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 Still great, I just don’t use it anymore since I feel it’s outdated and loading speeds are better nowadays.
Skyrim for $3 on PS3. Best money I ever spent on a video game.
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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
I don’t remember the program but there is a script you can download that calculates it for you
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.
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.
Prism has a counter for total time you’ve had Minecraft running.
I bought a straw hat for a dollar at a yard sale as I walked past during my job delivering packages
Coming in second is a goofy novelty cane I got from a dollar store and used for a while for a leg injury
Third is a box fan for 20.
Stackable prep bowls for the kitchen. They’re about $6 a piece and I have eight of them. I got sick of constantly running out of bowls when I was doing things like chopping lots of veggies for a soup or marinating tofu. I expect to reach the end of my “usefulness” before they do.
Similarly, I have a set of 12 rounded stacking mixing bowls. I use them a lot for tossed salads, but they are also useful for dough.
I don’t know why, but I read “stackable” and my brain went to “collapsible”. Was flabbergasted anyone was trying to mix dough in a rubber flimsy container lol. +1 for the stainless steel. All of the non-stick coating pans and pots are a complete scam of wasted money. If anyone out there hasn’t purchased stainless steel, just buy one pot or pan when you need a replacement. You’ll quickly realize you now have that item for life and it’s safe to use any cooking utensil you want.
When I first moved into my own place I needed a few pots and pans to cook. I bought 2 cheap aluminum pots with a non-stick coating and the coating is starting to disintegrate after like 3 years and light usage.
I should have just spent the extra 10 bucks to get cheap stainless stuff.
If the coating is starting to flake you need to stop using them. You’re really not supposed to eat that coating.
I have really fallen in love with my carbon steel skillet for general purpose cooking, including more delicate food like eggs. It took some time to get the hang of cooking with it and I still haven’t quite gotten the seasoning right, but it’s a sturdy piece. I also have a cast iron skillet, but it’s much heavier and I’ve never been able to get it to cook eggs. Since I started using the carbon steel for eggs, I have basically stopped using our non-stick pan.
I actively use a couple of appliances with a nonstick interior, an air fryer and a rice cooker. I just try to treat them very nicely but I know they won’t last forever. At least the parts are trays or liners that can be replaced separately from the appliance.
I also have a very nice 3 ply stainless steel pan, but I find that I don’t pull that out as much. Maybe because I’m usually not making the sorts of recipes that it excels with, like ones that use the fond to make a pan sauce.
My father got a toaster at a garage sale back in the 1970’s. That was the toaster I grew up with. When I was moving out, my parents happen to be replacing it, so I asked for it. I did some research and it is a GE toaster from the mid 1950’s. I have used it for the past ten years and it’s still going strong. It’s maybe a bit small for some slices, but it’s hard to argue with 70 years of near continuous service.
This reminds me that every night I set the alarm on the alarm clock next to my bed. I bought this alarm clock in 1991 in a Caldor store for less than $10. It has a little light bulb in it that I’ve changed 3 times.
33 years. Not bad.
My first Chromecast i bought years ago for 20$. It’s still faster than the Google TV with a remote and I quite like to use my phone as a remote.
LTT screwdriver - although quite expensive has been a great tool when moving a few times, and for everything really.
An old receiver I got used, for 30$ has been with me for 5 years now, and it’s sadly starting to misbehave, but I can’t afford a new one ATM so I’ll suffer through it as it powers everything I throw at it with ease.
I’m 41. As a college going-away gift I suppose, my dad bought me a basic screwdriver where the bits can be flipped for larger and smaller Phillips and flat heads, all stored in the shaft. It’s got a floral handle. That thing is both my husband’s and my favorite screwdriver despite having acquired many more tools in the interim, and it probably cost four bucks back in 2001.
I finally got one of these after using my normal bit-swap screwdriver with no ratcheting about a month ago and I’ll never go back
Bonus: craftsman make one that will ratchet the same way no matter what way you twist it. Just hold the ring and twist, screw goes in. It is amazing
I ordered my first Chromecast the day they were announced (Amazon exclusive at first BTW).
It was a different time with Amazon. They got confused in the rush or orders, and sent me like 7 emails in 20 minutes all contradicting each other about my order. I was mostly curious when it would arrive, so I called to see if they had any idea, since them emails ranged between 2 weeks and 4 months.
They apologized for the confusion, overnighted one to me, and refunded my money.
Amazon’s customer service 11 years ago was excellent to the point of irresponsible.
I love my version 1 Chromecast! I feel like the “cast to TV” feature that’s built into TVs is hit and miss. And I swear my TV objects it’s own ads into things I stream.
Where my Chromecast, it displays my desktop/tab without any issues.
My Logitech G203 is still alive after 8 years of constant use. Never tried to fix, but it autorepaired itself of double click (both buttons) , miss click and bad contact. At this point I am afraid of opening it to clean inside and it just cease to exist, I still clean outside tho.
Interesting that your double click fixed itself. Maybe it was just a bad case of lint or some dust inside your mouse?
I think all the double clicks i had to fix involved resoldering
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.
Ooo I haven’t thought of Rockbox in a long while!
I still have my SanDisk mp3 player for audiobooks. It feels more straightforward to use for that purpose and the battery lasts for like 3 days of listening and is lighter than my phone.
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 started using one because the back would always wear out (heel counter, I think it’s called) so the shoe horn has reduced that to nothing. Now the shoes wear out first, so I’m sure I’ve saved the cost of a couple pairs of shoes by now.
Plus I feel classy using it 😆
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!)
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.
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.
Nice, that meets my requirements!
Rei tent I got for 50$ at their parking lot sale. I’ve used it 4 or 5 times a year for 7 or 8 years now and still in great shape.
I got a kite from REI’s returns sale. The people before me didn’t like the color. I have enjoyed that kite for almost 20 years.
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.
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
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.
Absolutely. The Steam Deck is a gaming PC, but handheld. The iGPU in the Deck is approximately equivilent to an RX 580, for reference.
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.
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.
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 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.
Sleeping masks. They are so underrated fr
Especially with migraines.
Hair clippers. I bought a set at Target for about $30 about 16-17 years ago after several bad haircuts in a row from the various chain barbers. I just have a simple men’s cut and figured I probably wouldn’t do worse than them and could always shave it off and call it a learning experience if I messed things up too badly.
It definitely took time to get decent at trimming the back and I had to have my wife help me sometimes while I got the hang of it, but at $20+ per haircut every 4-5 weeks, I figure I’ve saved almost $4k so far and it still works. I saved even more if my alternative was to pay up for a better salon to do the work.
When i was in senior year of hs i realized that clippers cost the same as a single haircut. Bought a set and have been cutting my hair ever since.
Any chance they are Conair?
I have the Wahl MC3 color-coded set. Apparently they still make the same model and for just a little bit more than I paid for it (on Amazon).
Nice. I had a some Conair clippers that l bought for $20, worked great, and it lasted 18 years before it died.
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.
