Teenage Engineering OP-1, a music synthesizer. Really well built, buttons and knobs feel fantastic, and the display is super fun. The OP-1 in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umatbZ0n4mE
Was going to say the same here ;)
Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
211–220 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#212Oxo hand tools. Hermin Miller Aerons. My Olympus skyhawk. Literally the only piece of hardware that's going to outlive me. The FN P90 and the 57 pistol. The flight deck on the Sukhoi SU-34 and the Boeing 787. Basically, anything where the design department went out and asked the customer what their biggest complaints were, then sat down to eliminate them in the design phase.
I've got a great book about the Boeing 747, it talks about how the design department went out and found out what the physics said, took that back to what was practical and designed "the best" compromise available at the time - but fundamentally based on physics. And thanks to them, 50 years later airport runway lengths and air traffic control approach speeds and 37,000 foot cruise altitudes and a whole bunch of other standards and infrastructure - is the way it is due to the speed of sound (and the lack of early/mid '60s aerodynamics ability to know how to exceed it), the temperature/airdensity efficiency curves of jet engines, and the 60's vintage structural limitations of wingspans.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#213Aeron chair. Aeropress. EIZO monitors - http://www.eizo.com uTorrent, the older versions. Dead serious about uTorrent. One of the best designed and engineered pieces of software ever. Everything you need, where you expect it to be, doing exactly what it should be doing, and nothing more.
Sitting on one now. What makes you enjoy its design? I have bought the remastered one a week ago and find myself difficult to fit into it properly (the sizing is right). I feel like the lower back support requires you to fit very rigidly in and one of the reasons I got it was it was advertised in one of promo videos as the chair that moves with the body. I am quite average height and a bit below average on weight but wondering what prevents me from really loving it. It's one of the most beautifully built, though that's for sure.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#214Walther PPQ M2 9mm. We're in the midst of a small arms golden age right now and this pistol is the closest to a local optimum as currently exists.
You asked.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#2151. Nokia N9, it was the perfect device, hardware was perfectly fitted to the software and vice versa.
2. DasKeyboard Model S Ultimate.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#216The Casio F-91W Digital wrist watch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W Keeps better time than a Rolex, and is a fraction of the price. Waterproof. Has an alarm, stopwatch, and timer; all things missing from traditional wind ups. Interface is easy to use and discover. The battery last almost forever. Now, if you're asking if it's aesthetically pleasing, that's a different story. But we were talking about design…
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Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#217Knife and fork
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#218Logitech MX510 and MX518 Mice: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Performance-Optical-Gaming-M... For some reason, these mice are awesome for me. Neither are made any more, and I will cry when mine finally die.
Couldn't agree more. I thought I'd lost my MX510 in a move and then recently found it being used by someone at work. I almost immediately claimed it back, only waiting long enough to find them a replacement mouse!
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#219Aeron chair. Aeropress. EIZO monitors - http://www.eizo.com uTorrent, the older versions. Dead serious about uTorrent. One of the best designed and engineered pieces of software ever. Everything you need, where you expect it to be, doing exactly what it should be doing, and nothing more.
Asking out of ignorance, what sets EIZO monitors apart from other monitors?
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#220The Casio F-91W Digital wrist watch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W Keeps better time than a Rolex, and is a fraction of the price. Waterproof. Has an alarm, stopwatch, and timer; all things missing from traditional wind ups. Interface is easy to use and discover. The battery last almost forever. Now, if you're asking if it's aesthetically pleasing, that's a different story. But we were talking about design…
Not to mention detonates a bomb like no other.