’s tough. There are all sorts of things and places you’d associate with rest and time off and there are things you didn’t think you’d need until a pandemic made gadgets essential for work and study.

Things we didn’t use to need

When you need portability, efficient functionality, and multi-faceted features, nothing has you more covered in this department like a tablet would.

If you’re worried about getting tasks done while needing to get around the house, don’t fret. This is just the gadget for you. At only 450g, The Huawei MatePad T 10 is a stunning lightweight 9.7-inch HD display tablet equipped with powerful, kid-friendly, and intelligent features.

You can use this tablet to work, write, read, study, play, and sketch wherever and whenever. The MatePad T 10 is powered by a Kirin 710A with their new EMUI 10.1, delivering on smooth and no-stutter experience. The tablet’s App Multiplier also helps when you need to keep multiple tabs open within your reach.

Even when you’re done with work and want to call it a day, the tablet has entertainment features that don’t let you down. The Huawei T 1o has two large sound cavity speakers on the sides giving you a good immersive experience. The tablet features the Huawei Histen 6.1 software to deliver 3D surround sound support.

The Goldilocks approach

Not too big, not too small — just right! Thing is, some people don’t have the luxury of setting up a complete rig just for work at home. Most people will need something they can use for work to carry around. Not only that, they might need a tablet for their kids to play, explore, and learn with. So, if you’re worried about costs, functionality, and portability a tablet should be on the table. Get it? Table? Tablet?

Terrible jokes aside, the MatePad T 10’s AppGallery and Petal Search Widget help anyone to find the right app collation to install and use. Huawei’s AppGallery is the third biggest app distributer. So, there are tons of entertainment and lifestyle apps available on Huawei’s AppGallery available to you.

Booky, foodpanda, Kumu, Paymaya, iflix, Shopee, Lazada, and BeautyMNL are just some of those enlisted in their pre-installed AppGallery. And, if you can’t seem to find it, they have the Petal Search Widget which allows you to access apps you’re looking for.

New forms of learning: daunting but possible

Whether a parent or a child, navigating through learning online can be daunting. Which, the Huawei MatePad T 10 has their Kid’s Corner feature for. It’s the tablets parental control so you can protect and keep tabs on your kid while they learn and explore using the tablet.

For online learning at home, the tablet has just the thing for you. Eye protection settings and eBook settings featured on the MatePad T 10 make sure it looks like your reading off of paper and your eyes don’t strain.

The MatePad T 10 is a good, kid-friendly buddy if or when you’re worried about kids while they get right back into school online. Don’t worry. There are many customizable features in the tablet’s Kid’s Corner feature to ease your worries.

The tablet is perfect to give any caring parent out there the peace of mind. They can even access top apps for kids on the MatePad T 10’s AppGallery like ABC Spelling, Azomee, Baby Panda’s School Bus, Math Kids Learning, and more.

Forced family bonding

This year is nearly over and it feels surreal to even put that into perspective. It just goes to show that as much as we love to control circumstances, some things are completely out of our control. So, we adapt. We give ourselves space to grieve and compromise. And, hey! When have we ever gotten this much downtime with our family? If anything, we’re forced to bond together and get through it together.

So, if you think you need a multi-faceted gadget to work, study, and play on, allow yourself to weigh in on efficiency, durability, and affordability of a tablet. Because Huawei definitely weighed all of those into account and made sure the Huawei MatePad T 10 ticked those boxes. The tablet comes at a bargained price of PhP 6,999.

This feature is a collaboration between GadgetMatch and Huawei Philippines