The 'Look What the Postman Brought Me' Thread - Technology Edition

[Alan]

Bought a new mantaforce ship

[Medicine Man]

Mantaforce!

[Raid]

So I thought it was time for some new desk peripherals. I mentioned in another thread that I'd fallen out a bit with my Corsair K65 tenkeyless keyboard; I wanted a numpad, and the thick cable both looked awful and really got in the way when I was using midi peripherals. I've always preferred wireless peripherals, but the last time I was in the market for a keyboard there didn't seem to be any good options with RGB capability (which I like to have for easily recognising keys when I'm looking through the nosegap in my VR headset). The only mechanical one I could find with fully programmable RGB while in wireless mode was the Logitech G915 (others revert to manufacturer presets for their lighting when operating wirelessly). I went for the "tactile" keyswitches (there's a choice of three options for this board), primarily because I forgot to hit "clicky" when I ordered it from Amazon. I did at first think I'd have to send it back, but after a few moments acclimatising to it, I actually really like the feel of the keys, and I'm immediately more accurate with it than I was with the Corsair. I think the flat keytops help; with the Corsair my fingers were always catching on the adjacent keys as they all had a raised edge that my fingernails caught. Also, this thing is incredibly low profile; it's about 2cm deep from the base of the board to the top of the keycaps when not using the legs, meaning I don't need a wrist rest.

I also swapped my much-loved G502 Proteus Spectrum with the G502 Lightspeed. Man, you don't realise how much the feel of your mouse changes over several years of ownership; this new one glides like a dream, and the scroll wheel is so much smoother. Despite now containing a battery, it's actually marginally lighter than the wired version, and now I don't have to get annoyed with the horrible braided cable catching on everything. I really don't understand the love for braided cables; they kink easily, they pick up dust and they drag on any raised surface. I do want to ditch the silly Corsair RGB mousemat, which I don't even have plugged in these days (the LEDs occasionally failed to turn off when my PC did, so I eventually got fed up and just unplugged it).

And lastly if you look at the top of the monitor, you'll see a BenQ Screenbar Plus, a really nicely designed desk lighting solution to save my poor eyes. I've been using the two desk lamps (which have Hue bulbs) you'll see at either side as my sole desk lighting for a few years now, and I can feel the eyestrain after a few hours. This thing is expensive (£120), but I think you're paying for the really solid design of the thing. Firstly the LEDs in it are oriented in the bar in such a way that it casts no light onto the actual screen surface, so there's zero glare. Secondly it can be adjusted to different light temperatures which is important if you're trying to say edit photos. Lastly the remote you'll see under the monitor on the left has a light sensor so it can read the ambient lighting in the room and adjust both the brightness and temperature of the LEDs accordingly. It's a little excessive on the white desk I have at the moment, but I'm planning on buying a darker wood desk when I move into my new place.

Well, that's my annual work bonus all spent.

[Rusty]

Noice. I'm now googling all of the things.
I'm also envious of a nice deep desk too. Mine's no slouch but yours is just that wee bit wider.

[Raid]

I wouldn't really recommend the desk itself. It's an Ikea Klimpen 150x75cm (which I don't think they sell any more). If you manage to chip the very thin veneer and then later wipe it down with water, the water seeps into the chipboard making it expand and taking more of the veneer with it, and then you've got a hole that gets bigger every time you wipe it. I'm currently thinking I'll be replacing it with an Ikea surface that's actually part of their kitchen worktop range so it'll be more hard wearing, atop a motorised standing desk.

But yeah, I've always liked having a big desk. I'm not sure it'll be totally necessary when I have my own place, given that I'll have more places I can stick the assorted display models I own (currently almost all of my stuff is crammed into one room).

[Alan]

My good lady is a terribly light sleeper and living in the city it can get noisy early. Solution, I bought her a pair of Bose Sleepbuds II and my goodnes I'm impressed with the presentation and the build. The sliding mechanism of the case is so satisfying to glide back and forward and the magnetic snap of the buds the buds right in is great. I mean, theyre bloody expensive so I would think they should be all these things but its not always the case. The buds themself are so comfy that I'm thinking my next buds might be the in ear QCs which I always thought were canalphones but I think they are just buds with a soft funnel like the Sleepbuds are.



What are they you ask? In ear ambient noise machines really. They can playback a number of different sounds designed to mask background noise and also be relaxing. They cant playback any music because theyre designed for maximum battery life so the sounds get loaded into them and while its controlled by your phone (thought can be used phoneless) the audio isnt being streamed from your phone. The little things are a fraction of the size of Airpods and where Airpods would get around 5 hours you get over 10 with the sleepbuds which is pretty impressive. They are *tiny* so much so I couldnt really feel them lying on my side. Its niche but for doing what they say on the tin I cant fault them so far.

[Tommy]

So I thought it was time for some new desk peripherals. I mentioned in another thread that I'd fallen out a bit with my Corsair K65 tenkeyless keyboard; I wanted a numpad, and the thick cable both looked awful and really got in the way when I was using midi peripherals. I've always preferred wireless peripherals, but the last time I was in the market for a keyboard there didn't seem to be any good options with RGB capability (which I like to have for easily recognising keys when I'm looking through the nosegap in my VR headset). The only mechanical one I could find with fully programmable RGB while in wireless mode was the Logitech G915 (others revert to manufacturer presets for their lighting when operating wirelessly). I went for the "tactile" keyswitches (there's a choice of three options for this board), primarily because I forgot to hit "clicky" when I ordered it from Amazon. I did at first think I'd have to send it back, but after a few moments acclimatising to it, I actually really like the feel of the keys, and I'm immediately more accurate with it than I was with the Corsair. I think the flat keytops help; with the Corsair my fingers were always catching on the adjacent keys as they all had a raised edge that my fingernails caught. Also, this thing is incredibly low profile; it's about 2cm deep from the base of the board to the top of the keycaps when not using the legs, meaning I don't need a wrist rest.

I also swapped my much-loved G502 Proteus Spectrum with the G502 Lightspeed. Man, you don't realise how much the feel of your mouse changes over several years of ownership; this new one glides like a dream, and the scroll wheel is so much smoother. Despite now containing a battery, it's actually marginally lighter than the wired version, and now I don't have to get annoyed with the horrible braided cable catching on everything. I really don't understand the love for braided cables; they kink easily, they pick up dust and they drag on any raised surface. I do want to ditch the silly Corsair RGB mousemat, which I don't even have plugged in these days (the LEDs occasionally failed to turn off when my PC did, so I eventually got fed up and just unplugged it).

And lastly if you look at the top of the monitor, you'll see a BenQ Screenbar Plus, a really nicely designed desk lighting solution to save my poor eyes. I've been using the two desk lamps (which have Hue bulbs) you'll see at either side as my sole desk lighting for a few years now, and I can feel the eyestrain after a few hours. This thing is expensive (£120), but I think you're paying for the really solid design of the thing. Firstly the LEDs in it are oriented in the bar in such a way that it casts no light onto the actual screen surface, so there's zero glare. Secondly it can be adjusted to different light temperatures which is important if you're trying to say edit photos. Lastly the remote you'll see under the monitor on the left has a light sensor so it can read the ambient lighting in the room and adjust both the brightness and temperature of the LEDs accordingly. It's a little excessive on the white desk I have at the moment, but I'm planning on buying a darker wood desk when I move into my new place.

Well, that's my annual work bonus all spent.

Two questions:

1) Why is your mousepad plugged in?
2) How long has that controller on the far right been there? That is a thick layer of dust...

[Drarok]

Wireless mouse that charges from its plugged-in pad, I bet.

[Raid]

Nope. The mousemat was not plugged in in that photo. It's a Corsair MM800C; it's just a hard mouse pad with RGB lighting around the outside. It's a stupid thing I bought several years back when I found one dirt cheap. I have since replaced it with a giant mouse pad because I remembered that I hate wires and having to move desk objects around when I want to use my Seaboard.



The controller is my Switch Pro Controller. I don't think I've played a game on the Switch in over a year, not since I started using XBox Gamepass and started getting the majority of my games for basically free.

[Tommy]

Nope. The mousemat was not plugged in in that photo. It's a Corsair MM800C; it's just a hard mouse pad with RGB lighting around the outside. It's a stupid thing I bought several years back when I found one dirt cheap. I have since replaced it with a giant mouse pad because I remembered that I hate wires and having to move desk objects around when I want to use my Seaboard.



The controller is my Switch Pro Controller. I don't think I've played a game on the Switch in over a year, not since I started using XBox Gamepass and started getting the majority of my games for basically free.

That setup looks class now.

[Rusty]

Actually, the more I look, the more I'm loving that downlighter.... goes off to google it

[Raid]

I absolutely love the thing; the eye strain I had been having is pretty much gone entirely, and as I have it running off of the USB hub in my monitor, when the monitor goes to sleep it turns off, so it's entirely automatic. When it switches on it automatically goes into the same settings as it was in when it was last used, so it does its light sensor calibration and adjusts the intensity and temperature of the light to match the room conditions.

It seems quite expensive (£120) for what it is, but it's really well made and thought out, and I can't recommend it enough.

[Alan]

Woo! I always thought I was perfectly happy with my old 1080 set but I have to admit, this is very nice!

Daft scientific comparison

Spoiler

[Alan]

Honeymoon is over. Man how can a telly from 2020 be less compatible with video formats than my 10 year old telly from the same manufacturer. Add to that the complete lack of media player apps on Tenzen (award winning my arse!). Then I thought I'll use XBox Series for that then and turns out XBox basically doesnt support HDMI-cec in any meaningful way at all. How can a console that has its roots in being an all in one TV device not support cec when Sony has been doing it since PS3 and even Nintendo are doing it? Yes I can use the controller but when the better half wants to watch some old movies she doesnt really want to start pissing about with a controller.

So I guess I now need to either re-encode all the video files or buy a Shield

Lam0rsk8z.


Its all rips of golden age and earlier movies thats not on streaming platforms. There really needs to be a streaming platform for oldies.



I mean.... other that that its still pretty good

[Raid]

I find Microsoft's lack of CEC infuriating too. My Switch can turn the TV on, change it to the correct input and then turn it off again once I turn the console off. Microsoft's far more powerful console should be able to do at least the same sort of thing.