QOTW: What's your best tech purchase in the last 20 years?

[HEXUS]

Coinciding with HEXUS turning 20.

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[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

A GPS tracker for the Moose.

[Ttaskmaster]

Withdrawn

[3dcandy]

Ooooh difficult! But probably my Dell Powerconnect 2708 that is still in use now. And cost me 99p from fleabay because the guy mistyped the listing...

[mtyson]

Intel i7-4790T: sips power but has the threadz when you need em,
Samsung ML-1210: been through so many toner carts, still ticking along with no fuss for my mono document prints,
Toyota Prius: Now at 153,000 miles, only major repair was some worn out wheel bearings 3 years ago, just passed MoT again with no advisories, still doing 55mpg on average.

[Ferral]

Crikey, I was a mod here before the wipe in 2003 named Grendel, probably be around 17 year or so thinking on it now!!!

As for tech purchases my Athlon 64 from around 2003 is still in use on a little unknown motherboard brand who are even bigger now...ASRock!!! This machine is now used alongside another with a 2007 Socket 939 setup for writing floppy discs with them having internal drives, writing stuff for Atari ST and also hooking my parallel cable up to my Commodore 1540 disc drive to write C64 discs.

[outwar6010]

This fan https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01FJSJ2QK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[DanceswithUnix]

Series 1 TiVo.

Bought in early 2000, recently died from power supply failure.

[Iota]

My Sony dual alarm clock. Saved me sleeping in past the alarm going off by having that second alarm set 10 mins later (also makes it feel like I've had a bit of a lay in). Not been late for work since having it.

[this_is_gav]

The one that springs to mind is a Dell 2405FPW monitor. It was a massive upgrade over the highly-regarded LG Flatron CRT it replaced.

It broke a few years later, but Dell replaced it out of warranty with a 2407FPW and it's still going strong (was used most days until last summer - now it's a spare). Got a 2408WFP-HC as a second screen now (still a very good screen) alongside my main Viewsonic VP2770-LED.


Other than that the Celeron 300A. Obviously.

[johnroe]

T>The good thing about my '78 motorcycle, don't have to pay tax anymore, historic class.

Purchase most impressed by Marantz MCR610, beautiful design, and plays virtually any input or output. PC seems bullet proof(famous last words!), but I also appreciate simple things like Logitech G13 and Corsair gaming mouse

[Biscuit]

Difficult question, if I was to say the purchase which had the most impact, it would probably be my boss QC15 headphones.

I don't like Bose, I never have and I still don't, but when I was about to do a LOT of long haul flights, I stumped up the cash and bought them. The audio quality is decent, but coloured, but they are soooooo comfortable and the noise cancelling is excellent. They made many, many journeys that would have otherwise been rather uncomfortable, much more bearable.

There is a lot of purchases that have been good, but that's one I would do exactly the same, over and over and over again if given the chance.

[Myss_tree]

Panasonic TH-42PX60B plasma television (with stand), my first flat screen tv and its still going strong being used by my brother.
Q Acoustics 2020i speakers in gloss white. Made my own wall mounts and they look like they are floating.
Philips Imageo rechargeable lights.
Lithium Ion rechargeable cordless drills with 4ah+ batteries.
My first PC.
My first home built PC.
Sat Nav.

[this_is_gav]

[...] but I also appreciate simple things like Logitech G13 and Corsair gaming mouse

Nothing simple about a mouse, keyboard or controller (and monitor). These are the things you interact with more than anything else on a PC and should be the most carefully considered of all your components, but sadly they are often an after-thought behind the stuff in the case.

[Kanoe]

Logitech G15 rev 1 still using it at work. Love that keyboard. If they still made it would have bought another for home now.

[johnroe]

Nothing simple about a mouse, keyboard or controller (and monitor). These are the things you interact with more than anything else on a PC and should be the most carefully considered of all your components, but sadly they are often an after-thought behind the stuff in the case.

True. I suppose some items impress me for quality, but with accessories like mouse and gamepad it's about ergonomics. I can play for many hours without realising it, plus of course better game play. Good headphones as well.