Mine… My Xbox 360 slim only costed 129 euro back in 2012 and to this day still work like brand new, you would think that the disc drive would stop working but no. Never had the need of open it or clean it’s insides. Still great, I just don’t use it anymore since I feel it’s outdated and loading speeds are better nowadays.
My nintendo DS lite. Played countless hours in it and it‘s still very good. Battery life is also still a couple of hours which is very impressive considering it‘s 15 years old.
My dslite sat untouched in a drawer for at least 4 years, booted straight up without me even having to charge it when I pulled it out. Amazing little device
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My wife did a cert class for data analytics and needed a work horse laptop. I bought her a used i7 Thinkpad from eBay.
It’s so damn fast… m2 drive 32 GB of ram it’s literally only limited in speed by the user input.
Just an amazing deal for $450
Edit it was a t14 gen 2.
I just got mine a few weeks ago and it’s so impressive. I bought it used for $150 and I can tell I’ll be using this for years.
I juuuust retired a t420s recently… off lease computers are absolutely the way to go for buying new to you laptops.
Toss in a SSD and a Linux distro… and you’re good for 6-8 years imho
whats the interior of your wallet like. I like them but the interiors have been plastic and eventually break.
You can buy replacement wallet windows pretty cheaply if yours have deteriorated.
no the alumawalletesqe things have basically a plastic accordian inside. Thats what dies and its all one sorta unit. The one bej linked looks like it would not have an issue being it is a sort of card clip almost.
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thanks. thats a neat design. I have been using the aluma wallet style and the interior tearing has been a weakness. This looks nice.
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Where would I buy a cheap thinkpad?
ebay is a good source though more expensive, places like marketplace often have decent deals, check out electronics recyclers and wholesalers, if you have any. Those are generally good places to look.
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I love my poncho liner lol, it’s perfect for a hammock blanket. I think it was maybe $5.
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Trying to convince mine, she keeps buying these expensive cartridges that she ends up throwing out after a few times or they get left out and their little soap bars fuse to stuff. They suck.
Simple reusable tie wraps. I haven’t bought any in years because I can just undo and reuse.
steamdeck is proving worthwhile and I don’t usually splurge for things like that.
I’m still loving my iPod Classic. I got it a little Bluetooth dongle so I can listen via my hearing aids. I find iTunes beyond irritating though and am always looking for an alternative for adding music.
Back in the day, I installed Rockbox on mine. completely eliminated the need for additional management software, just drag&drop my music via a file explorer.
Oh man… I didn’t even think of flashing the old iPods I have. But now… I might seriously fix the one that I prepped for a SSD.
A shoehorn. It makes putting shoes on so much easier, and for just a couple of dollars. I’m perfectly capable of putting my shoes on without it, but I enjoy not having to.
A long full shoe horn marketed for old people so you don’t have to bend down just makes things so much more pleasent
I feel classy using it
I have one of those long shoehorns that let me put my shoes on without even leaning down. It makes me feel downright aristocratic. (And it’s metal too, no plastic for me!)
The gf made fun of me at first for using it, but now she does too, especially as she likes to take off her shoes without untying them. 😒
She brought home a metal one a while ago after our long plastice one broke, but this one already bent somehow. I keep bending it back, but it must be made of the cheapest metal possible because it keeps bending again. Still works, just looks stupid. I’ll have to ask for a quality one for Christmas. It does make me feel rather gentlemanly when I put on my work boots!
Ecco sells metal shoehorns that are a) cheapish b) nigh indestructible and c) long. It’s honestly surprising how massive those things are. Could club a burglar to death with one and not dent it.
I have one of those, shoes are on in seconds. My wife refuses to use it (various reasons) so she will struggle for a minute to get her feet in, walk down the apartment hallway still struggling, get to lobby and sit and fix the back of shoes. Maybe one day she will come around.
- couch cup holder
- crockpot
- rice-cooker
I got an instant pot and it has completely replaced the rice cooker (I really loved) because it flat out makes better rice and it does it faster. Outside of a rice cooker costing less, there was just no other reason to keep it around from that point on.
White rice just takes a 1 to 1 ratio of rice to water, then 4 minutes at high pressure cooking and a 15 minute slow release and it’s perfect. All in under 30 minutes total time.
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Got a set with a box cutter and a foldable knife a few years back for $7, haven’t really used the knife much but the box cutter has been used a ton. It’s really nice to just be able to replace the blade when it starts getting dull, and it has allowed me to use it for a lot of precision cutting for a lot of different projects, plus it’s really easy to fold or unfold so I don’t have to worry too much about cutting myself.
Skyrim for $3 on PS3. Best money I ever spent on a video game.
Never had the need of open it or clean it’s insides
its* insides
My steam deck. Mine is still less than a year old, but holy shit I’ve been using the fuck out of mine. Worth every penny.
Steam Deck was so good, it made me question if I should ever buy a $2000 gaming PC again.
I’m currently on Year 6 and was considering getting a new graphics card. Then Steamdeck came out and found I didn’t even need it, since I barely play games that require that level of power.
Oh and I’m currently playing Elden Ring right on my big screen TV with my Steamdeck and it looks great.
Ye. I still need an expensive PC for stuff like VR, 3d modeling and game dev, but it’s replaced my main PC for most games. Hell, I don’t even really need an expensive PC for the shooters I enjoy because most of them are either old or indie stuff that’d run on a $300 PoS from 10yrs ago. However, it’s definitely made me question the necessity of a gaming rig in this day and age. The convenience outweighs the visual downgrade by a long shot.
I do have a few things I wish the deck had, such as:
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The ability to define and bind touch-screen gestures (like binding a two-finger pinch gesture to the scroll wheel to zoom in). The touch screen is a bit useless outside of using the keyboard. It’d be nice if it had more utility.
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The ability to pick a cloud-storage provider to use for automatic 3rd-party game sync. It sucks that I can’t play a non-steam game on my deck and then resume on my desktop or vice versa.
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An AMD-compatible version of DLSS or a DLSS capable processor. FSR is great, but let’s be honest, DLSS is higher quality.
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The ability to suspend games to disk. Linux supposedly has this ability via CRIU, but they’d have to implement it. The ability to save-state like a console emulator would be sick.
However, I’ve been in love with my deck since I got it.
The ability to pick a cloud-storage provider to use for automatic 3rd-party game sync. It sucks that I can’t play a non-steam game on my deck and then resume on my desktop or vice versa.
Admittedly it’s a bit of manual tech fiddling involved, but you can accomplish this by using network shares and some careful scripting. For example, I’ve got both my desktop and steamdeck with a launch script configured in Lutris on both. The script symlinks a network share path to the appropriate save game location for each game before running the game. Granted you have to figure out where each game wants it’s save to be stored, but that’s not too difficult once you get used to it.
Fiddly and nerdy for sure, and not for the non technical, but it’s pretty nice, I’ve found! Would be even better if there was some more automated solution though.
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There are so, so, so many good games that are still fun to play today. Why do people subject themselves into the whims of companies such as Bethseda, EA, etc?
I have a switch is it still worth it to pick up steam deck? Tbf I don’t really use the switch all that often mainly game on pc
It’s definitely worth it. Since you game on PC, you already have a library of games for it, and steam sales frequently let you get games for pennies on the dollar.
Absolutely. The Steam Deck is a gaming PC, but handheld. The iGPU in the Deck is approximately equivilent to an RX 580, for reference.
Yes. Barely touch my switch, use my steam deck all the time. For me it’s the library that makes the difference. Switch is just the switch library, while the steam deck can play just about anything a PC can play + just about any emulatable consoles (including the switch). I’ve actually been slowly downloading ROM versions of my switch games so I can play them on my steam deck. It sucks not to have the online capability or being unable to sync my saves with my switch, but meh.
I barely got much usage out of my switch but the Steam Deck has been well worth it. I like the customizability, ability to emulate, bulkier build that feels more like holding an actual controller, and larger game library. I love playing rogue-likes on it like Hades, Slay the Spire, and Balatro. Really good combination for quick pick up and play sessions.
I don’t use mine a ton because I have a good gaming PC at home, but when I’m out for a while, I take it with me. It’s taken the place that my Switch and my laptop used to occupy, and I’ve barely touched either of those since I got my Deck.
Definitely don’t regret the purchase.
I’ve found myself using my deck way more than my PC. I’ve barely touched my PC since I got my deck because it can run most of the games I want to play, either natively or via proton/wine. Granted, most of the games I’ve been playing recently are either slow-paced and can be played with the deck controller (like The Sims 2, or OpenRCT2), or are better on a controller than m/kb (like animal crossing or mario).
I definitely still have things I still need my PC for, either because they won’t run on my deck (VR stuff), are difficult to play on a deck (mainly shooters), are more suited for a physical keyboard (filling out forms), or the deck can technically handle but doesn’t have performance to do it well (like 3d modeling or game dev). However, my deck has become my main PC when it comes to games.
I definitely prefer to play on a bigger screen.
Can you connect a steam deck to an external screen? (Genuine question.)
With a USB-C to hdmi adapter or a dock, you can.
I have a good gaming PC in my living room. Still I find myself on the couch with my steam deck very often.
Minecraft
I wish Minecraft had an in game play counter… Well… I mean I’m glad it doesn’t but I kind of wish it did. I’ve been playing since 2011 or so…
I probably have more than a year in actual game time… lol
They have scoreboards you can program in. Made a jump counter once and proceeded to gawk at the number of times I jumped in game after a year or so.
Prism has a counter for total time you’ve had Minecraft running.
I don’t remember the program but there is a script you can download that calculates it for you
i easily have somewhere between 5000 hours, and 10000 hours in minecraft to this day.
What an incredible game.
in terms of play time, i have a server that i have a little over a month of playtime on. I have several launcher instances with well over 500 hours of playtime, and i’ve been playing semi regularly since i’ve originally owned the game. So safe to say, damn good investment.
Safety razor: When you need to shave with a razor, these things work better than disposables and are cheap as hell to replace the blades for. Still on my original pack of blades from 10 years ago (got a gross of blades for maybe $20) and am not even halfway through - I might not ever have to buy blades again.
Can’t remember when I bought my de razor, but it was old even then. And it’s the quick and convenient trapdoor type. I rinse and flip the blade after each shave as it only takes a few seconds. It even came with a travel case. Flea market price range, I think, well under 10€.
I have a big stack of blades I ordered from somewhere as well and they’ll last a while.
If you don’t already do this, drying off your blades can make them last even longer.
This was such an improvement bit only are the blades better but since they are cents each and not dollars I just get a fresh blade when ever it want to. Bought a pack of 100 for like 6 dollars a few years back and only recently had to restock.
Use some of the savings to get a nice brush and soap it will make a world or difference over the stuff in a can.
Yeah, I’m still on my original brush too lol
100% this. Went all in and bought a really nice open comb handle to go with it, then stopped shaving completely a year or so later. Haven’t looked back.
E: I really did enjoy shaving with it, just got tired of shaving.
Came to mention Safety razors. I bought a £30 razor and 100 blades for £7 11 years ago. I’m about 2/3rds the way through the blades.
This. I bought 500 feather blades for $40 (which is more of a steal than a deal) in 2013 and they will last me many more years
I have probably tried 3 dozen blade types, and Feathers and Gillette Yellows are the tops. Double the price of the cheaper ones, but absolutely a nice “splurge.” Decided to grow out my hair and beard for a while to mix things up, but I still have a big grab bag of blades for when I change moods again.
Even at double the price you still end up paying under $0.10 per shave - maybe $25/year - and that’s if you pay full price. A small fraction of what you’d pay for cartridges or disposable razors.
A 100pack of astra blades… they just keep going and going! I suspect that they multiply inside that box tower that they come in!
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Bought a cheap 5€ safety razor some years back and liked it. I kept cutting my face, but I thought I’m just too stupid to shave.
Bought a 20€ razor later on. Turns out I’m not stupid, the 5€ one was just bad.
Not necessarily bad, but different razors are more or less aggressive and need to be used differently. I bought a second safety razor that was more expensive and higher quality than the first and discovered it has a much more aggressive edge so cuts me a lot easier.
yeah I am not sure if I will ever run through my blades and I got them free to boot from my brother who moved over to straight razors.