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Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

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Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#491

Post by toyg »

ejolto wrote: post #383
dzhiurgis wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using laptop mic’s fixes bluetooth issue and massively improves audio quality

Then it sounds like you are playing the bongos if you type during a meeting.

And like you're in an airplane hangar when the laptop gets a bit hot.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#492

Post by RobotToaster »

modeless wrote: post #237

Gaming wireless headphones, not for gaming but for videoconferencing. Bluetooth headphones are universally terrible for videoconferencing because the Bluetooth standard sucks and requires downgrading to telephone audio quality whenever the mic is enabled. Plus terrible latency. Gaming wireless headphones that come with their own dongle completely fix these issues and are perfect for videoconferencing. Someday the Blu…

I use wired headphones (ATH-M50x) with a boom microphone cable, no worries about batteries or dongles.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#493

Post by tulsidas »

adrian_b wrote: post #451

After experimenting for many years with many kinds of mice, trackballs, touchpads, trackpoints etc. in the search for the most comfortable graphic pointing device, I have settled to use, instead of a mouse, a small Wacom Intuos graphic tablet (usually with Linux), configured in its "mouse" mode, i.e. with relative coordinates, not with its default absolute coordinates. At least for me, using a stylus has proven to be…

I was thinking about something like this for some time as well... care to elaborate? do you pick up the pen every time you switch from keyboard to "mouse" or do you have some type of ring holder?

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#495

Post by crimsontech »

helloplanets wrote: post #317
whitemary wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of trackball?

Clearly Superior Technologies (CST) is the brand :) After a quick search, I think they're being manufactured by a different company now: https://xkeys.com/xkeys/trackballs.html

I've been using mine for 9 years, I just wish they would make a bluetooth one which can switch between mulitple devices like my keyboard does.

I did email them asking but they said they had no plans to do this.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#496

Post by eimrine »

GuB-42 wrote: post #246

A Shure SM-58 microphone, with a XLR soundcard to go with it. I always wanted to get a good microphone for voice calls, thankfully a friend of mine had more than a dozen of them, of all styles: dynamic, condenser, long range, cheap, expensive, etc... We spent a couple of hours trying them. First thing: condenser microphones are great... in a studio. You are probably not in a studio, so if you use one of them, people…

Why you are recommending XLR but not recommending jack for delayless output to headphones? I have Samson C01 in USB version and all I miss is an ability to listen the signal. This is not a microphone for singers because it is very sensitive but it makes a good sound of me for video meetings and that's it.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#497

Post by kenhwang »

kgwxd wrote: post #66
Our_Benefactors wrote: post #56

Here’s an actual lesser known accessory: a mouse bungee. It is a small weighted disc with a spring arm that holds the mouse cord up and away from the mousepad. I don’t like the lag, connectivity, and battery issues of wireless mice, this fixes all of that! It feels _better_ than a wireless mouse, because it has no wires in the way also with zero lag.

I don't use a mouse pad but I taped the wire to the top of my desk with a just enough slack to cover my typical range of motion so it doesn't slide behind the desk when I move up, causing drag when moving back down.

I'm laughing because I did the same thing. Just a loop made with tape so the cord doesn't stick to the tape and then taped somewhere slightly higher.

But mouse bungees are cute, so I might upgrade and retire my tape solution.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#498

Post by fnordian_slip »

grujicd wrote: post #494

Ikea Kolon - a floor protector. It's not strictly a computer hardware but I have it for 2 main desktops. Otherwise wooden floor gets damaged when you roll your chair in-place for hours each day.

The alternative is replacing the wheels with soft ones, which you can get for about 30 bucks. They are roughly the same as those on inline skates, and after getting used to them I wouldn't go back even if I didn't have wood flooring.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#500

Post by cduzz »

WWLink wrote: post #176
cduzz wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows works fine if you just plug 2 keyboards into it. Left hand on one keyboard, right hand on the other; works exactly as if you had one keyboard. Uses a bit more desk space but way cheaper and super easy to manage in an office setting. I only recently tested this out on a mac and was sad to see that shift/ctl/buckey on one keyboard didn't affect keys on the other keyboard. Probably not worth opening a bug with t…

And if you take a sawzall to it, you can get rid of the unnecessary part to save desk space! :D

I've found that the "dedicated" split keyboards don't necessarily have a comfortable distance in the split. The two keyboards end up about about a body width apart especially if I use a standing desk.

These days I use an old M4-1 keyboard (first gen thinkpad keyboard / trackpoint in a standalone keyboard) because I just don't type as much as I used to and I value the desk space.

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