21 ms·
Ask HN: What are your best purchases in 2020?
It can be either hardware or software. For me,
1) Apple Watch. I have been moving a lot more since I got my watch. I also check my phone less often now.
2) Vari standing desk. Replacing my old IKEA desk with a sturdy standing-desk has been great.
- mparis 6y agoFun: Rossignol black ops gamer 118 skis. They shred. Coffee: Kalita 185 pour over coffee maker. Inexpensive, high quality coffee. Also the porlex mini burr grinder. Software: IntelliJ Ultimate/Clion for rust dev. Historically a VS Code guy but jetbrains products are great when you have enough horse power to run them. Speakers: UE mega boom 3. Waterproof & great sound. Book: Victor Frankls man’s search for meaning. Food: Eggplant for this parm https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bas-best-eggplant-parmesan https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bas-best-eggplant-parmesan Charity: Donating to Wikipedia. We need them.
- mojomark 6y agoEnjoyed reading. Asside from staples, mine are... Remarkable 2 - maybe it's first because I just got it 4 weeks ago, but it's amazeballs. I'm a paper notebook monster and I've replaced them all. Udemy Course: Artificial Intelligence Reinforcement Learning in Python (by Lazy Programmer) Elixir accoustic guitar strings 0.13 I made many other purchases, but as you state, but for better or worse, the charity makes me truly feel the best, so my wife and I donated to. Wikipedia Humane Society local college radio station A small zoo Movable Feast My alma mater
- ojilles 6y agoKästle TX93 skis, and no mountains open nearby to try them.
- polka_haunts_us 6y agoI cannot agree more on the JetBrains stuff. I historically had a poor opinion of IntelliJ due to running it on a underpowered laptop in college, but I decided to try WebStorm on a whim for a different project, which led to me trialing Resharper at work, and in the span of about 4 days I've gone from "IntelliJ is overrated" to "How exactly did I function without this company before".
- mraza007 6y agoRemarkable Tablet. It has allowed my save paper and definitely worth buying it. It just makes things so much easier such as taking handwritten notes and sharing it
- notmyname259 6y agoI'm thinking of buying it for my girlfriend who's a biologist and uses a lot of paper. What are the pros and cons in your experience..?
- wikibob 6y agoIf she uses paper and is happy with that system, I would honestly suggest /not/ getting her a remarkable unless she specifically says she wants it. Digital notes are totally different than writing on paper.
- mraza007 6y agoHonestly my experience has been great so far. To me it feels like I’m writing on the paper and sharing the notes have been so easy for me
- canofbars 6y agoDon't have the remarkable, but consider an ipad. They are roughly the same price but the ipad is far far more capable (at the cost of no epaper)
- laserbeam 6y ago
- jelliclesfarm 6y agoTractor. Another one. All I wanted for 2020 was autonomous farm machinery..an Ag robot for small acreages. Maybe in 2021.
- mech422 6y agoI guess for me, it would be: ODroid H2s - I love these! Artillery Sidewinder X1 3d printer - just got this but having a ball with it!
- axaxs 6y agoAir Fryer. I was always the pessimist...it's just a convection oven afterall, right. Finally bought one and am a convert. We use that thing almost daily.
- SeriousM 6y agoWould you please share the name of the fryer? I have no experience with them and fear the amazon review hell
- axaxs 6y agoSure. I actually only bought one initially because I found it on slickdeals of all places. Gourmia 8qt. Specifically, this one - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gourmia-8-Qt-Stainless-Steel-Digital-Air-Fryer/271818921 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gourmia-8-Qt-Stainless-Steel-Digi... I also bought this one because of a sale. I think the same company makes both because of how similar they are. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08DKYBTPH/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08DKYBTPH/ It's definitely big enough to cook an entire chicken. If a single person were asking, I'd probably recommend a 6qt or even 4 just for space saving reasons. Buy the kind with a basket, not the kind with doors and pull out trays. I had this one also, https://m.ninjakitchen.com/exclusive-offer/SP101WBKT/ninja-foodi-digital-air-fry-oven/ https://m.ninjakitchen.com/exclusive-offer/SP101WBKT/ninja-f..., and I hate everything about it and sold it finally. Cooks worse, impossible to clean, hard to shake. With a style similar to the first two links, just pull the basket handle, shake, reinsert. Easy.
- canofbars 6y agoI have had a Phillips one for ages and it does work pretty well. Its essentially an oven in terms of cooking (I think) but because its so small it heats up way faster so if you want to cook a single hash brown its the tool for the job. The main issue I have had is the cooking tray gets gross fast and it seems very difficult to properly clean.
- boublepop 6y agoI’ve been considering getting one. What’s been your best usages and do you have some recurring recipes or do you vary time for time?
- brudgers 6y agoBrompton H6L with -12% gearing.
- ramenstor 6y agoMonitor arm. Provides great functionality and flexibility for my computer usage. Surface Pro 7. Such a lovely piece of engineering. Great lightweight laptop, although the tablet mode of Windows 10 needs some love and care from Microsoft. Nvidia Shield. Great device for streaming media. There were always limitations with using the LG WebOS and the Shield made all of those go away.
- adiM 6y agoBoox Max 3, 13.3" eInk tablet. Bought just before the pandemic started and has been super useful in reader PDFs and writing notes, and even attending zoom calls(!) without any eye strain.
- iforgottherest 6y agoThat looks amazing, but for 6x the time of Kindle, and roughly the same price as a good graphics card, it's a definite NO for me.
- adiM 6y agoDepends on your needs. I am an academic and spend a large part of my day reading math heavy papers and taking notes as I read. A large screen eink tablet is more useful to me than a good graphics card :-)
- fy20 6y agoA gas-lift monitor arm from Amazon (€30). I always find monitors too low, and I bend my head forward too much, especially when standing at a desk. This ends up causing me shoulder tension, or I end up slouching on the chair so the monitor is at eye level. Now I don't have any problems! I thought given it was relatively cheap (last time I looked half a decade or more ago they were closer to €100), it would not be very good and wobble, but it's rock solid. 10/10 would buy again.
- aaomidi 6y agoLink to item?
- simonebrunozzi 6y agoSomething like this, I guess [0]. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Single-Monitor-Mount-Articulating-Adjustable/dp/B07T3KCQ94 https://www.amazon.com/Single-Monitor-Mount-Articulating-Adj...
- fy20 6y agoThat's the one!
- SeriousM 6y agoA decent bike with disk breaks The books "you, I and ReactiveUI" and "rx.net in action" - yet another Bible for developers like "clean code/coder/architecture"
- longnguyen 6y agoMi Laser Projector[1]. This projector is incredible [1]: https://www.mi.com/global/mi-laser-projector-150/ https://www.mi.com/global/mi-laser-projector-150/
- garbene 6y agoWife and I picked up a laser projector three months into quarantine. It’s keeping us sane.
- Karuhanga 6y agoHi, does this have the capability of a smart TV?
- Caprinicus 6y agoMost projectors don’t and it’s wonderful. So many smart TVs get loaded up with ads because you are essentially a captive audience tied to a very expensive purchase. Throw a Roku or Apple TV on there and you’ll get the same thing with far less premature obsolescence
- asciident 6y agoThe one mentioned here does have Google TV, basically an old version of Android unfortunately. I agree with you that it'd be better if they were just dumb projectors, and you can easily get a $50 casting device if you want, rather than obsolete a $1000-$2000 projector.
- kodon 6y agoUsed golf clubs. It's a great game!
- 1996 6y agoRK2020 (Odroid Go Advance) portable console to play dreamcast games
- kristianp 6y agoNintendo Switch, I'm impressed by the quality of the hardware.
- ronyfadel 6y agoI bought one too, and thought the complete opposite. Being used to iPhone-quality hardware, it felt too plasticky. Also, 720p? No bluetooth audio? In 2020? This being said, it’s such a fun device.
- shadek2142 6y agoXiaomi note 9, being a student, it was not possible to purchase higher accessories
- adultSwim 6y agoBanjo
- sethammons 6y agoI purchased a banjo this year too! My first instrument.
- rubicon33 6y ago- Apple Watch (Nike edition. Using it to help me move more, and so far it’s working) - iPhone 12. The 5s was showing its age. - Oculus Quest 2 (want to move more when gaming) - TempurPedic pillow - Serta iConfort 4000 plush mattress. About time I invested in sleep.
- admissionsguy 6y agoI'm surprised to discover that except consumables and books, the only non-digital item I have bought this year has been the XP-Pen Artist Pro drawing tablet I will give my girlfriend this Christmas Eve.
- peapicker 6y ago1) Flexispot standing desk & standing desk monitor arm 2) Wobble stool for the in-between standing and sitting height at my standing desk. Between 1 & 2 my back health is so much better it is hard to believe. My old home office furniture was horrible. Best investment I made early in the 9+ months now working from home. 3) Elektron Model:Cycles FM Synth. Making happy bleep bloops. 4) Almost to the front of the line to order a Concept 2 Model D rowing machine to lose my 'covid 19' pounds I've gained whilst isolating - set to order on Dec 30.
- bmitch2112 6y agoGood to hear about the Flexispot desk. How long have you had it? Looking to get a standing desk and these look decent.
- peapicker 6y agoGot mine at the end of May. I use it basically every day, in both sitting and standing positions. Price was right, quality better than I expected. Their keyboard tray doesn't really fit if you get a tabletop with a curved indent like I did, I sent that part back. Not sure they sell tabletops like mine anymore.
- hkyeti 6y agoTreadmill deck, game changer. And a mini instant pot
- ralusek 6y agoOculus Quest 2. It makes VR portable and accessible to normies, and allows you to connect to desktop if you so desire. Also, guns. I'd never shot a gun before this year, and now I own a bunch. They're tight. And an XSR700. Moved to Colorado this year, and the is no comparable way to taking in nature than riding a motorcycle. It wasn't my first bike, but it did reinvigorate me. Subnautica. If you haven't played, you should.
- hutattedonmyarm 6y ago1) Valve Index. I had been waiting since the original Oculus for VR to be ready-ish, and I’m glad I hopped in now 2) Affinity Photo and Designer. I rarely use them, not enough to throw money at Adobe and they’re good! 3) iPhone 12. The 6S was more or less broken 4) A libro.fm subscription to get away from Audible
- idiocrat 6y agoOTC Magnesium supplement. Life-changing event -- as my chronic nagging RLS has finally gone, and I can finally sleep like a baby again, after many years. I'm taking now ~1000 mg/day, for time being, self-medicated. I should have measured blood levels before and after.
- nextos 6y agoNice! What brand?
- radiokicker 6y agoOne thing to keep in mind with magnesium supplementation is the type of magnesium. Oxide has really bad absorption rates (around 10%) and can cause severe diarrhea when overdosed. This website has been a staple of mine for years for supplementation guides. https://examine.com/supplements/magnesium/ https://examine.com/supplements/magnesium/
- marcolussetti 6y agoAn eReader. I was skeptical, but it's pushed me to move to reading more books and less social media. Still a long way to go to achieve a better balance there, but significant results so far.
- jjice 6y agoWhat eReader did you choose?
- andrei_says_ 6y agoNot op but I got boox nova 3 and love it. 7.8” 300ppi lit screen, Wacom stylus, android 10, long battery life. I have the kindle and pocket apps. It has its own reader for ePub pdf etc. https://www.boox.com/boox-nova/ https://www.boox.com/boox-nova/
- mattmanser 6y agoNot op, bit I have a Kindle papetwhite bought in 2014. Absolutely fantastic, though I have a few bright spots because I am very blasé about just throwing it in my bag, so I'd probably think about getting a flip cover for my next one. The only annoyance is the mobi format restriction, but it's quite easy to convert epub in calibre and then you can just email it to your kindle. Having the app on my phone too means I can continue a book in a queue/taxi/bus if I've not the kindle with me. It's not worth getting the one with internet connection if they still have that, the rare cases I want to buy a book on the go, I just make a hotspot with my phone. Basically my favourite bit of tech.
- marcolussetti 6y agoFirst of all, sorry for the late reply! My research before purchasing left me with the distinct impression that both major vendors (Amazon Kindle & Rakuten Kobo) make very good hardware that will serve one's needs. I did not want to purchase an Android tablet (e.g. Boox, even ignoring their GPL issues) as I found that concept to be too distracting/straying from the purpose. I chose to purchase a Rakuten Kobo Libra H2O, which is pretty good for my uses. I imagine the equivalent (but higher priced) Kindle Oasis to be as good or better. I went with the Kobo with the idea that I'd rather competition in this space not shrink further (though I doubt my actions matter much).
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- danielscrubs 6y agoMicrowave with air frying functionality from Samsung. It’s really, really convenient. Making gratin without preheating is a game changer. Robot vacuum cleaner. Going for a run and starting the cleaner midrun is quite nice. From cleaning every three weeks to twice a week helps my nose. Apple Watch, using it instead of the phone cut my phone addiction in half. You can’t be addicted by the watch and it has Spotify, calls and maps, so I never worry about leaving the phone at home. Also makes family time more social. All these products I was skeptical about first (this is just a toy...) but I’m actually using them heavily!
- jituc 6y agoCan you share product name??
- danielscrubs 6y agoSamsung MW5100H and roborock s6
- xupybd 6y agoA pug puppy. Cost me 2.5k. I judge the value of a purchase based on the improvement to day to day life. The joy that has come from that little puppy to bothy wife and myself far outweighs any other purchase this year.
- bergie 6y ago1) Unlimited LTE plan. Allowed us to work from our sailboat for the five summer months of the Covid lockdown, and will likely provide for the same next year (I'm not assuming going back to the office anytime soon) 2) Pressure cooker. Since we're cooking every day now, this makes a lot of meals faster and easier. Saves a lot of fuel when cooking on the boat as well 3) Pantry full of shelf-stable foods. We test-provisioned for longer boat trips at home last winter, which was suddenly extremely useful when Covid hit and panic buying emptied shelves in stores.
- cpach 6y agoEero 3-pack (mesh wifi system). A used Macbook Air from ~2014. A piano. A shirt of decent quality. A good pair of sandals. Another linen dishcloth for the kitchen. I can’t remember if I bought any new software this year, but I still pay every year for Evernote. Despite its warts I get lots of use from it. (^_^)
- oumua_don17 6y ago1. Remarkable 2 2. Jarvis Laminate Sit stand desk.
- string 6y agoNot sure this counts as hardware, but I finally bought a hi-fi and spent quite an uncomfortable amount on old Congolese records. I found the idea of spending so much on something so indulgent difficult at the time but it brings me immeasurable joy, so ultimately no regrets.
- dougk 6y agoAny online store you would recommend for high quality old Congolese records?
- string 6y agoHey, sorry, I didn't see this. I'm afraid I don't have any good secrets to share on that front. Online purchases I've made mostly through sellers on Discogs. Some are better than others. I'm in the UK and most sellers who stock Congolese records seem to be based in France, postage can be a pain sometimes. afro7.net has some interesting 7" records from time to time. I've been trying to get back out to Africa for a while, but plans have been put on hold. Haven't made it to Congo or DRC yet, but hoping to at least make it back to Nairobi later in the year. Melodica in Nairobi sell online but I haven't bought anything from them before.
- ulfw 6y agoMacbook Air M1, 16GB, 2TB. Sold my hot, noisy, always-fan-running 16" MBP for it that was in no way faster and way less portable (obviously). Kudos to Apple for the fast and successful transition of their own and third-party software to M1. I'm 90% native already, mere months into the transition.
- drodil 6y agoTregren T6 kitchen garden. So relaxing to see things grow without putting too much effort in it. Valco headphones. Price-quality wise the best you can get. Roborock S6 maxv. Damn convenient especially if you have furry pets. 1Password. Finally got my passwords under control.
- adighe 6y agoDreame D9 Robot Vacuum cleaner - Saves a lot of time and it's fun watching it run through the house. OnePlus 7TPro. Nedis WiFi Smart LED Bulbs.
- benzesandbetter 6y ago1) Akai Force (sampler, looper, sequencer). Superb creative tool for making music. I've been recording/looping my djembe and Hang Drum into it. Thinking of picking up a Digitone soon and then I think my setup will be pretty complete for a while. 2) A couple AMD RX GPUs that I picked up second hand. 3) 50mm Nikon Z-series lens.
- thiht 6y ago- MacBook Pro 2020. This is my first personal Apple device (I already had a MacBook Pro 2019 for work) and I love it. It's expensive but really has a nice premium feeling and UX. The only comparable non-Apple ultrabook on the market was the last XPS 13 but it was actually MORE expensive than the MBP. - Jabra wireless earbuds. I was skeptical at first but they're amazing.
- orloffm 6y ago1. Garmin ForeRunner 245 watch. It's actually a _watch_ and it doesn't feel like a wrist computer. Plus, the notifications work amazing, and all training-related things are awesome. Software updates over the year brought very needed improvements. 2. Garmin Edge 830 bike computer. Also wonderful piece of engineering, again feels like a thing and doesn't add any overhead to rides as a phone with Komoot or some other app does. Now I'm thinking that a non-sensor-screen 820 would be a better choice. 3. Mountain bike, Ghost Kato 7.9 2019. I'd go for full suspension next time for sure, but it still opened a whole new world of unpaved roads around the city for me.
- Wonnk13 6y agoany particular reason you went with the 830? I'm looking to upgrade my 520.
- orloffm 6y agoAs I understand, it's faster. DC Rainmaker complained a lot in his articles about having to wait a minute or two for course adjustments.
- ambivalents 6y agoAnother vote for the Forerunner 245 (with music). Solid, reliable, great battery life. Superior to Apple Watch in all the categories I care about.
- catacombs 6y ago> 1) Apple Watch. I have been moving a lot more since I got my watch. I also check my phone less often now. Yikes. That's more digital tracking when a simple, "dumb" watch can do the same thing, without harvesting your data. "But...but... muh health data!" Some watches have internal pedometers that don't constantly send your health information to a trillion-dollar company.
- unwantedchild 6y agoE-drums Roland TD-1DMK and Headphones Bose QS35. It's good not to give up on hobbies even if work drains you hellishly.
- jdmcnugent 6y ago1. Roland fp30 digital piano - coming from a guitar background, learning the piano has made my music theory knowledge grow exponentially 2. Ubiquiti unifi home wifi - fun project to learn some more in depth networking 3. Synology nas - runs my pihole, Plex, and time machine backup 4. Charlottes web cbd / melatonin sleep gummies - way better than melatonin alone, feel great in the am
- ambivalents 6y ago1) My dog. Does this count as hardware? :) It is not an overstatement to say he's changed my life. 2) iPad + Apple Pencil. I can access the ever-elusive flow state by drawing/sketching/coloring with the drawing program ProCreate.
- xavierlint 6y agoI'm happy to hear that your dog changed your life, I hope he changed it for the better, but I'm sad to hear you purchased him.
- EADGBE 6y agoIt’s not uncommon to pay an adoption fee for animals, either. I’ve “paid” a few hundred dollars for my equally-lovable adopted pets over the years, too. It’s a great trade-off; because it pays people’s salaries, keeps animals out of kill-shelters, and benefits tertiary programs who may train or otherwise aide these unwanted animals. A price I’m happy to pay.
- canofbars 6y agoAlso got the ipad (air 4). Wanted to get in to drawing and after ages evaluating all the offerings I concluded that an ipad + pencil is actually better value than the stuff wacom provides even if you completely ignore all the other stuff you can use the ipad for. Loved the thing so far. I just hope they come out with a 16" ipad eventually.
- ambivalents 6y ago100%! I got the air4 too and am really happy with it. Procreate alone (which is just $9.99, I was honestly prepared to pay a lot more and thought it'd be akin to Photoshop level pricing) makes it worth it. I've also downloaded all my kindle books and my spotify library, so between drawing, reading, and music/podcasts, it has everything I need to keep me entertained.
- poletopole 6y agoI’ve been looking for a good drawing app for ipad. Is ProCreate easy to learn?
- BjoernKW 6y ago1) Gazelle Tour Populair bike 2) Røde NT microphone 3) Elgato Key Light 4) Logitech C930e webcam 5) Dell 27" U2720Q display The Tour Populair is fantastic for getting around in the city. Items #2 to #5 are enormously useful to me, essential even, since a large part of my business consists of consulting, mentoring, and workshops.
- lmedinas 6y ago- MacBook Pro 2020 Apple M1: This laptop is simply amazing. It replaced my iPad Air 2 as my goto device to browse or have some quality time. I even reduce my gaming time to use this computer.
- motyar 6y agoLand lot and iPhone 7
- simonebrunozzi 6y ago> Land lot How was your buying experience? I used to be involved with Fabrica, a way to buy/sell really quickly. [0] [0]: http://fabrica.land/ http://fabrica.land/
- tgvaughan 6y agoA fastmail subscription and a domain.
- jbirer 6y agoa 100$ Samsung Galaxy M10. It just does everything I need for a smartphone and the battery lasts days.
- syedmeesamali 6y agoEnder 3 V2 3D printer. The feeling of creating a tangible compares with nothing else especially when you can quickly prototype anything and just make it literally come to life. Second would be Nano 33 BLE Sense.
- poletopole 6y agoThe new iPad Pro and magic keyboard. Look into Tailscale, it makes it incredibly easy for me to ssh into my mac or a VPS. As for apps for iPad, I highly recommend the following: 1. Muse: awesome workspace app. 2. Ulysses: best MD app hands down. 3. Gladys: good clipboard. 4. Kodex: best ipad code editor. 5. Prompt: best ipad ssh client. 6. Working copy: good git client. 7. Kaleidoscope: diffing files. 8. Jira: pretty well done. 9. Documents: good for ftp. 10. Copied: good for bookmarking. 11. Goodnotes: best notebook app. I’m seriously thinking about selling my imac because I haven’t used it since I got my ipad pro. I think I’ll sell it and build a RaspPi machine, ha.
- diweirich 6y ago38" Ultrawide with Thunderbolt 3. Got rid of a ton of wires and the ugly hub on my desk. I no longer deal with random glitches that require restarting my computer to fix. It's just one seamless screen that makes my desk look clean and uncluttered. With one cable it charges my laptop while docked, provides audio and video, and carries USB signal from any USB devices plugged into the monitor (just a dongle for my keyboard/mouse). I'm in love with it.
- interactivecode 6y agoWellies , walking our 9 months old pup with dry feet is priceless
- Pyrodogg 6y agoNew office set-up for working from home. An adjustable height desk, an anti-fatigue mat for standing, and also a new office chair for sitting. Also received my Remarkable 2, which I'm quite enjoying.
- theflyinghorse 6y ago[edit] > Also received my Remarkable 2, which I'm quite enjoying. How is latency? I think on paper and so am looking for a something that wold replace paper for me to draw, sketch, and write on to be then saved.