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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?

#371

Post by bergheim »

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…

> The only reason I haven't gone 4k is because using one at 100% scaling at 27" or less isn't really feasible due to how small the text is

People keep saying this but I don't.. see.. it. Everything scales great on my setup. I could make one letter cover the entire screen if I wanted to - the DPI is not really relevant in that sense. You still have to set size up to your liking. And I do not have great eyesight (contacts/glasses).

Admittedly, DPI does play a part when you have multiple monitors with different resolutions. I have solved that by wrapping my launcher with a script that detects the screen, reads the DPI and scales accordingly. Which, to be fair, is not something you should expect people to do :p

My desktop uses an LG-27GL850 and an LG-27GN950. One is 1440p, the other is 4k. Both are 144hz. I first bought the 1440p, which is great, then I bought the 4k one. I wanted to keep the 1440p one for gaming, but as it turns out, I don't game, so I regret not getting two 4ks.

I did extensive research before getting these, and after a year with them side by side, I can for sure see the difference when I read text. The fonts (and everything) just pop more.

I would be completely fine with 1440p, that looks great as well, but since I am at my computer for the better part of my life, a few extra dollars was (and still is) worth it for me.

PS: 144hz was almost weird at first - the cursor and scrolling is so instant. Highly recommended.

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

#372

Post by Cr0s »

bsenftner wrote: post #142

Make your own giant, the entire wall, whiteboard for practically nothing. Go to your local lumber, home building supply store and purchase "laminated particle board, shower wall panels". Last time I did this, they were about US $23 for a 6'x9' panel. Two of these completely cover an ordinary single bed sized room from wall to wall. I just drill the thing right into the wall, and grab white-board markers. I showed the…

This is actually genius. How often do you use it?

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

#373

Post by Yhippa »

Arkanosis wrote: post #311

The list could be very long, but here are a few things which I have started using lately and which have proved more useful than expected: - A dish draining rack: that's very inexpensive and I'm wasting way less time and space than before arranging dishes. - A vertical desktop file sorter: exactly the same thing, but for papers. - Thin, fingerless gloves I can type with: while this has not solved my dry hands problem…

> - A headset with ANC and multipoint Bluetooth: a real life changer for work, gaming and phone calls; the most expensive item in this list, but definitely worth the price for me.

Ooh, have a recommendation for this?

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

#375

Post by chefkoch »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #297
khaledh wrote: post #118

The switch from a mechanical HDD to a SDD was the biggest gain in performance I've seen from any piece of hardware. I still remember the time when HDDs were the norm and the agony of waiting on loading/accessing something from disk was real.

Good solid-state storage has been the biggest quality of life improvement you can make to a single-disk device for the past decade. I get a chuckle out of colleagues who ask for copious RAM today, and while I'll usually show them where they can put money to do what they actually need better, this kitchen analogy suffices for most of their use cases: The hard drive, RAM, and CPU are like the fridge, the prep table, an…

I am honestly shocked that someone working in IT would even think about working with a laptop with a spinning disk.

This isn't 2010.

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

#376

Post by cush »

aqme28 wrote: post #195
throw0101a wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doesn't even need special tablets […] A thirty minute video explaining why tablets are bad and that you should simply use powder: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04 Also, a follow-up video: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll6-eGDpimU

I only watched the first video, but I really can't see the difference between his experiment (with the soap at the beginning) and his control. I'm not convinced.

He addresses your concerns in the 2nd video. But aside from that, logically, you should be convinced by the fact that using tablets results in there being no soap soap in the first wash cycle.

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

#377

Post by jlokier »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #48

https://shadow.tech/ I love the laptop factor, but I need a good GPU sometimes. There are ways to plug one using USB-C, and I wanted to go for that first. But my little bro, a gamer, told me it was a waste of money. For $29 a month, I can get a remote beast of a computer with Windows 10 on it and use it as much as I want. At first, I wasn't convinced. Primo, I'd have to upload all of my stuff. Secondo, what about the…

I know someone who would love to use this for a game that doesn't run on their own devices, but it's US$ 40.60/month in the UK ("starting at £29.99"). That's too much just to play one game a few hours a week. (A $2000 GPU is also too much).

Looks like a great service, and if you use it every day professionally it seems justifiable. But for gaming from time to time, with the machine shut down the rest of the time, that's a high price even by cloud GPU server standards.

If it were hourly pro rata, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure they'd subscribe today.

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

#378

Post by cush »

amelius wrote: post #175
renewiltord wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=_rBO8neWw04&t=538 The video pretty much says “use detergent in both pre-wash and wash receptacles”. Using the pods makes this hard. Using powder lets you do this easily yourself. That’s pretty much it.

Aren't there tablets made of two layers, one which dissolves during prewash, and the other mostly during wash? I mean the two-colored ones.

No, the dishwasher dispenses the entire tablet during main wash only. Which is exactly why if you use tablets the pre wash won’t have any soap

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

#379

Post by derwiki »

habibur wrote: post #170

A raspberry pi when the GPIOs are used. So much of your home can be automated with such a cheap hardware. Plus the ability to ssh in and tune the code anytime.

What have you automated with a rpi? In case any of us are looking for inspiration

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

#380

Post by MaxikCZ »

pmarreck wrote: post #294
joisig wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The new amount of control Apple gives you over notifications in the latest iOS'es is a game-changer. I literally just discovered I could bundle all notifications from certain apps and have them notify me at certain times of the day en masse, which is AMAZING.

can I select different notification sound for each app?
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