Ask HN: What are your best purchases in 2020? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are your best purchases in 2020?

#101

Post by peapicker » Mon, Dec 28, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

bmitch2112 wrote: post #56

peapicker wrote: post #24

1) Flexispot standing desk & standing desk monitor arm 2) Wobble stool for the in-between standing and sitting height at my standing desk. Between 1 & 2 my back health is so much better it is hard to believe. My old home office furniture was horrible. Best investment I made early in the 9+ months now working from home. 3) Elektron Model:Cycles FM Synth. Making happy bleep bloops. 4) Almost to the front of the line to…

Good to hear about the Flexispot desk. How long have you had it? Looking to get a standing desk and these look decent.

Got mine at the end of May. I use it basically every day, in both sitting and standing positions. Price was right, quality better than I expected. Their keyboard tray doesn't really fit if you get a tabletop with a curved indent like I did, I sent that part back. Not sure they sell tabletops like mine anymore.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best purchases in 2020?

#102

Post by string » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 12:08 AM UTC

dougk wrote: post #94

string wrote: post #42

Not sure this counts as hardware, but I finally bought a hi-fi and spent quite an uncomfortable amount on old Congolese records. I found the idea of spending so much on something so indulgent difficult at the time but it brings me immeasurable joy, so ultimately no regrets.

Any online store you would recommend for high quality old Congolese records?

Hey, sorry, I didn't see this.

I'm afraid I don't have any good secrets to share on that front. Online purchases I've made mostly through sellers on Discogs. Some are better than others. I'm in the UK and most sellers who stock Congolese records seem to be based in France, postage can be a pain sometimes. afro7.net has some interesting 7" records from time to time.

I've been trying to get back out to Africa for a while, but plans have been put on hold. Haven't made it to Congo or DRC yet, but hoping to at least make it back to Nairobi later in the year. Melodica in Nairobi sell online but I haven't bought anything from them before.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best purchases in 2020?

#103

Post by marcolussetti » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

jjice wrote: post #50

marcolussetti wrote: post #33

An eReader. I was skeptical, but it's pushed me to move to reading more books and less social media. Still a long way to go to achieve a better balance there, but significant results so far.

What eReader did you choose?

First of all, sorry for the late reply! My research before purchasing left me with the distinct impression that both major vendors (Amazon Kindle & Rakuten Kobo) make very good hardware that will serve one's needs. I did not want to purchase an Android tablet (e.g. Boox, even ignoring their GPL issues) as I found that concept to be too distracting/straying from the purpose.

I chose to purchase a Rakuten Kobo Libra H2O, which is pretty good for my uses. I imagine the equivalent (but higher priced) Kindle Oasis to be as good or better. I went with the Kobo with the idea that I'd rather competition in this space not shrink further (though I doubt my actions matter much).