I must admit, the machine wowed me, but I am such a n00b at all this.

I did not experience these underpowered flippers. I had no trouble shooting up the main lanes. Your experience sounds just awful and I would come away with the same impression. Plus, yours is not the only one to point this out, but I suspect you already know that!

As for the LCD, I'm sort of on the fence. In some respects, I like the idea. I like that it gives a designer the freedom to do whatever she wants with the "backglass." At the same time, I couldn't watch it at all during play. I sort of feel the same way, though, on some DMD machines which are giving you instructions. I'm at that level where I'm still working hard on ball control so I often don't even feel I can glance up at the DMD let alone this large monitor.

The LCD also seems remove a physical presence that you get on traditional back glasses, even ones with DMDs. This is hard for me to describe. When everything is light, nothing is quite real. It's all light.

Also, I suppose I like the design -- the typefaces, the pictures, etc. -- but design wise the space feels so large it seems under utilized. This is purely a subjective thing. If the technology takes off then we'll see different variations and designs. It'll be interesting.

Thanks for your review.