For me it has to be:
- Helix mattress ($1,217). Sleep is great.
- Home gym power cage & weights (~$1,000). Look good, feel good, get strong.
- Netgear Nighthawk AXE7800 ($339). No more random, annoying internet disconnects/slowness.
- Books ($0 @ library)
- “Ultralearning” - Scott Young (how to learn efficiently)
- “Enlightenment Now” - Steven Pinker (the world overall is improving)
- “The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing” - Taylor Larimore (how to invest)
- PS5 ($500). So many great games like witcher 3, god of war, spiderman.
I’m searching for some more deep value purchases. Give me what you’ve got.
Home, Education, Full 6" latex memory foam mattress, Quality sheets, Blackout Curtains, Thinkpad laptops (T series and X1 series; don’t game), WD red drives, VPN access (port forwarding; needed for hosting), FIOS (1gb asynchronous; no data cap; they don’t care), Brother laser printer/scanner, Email account on secure server (they take care of business)
Brother laser printers are fantastic and one of the only brands that doesn’t seem to constantly try to nickel and dime you all the time. The printers last ages too and you aren’t throwing them out once a year like HP crap.
It’s going to be a sad day when capitalism finally catches up with Brother, they get bought out and enshitified.
I’ve printed over 12,000 pages on my one brother laser printer! Only had to replace the drum once ($30); and I would buy my off brand toner in a 2 pack for $20! The other brother laser (scanner/fax/self-feeding) is currently at 6,000 pages! That one I’ve only had to replace the toner a few times. The most expensive thing is the paper but I have a deal with a few stores around here that I’ll buy their torn open reams for $1 each.
Yeah I had an HP and that mf would burn through a $40 cart in about 100 pages. Brother’s the boss.
I was actually looking into buying ThinkPads. Would you say they’re as good/maintainable/upgradeable as they used to be? Or is it better to get a MacBook and replace it after 5 or so years?
I’ve never been an native MacOS users except prior to their Intel and M1/2 series chips. X1 Carbons are just a thing of mine I like; they run linux and Windows just fine; however there is no way to upgrade things really. The T series Thinkpads are great as desktop replacements but are no MacBook replacements. I guess to sum up: if you are in the MacOS linage, stick with MacOS. If you are using Windows, then Thinkpads offer some of the best laptop experiences.
I’m actually on linux haha. I realize linux doesn’t have full support for MacBooks yet, and the Asahi project is working on it. But I’m not looking to use Windows at all.
I think I’ll wait for the next gen of both laptops to see what is better. If Apple releases an M3 chip that is considerably better than M2, and/or they add DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5 speed SSDs, it will probably be a no-brainer.
Absolutely! The M2 is already highly capable. An M3 w/ DDR5 and PCIe 5, in addition to their Retina display? Hell yeah! I just use my X1 Carbon as a thin client machine; it really doesn’t do any heavy lifting. No lag on Windows or Linux; but I prefer not to have to block all microsoft instances at the router.
I got a used t480 off of eBay a few weeks ago $150 and I highly recommend it. Super easy to open and upgrade. Got extra ram and a larger battery for less than $70 and it’ll last all day on battery power. I like it so much I’m about to order one for my son, who’s starting college.