What are your BEST tech purchases?
2026-05-08 15:15 UTC
Replies (40)
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@shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-08 15:20
Noise cancelling headphones are incredible, using them in a noisy airport eliminated 80% of the discomfort of travelling
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@gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-08 15:20
My 2012 MacBook Pro is still going strong, still my primary home computer, still does everything I need. Maxed out the memory and upgraded to a SSD hard drive years ago and it runs great.
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@toomanypancakes@piefed.world 2026-05-08 15:23
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.
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@TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-05-08 15:25
Steam Deck, hands down. It rules being able to play PC games in bed with my partner by my side.
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@PonyOfWar@pawb.social 2026-05-08 15:26
Steam Deck OLED has been pretty great. Also the HTC Vive VR headset, back in 2016.
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@uKale@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 15:30
My Fairphone 5, because it has allowed me to break free from Google and other big tech companies by letting me install whatever I want on it. And my good old Thinkpad.
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@squirrel@cake.kobel.fyi 2026-05-08 15:32
Bought a refurbished Thinkpad T480s a year ago. It got me back into Linux on the desktop which brought a lot of joy into my computing life.
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@Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-05-08 15:33
Bought one of the cheap fitness trackers (Xiaomi Band 8) out of curiosity for the step counting. Has become one of my most used tech items ever. Incredibly useful, not just the fitness tracking (that too, though - probably also actually improved my health). Checking messages without taking out the phone, setting timers for all kinds of stuff, an alarm clock that alarms not my wife but just me, remote controlling audio and video playback, and - last but not least - after 20 watch-less years finally being able to tell the time just by looking at the arm again :-)
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@the_grass_trainer@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 15:33
• car • desktop pc • drawing tablet for said pc (bought in 2010 and still going strong) • automatic pencil sharpener
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@JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 15:36
Roland AE-30 (wind synth). It’s great to get back to playing “saxophone,” as well as use it in my MIDI setup to control other synths. Added bonus: it’s small enough to pack just about anywhere, and I can practice anywhere, anytime with headphones. Even just running scales is chill, meditative time, especially during stressful workdays.
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@sheridan@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 15:40
Portable battery powered bidet.
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@kinkles@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-08 15:40
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.
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@mesamunefire@piefed.social 2026-05-08 15:41
My old casio watch works after a decade of use. My old kindle just got a new battery but its over 14+ years old. And my CPAP is probably the thing that does the most work for me.
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@Steve@communick.news 2026-05-08 15:41
I got myself Maytak Audio custom IEMs for Christmas. Absolutely fantastic. They replaced all my other headphones and earbuds.
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@Libb@piefed.social 2026-05-08 15:52
Not a purchased by me, but the mechanical watch my grandfather gave to me some 40+ years ago. It was his watch, and was already used when he gave it to me, but it still works great today. A good stack of quality paper (don’t get me started on watercolor paper). The humble pencil, B2 or B4. This may sound like a joke but despite its age and it being so low-tech the pencil is still an unrivaled piece of technology that even Apple can only try to mimic with its expensive Apple Pencil. My most recent purchase, and a lot more ‘high’ tech than the pencil: a pocket Sony voice recorder, from the 90s. It uses standard AA batteries (that will last for weeks if not months), it needs no monthly subscription, and no online access, it fully respects my privacy, there is no ads in it, it uses MP3 and can record on either its internal memory or use SD cards, and it… works great with Linux. I love it.
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@chunes@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 15:59
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.
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@zlatiah@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 16:00
So far, my phone, a Google Pixel 6a bought and promptly Graphenified 4.5 years ago that is still going strong. Not perfect but it does it job Steam Deck is a close second, it has rotated between being my primary/secondary gaming device and even my primary desktop for varying amounts of time, and it served every single role well. All while being dirt-cheap for the specs it have
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@wjrii@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 16:08
A few years ago, I used my meager seniority award at work ($100 for ten years! Yay…?) to get a Monoprice Select Mini 3D printer. That set off a journey that has been a lot of fun. I’m using a Sovol SV08 now, but the Mini was a great gateway printer at that time.
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@crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 16:09
PRK eye surgery. Does this count!
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@WongKaKui@piefed.ca 2026-05-08 16:10
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”
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@captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 16:12
Probably either my steam deck or hearing aids. Like I could go on a rant about how much better hearing aids are these days than when I started wearing them 20 years or so ago. They were annoying pains in the ass back then and now they work better, sound better, and are significantly less inconvenient. And i don’t have to ask my wife to speak up as often.
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@Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 16:15
I got a hacked SNES mini on eBay that was fully loaded with every ROM from Atari to the 32 bit systems.
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@AskewLord@piefed.social 2026-05-08 16:19
Samsung QD-OLED Playstation 5 intel iMac Garmin 955 Forerunner Asioma Mx-2 power meter pedals This year I’m going to get an Acura Integra A-Spec Tech, reviews on it are stellar. Replacing a 12 year old Civic . I am on the fence about getting a Switch 2. Never got a Switch because it wasn’t 4K and the games seemed meh.
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@tanisnikana@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 16:24
Lately, it’s been the MCON. It’s a little slide-out phone controller that mounts to my phone even when the case is on. So now while I’m on the road to my next photography thing, I’m not just limited to touchscreen games anymore. Working through Control lately!
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@Iconoclast@feddit.uk 2026-05-08 16:26
JBL Charge 2 and 2015 13” MacBook Pro. Kind of my desktop PC as well but it’s almost 20 years old already and the case is the only original component on it so I’m not sure if it counts as the same PC anymore.
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@unmagical@lemmy.ml 2026-05-08 16:29
A PCPanel Mini. It was one of those things that went from no idea anything like it existed to solving a problem I’d been dealing with since I got a computer. I believe they’re out of stock forever now and the company had some issues with support and refunds, but I got mine, it works, it’s great, and I’ll use it for as long as I can!
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@hperrin@lemmy.ca 2026-05-08 16:34
I got the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. Great camera. I used it to make this video: https://youtu.be/cQFJYUuw_jo I also got a Bambu Lab P1S combo. It’s really great. I used it to make frames for all of my wife and my wedding photos. I printed 28 frames and hung them all on the wall.
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@Alandrus_Sun@ttrpg.network 2026-05-08 16:36
AMD stock apparently 😂😂
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@bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-08 16:39
Dreamcast and CRT PC monitor 🥲
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@JoMiran@lemmy.ml 2026-05-08 16:45
Work Focused Answer (no joy, just relief) I think that, for the majority of my IT career of ~30 years, it has got to be Thinkpads. First IBM and then Lenovo. If you pick the correct model, you get a solid workhorse with a fantastic warranty/service plan and amazing Linux support if you need it. More recently, it has to be the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7x Gen 1 (not the Gen 2). In my firm we spend ungodly amount of hours on calls and the Nova 7x is extremely comfortable, it has superb built in background noise suppression, a fully retractable mic, a mechanical mute button and, most importantly, the Gen 1 supports three separate modes of connectivity (four if you count the dongle.toggle switch). The Gen 1’s three connection modes are Bluetooth, 3.5mm wired, and 2.4 ghz wireless (via usb-c dongle). The 2.4ghz dongle can switch between PC and Xbox. Linux users who have trouble with the input/output mix while on wireless can use a standard 4 pole 3.5mm cord to connect the headset without issue. I have mine connected via wire to my linux main, 2.4ghz to my client compatibility Windows system, and Bluetooth to my phone. NOTE: The Razer Barracuda X is also triple input, but the mic does not retract and I have not tested to see if it has built in background noise suppression/voice isolation like the SteelSeries do. EDIT: With the Nova 7 Gen 2, SteelSeries removed the 3.5mm port.
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@brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 16:53
128GB RAM, and a 2TB SSD, mid 2025.
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@early_riser@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 17:10
I’d say purely based on usage time, my Bose Quiet Comfort headphones. I’ve had them since 2013 and have gone through a few pairs. My first set got chewed up by my then young now late guide dog. I was unaware you could replace the ear pads, so I bought a whole second pair. My bad. This second pair has lasted until today, though I upgraded to the QC ultra for the built-in bluetooth and use the old wired pair in my ham shack. I bought them originally for work. I worked in a call center. The crappy plantronics headset they gave me wasn’t going to cut it for 8 hours a day, so I looked for something better. Ended up buying the QC’s plus an adaptor for a standard Cisco VOIP phone to TRS connectors. Used the QC’s plus a cheap lapel mic. I’d say the name “quiet comfort” says it all. I didn’t care about how they sound since they handily beat the cheap earbuds that came with phones at the time as well as that plantronics nightmare from work. What they are is quiet and comfortable. They served me for 8 hours a day over four years.
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@Tahl_eN@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 17:19
Xreal One Pro head-mounted display glasses. They’ve really changed how I watch TV shows and movies.
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@akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone 2026-05-08 17:23
I’m having a hard time defining “best”, so I’ll put out a few categories: Most used: my rooted Samsung Galaxy S23, which I use for listening to HiFi music (Tidal + Android USB Audio Player + AudioQuest DrangFly Cobalt DAC + Sennheiser IE 900). Most fun tinkering with: used Lenovo ThinPad T480, on which I swapped out the storage, RAM and wireless network module {1TB, 32GB, WiFi 6e}. I also learned Arch Linux and some C programming on it. Bringing it with me everywhere and is not my phone: my rooted Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ and my Deltaco WK90b keyboard, a form factor which they have stopped making, which is bonkers. I bring these two to local coffee shops and libraries and learn coding on Termux. Having own the longest: my sound mixer Notepad 8fx by Soundcraft, 42 inch 4K Philips TV and Adam A5X studio monitors. The studio monitors, I have had for more than ten years. The mixer and TV, for about seven. This is my media setup for consuming video and audio. I play video on the above mentioned Lenovo laptop, streamed from my Linux ISO torrenting rig and audio I mostly play from my vinyl player. This also used to be me karaoke setup when I still had a Nintendo Switch and when I still was happy.
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@pdxfed@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 17:26
Garmin running watch. Never liked running but am a list checker and analyst; seeing my inactivity or progress drive me to be more consistent and active. I’m massively healthier and happier as a result. Also first one lasted 10 years, 1-week battery life. Just bought a replacement last year(face was scuffed up after 10 years but was still running like a champ). No idea why other watches have such crap battery life without offering more features than Garmin but it’s brought me joy, mental and physical health.
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@traction@lemmy.zip 2026-05-08 17:28
Framework laptop - they took the best parts of the MacBook, made it repairable and fully support Linux. Priced fairly, with the option to separately purchase RAM and SSD. And they’ve even provided free replacement parts years after the warranty expired!
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@djdarren@piefed.social 2026-05-08 17:49
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.
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@Gerudo@lemmy.zip 2026-05-08 19:34
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.
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@Gremour@lemmy.world 2026-05-08 19:36
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.
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@nautilus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-05-08 20:33
Denon DJ SC LIVE 4. I originally wanted an Pioneer/AlphaTheta turntable system since I started on Rekordbox, but after some research I found out that the SC LIVE 4 has what a (nearly) equivalent $3000 Pioneer model has at a more reasonable $1300.