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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?

#371

Post by zoenolan »

entropicgravity wrote: post #267

Mx Ergo (by Logitech) is far and away the best "mouse" for me and probably for you. It only takes about two hours to transfer your motor skills of regular mouse to the Mx Ergo. Because this "thumb ball" mouse only involves your thumb to work the mouse you won't get the full wrist, shoulder and neck pain that you can get from a normal mouse. If you have any kind of arm pain then check this out.

Love mine. Expensive but nice. The downside is the button switches failed for me after about 15 months. I'm Currently waiting for some time to replace the left and right buttons

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29448776

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

#372

Post by raffraffraff »

enigma20 wrote: post #320

Portable screen. Didn't know that such exists, till about few weeks ago. Have a small apartment and sometimes have to work at the dining table. Using a big screen is not an option. Portable screen is light, size of the laptop and charges/sends data through one cable. Perfect!

I've been looking at these. Any time I meet the team at a rented office space I really miss my dual monitor setup.

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

#373

Post by nicolaslem »

modeless wrote: post #254
dgunay wrote: post #4

I use a small USB switcher box to let me control my personal machine and my work machine at the same desk. I also use a keyboard that lets me flip a switch to change between Mac/Windows layouts. It has been very helpful to let me cleanly separate work from leisure, without having to give up the ergonomics of my desk setup. The friction to switch is low enough that I don't feel tempted to keep work related stuff on my…

Oh yeah I have one of those no name brand USB switching hubs, they are great. Comes with several "illegal" USB-A male to male cables, which I find funny. If your monitor supports it you can also switch inputs from software, and you have a complete KVM setup without the ridiculously expensive KVM box.

Did you know that some monitors have built-in KVM nowadays? I discovered that recently and switched to one. Basically I can connect my laptop with a single USB-C cable for display/charging/peripherals and instantly switch to my desktop PC that is connected via HDMI + USB.

The fact that the monitor itself is responsible for display inputs removes all kind of problems that traditional KVM boxes have.

In theory the monitor could also switch headphones audio from one computer to the other, and it works, but the output quality is garbage. So I still have that cable to switch manually.

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

#374

Post by jiehong »

xupybd wrote: post #154

I use a Kinesis advantage keyboard. It's expensive and ugly but comfortable. I would not go back to another keyboard ever again. Have a look at this review https://www.anandtech.com/show/7125/kinesis-advantage-review...

And now with the Kinesis Advantage 360, if you opt for the “professional” model, you can use it wirelessly and with QMK firmware by default.

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

#375

Post by dzhiurgis »

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…

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

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

#376

Post by faeyanpiraat »

vxNsr wrote: post #275
Turskarama wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bigger, yes, but much lower resolution.

Yea, I've been really temped to try something like this for travel but I don't wanna spend the $500 for potential disappointment, what is the real resolution?

The resolution is: [disappointing × disappointing]

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

#378

Post by haunter »

An Elgato Stream Deck but for general purposes https://www.elgato.com/en/stream-deck-mk2 Basically imagine having 15 physical buttons to use with any kind of actions, shortcuts, macros etc. but you have a visual feedback too. It’s pretty great! I know there are alternatives like the Adafruit RP2040 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5128 but the visual knobs make the Stream Deck much better imo.

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

#379

Post by raffraffraff »

lmm wrote: post #193
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).

I joined a meeting one day, couldn't hear anyone, turned the volume up before checking the output device (because I rarely ever change them) and ... it was connected to my kitchen Bluetooth. I had been blasting my wife with a meeting room full of people shouting "CAN YOU HEAR US NOW??"

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

#380

Post by raffraffraff »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #212
lmm wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

This. Never had any issue with my wireless headphones, but Teams insists on picking random outputs and inputs even from one call to the next. The only logic I've found is that it prefers devices that handle both input and output. So, it works OK with my combined headphones + mic, but if I want to use my external dedicated mic + headphones without mic, I have to fiddle with the settings whenever I join a new call.

Fuck teams! Omg it's garbage. I keep trying to get the company to change, but they're basically getting teams for free.
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