I’ve done it again. I didn’t want to carry a separate tablet and keyboard, so I grabbed the nexdock. It’s a screen and a keyboard together! I only need that with my phone!
WRONG
I also need a cable to connect the phone to the nexdock. Which I have in my pouch that lives permanently in my usual backpack. But I was just going to take the nexdock, I didn’t need the big bag. I threw it into my smaller bag, and even remembered to grab the mouse out of the big bag. But did I grab the cable? No. No I did not.
Soooooooo…
After I dropped my kids off at gymnastics, I popped over to BestBuy to make the supremely boring purchase of one USB-C to C 3.2 gen 2 cable. This is the second time I have done this.
On the plus(?) side, I left my cardigan on the back of the chair at the table in the lobby, so I accidentally reserved one of two coveted table spots while I was out.
Share your latest boring purchase. Do you have a new cable, weird adapter, or pack of batteries to tell us about?
A+ for thread idea! I mean it’s not tablet related, but I’d been annoyed by how yellow the covers on our bathroom fans had gotten, and I discovered there’s such a thing as a ‘contractor pack’ with multiple fans and covers. Scored a six-pack on eBay for $60, and now everything looks like new. It’s little things like that that (briefly) make me happy.
Edit: wait, I got a tech one: I recently updated my keyboard to the new Lenovo trackpoint keyboard II. It has bluetooth AND a USB dongle, and USB-C charging. Finally no more issues with reppppppppppppeating keys. Love it. And the Fn lock works without installing extra Lenovo software, so that’s a nice bonus.
A SlimQ 240W GaN AC adapter for my gaming laptop. Its more compact than the regular adapter, and has 2 additional USB-C ports to charge electronics. It has enough wattage to keep the GPU powered up
I also have a slim charger, in the same pouch the USB-C video cable lives in. I got it because it fits in my ROG ally case. The case can also hold a fold up leyboard and a slim mouse since I need a keyboard and mouse to play most of my games.
The slim charger is super convinient but it sure does get warm.
Hmmm, I’ll play. I think the only recent boring tech thing I bought was a portable charger. Right before a trip to Disney World I found an Anker small battery charger on sale at Amazon so I snagged it up just in case. Used it a couple times.
My next boring purchase is going to be an Apple Pencil 2 (or maybe 4 if it comes out soon enough and is backwards compatible with M2 iPad Pros.) Tilt stopped working on my current Pencil, and while I don’t use it that often, and specifically not for the current work I’m doing, I’ll eventually want it again. Planning on getting one within the next month or two.
One of the things I find infuriating about smart phones is that I feel extremely constrained by the little screen and lack of keyboard. -When my wife is perusing Amazon or something, she spends ages farting around the tiny interface, trying to access the various basic features. It makes me nuts…, like I have to walk away. I much prefer having big real estate so that everything is visible at the same time.
Of course…, I figure if you’re going to be carrying around the equivalent of a notebook in terms of size and weight…, why not just have a notebook? But I guess if you like having your data ecosystem in the same place, it could be a boon to some users.
I’m somewhat the opposite. I tried different larger interfaces for on the go things, but for the speed and convenience, I inevitably just use my smart phone. Now, as far as smart phones go, because of that, I want it to be as large as comfortably possible and preferably something with enough width that I can thumb type without hitting the wrong keys often. This is part of why I loathe the direction Aspect Ratio has gone with phones. Some of the new phones are so skinny, it doesn’t matter that they’re close to 7 inches.
I got my Nexdock 2 during the Kickstarter, delivered winter 2019. I first used it with a Galaxy Note 9. There are zero laptops that were $300 in late 2019 that are anywhere near as powerful as my current ZFold 5. I’m always going to have my phone with me. I often read something interesting on the phone, but want a real keyboard to reply. So, right now, I’m typing on a nice keyboard through my desktop dock plugged into on my Z Fold, reading on my 24" monitor.
The only reason I’d need anything else would be if I wanted a bigger writing surface or needed windows. Although, a large portion of things I do are only available as mobile apps, so I’d have to pull out the phone anyway, even if I used another device for a bigger screen. I have a magnetic mount that turns the ZFold into basically a second screen on the side of the nexdock. I either watch videos or run a game of Civ 6 on the side.
The nexdock is chunky and heavy for a 13" laptop at this point though, and after this latest cable fiasco, I’m even more tempted to upgrade to the newer wireless one. But that wouldn’t be very boring of me, so I just got the cable instead. Maybe I’ll reorganize the various tech pouches I have to make sure I always have the cable I need.
I was running around town with my tablet and my stylus fell out. I spent a good couple of hours the next fay looking for it, and actually found it on my last attempt, only a little knicked. So I thought it better to by some tethers. They’re good.
This is tough, as I also bought some of those USB-C elbows a couple weeks back. I bought some cat 6 female-female couplers last week. So, I think I have a piece of the lead locked up.
I mean it’s not tablet related, but I’d been annoyed by how yellow the covers on our bathroom fans had gotten, and I discovered there’s such a thing as a ‘contractor pack’ with multiple fans and covers. Scored a six-pack on eBay for $60, and now everything looks like new. It’s little things like that that (briefly) make me happy. 
