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 Still great, I just don’t use it anymore since I feel it’s outdated and loading speeds are better nowadays.
Condom
This is the best money saver
I grew up in a third world country and one of the first gift my immigrant relatives got for my parents was a microwave oven. That was way back in the early 90s when almost nobody in my country knew what a microwave oven was. The same microwave had been going strong for more than 30 years before the buttons finally broke last year. All for around $200 back in the day.
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.
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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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
Absolutely. The Steam Deck is a gaming PC, but handheld. The iGPU in the Deck is approximately equivilent to an RX 580, for reference.
This smartphone I bought used for $20 almost a decade ago had been a pretty good deal… Other than that, a tea ball for loose leaf tea (couple dollars)… Maybe Minecraft back in day ($13)…
Also always glad to have a plunger (just regular one) whenever I need it. Hmm
Oh I know! A legit big flashlight that I keep by the door. Everyone has a light on their smartphone, but there’s nothing like busting out the flashlight when you just want to see.
Pro tip: always leave it in the same exact easy to reach spot, so you can find it in the dark
I have a pocket flashlight, the Acebeam Rider. The smartphone lights are handy, but they drain the battery. The flashlight has an AA-sized rechargeable battery, but it can also use regular AA batteries as a backup. That is important during an emergency, when power might be cut off but AA batteries are pretty common. It has 4 different levels. The top level is pretty bright for a pocket flashlight, while the ultra-low level has a hypothetical runtime of 58 hours. And it was fairly cheap, so if I drop it somewhere it is not as problematic as losing my expensive smartphone.
Our 10 to 15 year old 50" smasung LCD. Was top of the line back in the day, now its not 4k so that’s it.
Found it 3 years ago standing at our buildings garbage dump. Bought a google TV for it, and with my jellyfin setup it has been a blast as a bedroom TV
I replaced the backlight strips in mine last summer, and it’s still going strong.
We bought a Sony 720P LCD brand new 15 years ago. Our first tv together. It’s still our only tv and works just fine.
My old roommate got a window air conditioner for $20. I got about 15 years of use out of it until I had the windows replaced on the house and it didnt fit anymore. I sold it for $50.
Old AC’s and Fridges work forever. Probably horrible for the environment, but they work.
The best appliance for the environment is still the one you already have.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no
I sometimes wonder how much of the “power efficiency” modern appliance manufacturers trumpet is completely annulled by the fact that they have 30% the useful lifetime of their less efficient ancestors.
30%? You’re overestimating the lifetime of modern appliances.
The refrigerator my grandfather bought in the 1940s has outlived 7 others purchased later, and the old man himself. It’s still chugging along in the basement of their house, 80-some years after it was built.
And thousands of refrigerators bought in the 1940s have been in landfills since the 1950s.
Yeah, people also say how old cars were better than modern ones, but that’s only driven by the fact that all the broken ones are scrapped for a long time now. In fact, modern cars have much longer lifespans than the old rust buckets.
See “survivorship bias”
Thousands of refrigerators bought in 2022 are already in landfills.
So you’re trying to say here that frisges don’t last longer than a year now?
Bullshit
I’ve warrantied two fridges in their first year for failed VFDs. So, yes, I’ll say that quite a few don’t last a year. And I’d wager most of those 1940’s fridges were still working when they were discarded, just obsolete in 1950’s kitchens.
Only when they leak or get thrown out. If they’re still working they’re not leaking, but maybe drawing more power than needed.
The power draw of old refrigerators is like 5-10 times higher than a modern one.
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.
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.
My Zune will never die.
Possibly the only worthy iPod competitor in my opinion. I wish I had one.
My zune got stolen :'(
Sleeping masks. They are so underrated fr
Especially with migraines.
Your question is a little too narrow for my tastes. Some of the best cheap purchases that I’ve made are things that I still have now. They haven’t worn out or broken or become useless.
In 2001 I bought a new cast iron fry pan for $20 that I use on regular basis and it’s marvelous. Around the same time, I bought some used silverware from a thrift store and I still use that everyday.
Two other purchases that go back more than 20 years are my pocket knife and my 1/4 inch hex driver, both of which I bought new but were not particularly expensive and they are working wonderfully to this very day.
FWIW, we cleaned out one of the out buildings on my family’s rural property which was built in 1903. I found some rusty cast iron pans. Reconditioned them and use them all the time. They are at least 115 years old.
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 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.
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 bought a fancy US made spatula for my grill. They make a smaller cheaper one that I added on impulse. That little guy is a champ and gets 5x the use of the big fancy one.
The last apartment I had, the AC was old and would always go out a few times each summer. By the 3rd time, I went to the hardware store looking for a box fan, but they were out and only had an industrial fan that was more expensive, like $40. I bought it out of desperation. But looking back it’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. Any time the AC went out, id whip out that metal beast and only ever put it on the first setting because the other 2 settings were way too powerful for an apartment. It’s never given me any trouble over the years and has saved us from some very hot weather. If I had known then how good this fan was, I would have gladly paid more for it. It’s currently being used in our house while we do renovations this summer and it’s working like a charm!
industrial fan
we call those “shop fans” around here, they’re commonly used in shops, for the aforementioned cheap price, and pretty rugged construction.
What’s the specific fan? Brand, model? Thanks!
It was honestly some no name brand and I wasn’t able to find it on their site. But I did find this fan that’s almost exactly the same: Lowes High Velocity Fan
I bought a RoboGrip, self adjusting wrench, maybe 35 years ago a a Sears iirc. One of the best tools I ever brought and still going strong.
