I had been working for only a few months at my first job and it was the first time I could buy a desktop PC without very tight budget constraints. So I thought I’d look for a more midrange GPU for once. I wasn’t convinced it would be worth it but I said fuck it what’s the point of working and making money if I’m scared to spend it on something I want? So I bought an AMD Radeon 5700XT for ~400€ sometime around Christmas 2019. If you’ve been following PC hardware prices in the COVID era you know I’m extremely happy with my decision.
I bought Minecraft on an impulse. I’d heard people talking about it but didn’t know much. Looked it up, and it was going to enter Beta in twenty minutes. Bought it on the spot, installed it the next morning, have logged untold thousands of hours ever since.
I assume youve been exposed to the mod scene?
I played FTB in its glory days. Not sure what’s good now, but I miss Thaumcraft and Xycraft.
Any ole kitchen sink pack is great. “All The Mods” or “Enigmatica” are solid.
You should experience the Create mod specifically, it’s extremely high quality for a mc mod. I really like the Create focussed one called CABIN, but it can get a bit… factory like
Thaum and Xy were definitely fun.
No One Lives Forever
I bought it right after it was released and I don’t know why. I’d usually only pay full price for a game if I had obsessed for months over it. It ended up being a favourite game of mine.
A cheap Chinese bluetooth speaker. I bought it due to its great price without any specific idea how to utilize it. Years later I ended up in relatively cramped conditions without the hi-fi equipment I used previously, using this bluetooth speaker as my main audio device for long months.
I was in Hong Kong and after a glorious day sightseeing and walking around it suddenly started to thunder. Rain everywhere. No shelter in sight. People slipping down the stairs running through the streets. Cars splashing puddles everywhere. Bus and tram stops full of people trying to avoid the rain. I quickly ducked into a department store before I was fully soaked but thought, “fuck I have another twenty minutes walk to get back to the hotel”. So I looked around the store for a few minutes and found the accessory section where they keep the umbrellas. Perfect! This was going to be the best impulse buy of my life.
I picked up a designer leather belt that I had been searching years for online. There it was, right in front of me, at a decent price. So I bought it.
hong kong do be like that a lot of the time
The more affordable soundcore version of those Bose clip on ear headphones. I thought they looked cool when I saw one of my colleagues come into work with them so I ordered them that same day. I now have two pair, bought my girlfriend a pair, and can’t think of how I lived my life with headphones actually going into my ear lol.
Edit: *lived not loved lol gotta love autocorrect
can’t think of how I lived my life with headphones actually going into my ear lol
Do you mean that you find these more comfortable than traditional in-ear headphones?
Yeah lol super comfortable. Also no ear infections this fall/winter lol
I’m also prone to ear infections so I’ll have to try these out. I tend to use over-ear headphones 24/7 because of it but sometimes if I’m walking home at night I feel safer with in ears
These are awesome and let you still hear your surroundings. I highly recommend them.
I’m also prone to idiocy + walking into traffic so that’s great news
I have the jlab version and they’re comfortable enough, but they’re pinching the side of your ear so they do get uncomfortable after a while. I still prefer them to standard earbuds, but I’m also prone to ear infections so…
Keep in mind sound quality probably isn’t quite on par with similar priced earbuds, but they’re great for podcasts. +1 for these being a “glad I bought them” impulse buy.
Maybe I need to look into these, or something similar. I’ve tried all the earbuds: different sizes, compressible ones, stabilizing fins, “sport” designs, etc. Every single one falls out of my ears! Can’t even imagine what it’s like to just stick them in your ears for an extended period of time and not have to worry about them…
Yeah I get that. The clip type are pretty easy. I know the more expensive ones can be kind of wrapped over part of your ear which may be even better, these ones just go over your earlobe and they work for me but I could see how they could be too loose or tight for people
Look up bone conduction headphones. I think Shox is the main brand. I bought them since I ride a bike a lot so earbuds would mess with my situational awareness. You hear everything around you which is the best and worst part about them.
I’m not normally a junk food guy, but I bought these just because the color scheme appealed to me, and they were the best Cheetos I’ve ever had: Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Tangy Chili Fusion.
Steam deck. OLED. Linux. Not locked down to hell. Nuff said.
I am planning to buy a Deck when I can afford it. I’ve been a PC player all my life but this is going to be my way of supporting Valve for all the good things they have done for Linux gaming. I mostly play Paradox strategy games, so I’m not sure how that will work on the Deck without a mouse. But maybe Terraria and Stardew Valley might be playable using controller style keys.
Preach. I do couch gaming, so this machine is unbelievably nice.
What games can one actually play on such console. I mean it surely can’t run triple A games right?
I can play zero dawn on mine and boy did it make train rides tolerable.
Depends
https://steamdeck.com/en/verified
All these game will work swimmingly. Those marked playable will usually work perfectly fine out of the box, but maybe have an ugly launcher or something you need to use the touchscreen for. Those marked unplayable will have bugs but in my experience work fine too. There’s a more detailed less conservative compatibility db online too.
In terms of power it’s about between a PS4 and PS4 Pro, with a faster CPU, more RAM, slower GPU, but with a really fast NVMe SSD so games like CP2077 are very playable but not at the highest settings.
Gotta remember the Deck has a 7.4" 800p screen, so its not comparable to the horse power needed for a PC at 4K or something.
Most consoles end up around the same render res once you’ve accounted for checkerboarding, dynamic res and DLSS/FSR nonsense.
The deck also does shader pre-compilation and caching for games on steam so it often performs much better compared to a Windows PC with the same hardware for example.
Anything ray tracing is out of the question though as it uses AMD, not Nvidia.
I don’t play AAA games (nor know what new ones are there) - if you have a game in mind I could try it and report back?
The only game I tried that it really struggled with was NFS Unbound.
I was also able to do PS3 emulation on it, including Skate 3 and Motorstorm.
What LainTrain said. But you might find yourself playing less powerful games - emulators, Factorio, Hades, stardew, modded mc, etc…
I bought a Steam Deck with my first paycheck ever, and it was more expensive than my salary. Zero regrets.
arent you locked down to Steam now? ie the games you buy are only through steam
You can pirate on the deck. It’s like two extra steps compared to PC, but you can.
If you’re not a Linux weirdo there are subreddits and people have made it easy, though you do have to use desktop mode to download games afaik.
If you’re already a big linux weirdo, just ssh in and look at htop while playing any steam game in deck mode and figure out how the magic works yourself, trust me it’s a lot of fun and the thing is really nice to explore because it’s not locked down at all.
Nope. Runs Linux and there are launchers for pretty much all the other games stores. It’s just a significantly smoother process for things you have in Steam because of the work Valve has done on Linux compatibility.
A cat. In line at the pet store for kitty litter and saw a literal pile of kittens near the check out. Turns out that the local shelter was having an adoption day and my partner found a black cat that immediately nuzzled into her shoulder and the little kitten motor purred so loud it sounded like snoring. They bonded in that moment and have been best friends for the last 14 years.
I was really trying to rack my brain for this question but, you helped me.
Mine is a pet too. A dog. I have a Dalmatian and there was one up for adoption at a local shelter.
I went to meet him, and the shelter sort of pushed him into me right then. It was more expensive than it should have been also.
In the end, I’m glad I brought him home. My first dog loves to wrestle with him and the shelter ended up getting shut down for violations with the state. I’m so happy he got a good home with me and didn’t get sent to who knows where when the shelter closed.
Wow, glad it worked out! I’d say impulse buying a pet is usually not a good idea!
But I see you already had cats? (Or you wanted kitty litter for… something else?) And adopting a shelter pet… worst that happens is it goes back to the shelter I guess! So maybe not so risky in your situation.
We had one cat and didn’t expect a second but it was a conversation that we had started and expected that maybe the first cat was alone and sad when we left for work (in the long ago era of 2013, a pre pandemic life). Given that the shelter was locally well respected we took a look and, yeah, it’s risky but that’s the nature of impulse purchases!
A car. I was planning to buy a house but my old car annoyed me so much I bought a new one on the next day. Two weeks after, my team lead let me know that I was lucky I didn’t buy a house since the company was going under
That’s brutal. Did you get back on your feet?
Well this happened a month ago, the situation is still uncertain but I’m in a better situation than my coworkers. If I had bought a house I would be fucked though
I saw your comment just after the “A cat.” one, and did a double take!
Well I also impulsively got a cat and he is awesome, albeit a pooper
Girl I was dating liked Resident evil games. I bought a GameCube because 4 was an exclusive. It became my favourite game and console of all time.
Then I got put on anti anxiety meds that gave me awful insomnia, so id be playing games like Starfox Adventures all night.
A can of white lithium aerosol grease with a spray nozzle. Squeaky doors, drawers, and stuck locks can no longer hide!
Bedding. I stayed at a hotel in Baltimore earlier this year and I loved the pillows so much a bought a set as soon as i got home. They weren’t cheap and I didn’t need them. But wow my bed is so cozy and comfy now.
Alright hit me with the names
Damn we are all snuggle bugs
I have pictures in my phone (somewhere) of the tags for some bedding that I really enjoyed on a vacation once. Haven’t bought them yet, but I haven’t forgotten. ‘Snuggle bug’ is one of my favorite pastimes
Random african bag for $3
I was shopping for a new vacuum cleaner when a saw a portable carpet cleaner. Basically a vacuum with a precision nozel bolted to a water sprayer. It has been. Complete game danger for cleaning up the mess my cats would sometimes leave. Although it is still not as effective as the course of dewormer their vet prescribed.
