What's your latest tech purchase?

[tabascosauz]

I'm really amazed how people can use a 60% or TKL keyboard as a daily driver. Maybe its just me and my large dependency on the numpad.

I've always used a 60% as my daily for 7 years, except for a few months where I had a Filco MJ2 in a Tex case. When I need numbers, I just plug in my RAMA M-10B macropad or my old G80-3700 numpad.

God knows how many essays, papers and long posts I've written on my X60. Does take some getting used to though. You learn to be adept with the Fn layer after a while that's really the only challenge, but I can play games with the Fn layer arrow keys now

I am waiting on my U80-A SEQ2 this year though, so perhaps 60% daily days are coming to an end and going back to TKL. There's nothing gimmicky about TKL though, unless your job involves data entry, it's plenty big and I just don't understand the complaining unless one is an accountant or data scientist.

Also high end TKLs are impossible to move around LOL I think U80 weighs like 3.5kg, and it's far from the heaviest TKLs out there. My X60 is just over 1kg I think and already too chunky, so I bring one of my other two 60% builds if I leave the house

,

 

[Valantar]

I've always used a 60% as my daily for 7 years, except for a few months where I had a Filco MJ2 in a Tex case. When I need numbers, I just plug in my RAMA M-10B macropad or my old G80-3700 numpad.

God knows how many essays, papers and long posts I've written on my X60. Does take some getting used to though. You learn to be adept with the Fn layer after a while that's really the only challenge, but I can play games with the Fn layer arrow keys now

I am waiting on my U80-A SEQ2 this year though, so perhaps 60% daily days are coming to an end and going back to TKL. There's nothing gimmicky about TKL though, unless your job involves data entry, it's plenty big and I just don't understand the complaining unless one is an accountant or data scientist. Also high end TKLs are impossible to move around LOL I think U80 weighs like 3.5kg, and it's far from the heaviest TKLs out there

View attachment 214103,

Yeah, TKL is pretty much perfect for me, though I'm considering trying something like 75% (the Keychron K3 in ISO layouts is supposedly coming soon, and seems like a good fit) to see how it works for me. For now, I'm confused as all hell by the fn+WASD for arrow keys (which I use a lot for text navigation, and needing two hands for that is very counterintuitive!), and keep pressing right Ctrl to go right

That $400 keyboard though ... yikes. And that's without switches or caps

 

[GreiverBlade]

TKL all the way! my GMMK is the last keyboard i will ever need ... switch swap once they get fubar ... and only replacing the barebone by another TKL barebone if it ever dies!
(and i dropped a beer on it ... only one sticky switch ... but a pack o'120 is more than what a TKL need aka: 87 )

i repurposed one profil on my Tartarus V2 as numpad and since it's on the left side : way better (well since i use more my MX Ergo than my Spatha atm ... i might have less issues with full 109 kb ... although not sure ... )

now ... the ASUS ROG Claymore is also something i could like ... but well it would interfere with the Tartarus V2 redundancy also ... even if i did use the numpad as extra shortcuts for some games and such (again ... left side would be better for access speed and keeping the right hand on the mouse )

well ... for lefties mouse user ... right side keypad is not an issue

 

[toilet pepper]

TKL all the way! my GMMK is the last keyboard i will ever need ... switch swap once they get fubar ... and only replacing the barebone by another TKL barebone if it ever dies!
(and i dropped a beer on it ... only one sticky switch ... but a pack o'120 is more than what a TKL need aka: 87 )

i repurposed one profil on my Tartarus V2 as numpad and since it's on the left side : way better (well since i use more my MX Ergo than my Spatha atm ... i might have less issues with full 109 kb ... although not sure ... )

now ... the ASUS ROG Claymore is also something i could like ... but well it would interfere with the Tartarus V2 redundancy also ... even if i did use the numpad as extra shortcuts for some games and such (again ... left side would be better for access speed and keeping the right hand on the mouse )
View attachment 214106
well ... for lefties mouse user ... right side keypad is not an issue

I would have bought a TKL if there was a decent mechanical numpad keyboard where I am but alas I just went with a Ducky One 2 and jus got a WASD keyboard from Redragon.

 

[mclaren85]

Arctic bluetooh speaker. The full charge gave me nearly 20 days with daily use.

 

[Mussels]

commenting on the keyboard stuff: as a gamer, TKL for life. the reduction in arm and wrist strain from having my hands closer together is immense, and i'm broad shouldered - i can imagine it'd help just about anyone

for work users who smash out numbers all day, totally add on a wireless numpad

 

[tabascosauz]

Yeah, TKL is pretty much perfect for me, though I'm considering trying something like 75% (the Keychron K3 in ISO layouts is supposedly coming soon, and seems like a good fit) to see how it works for me. For now, I'm confused as all hell by the fn+WASD for arrow keys (which I use a lot for text navigation, and needing two hands for that is very counterintuitive!), and keep pressing right Ctrl to go right

That $400 keyboard though ... yikes. And that's without switches or caps

What can I say, pimpin' ain't easy I paid for that board back in 2016 and got it in 2019, because I was originally part of the X60 v1 but my sample was damaged - after being through that kind of trust exercise, I'd confidently trust xondat with my money again. I've built/rebuilt it 3 times, it's my favourite board.

The U80-A SEQ2 price is a bit misleading, it didn't cost $400, it cost $480 + $50 shipping because Soya and it's a bit behind schedule because of pandemic shipping disaster and PCB shortages. But I would really like to go back to TKL for my daily, and I'm patient for these things.

75% is a really good layout if bottom row is pretty standard. My first real daily was a [relatively] cheap KBD75 up until it died a few years later. 64% layout is extremely stupid for compatibility, 66% (FC660M) I found lacking. 75% is a great way to get TKL functionality without being so big. It really doesn't feel bigger than a 60%, but a 68% definitely does.

 

[freeagent]

Wow found one at close to retail, had to buy a psu with it though lol.. and it’s similar to the one I wanted when I originally planned out my system.. sweet! Bought locally too lol.

 

[maxfly]

Wow found one at close to retail, had to buy a psu with it though lol.. and it’s similar to the one I wanted when I originally planned out my system.. sweet! Bought locally too lol.

View attachment 214120View attachment 214121View attachment 214122

As long as it wasn't a Gigabyte psu!

 

[freeagent]

As long as it wasn't a Gigabyte psu!

No it was an evga 750 gold, I will throw it in my other pc

 

[GamerGuy]

Since I'm retired and have been spending an inordinate amount of time at home, I figured my old LG soundbar setup in my living room deserves an upgrade. I went downstairs (there's a shopping mall right below my apartment) to snag a new one. Decided on a Philips Fidelio B97 (note my old LG ATMOS soundbar in background):

I like that it has two detachable speakers at the side which can then act as rear speakers for that true surround effect. Here's it with the two side speaker attached to the main soundbar, the sub-woofer packs a nice punch, way more powerful than my old LG for sure....note that it is a long soundbar, barely enough space at front of my 65" TV to fit the badboy.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Maybe its just me and my large dependency on the numpad.

Right there with you. If it doesn't have a numpad, it doesn't get my money. Laptops are the only exception I make..

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Wow found one at close to retail, had to buy a psu with it though lol.. and it’s similar to the one I wanted when I originally planned out my system.. sweet! Bought locally too lol.

View attachment 214120View attachment 214121View attachment 214122

Nice!!! Glad you didn't have to overpay for a 6700XT/3060 ti.

Really like the FTW3 this generation my 3080 ti hits 450w and still sits in the high 60c range and mounting pressure must be pretty good because the hotspot temp is only 5-6c warmer. My 2080 ti strix has a 15c delta.

 

[KLiKzg]

It may not be new but I just bought it used for basically nothing I upgraded the ram and I really like it

I know what you mean. As I am using still 2013 MacAir & still works great.
& on it can MacOS is Catalina, which comes with Apple Office alternative.

You got Snow Leopard right now. What is the best or top system you are going to use?

 

[sam_86314]

Attempt two at my laptop screen upgrade.

After the disappointment that was the Innolux N156HHE-GA1, an excellent TN panel hampered by poor QC, I successfully returned that and instead purchased an AU Optronics B156HAN04.2. This is a 15.6" 120Hz VA panel that cost me $103.48 after tax.

120Hz worked right away, but unfortunately, brightness control doesn't work. Not a huge deal, as applications like Dimmer do a decent enough job at software dimming. But thankfully, this screen has no dead or stuck pixels and no backlight defects.

Spoiler: 120Hz Demo

Here's a GIF I made that shows the 120Hz working. I recorded it at 240FPS and slowed it to one-tenth speed.

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate that the cheap LED lamp I used to light this shot doesn't have any flicker?

Another find was this...

It's an Acer CB242Y; a 23.8" 1920x1080 75Hz IPS monitor. I found it at a local thrift store for a whopping $18. I had just donated some stuff, so I had a 10% coupon, meaning this relatively new monitor cost me only $16.20. Considering it cost $170 new in 2019, that's pretty good.

The IO is absolutely dreadful, being just a VGA port and an HDMI port. It doesn't even have analog audio out. The picture quality is pretty good, but the black levels aren't the best as with most IPS panels. But for the price, I can't complain.

One place it did impress me was the size of the bezels. They're absolutely tiny at 1/8" (3.2mm). That's compared to the 1/4" (6.4mm) bezels on my main monitor from Monoprice.

 

[Hyderz]

New laptop

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

You got Snow Leopard right now. What is the best or top system you are going to use?

Um probs gonna quad boot
Snow leopoard
Lion
Windows 7/xp
and Linux

 

[Liquid Cool]

I've always used a 60% as my daily for 7 years

Tabascosauz...


You're a better man than me...I tried to going that route with several different keyboards(albeit more budget friendly models) and I just couldn't hack it when I wanted to video game. Maybe it's the left hand thing, and the fact I grew up solely using the arrow keys...I don't know, but things just seemed too cramped for me.

For the last year, I've been sporting an iKBC CD87 with silent red cherry's that I'm quite pleased with, but I'm probably going to end up going back to my iKBC CD108. TKL and left-hander's, just not a good fit as far as I'm concerned, but I really wanted it to work.

From my perspective, with the 87 key...It's essentially impossible to "reasonably" set up crouch and lean functions. I'm just too old of a dog and I can't seem to learn new tricks. Probably from too many years of repetitive FPS competitive gameplay.

I was attempting to test out S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly and I immediately missed my lean function keys. I kept accidently tapping the desktop with my pinky.

Best,

Liquid Cool

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'm back in my home town and working from my office (not remote home office) for a few weeks, and after a few days of typing on the god-awful Dell keyboard there (and some severe and worsening cramping and wrist pain) I remembered why I originally bought the mech keyboard I now have at the home office. So as an emergency solution I went and bought the cheapest decent-seeming keyboard I could get my hand on without shipping (which is slow in Norway):

NOK 400 (~€38/$45, includes 25% VAT), NOS C250 wired mechanical 60% keyboard. I could have found a cheap membrane keyboard for NOK150 that would probably have been miles better than the Dell, but this seemed like a decent deal. It's the store brand for gaming peripherals for Elkjøp/Elgiganten/Gigantti/Elko (Norway/Sweden+Denmark/Finland/Iceland), and for the price it seems rather impressive. No doubt a rebranded no-name OEM product, but build quality seems good (no creaks or poor fitment), there's no keycap wobble to speak of, the larger keys are decently stabilized, and noise is ... fine. A bit hollow, but fine for what it is. Keycaps are from what I can tell doubleshot shine-through ABS (and you can see they love to pick up fingerprints), the font is decent even if the top-mounted LEDs don't diffuse properly into the secondary and tertiary labels. Switches are an MX Red copy made by Content. I've never used linear switches for any extended time before, and I generally prefer tactile switches, but ... these aren't bad. Definitely not up to the taste levels of mech key enthusiasts (pretty scratchy), but they're consistent enough across they board that I can't make out any glaringly over/underweight ones, and overall the typing experience is perfectly adequate.

The negatives are much more down to the 60% layout and some nit-picks: I really miss Home and End keys (and some would no doubt miss PgUp and PgDn), and it'll probably take me more time than I'm actually spending here for now to adjust to the need for FN key combos for everything from arrow keys to Delete and Esc. I would also have liked a detachable cable - though I guess a fixed braided cable (feels like decent quality) is better than a cheap, shitty micro-B one with a fragile connector.

Considering it would have cost me twice as much to move up to the second cheapest option (at which point I would have been solidly in Keychron wireless keyboard territory, so ... eh, no thanks), this seems like a good compromise use when I'm back here. And if it saves me weeks of sick leave recovering from the dirt-poor ergonomics of that Dell keyboard, it's more than worth it.

Why is it the Danes had to swap Ö and Ä around? The Nordic layout would've been so much simpler if they didn't mess around with those.
And what is this ¤ for on all Nordic keyboards?

Must be hard living in Skåne as a Norwegian, in fact, I understand Swedish border Norwegian (think Fredrikstad) better than skånska
Also, Norway is a ripoff...

I'm really amazed how people can use a 60% or TKL keyboard as a daily driver. Maybe its just me and my large dependency on the numpad.

Do you work in accounting perchance?

 

[tabascosauz]

I'll easily admit you're a better man than me...I tried to going that route with several different keyboards(albeit more budget friendly models) and I just couldn't hack it when I wanted to video game. Maybe it's the left hand thing, and the fact I grew up solely using the arrow keys...I don't know, but things just seemed too cramped for me.

I'd prefer to say, you're just a better gamer than me there's no way I'd be able to properly play say MSFS on this board. Or, can you imagine, DCS on a 60% only? really though, I'm a pretty terrible gamer, only recently learned to accept that, not give a f and just have fun

This guy comes in handy a lot of the time. ~19 year old G80-3700HQAUS numpad off eBay. I actually have a more valuable (better vintage MX Blacks and keyset) ~20 year old G80-3700HQAFR somewhere in the UK, I'll bring it back along with my long-lost EVGA 750 Ti if I make a visit over there next spring for my graduation ceremony.

The best keyboard is one that's right for you I can be very elitist at times, been trying to change that and keep an open mind about many things in the past few years

Did you end up picking up a 5600G or a case to put everything in?

 

[lexluthermiester]

120Hz worked right away, but unfortunately, brightness control doesn't work. Not a huge deal, as applications like Dimmer do a decent enough job at software dimming. But thankfully, this screen has no dead or stuck pixels and no backlight defects.

Excellent! Glad you got it worked out! The dimming issue wouldn't bother me at all as you can set Windows to simply shut off the screen instead of dimming it.

View attachment 214162New laptop

What is it? Looks MSI...

 

[Valantar]

Why is it the Danes had to swap Ö and Ä around? The Nordic layout would've been so much simpler if they didn't mess around with those.
And what is this ¤ for on all Nordic keyboards?

Must be hard living in Skåne as a Norwegian, in fact, I understand Swedish border Norwegian (think Fredrikstad) better than skånska
Also, Norway is a ripoff...

Oh yeah, Norway is most definitely a ripoff. Tech used to be one field where we had it pretty good, but that was back when the USD was worth ~6 NOK, leading to some surprisingly affordable pricing compared to our income level. These days though? Not fun. Sweden is a lot better in some ways (the housing market is a dream compared to the overinflated bubble that is Norway), and at worst the same.

Skånska can indeed be pretty challenging (especially the older/more mumbly ones), though Lund has a surprising amount of people speaking more ... let's say "ordinary" Swedish? I'm guessing it's a consequence of everything being centred around the university. And after moving there I discovered that can I speak reasonably convincing Swedish - I've worked with a few Swedes for a long time, so I guess it must have rubbed off. A lot of Swedes seem to initially think I just have some vaguely odd northern Swedish dialect My vocabulary is useless though - the words we have in common are easy enough, but Swedish has enough out-of-the-blue gibberish names (and so much French!) for things to make my head spin for quite a while. But it's working out quite well still.

I have never for the life of me figured out what ¤ is supposed to do or mean. And given that it's a secondary and not tertiary input, it must have been relatively important at some point? And yes, the Danish ISO layout is pretty annoying, messing up the legends in all sorts of ways. Get it together, Danes! Given that I semi-touch type the ÆØÅ difference doesn't bother me (except when my brain shuts off and I have to look at things), but some of the rarely used accent keys get rather confusing when you've suddenly got 4-6 symbols on them and no reasonable way of understanding which are applicable and which aren't. I've seen far messier Nordic ISO legends than this though. Though for the life of me I can't understand why they made the top left key default to |/§ rather than Esc. That's just mid-boggling.

Almost everything comes from Oslo for me. My brick and mortar options are the usual Power, Elkjøp 20-30min drives but of course then it’s down to product choice that is totally hit and miss. I would never pay for express shipping obviously or home delivery as the one single store here, Prix is a postal point for everyone 3min drive from me. I’m rather obsessive about tracking packages as I have nothing but spare time and know when it should be at the pick up point and often make them dug through the delivery pile for my items.
Currently waiting in 3kg tub of Haribo Cola Bottles that are in Oslo and will be here around 4 tomorrow

Yeah, I think I've paid for express shipping in Norway a couple of times before accepting that it makes no difference whatsoever - the fastest shipping I have ever been able to expect is "next week", no matter what or from where. As I said, Inet in Sweden has spoiled me. I ordered a couple of things from them before leaving for Trondheim, which went something like this: order placed at 12:30, at 12:41 I get a text saying the order is being processed(!), at 15:10 I get a notice from the shipping company that it is on its way, and the next day at 15:14 the package is ready to pick up at one of those in-store delivery locker setups a five minute walk from my apartment. That was with free shipping btw (and, as always with Inet, a complimentary licorice stick - though 3kg of Haribo cola bottles sounds better!). I don't think I've ever seen an order from any Norwegian store be processed the same day, let alone arrive the next. Typically in my experience everyone promises "2-day shipping", but fails to mention that in addition to that you have 2-3 days of processing time before getting it out the door, and shipping inevitably intersects with a weekend in some way. Of course this likely means that postal/delivery workers in Sweden have longer hours and worse shifts (and likely worse pay) than their Norwegian equivalents, which always tends to be a consequence of "efficient" systems like these. I would gladly pay more to see them properly compensated and with decent working conditions. But at least I'm honest enough about my hypocrisy to admit that I thoroughly enjoy how easy it is to get things delivered here.

Excellent! Glad you got it worked out! The dimming issue wouldn't bother me at all as you can set Windows to simply shut off the screen instead of dimming it.

I don't think turning off the screen is the most useful solution if you're using your laptop in a dark room and the full brightness is too much

 

[lexluthermiester]

I don't think turning off the screen is the most useful solution if you're using your laptop in a dark room and the full brightness is too much

I don't have that problem. A bright screen in a dark room doesn't bother me at all. So that is a personal preference thing and not a universal rule.

 

[Mussels]

I don't have that problem. A bright screen in a dark room doesn't bother me at all. So that is a personal preference thing and not a universal rule.

i mean... turn a lamp on

I may be about to buy a second nintendo switch, so my son has one and i have one for mario kart live racing...

$250 Au, owner used it for smash bros, got bored, never used again

 

[TheLostSwede]

Oh yeah, Norway is most definitely a ripoff. Tech used to be one field where we had it pretty good, but that was back when the USD was worth ~6 NOK, leading to some surprisingly affordable pricing compared to our income level. These days though? Not fun. Sweden is a lot better in some ways (the housing market is a dream compared to the overinflated bubble that is Norway), and at worst the same.

Skånska can indeed be pretty challenging (especially the older/more mumbly ones), though Lund has a surprising amount of people speaking more ... let's say "ordinary" Swedish? I'm guessing it's a consequence of everything being centred around the university. And after moving there I discovered that can I speak reasonably convincing Swedish - I've worked with a few Swedes for a long time, so I guess it must have rubbed off. A lot of Swedes seem to initially think I just have some vaguely odd northern Swedish dialect My vocabulary is useless though - the words we have in common are easy enough, but Swedish has enough out-of-the-blue gibberish names (and so much French!) for things to make my head spin for quite a while. But it's working out quite well still.

I have never for the life of me figured out what ¤ is supposed to do or mean. And given that it's a secondary and not tertiary input, it must have been relatively important at some point? And yes, the Danish ISO layout is pretty annoying, messing up the legends in all sorts of ways. Get it together, Danes! Given that I semi-touch type the ÆØÅ difference doesn't bother me (except when my brain shuts off and I have to look at things), but some of the rarely used accent keys get rather confusing when you've suddenly got 4-6 symbols on them and no reasonable way of understanding which are applicable and which aren't. I've seen far messier Nordic ISO legends than this though. Though for the life of me I can't understand why they made the top left key default to |/§ rather than Esc. That's just mid-boggling.

Housing cheap in Sweden?! Daim! It must be crazy in Norway now then.
It's three years since I was in Norway last and although the currency is almost the same these days, everything was 10-20% more expensive in Norway, with restaurants being even more expensive. Norway used to be expensive due the currency being worth more, but now it's just more expensive for no reason.

My oldest brother moved to Lund around 30 years ago and several of his kids speaks the local "dialect" which is just awful... But yeah, I would guess that it being a student town would help a bit. I speak very "plain" Swedish, it's in fact so plain that no-one really speaks like me...
My stepmum is from Fredrikstad, so I'm used to that kind of Norwegian. Oslo dialect was actually a lot harder to understand than I expected. Bergensisk, forget about it...
Somehow I seem to comprehend a lot of weird Norwegian terms of things, as I had to translate for my stepmum last year when I ended up being stuck in Sweden for almost six months. I can fake Norwegian, but same problem, limited vocabulary. We bastardised a lot of French words, it's actually quite funny how mangled some of them are, like fåtölj. Then again, anything beats Danish...

I actually just googled it, for some reason I never even thought about doing it before and it's a universal currency sign if you can't type the local currency sign...

Currency sign (generic) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Very odd and it must be some kind of relic from way back when.

Yeah, the Nordic layout is less than ideal sometimes, but I guess it should mean more affordable keyboards/computers/laptops due to fewer custom keys having to be made. You'd think the Nordics (not counting Iceland) could've agreed on a common standard way back in the day, but apparently not. Hmmm, FN+§ seems like a very odd way if hitting Esc indeed, since Esc is used far more than §½ (as it is in Swedish). I guess this comes back to the part about sitting down and having a think about your product and go over how it will be used/assembled/etc. I've had to deal with designers that have been adamant that their design is great, yet it has needed several changes/fixes/emergency workarounds before the product could ship, just because the designer got their way... The joy of being involved in making products...