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Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

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Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

#261

Post by thebean11 »

lucumo wrote: post #252
clarkdave wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried a lot of different monitor setups for productivity - ranging from three 24" 4k displays to a single 49" ultrawide, and ultimately have found the best setup for me is dual 27" 4ks, each running at a "scaled" 2560x1440. MacOS in particular does an excellent job of rendering 2560x1440 to a 4K screen, and the increased DPI over a regular 1440p 27" screen is very noticeable. Another option if you're not a fan o…

> MacOS in particular does an excellent job of rendering 2560x1440 to a 4K screen, and the increased DPI over a regular 1440p 27" screen is very noticeable. MacOS in particular gets amazingly slow when you don't use a 1:1 or 2:1 scaling. I too have have two 27" 4k screens and they made the machine unbearably slow. It got so bad that I now treat them as 1440p screens and let the screens do the scaling. It's not pretty…

The new MacBook pros can handle it

Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

#263

Post by washadjeffmad »

nickjj wrote: post #95

A 2560x1440 monitor running at its 1:1 native resolution. The screen real estate improvement over 1080p is substantial. You get so much more vertical space and you can easily fit 4 side by side code windows at 80 chars. At 24" or 25" the PPI is also quite nice for reading text. I wrote up a very big monitor selection guide at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-monitor-fo... , I try to keep it up to dat…

I've been looking for a good 4:3 or 3:2 display for several years and recently found the following 16:18 announcement from LG: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/12/lgs-1618-ultra-tall-...

It will probably be obscenely overpriced, but I'll probably get a few for work for people who don't like their curved ultrawides.

The 39" 4K I've been using since 2014 has spent many a year in pillarbox attempting to preserve my neck and eyes, but it's still ultimately too large. I'd love to replace it with some smaller high res non-widescreen panels.

Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

#264

Post by pksebben »

chrisweekly wrote: post #210

In terms of strictly personal "game-changing" impact, it's my ReMarkable2 tablet. Happy to explain why (when I have more time) if anyone's curious...

I'm curious. I've been wanting better tools for working in the sun forever, and I've had my eye on that one.

Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

#265

Post by mittermayr »

Herman Miller Aeron (Remastered). It's a hefty price if you look at 'regular' chairs, but once you have had one for a while, you can't go back to anything else. The amount of time you spend in that chair is insane. So, naturally, that, and whatever it takes to get good sleep.

Also, a Logitech MX Master 2S, again because I use it all day, every day. They tend to become a bit stiffer over time it seems like, so I've had to replace them occasionally, but far, far better than Apple's approaches to mice or touchpads.

Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

#266

Post by capableweb »

nickjj wrote: post #95

A 2560x1440 monitor running at its 1:1 native resolution. The screen real estate improvement over 1080p is substantial. You get so much more vertical space and you can easily fit 4 side by side code windows at 80 chars. At 24" or 25" the PPI is also quite nice for reading text. I wrote up a very big monitor selection guide at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-monitor-fo... , I try to keep it up to dat…

You're mentioning "Panel Lotto" in your blog post in relation to reviews being for IPS panels but then sending customers TN panels instead of IPS panels. I don't think that is what is commonly referred to as "Panel Lotto" (I'd call that straight up fraud and I'm sure most courts would be on your side).

"Panel Lotto" (as I know it at least) refers to the company's policy regarding returning a panel that had dead pixels on arrival. Some policies don't allow customers to return those displays even if it has a dead pixel, as it wouldn't count as a defect. That's why it's a "lotto", it's pure chance if you'll receive a perfect display or not, and if you do you have no recourse.

I'm not sure how it works out in practice, I've never received any display with dead-pixels on arrival.

Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

#267

Post by pksebben »

GuB-42 wrote: post #176
Arubis wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe tangential, but would most folks be likely to discern the difference vs. a glass French press? Most drip coffeemakers I’ve used are both more expensive and make worse coffee (not to mention harder to clean), so I’ve largely given up on the category, but admittedly haven’t done proper research in quite a while.

It looks like you can make the difference since you prefer a glass French press. There is no "superior" brewing process, and if you like the French press, use the French press. Arguably, the pourover method is strictly better than drip coffee, in term of quality, but it is more involved, and you need to know what you are doing. With drip coffee, you just have to press a button, you can even run the machine on a timer…

I splurged on a moccamaster and it's my favorite thing ever. It's practically pour over, but I don't have to do any work before I've had a coffee (which is a hard line for me)

Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

#268

Post by nicbou »

joisig wrote: post #259
nicbou wrote: post #208

The latest iPad Mini. It was meant to be a Moleskine replacement. I draw a lot but I can't carry all sorts of pencils with me. I made it a dedicated drawing and reading device. No notifications, no emails, etc. Holy moly is it good. Procreate and Notability are incredible apps. Having different pens, layers and an undo button is fantastic. It replaced the paper pad next to my computer, as well as my Moleskine. The si…

I use the latest iPad Air similarly. Got it and an Apple Pencil as a more-capable replacement for my reMarkable tablet and my Kindle, turned off all notifications and did not install any distractions. It's a great device. For me the main apps are Bear and Concepts.

Trying my friend's iPad Air is what sold me. I just went "oh".

I tried a Surface, thinking that I could also replace my laptop and pack lighter (I travel by motorcycle a lot), but it was unusable as a tablet, and... well as annoying as any Windows laptop. The Photoshop-like UI and the open-edit-save workflow (can't close an app without messing with the file dialogs) was so pathetic compared to Procrate and Notability. Then it locked itself up for 3 hours to install more Bing shortcuts on the task bar. That's when I returned it.

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