What's the latest gadget or tech that you regret buying?
What's the latest gadget or tech that you regret buying?
I honestly regret buying my gaming laptop. I barely use it since I don't have space in my room, so I need to attach it to the TV, every time I need to use, move my series X and unplug it... And I need a wired controller. Then, there's always a pesky update, drivers, stuff... When I'm playing on my X I don't have to worry about any of that, is more of a hassle to use (the laptop).
Ngl I basically bought it because I wanted to play Spiderman and other not available games on Xbox but even like that the regret is there.
I regret ever buying an Arlo home security camera system. Neat idea, poor execution. And fuck subscriptions. I took it all down. I don't miss having creepy-looking cameras in my yard / house. Only put it up because of some very sketchy neighbors we had. And they have gone to prison, so, don't need them any longer.
Glad you mentioned the gaming laptop. I've been thinking about getting one but keep talking myself out of it.
I got a handheld steam cleaner about a year ago, used it a handful of times, and now it takes up space in the cabinet. It did work fantastically on a spot I’d never been able to scrub out, but I wish I’d rented one instead. Fortunately it also got recalled recently (because it can burn people, which sounds like a skill issue but whatever), so I can still get a refund.
My Flipper Zero. I can force myself to use it and I actually do use the 125khz emulation. But thats it. I feel like I'm wasting it by not hacking with it.
As a side note your gaming laptop wouldnt need to update all the time if it was left on to update. Gaming laptops IMO always suck and desktops are better.
Very happy with all my recent purchases.
But I did attempt to upgrade my phone a while back. But once I got it, it felt too big and was uncomfortable to hold and put in my pocket. Also the migration assistant didn't work and I had to setup everything manually. I stop halfway through and just kept using my old phone. Eventually my brother broke his phone so I just gave it to him.
I also regret buying a suped-up laptop, big waste of money! But the latest regret is probably the Manscaped Lawn Mower 5.0 electric clippers. For your balls. Idk maybe I'll have to read/work with it more, but it doesn't seem to cut the hair so much as it tugs & pulls the hair. Which is every bit as delightful as it sounds.
Honorary mention, the Fugoo Tough XL Speaker....amazing, booming sound quality in a small package. Expensive. Then that battery life eventually drops like a stone & it's not good for much.
A smart TV.
It was one of the cheapest options for the size I wanted at my local Walmart. I never wanted a smart TV but couldn't beat the price.
The amount of issues I've had because it's designed as more of a streaming platform than a TV is infuriating. The constant updates. Ads. The fact that there are no buttons on the TV so if you lose the remote you're fucked.
It's honestly a pain in the ass I just want a normal TV dammit.
My switch. It’s been nice and all but my mail account got hacked and some people took all my gaming accounts. All of which I got back except for Minecraft(Microsoft) and Nintendo. And now it’s just a brick. Can’t do shit without the account, you even have to pass like 4 menus trying to get you to log in, when trying to play a game off of a cartridge. I haven’t even gotten an answer from their support except for their stupid automated system.
Same. I bought it when WiFi 6 first came out and had it customized with the faster WiFi, and I loaded up on memory and Windows Pro so I could run VMs. But hyper-v couldn’t handle the networking so VMs never got the fast network, and was generally enough hassle that VMs never went anywhere. Then even new the battery only lasted an hour. So if I use it to game, I need to start with hours of updates, it’s not even portable: wired power, wired controller, wired headset. wtf?
Who even has time for gaming? I game like once a month, plus use the laptop for TurboTax once a year. Why do I even have it? Why am I still suffering with Windows?
Instead of that frustrating detour with Hyper-V, I should have spent the time building out my Raspberry Pi cluster and set up a server
I got a Lenovo Thinkpad detachable thinking it would have good Linux support. My hope was to make it my new general purpose laptop, like my old Surface was before it broke.
But I bought it online, and didn't realize how small the screen and keyboard would actually be. And the volume keys don't work in Linux, so I can't use it as a tablet.
Bad idea to buy a gaming laptop when you already had a Series X. I upgraded from my Xbox One to a laptop instead since it was only about $300 more for a quality laptop. I know the "but a desktop is better!!!" line, but I do not have the space for a desktop + monitor.
Also, why do you think you need a wired controller? I currently use a wired-only 3rd party Xbox controller because I hate batteries but in the past I could use my normal Xbox controller wirelessly just fine.
Victron IP67 120vac 25a 12v charger. Piece of shit engineering, absolute crap heat dissipation, PITA return/exchange.
I burned through 3 in four years, even after modding with a 120mm fan, all within the warranty window (s). Went out of pocket above the return and bought a charger with a build for airflow and an actual fan (IP22 30a).
For my DC - DC charger I'm going to go with another manufacturer after finding out the new models are sealed like the IP67 and they get even hotter.
Bullshit that people have to mod what is considered a premium product to keep them from cooking themselves.
Not really what you were asking for but you can probably just get a really long HDMI cord or something. I'm guessing they sell HDMI switch's that would make it painless even if your tv only has one port.
Not my latest, but I have a General International Excalibur scroll saw with about 45 minutes of run time in its life, so that was a great investment.
Not a true regret, but I probably could have waited to get a Meta Quest 2 rig.
I really enjoy VR, there just isn't a ton of good content available for it yet. I own about 10 games but find myself doing the free stuff on Meta (like concerts and mini-games) more than anything else.
Sonos speakers. They work well for streaming except not from YouTube, I don't have Spotify premium, most of my music is local and Sonos and Linux is not a good combination. I'm not a fan of the Windows application either, but at least that works.
I haven't bought nearly any tech in almost 3 years (aside from a new Xbox controller), but I did used to use a gaming laptop and might have some advice for future (this is likely unwelcome so feel free to ignore it, but I can see my own complaints about it in your post). This got a lot more ramble-y than I expected, so feel free to completely ignore this.
In general, I believe that gaming laptops are just a marketing scam. Yeah, they can likely play some larger games better than your average laptop, but probably not by much. They also produce much more heat than a normal laptop, and are often I'll equipped to handle the increased temperatures (my laptop died because it was so frequently at max temperature that it melted some of the cables connecting to the battery).
You sound like you're happy with your series X, which I'm glad to hear. And while there are ways to prevent the "needing to unplug the series x" issue, most cost money or don't save that much time. If you were going to replace your laptop in the future, I'd recommend one of three things:
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Get a normal laptop, not a gaming one. I'm currently using a Thinkpad with a good CPU in it, and it will play my smaller games with no problems (mainly Dwarf Fortress and Stardew Valley atm). But, because it's not a gaming laptop, it's battery life is excellent and it's a lot easier to move around, allowing me to use it for general productivity too.
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Get a decent quality desktop. This one is a little more... dedicated? Like, a laptop can be easily converted to other use cases (i.e. Your gaming laptop can go from a stationary pseudo-console to a work/school daily driver if it stops playing games) whereas a desktop has to stay in one place (meaning your "gaming desk" can become your "office", but its not as likely to move). But, if you find yourself gaming more on the laptop but annoyed with the set up, a dedicated gaming desktop can provide a more "permanent" option.
As I mentioned, this one would require more thought to be sure it's the right choice, because a $500 console will be roughly equivalent to a $1000 PC (if it is built by you/a friend) but on the other hand my $3000 PC that I built in 2017 is still running modern AAA games at a decent framerate. This may be a solution for you, but it just as easily could solve absolutely none of your problems.
- Get a steamdeck [DISCLAIMER: I have never used one]. If you're only using the laptop for games and nothing else, a steamdeck could be an alternative. It'd be more price accessible than either a new laptop or desktop, and is designed with game compatibility in mind (though there are some games that are not compatible). It appears to support Bluetooth controller connections, and a quick google search shows that it can be connected to your TV if the "large screen gaming" is a must for you.
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