What's the Last Bit of Tech You Bought?

Hmm, personally I’d probably advocate getting a pro to do it (I have zero DIY skills though).

I’d be thinking about how many £100’s worth of kit is going to live on the desk and wanting to have something that’s properly made!

I’ve been looking into doing just that for an odd shaped corner I have. Wanted something a bit more modular and adaptable.

What I’ve decided on [but not actually started] was to build a frame out of t-slot aluminium extrusion.

It makes it relatively modular, customisable and what not, and I can change it around later if I need to. It’s commonly used to make frames for things like CNC machines and what not.

Here’s a UK company that will cut to length which I found in my searching, and then you just get a slab of wood cut to length to sit on top. Their are plenty of online services that will do the latter too.

If I was doing it, I’d probably use birch ply cut to size, but you might be able to get off cuts from kitchen worktops to suit.

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I don’t have any DIY skills either or the tools to do it but the ready made frames look solid enough. So I’m thinking (weight dependent) that I can just sit the slab on top or I could handle a bit bolting to secure it.

That’s exactly what I want it for!

Thanks for the links too, I’ll have a proper look into it this evening.

Someone at work said to get kitchen units as that would sort all the storage for underneath too. I just don’t know how I feel having kitchen units in an office :smiley: I guess it depends on the style, so you’d never actually know so again I think I need to do some research… :thinking:

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Also this video on YouTube explains the concept a bit and has a plan you can adapt

The channel is… a little twee… at times… but it’s possibly the most well articulated version of this kind of desk build. And limit of diy if you get it pre-cut is working out some dimensions, and having a screwdriver / Allen key

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If you want a really simple desk just get B&Q to cut you a bit of worktop and get a couple of Alex drawers from IKEA. Done!

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Early days yet, but for what I need it for (filling the Photoshop-sized gap in my toolkit) it seems perfect. My uncle wanted some photos of his dad in WW2 scanned for his granddaughter, so I took the opportunity to use Affinity for the task. Worked brilliantly, was able to scan, process, touch-up and export in reasonably short order. Will have to learn a little more about how the advanced features work, but from reading reviews and watching YouTube videos, I’m expecting it to be of real benefit to my future workflow.

I don’t have any problem with the interface (never had any problem with Adobe either), but can’t say how it compares to Pixelmator as I’ve never used it.

Don’t have an iPad either, so can’t speak to that. All I can say is that if I did have an iPad, £10 is perhaps cheap enough to take a chance on it. Taking a bottle of wine out of my shopping budget would cover it.

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That has a lot of potential I like it! :open_mouth: I’d love to mount my monitors that way too - I have 6 and getting them all aligned is a pain but that looks dead simple.

However, then they started pulling out 800 clamps, heat guns and circular saws of which I have none :slightly_frowning_face:

Then, I think I’d want it wrapped somehow so you can’t see the extrusion stuff. I guess you could get little brackets that would allow you to pop on and off a board… :thinking:

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A white iPhone XR, purchased in April. Have to say, I’m really enjoying being back in the Appleverse! Very impressed with the phone, didn’t think it was worth paying the extra for the 11 when the XR has all the features I’d want. I’m very happy with it. :white_heart:

The next one will probably be an Apple Watch Series 5. :watch:

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Oooh, nice.

They look like loads of fun, the kind of thing I’d love to tinker about with. But sadly don’t think I’d make the investment worthwile!!

Last thing I bought - a 3D printer! Have been trying to learn 3D modelling / CAD basics during lockdown and ended up splurging on a printer.

So much fun!

Thanks a lot… its a lot of fun and taking quite a while to master which I am pleased about.

I’m not quite at this level yet!

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I bought a travel kettle for my room so I can make pour over coffee without having to go downstairs.

Best £14 I ever spent

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HomePod … arrived today!

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Not sure if it counts as ‘tech’ but I finally bought myself a WaterRower machine this week. Now there is finally no reason at all for me to have to go to the gym :ok_hand:t2:

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After my last purchase, next is a decent 5.1 surround sound system.

Likely to be something from the Q Acoustics range since they won all sorts of awards last year. I’m just narrowing down my choice by chatting to them.

Unless there are any other recommendations? :pray:

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Not necessarily a recommendation, but have a good look at Computer 5.1 systems. Some look cheap & plastic and some look really nice. I’m still using a Logitech Z-5500 system in my home theatre set-up. It’s THX certified, has a superb sub, small satellites and sounds phenomenal. Playing down-mixed Dolby Atmos demos (from Atmos to 5.1) through it at 70% volume is jaw-dropping. You can’t believe it is all coming from such small speakers - although the sub is cleverly hidden…

EDIT: If you want some source material to run through a 5.1 system when trying it, here are the down-mixed Dolby Atmos (Amaze, Leaf, Unfold) and Dolby 7.1 (Spheres) demo’s - download here

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I’ve been super happy with my Sonos system for surround sound. Well, it’s 5.0 as I don’t have a sub, but I think my neighbours probably appreciate that.

Around the same time as getting that, I set up my own Plex server for media - whatever system you look into, can recommend Plex as a place to host movies.

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I’ve got plex on my NAS drive it’s great :smiley:

I had a home cinema system but it suddenly stopped working. Since I never used the DVD/Bluray player I’m going to just go for some good speakers and a receiver instead.

I had a quick look at SONOS but couldn’t find a 5.1 pack with 4 speakers and a woofer. I’m not really a fan of sound bars :slightly_frowning_face:

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My Z-5500s were amazing. Had it when I was a teenager probably 12 or so years ago. Sold them to my little brother when I went to university and he still has them and they are going strong.
Now I have a Yamaha rx-v775 av amp and a Cambridge audio min12 speaker set which is great. Not sure if I will need to upgrade the AV amp once I get a 4K tv as it doesn’t have hdmi 2.2 but does have hdmi pass through. So will have to see (maybe my next tech purchase).
My last tech purchase was a refurb 2018 iPad Pro - currently £519 on apple refurb store which I think is a great deal (but they go quick)…

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