Best (and/or worst) Tech I bought in 2022

Since it’s the end of the year and these list are popping up on the blogs as well, I thought I’d start our own.

So for me…

The best was the iPad Pro 12.9 M2. I still marvel at the display and it’s ridiculously powerful (to the point of overkill perhaps) but it’s become my most used gadget.

What’s interesting is that I had a Pro 11 from 2018 previously and that itself was what I ended up with after initially buying a 12.9 and finding it too big and unwieldy for some things I primarily use a tablet for, but a combination of improved IOS, using a Surface Pro 8 (and now 9 5g) for work and rethinking use in a couple of cases (I make greater of landscape orientation more including ereading with the Kindle App).

The kicker was getting it for an exceptional price albeit with the downside that it was from one of the few remaining independent Apple sellers going out of business :frowning:

And the display is simply to die for.

Worst tech was a 43 inch Vizio Smart TV for my parents. I use and like personally the Roku smart platform, but I knew that my dad wasn’t a fan of Roku.

So TLDR they are on TV number three, as both of the previous ones failed , one just stopped turning on after about 10 days, and the replacement literally went up in smoke after about two months of use. Fortunately I bought it through Costco ,and due to their relatively liberal return/exchange policy i was able to swap it out.

Additionally, and this is certainly due to my background in display tech, but the reality is that low to midrange TVs seem to all have at best mediocre display quality. My parents don’t seem to care/notice though especially in my Dad’s case since his vision is not that great to begin with.

So… who else?

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Best:

Surface Laptop Studio. Some initial scares (hard crashes to boot logo without BSOD) have not returned after replacing the SK Hynix SSD. Sure it’s a little heavy, but it does everything I need it to do. Perfect work machine.

Sennheiser HD 6XX open back headphones. Great sounding headphones, oddly resulting from a disappointing Apple AirPods Max experience. Great excuse to enjoy my music collection all over again.

Good:

Surface Duo 1. The ultimate reader / time waster. Maybe too good… Perfect device to sit around with and browse blogs, watch youtube videos, read (personal) mail, watch dowloaded mp4’s (easily transferred over USB), read kindle. The amount of time-wasting is never ending (moreso than the battery).

Apple Watch Ultra. Just nice to have long battery life, and I do actually plan to take it scuba diving. And it looks sporty.

iPad Pro 11" M1. Great machine, but frankly not getting a lot of use. Good to have a recent model for the rare audio mixing project.

No real bad purchases, other than the AirPods Max, but those I returned for a full refund, no harm done.

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I have to agree on the iPad. I bought an 12.9” M1 iPad Pro for $799 from Best Buy and it is really good.

I am going to go with a Keychron K3 with brown switches. Love it and am going to get a second one for my office.

Keychron K3

Best — I’m one of the folks who is thrilled w/ the Kindle Scribe, and the hardware is flat out amazing, and I’m looking forward to the software improving (though I would not be averse to being able to root it and run Linux, or at least arbitrary Android apps).

Worst — this is arguably something which I also bought 3 of, but for a very different reason — the ThinkPad Compact Bluetooth Keyboard with TrackPoint from Lenovo — I love the Trackpoint, and the keyboard itself is quite good (and much quieter than the mechanical keyboards I prefer), but I found myself buying a replacement for the second one which failed due to the MicroUSB connector, and they desperately need to update this w/ USB-C, or better still physically attached cable (which should be USB-C w/ an adapter). And yes, I would buy 3 more if they did that.

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Totally agreed. Definitely a weak point of the design. Plus for some reason mine keeps disconnecting with rapid LED blink. I think that means “low battery”, but if so, the battery life must be pretty bad. Still a great keyboard overall.

I haven’t actually bought much tech this year, after buying a lot in the prior 1.5 years.

I guess the best is a pair of noise cancelling headphones I got to improve my Zoom calls, Tribit 32dbs I think. They’re not as fancy as some of the super expensive brands, but they sound great to me and the noise cancelling is enough when I’m on a Zoom call. I also got a new monitor that I’m particularly fond of. It’s only 2k, but it’s a 27" Samsung and is plenty for my use. Way better than the 24" 1080p I was using.

I think the only other tech I bought this year was a cheap mouse that replaced the last one that died. I wish I’d spent more money on it and am already ready for an upgrade for that one.

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BEST

LG 27” IPS LED 4K UHD AMD FreeSync Monitor with HDR (HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-c PD/hub)

Used Surface Pro 8 (i5/16gb/LTE/1tb ssd upgrade) - Windows still best for productivity

GOOD

Used iPad Pro 11 1tb/5g - not the laptop killer I had hoped, but still a great tablet just lacking MacOS.

WORST

This is not a tech item, but ME, for my multiple failed attempts back and forth between all-Apple and all non-Apple. I’m sure once M2 MacBook Pro is on the horizon, the plummeting M1 MBP14 prices will peak my interest again…

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pique, not peak.

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No, I meant what I wrote (as ungrammatical as it were) - it will bring back “peak interest” in the M1 Pro MNP14… :rofl:

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Best - Surface Pro 9 5G, this device has been what I’ve wanted from a Surface. Good Battery Life, Always Connected, Able to handle my everyday workloads. Hot Take - I prefer writing with the Slim Pen 2 over the Wacom on my Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Apple Pencil.

Better -
Windows on ARM DevKit - This is basically the Pro 9 5G in mini-desktop form, but with 32GB of RAM.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 - This has been the best consumer phone, as a consumption device it’s been amazing. DeX has been used as a laptop replacement on a few occasions, and I do use it for OneNote but will admit it isn’t my favorite, still prefer the DUO 2 inking.
Smasung Galaxy Watch 5 - It’s a phone and a smart watch :slight_smile:

Good - Smasung Smart Monitor M8 - It is a good device but has some quirks

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Definitely agree about its quirks. OTOH especially with the pre christmas sale prices, it’s a decent value if you need/want what it offers. And to Samsung’s credit it’s substantially better than it was at release, with the caveat that its truer for Windows or Android devices than Mac or IOS ones, and thus I don’t recommend it for those users.

Also agree about the Pro 9 5G. It’s not perfect, but it is far closer to what the Pro X should have been. It will be interesting to see what a Pro 10 with Nuvia chips can do.

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Ditto. This is easily the best, for me.

Even though it turned out to not be quite right for me—I prefer to do my tablet-y stuff while relaxing on the couch and this was too heavy for that—I still place it at the top. Excellent device. It’s my runner-up choice.

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Only real tech item relevant to here I bought was the Surface Pro 7+, which has treated me well. I also did get a Pixel 6 after I lost my phone(got stolen?) but I kind of miss the ring slider & camera features my OnePlus 8 Pro had(which also had more ram too). But, I still give it to the 7+ as that felt like a bigger setup in performance than the phone change.
Less relevant here I did try out wireless shifting on a bike & if it didn’t cost as much, if not more than my Surface I’d look into for simplicity.

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BEST - Surface Duo
The Surface Duo is fantastic. I can read an email on one screen, while researching what they are emailing, looking for other emails to figure out what is going on, to make notes for a response, or just notes for billing on the other screen. I can mark up documents with a surface pen. I don’t need a tablet when I travel - I have this huge single screen for reading (vertically) or entertainment (horizontally).

WORST - Also Surface Duo
The Surface Duo is not ready for mobile use. I switched from a basic Galaxy S 21 (not an ultra or anything fancy). It’s big, it’s fragile. It never worked right with my Samsung watch, so I only got some notifications and only some of the time. No outside display to help me figure out when to open it and look at notifications. There was nowhere to put the pen, so I never had it with me when I really needed it.

The bluetooth audio does not pair with one of my car stereos. It never worked right for listening to podcasts on the other (big deal when you drive alot in the spread out Southwest). Couldn’t get it to to connect to bluetooth soundbars. Connecting it to external display SHOULD work, but never quite did. Sometimes sluggish, sometimes awesome, always inconsistently buggy.

Never have I been so happy to get rid of crappy technology that I kind of miss oh so much.

Honorable Mention for best tech - I went back to the Surface Pro form factor for the first time in five (5) years and love my Surface Pro 8. No more laptop and Surface Go when I travel.

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