Ask Lemmy

I love my modular synthesizer, although the cost of it is not good value for money so probably can't count as my best tech purchase.

My sim racing rig has the same issue, it's bought me thousands of hours of joy but is prohibitively expensive.

My ergodox mechanical keyboard is a solid contender. The original model, Hand built, cherry MX clears. It's lasted easily 10 years and I hate typing on anything else.

But I think it's probably my headphones. Beyerdynamics DT770 pro's. They sound great, they're super comfy, and not terribly expensive. I've had them for probably 10 years and I see no reason I won't have them till the day I die

steamdeck and the skin and cover I bought. ironically the official dock is one of the worst.

Portable battery powered bidet.

I really like my unihertz Atom phone. It's definitely not for everyone, but it's small and damn near indestructible. Thinking of trying to install linux on it.

My Moza direct drive wheel, pedals, shifter, handbrake and multi-function stalk. They have transformed my sim driving experience. And hate Meta all you like, but my Quest2 has likewise made sim driving all the more awesome. I'm looking forward to the Steam Frame, though, so I can ditch Meta altogether.

Also adding a vote for the Steam Deck. Outside of sim driving, it's been my primary gaming device since I got it.

AMD stock apparently 😂😂

About a decade ago I bought my first mechanical keyboard -- tenkeyless with cherry mx red switches. The keys still feel like a dream to this day. I like 'em much better than rubber dome switches.

As an avid Clone Hero player (Guitar Hero but for PC, essentially) this was such a huge upgrade to me from the Wii guitars I had been using for years.

Kinesis Advantage360 Pro

Why? Because it saves my wrists but the real reason is because it makes me feel smarter. The same way using neovim makes me feel smarter. I use vim btw.

Sorry I know I’m not special for using neovim on a Advatage360, but also you gotta try it. Guaranteed to make you feel smarter

Might get cooked here because it’s an apple product but I bought AirPod max 2’s and I initially hated them for the first day or so. I recently flew over 8 hours with them and god damn are the incredible. The noise cancellation is top notch, I couldn’t hear anything on the plane or in the airport. I wear them for hours at home in transparency mode and I really enjoy listening to music with them. I also use a MacBook for work and iPhone for personal use so the ability to switch devices so easily is a nice touch as well.

Either my Kobo or my 55" LG OLED.

I've owned a bunch of TVs over the years, starting with a 12" Panasonic "portable" CRT that just about fit on a shelf in my bedroom. But none of them can hold a candle in just how impressive they look to that LG. Even my first LCD, a 32" Sony (which I still have) impressed me to begin with, but ultimately it just became a TV to look at. But I've had this LG for a year and it still blows me away when I watch something that's letterboxed and the black bars are so black that you can't tell where they end and the (extremely thin) bezel begins. And it only cost me £800.

The software updates piss me off though, so I've revoked its internet privileges.

But I don't think a bit of tech has brought me quite as much joy as my Kobo Clara HD still does, some six years after I bought it.

A had a Kindle for a year before, and while it was fine, it annoyed me how much I felt I owed to Amazon with it. Loading books from not-Amazon was a pain in the arse. Calibre could do it, but only certain formats were allowed to have cover art. Then it went tits up, so I replaced it with my Kobo and it was like breathing clean air for the first time in my life.

The Kobo couldn't give a shit where the books came from, it treats them all equally. The battery still lasts for weeks, even after six years, and just a couple of weeks ago I worked out how to sync it with Grimmory, running on my home server, so I don't even need to plug it in to copy books to it anymore. Just upload them to Grimmory, which automatically puts them onto the Kobo shelf, so when it syncs overnight it downloads them. And it has Instapaper built in now, so I can save articles to read on that nice, clear screen.

And all in something that cost me about £90.

Yeah, if you enjoy reading and are on the fence about an e-reader, get a Kobo. The old Clara HD is perfectly good, and probably quite cheap now.

My over the ear earbuds, probably. I use them daily, they're good for normal music or videos and they dampen sound and don't fall off so I can drum with them in. It's been a lot of fun just jamming to tunes.

A portable power supply.

Enjoy the looks of envy when the people fighting over an outlet notice you're plugged into your tiny, little power supply.

my lg g2, best phone i had. still using it as a daily driver after more than a decade

recently a used panasonic cf-rz6, extremely lightweight/tiny machine and runs linux perfectly

I have a set of Logitech 2.1 thx computer speakers that are probably close to 20 years old. Never faltered, unbelievable sound quality and has survived 5 or so moves.

This led me to my other joy, a legit home theater setup. I spent too much but I do not regret it. I'm sad because my current space doesn't allow for the full size towers and massive sub, but hopefully I can get them out of storage early next year. I miss having the full blown atmos setup.

Dreamcast and CRT PC monitor 🥲

My first iPhone, the 6s. I'm sure if I still had it, it would still be kicking ass. After that I got the SE 2, the 13 Pro, and now the 16 Pro Max. I do like having USB-C, but the SE 2 and 13 Pro were unnecessary.

So, an iPhone — but you really have to be careful. Some of them are bested by the next one. A few of them are good to run for a decade or so.

Not dumping on Android. I went through a few of them before I switched, and I liked the Galaxy S3. The others were all trash. I have a Galaxy S10 and I love it. I think these days it really doesn't matter what you have as long as it has USB-C (for universal charging) and it's decent or recent. The S10 will run for ten years. A lower-end Galaxy from a few years more recent would probably be fine, too. And that's the thing with iPhone — none of them are bad, per se, they're all flagship quality, they just have different compromises. Some Android phones are straight up duds. If you're fairly tech savvy, this isn't an issue. So, if you don't like Apple, get a Galaxy S26, it should last you a long time. If you do, the iPhone 17 is the best deal in tech. It should last you at least a decade if you don't suffer from FOMO.

MacBook Air. I've gone through a few Wintel laptops. None of them are good. No laptops are great for gaming, so you might as well get the MacBook. For a desktop, it's a harder decision because no Macs are reallly good for gaming; even if you spend a few grand on a Studio, it's only gonna be mediocre for gaming and you have fewer choices. Spend less on a decent gaming PC and have a better time. If you don't care about gaming, it's an easier decision.

Yamaha Reface CS. A remake of 70s analog synthesizer. Even if I don't make music professionaly, I enjoy playing melodies I've learned, fooling around with sound, and every time I catch a sight of it, it sparks joy in me. I own it for more than 2 years.

Also it's fairly cheap for synthesizer, 370 euro, but definitely it's not a toy, but rather a full blown instrument.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones...

not to mention any specific ones, just the general concept of it...

Everything sounds better, more immersive...

Also blocks out family arguments to varying degress of success depending on how much you spend on headphones...

Oh yea btw the first time I watched interstellar was on a cheap android phone with LCD 720p display using the phone speakers... 👀

On the other side of it, Bluetooth Speakers

Can sort of change the atmoshere of a room, feel slightly less "depressing"

A Tribit Bluetooth speaker. It's waterproof, loud enough and lasts for many hours. I use it in the shower mostly, but it's been a car speaker, landed in mud and been washed in the sink. Is good

I bought a Lily58 DIY kit a couple years ago. I don't think I could ever go back to using a full keyboard. It's just so comfortable. My shoulders aren't tense anymore. My hands aren't bent out anymore. I'm not scrunched up like a ball when I type. Then switching layouts to Colemak-DH was another plus. The two things combined really helped my body relax in front of a PC.