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Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

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141–150 of 221 posts

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#141
It’s possible the recliner is just mitigating the problem by allowing you to not sit as straight

I had the same issue of tight hips/pain when sitting up straight and I found doing hamstring stretches and some core work a couple times per week fixed the issue for me

Something I learned was that a lot of time tight hips or lower back pain is actually due to tight hamstrings

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#142

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Headset. I can stay connected to both my workstation (with enough range to cover my house and some of the yard) and my phone at the same time. This allows me to wander/pace away from my desk during meetings, and also answer calls without taking it off. It's super comfy, and comes with two batteries so the base can charge one while the other is in use, meaning you never have to plug it in to c…

That dual audio feature is why I own one.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#143
Phillips Hue and having multiple presets. Now that the DST is over, it's darker in the morning for me, so I have a Hue scene to turn on most of the lights in my office bright, but not at max. In the afternoon, once the sun starts to set, I have another preset that plays well with dark mode, but still somewhat bright. Then I have a more dimmer preset for later in the evening. I've noticed it has improved my circadian rhythm.

Another great buy was the Cal-Digit TS4. It's hooked up to two monitors, a WD SSD for Time Machine backups, and Ethernet.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#144

OK, cheating a bit here, but: My Jetbrains IDEs. It's a huge productivity boost for me over VSCode, with batteries included out of the box (great diff engine, gitlens like visual git, built in postman like client, SQL query editor and table browser, amazing indexed searched, awesome refactoring). I've paid for an individual sub for a decade and will probably keep doing it for life. Really great product that's useful…

100% agreed, Jetbrain IDEs are great buys, but some people refuse to make the leap. I'm currently running into formatting issues/PR conflicts because of other devs refusing to switch over and the default formatting rules between Code and Jetbrains is wide.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#145
post #87

Would you be able to share a picture of your setup? I can't imagine a desk and a stress recliner, and I have similar problems with my posture. Also tried many chairs, including kneeling rocking chair.

I have the stressless recliner, standing desk, single large monitor, monitor arm to tilt my monitor towards me since I'm reclined, ergo split keyboard which I rest on the arms of the recliner, and a small table right next to my recliner where I put my trackball mouse, phone, and water. The standing desk isn't necessary, it's just what I've had all these years, but it's nice to precisely adjust the height of the desk…

Are you willing to share a link to the specific chair you have? "Stressless" appears to be both a brand name and a type of recliner, which makes it difficult to search for.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#146
post #93

- A logitech MX vertical mouse. I rarely have carpal tunnel issues using it all day. I wish it was a bit more responsive and I'd use it for gaming because it's so comfortable - A decent backpack with space for a) a whole set of USB cords b) a small hand tools kit and c) a small cutlery set. Having dedicated cords and tools for just my backpack is nice, and a nice cutlery set is good for meetings and out in the field…

I damaged my elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and found the MX vertical was much more comfortable and less pain inducing.

Pressing the scroll wheel button is a little stiffer than my previous mouses, but you adapt quick enough. I find the middle finger lifts off and behind the index finger to give a little extra help.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#148
post #46
post #11

Teeny teeny computers like the old MacBook Air. Mind you, I’m a workaholic and enjoy work. Buying computers that are usable but are so small you don’t mind carrying them around all day is a giant productivity hack. You can work on the bus, when your doctor runs late, etc.

Is the old Air still the best option in this space, or have other manufacturers stepped up in recent years? Last time I looked (a few years ago) the Air was far and away the best performer.

New Airs are just fine. I have one. I still prefer my old one, but the screen resolution is low enough that I have trouble with some websites.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#149
post #11

Teeny teeny computers like the old MacBook Air. Mind you, I’m a workaholic and enjoy work. Buying computers that are usable but are so small you don’t mind carrying them around all day is a giant productivity hack. You can work on the bus, when your doctor runs late, etc.

Assuming your work is something you can do in two minute increments

I have a chaotic home life, so I have always optimized for it. You can do things like write some CSS, debug a problem with a webpage, optimize a query or at least think about it, send a useful text, etc.
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