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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?

#191

Post by j45 »

andrenotgiant wrote: post #129
rymawby wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a genius idea. I’ve been using fingerless gloves. Is there anything in particular to look for when buying one?

I used this one through this winter and it worked fine: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C5LQ86D/ I'd just look for what people say in the bad reviews. I generally use mine on the lowest temps, 80 or 90. I don't know what kind of maniac would use them at the higher temps. Every time I turn it on I have to press the button to cycle through the temperatures, a mild annoyance but NBD. It automatically turns off afte…

Some of the amazon ones are barely 6 months old and are failing at the 6 month mark. I picked one of those. Be weary of high review counts, and ensure the reviews are all for the particular product.

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

#192

Post by rektide »

serf wrote: post #137
riceart wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buddy, I posted a link - the actual difference in latency in time to click and movements with wireless mice with dedicated receivers. Some do better than wired models - in any event the latency of the RF link is on the order or hundreds of microseconds and the wired part of the peripheral bus (ie USB) and the software is at least a couple milliseconds. It's very well possible my wireless mouse setup has lower latency…

>Also I’ve never seen a networking over powerline system that worked better than Wi-Fi. Not all conductive paths are effective for signals. although I agree that powerline networking is garbage, I have encountered older construction houses that create an environment that is just about impossible to conquer without specialist wireless equipment. passive blocking via exotic wall materials, older drywall and fairing com…

I only semi-recently started deploying multiple AP's, which would have helped (but there was no open source software to do so, before the recent DAWN software on OpenWRT). But my heavens, powerline networking has been a massive salvation for me.

I've never seen it go beyond 200mbps for any real run I've had. Often the link in these shitty big row-houses I've lived in has resulted in more like ~40mbps. Those numbers sound awful. But I'll take it any day, in these wifi noisey spaces. Having reliable <2ms latency with absolutely no drop outs has been an absolutely killer advantage. The powerline networking has so much less variability, so much less jitter & chaos than wifi, even very complex multi-drop wifi. I might get more throughput over wifi, but it comes with far far higher base latency, and will fall to shit multiple times a day. Powerline's reliability has been one of the best upgrades I've ever made.

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

#193

Post by lmm »

habosa wrote: post #68

Wired headphones. I’ve never had to start a meeting by trying to mess with my audio settings, or had to think about charging another battery.

Sadly with today's auto-detecting OSes I've more than once found my audio output setting itself to speakers, or worse, to my monitor (which doesn't and has never had speakers, but that doesn't seem to matter).

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

#194

Post by Brajeshwar »

hipplec wrote: post #75

I have a heating pad under my keyboard which keeps my hands warm in the winter. Was like $20 on amazon, and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is, since I was really tired of always having a mug of hot water / tea / coffee to hold and didn't want to keep the heat on my house super high when I could just wear a sweatshirt and be fine except my fingers.

Is there a device that does the opposite -- something to keep your hand cool? It is getting hotter and sweaty in India.

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

#196

Post by [deleted] »

mncharity wrote: post #21
ja27 wrote: post #15

I wouldn't have thought they were lesser-known, but I've been surprised how many people don't know about today's cheap portable external monitors. They're essentially laptop panels with a USB-C+HDMI board. $100-$150-ish and easily found in 15.6" and 13-14", 1080p or 2K. All the ones I've tried have 2 USB-C ports, mini-HDMI, and speakers. This all depends on what USB-C ports your machine actually has and the right USB…

I've enjoyed magnetic usb c adapters (20 pin - I've not tried a newer 24 pin adapter).

[deleted]

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

#197

Post by j45 »

j45 wrote: post #167

- Sit with a white wall right behind you. Clean, fresh, quality paint, like Dulux really seems different for some reason. Put the desk in the open facing out. No blurry backgrounds, green screen, bad background edges. While everyone's modifying you're just appearing clear and less reasons to be choppy. - Three 2K screens - 23 to 25" (2560x1440). 3 of these have more usable pixels than a 4K. I have used 3 monitors so…

1 more:

- iPad Mini with Cellular. I avoided an iPad for a long, long time, and now exclusively as my communicator to dial into meetings. It reduced my phone and laptop usage significantly in some cases. Rarely run into video issues with lag, slow downs, and can present with a whiteboard if needed. Can take a minute to unplug, and walk away with the meeting at anytime into a car. Cellular is handy in a pinch if the personal hotspot isn't going to the phone. Big enough to see the screen and presentations, mic/camera/speakers are well tuned, good battery life.

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

#198

Post by anonym29 »

rektide wrote: post #170
anonym29 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, the real world difference is negligible.

Oh I absolutely have a long-held aversion to the sight of cables. Because I have had to live among them, among many many many many of them, because I have had to manage them, growing up amidst so very many of them. They have never been fun to manage. I have long toiled to not be so enwrapped by cables. Slower? Not really, not according to the links already shared. Less bandwidth? My headphones, my mouse, my keyboard…

Many great points made.

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

#199

Post by causality0 »

convolvatron wrote: post #71
gfd wrote: post #6

Monitor arms freed up a ton of desk space. Wireless noise cancelling headphones helped with concentration. UPS saved me a couple times from losing work during power outages.

monitor arms are _great_. you get your desk back, plus you can really just put your monitor away, or adjust it so that two people can see it, etc.

Unless you're as anal-retentive as me and are driven insane by the slightest hint of tilt to one side or the other.

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

#200

Post by esafak »

kimburgess wrote: post #84
habosa wrote: post #68

Wired headphones. I’ve never had to start a meeting by trying to mess with my audio settings, or had to think about charging another battery.

I’ll add moderately high quality mic to this. If you’re spending a lot of working hours on calls, putting the resources into providing clear, intelligible voice for the people you’re working with will definitely be appreciated.

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