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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?

#441

Post by sys_64738 »

Bandrsnatch wrote: post #76

In the early 1990's I worked for a communications company and I recall saying that the cell phone was a game changer and that it would be used for more things than the current computer which was the biggest tech item being purchased at the time. Flash forward to 2022 and I am travelling across the world and I noticed that everything one needs to do requires a cell phone app from seeing a menu (QR codes) making reserv…

Yeah, I remember using the internet back in 1991 for the first time and thinking if only I could use this at home or on the train. I saw my first mobile phone and pager back in 1994 then it kind of made sense. I remember trying to explain it to others but nobody grasped the internet existed outside academia.

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

#442

Post by Havoc »

jcrben wrote: post #296
parkingrift wrote: post #233

Air purifiers and air monitors. It is shocking and disgusting how much dust and particles these air purifiers suck out of the air. The air monitors detect when to open windows for CO2, among other things. My allergies no longer exist. Edit: A few people have asked for recommendations. I recommend the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH for larger spaces and Blueair Blue Pure 411 for smaller spaces. For the air monitor I have the…

A warning: the cheap air monitors don't monitor particle count, just CO2. If you're allergic to pollen you expose yourself to it by opening windows. I've had to help a couple friends who used this and ended up sneezing and sniffling like crazy. I have the Dylos monitor which does monitor particle count so you can see it drop when your air filter is working https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F2YM8SM/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_.…

You really don't need a 270 usd device for particle count.

A PM2.5 particle count sensor is like 25 bucks and temp/humidity/pressure another 10, so you can DIY this quite cheaply with a raspberry if so inclined.

https://www.amazon.com/WINGONEER%C2%AE-Precision-Quality-Det...

https://www.amazon.com/bobotron-Compatible-Temperature-Atmos...

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

#443

Post by shaky-carrousel »

maccard wrote: post #304
washadjeffmad wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 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: Industry dependent, of course. Desktop processers are getting more and more parallel, and more cores requires more ram. I have a 32 core Threadripper in my workstation with 128GB RAM, and on full co…

Can I ask you which motherboard do you have? I'm thinking on building a PC, but the last time I did that was twenty years ago, so my knowledge is slightly obsolete.

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

#444

Post by snowwrestler »

capableweb wrote: post #93
snowwrestler wrote: post #87

Switching from a mouse to a multitouch trackpad completely resolved my wrist pain, and I find gestures essential to productivity now. I started off with a Fingerworks trackpad; this is the company Apple bought to bring in multitouch technology. Then when Apple’s trackpads got big enough and supported enough gestures, I switched to those.

I've been eyeing the Apple trackpads for some time now, as the experience of their trackpads are like no other (for laptops at least). How well does the standalone trackpad work with Windows and Linux? Those are my main OSes I switch between, and it's very nice that mouse input is exactly the same for both so muscle memory works perfectly well, would the same be true for using a Apple trackpad?

I’ve only ever used the Apple trackpad with a Mac.

The Fingerworks trackpad worked great with Windows. Basically you map gestures to keyboard shortcuts (it came with a bunch out of the box), so anything you can do with key combos, you can do with gestures instead: app switching, opening and closing things, cut/copy/paste, etc.

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

#445

Post by GordonS »

baristavibes wrote: post #384
GordonS wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried a BenQ ScreenBar and a clone, and found the clone brighter, while being a lot cheaper. It's a great device that lights the desk area nicely - I'm going to use the se forever now! I'd prefer to buy the BenQ, since AFAIK this whole concept was their idea - but the price is just so excessive that I couldn't justify it.

Could you please post the name of your clone? I'm interested in this if it helps reduce eye strain

Sure, it's Quntis:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HMLKS2N

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

#446

Post by bitshaker »

mastermedo wrote: post #314
parkingrift wrote: post #233

Air purifiers and air monitors. It is shocking and disgusting how much dust and particles these air purifiers suck out of the air. The air monitors detect when to open windows for CO2, among other things. My allergies no longer exist. Edit: A few people have asked for recommendations. I recommend the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH for larger spaces and Blueair Blue Pure 411 for smaller spaces. For the air monitor I have the…

Hm, I'm looking to eradicate smells from my house. Do air purifiers help getting rid of that old-house smell?

As a quick solution, rent a commercial grade ozone generator.

Run it while you’re not in the house as in the concentrations they can put out it is damaging to lung tissue.

This is how hotels clear out smoke smells in rooms for instance.

Once you run it for a few hours, you can open things up and air it all out and the smells should mostly be gone unless there’s an active source of smell.

I did it while restoring an old house previously occupied by a smoker and hoarder. Would just run it at night when nobody was there and open the house in the morning when ready to get back to work on renovations.

It worked wonders.

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

#448

Post by darkteflon »

bredren wrote: post #348
mastermedo wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm, I'm looking to eradicate smells from my house. Do air purifiers help getting rid of that old-house smell?

Yes, if they have a charcoal filter. The Coway AP-1512 is a favorite to handle both odor and lower particulates. I have three. There are a number of past threads where people discuss their enthusiasm for this model. Have a search.

Can second that - I have four of them, they run 24/7 on medium and pull ~8 watts at the wall each, assuming my meter is accurate. Picked them up after the last big discussion on air quality here a few months back. They are the Wirecutter pick, I believe.

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

#449

Post by darkteflon »

nonplus wrote: post #433
asciimov wrote: post #410

A tiling window manager. I settled on dwm. It helps me utilize more of my monitor. Gone are the days of overlaying windows, everything is front and center, and on it's own virtual desktop. A non-mechanical keyboard. I moved off of cherry style switches, and went with a topre clone. For me, the cherry mechanism makes too much noise when keys return back up. For me it was high pitched noise. A much more thocky keyboard…

Obligatory reply about linear (silent) cherry switches existing but mostly here to say I'm glad you found a keyboard you like. I think that's the takeaway I try to give people on input devices. Just get something you like and don't worry about what everyone else likes.

I’d never admit to it on HN, but my favourite keyboard for non-gaming stuff is Apple’s Magic Keyboard 2, tenkeyless version.
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