For me it’s the paranoia surrounding webcams. People outright refuse to own one and I understand, until they go on and on about how they’re being spied. Here’s the secret - unplug the damn thing when you think you won’t use it or haven’t used it in a while.

They, whoever it is, can’t really spy on you on something that’s already off and unplugged!

  • @[email protected]
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    7 months ago

    Wires:

    • Ethernet over preferred over WiFi for non portable desktops
    • Audio gear : wired will sound better. Bluetooth headphones have batteries that almost certainly aren’t repairable.
    • Peripherals, in the sane vein. I just don’t get having to charge a keyboard or mouse that sits on my desk all day.
    • @[email protected]
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      117 months ago

      I agree with everything except a wireless mouse. I have a magnetic usb “nub” that plugs into the mouse so when I need to charge it every couple of weeks it’s as simple as moving the mouse near enough the magnetic cable and it pops into place.

      For me, the benefits of a wireless mouse far outweigh the imperceptible-to-me lag from the 2.4ghz dongle 10cm away in clear view. The only downside I can see is the weight of the battery, but I’m not a competitive FPS player so I’m good.

      • @[email protected]
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        37 months ago

        I like wireless for my laptop, but I’ve never understood the point on my desktop. It’s never going beyond the cable’s length, and the cable has never gotten in the way unless I’m doing extreme motions with a very low sensitivity. And in that case, I am playing competitive fps.

        • @[email protected]
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          27 months ago

          I just hate the dragging of the wire on anything that might be in the way. I go wireless for keyboard and mouse whenever possible.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 months ago

        But what are the benefits of a wireless mouse? You don’t have to string the cable from the back of your PC to the mousepad, sure, but that’s something you do once a blue moon (unless you often go to LAN partys (which, in itself, are probably not a thing anymore)). At work, okay, I sometimes get up off my chair and have my company-provided wireless mouse on my leg to keep scrolling while I read through legal documents, but that’s a rare use case, too, no?

        • @[email protected]
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          27 months ago

          I don’t like the feeling of the cable dragging on the desk. Or the cable snagging on the monitor stand, or anything else on the desk.

          I also prefer the aesthetics of a wireless mouse. One less cable to manage. The charge cable is tucked away and only comes out every week or so to charge overnight.

          Yeah, my keyboard has a cable but my keyboard doesn’t move, and it’s a pretty sexy (and heavy) cable so it’s different than a mouse cable.

          As for latency, from what I understand in many cases a wireless mouse can have less latency than some wired mice. So that’s nice too.

          I guess the main downside is weight but that has never bothered me. That said, I’m not a competitive fps player, but even so some wireless mice are quite light.

          • @[email protected]
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            17 months ago

            Fair points you’re making there!

            I guess it never bothered me enough to have even crossed my mind.

            I need to look into the latency thing. From my limited knowledge it makes no sense that a wireless mouse could have better latency than a wired one. Unless the wire is made of something barely conductive to electricity and the wireless works with stupidly fast transmission tech, I guess o.o

    • davel [he/him]
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      77 months ago

      Ethernet over WiFi for non portable desktops

      Wi-Fi basically is wireless Ethernet, so I don’t know what “Ethernet over WiFi” is supposed to mean, and I don’t know what problem is being solved nor what solution is being proposed.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 months ago

      I have Bluetooth earbuds that crack open when they hit a hard surface (have surviveed so far) and the battery is a little Li-Ion pouch on soldered wires. They probably don’t last as long as sealed ones of the same size but it’s very easy to find and install a replacement battery. Just check disassembly guides before buying.

    • Sonori
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      27 months ago

      While I’ve only used one or two types of bluetooth headphones, i’ve never hand any trouble replacing the battery with them. The cups just snap out and then you unplug the lithium cell and plug a new one it, at least in my experience, so that may just have been a thing with the model you got.

    • @[email protected]
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      27 months ago

      I second all of your statements. I don’t care if my Apple TV is on WiFi, but my gaming desktop is most definitely hooked to an Ethernet cable. I also use a wired keyboard and mouse on it, but I’ll admit I have a cheap wireless keyboard and mouse for my work laptop because I didn’t want to deal with another set of cables on the same desk, and I can’t think of a good solution for both machines to share the same keyboard and mouse without having to switch the cables between them all the time.

        • @[email protected]
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          27 months ago

          KVM switch looks like it could work, since I don’t want to switch a USB switch and then still have to switch monitor input. Just need to find one with both an HDMI input and a DP input.

          • @[email protected]
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            17 months ago

            Some monitors have inbuilt KVM switches, have an MSI ultrawide (model escapes me sorry) I bought a few years ago that I use to flip between usbc and dp. Configurable though, could set it up to flip between HDMI and DP and assign usb to whatever one I prefer. It’s way nicer than the switch + swapping inputs manually I had been using.

      • @[email protected]
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        27 months ago

        Windows? Mouse without borders

        Linux/Mac/mix of that and windows? Barrier.

        If, of course, you can install things on your work laptop.

    • @[email protected]
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      17 months ago

      While not at ALL repairable, I’ve been using my AirBudz for over five years, for 50+ hours every week and the batteries still last for hours. I have my cans for FLACs, but no complaints for the price wirh AirBudz.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 months ago

      The fuck is “Ethernet over WiFi”. Isn’t ethernet by definition wired? If it’s x over WiFi, isn’t that just WiFi with extra steps?

       


      Edit: I see from other comments they mean “preferable compared to”, not “used atop of”.

        • @[email protected]
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          47 months ago

          Yeah, I saw that after seeing the other comments. I just didn’t refresh the page to see your comment until after I typed up my edit. Lol, sorry.

      • azuth
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        7 months ago

        Ethernet over WiFi is WiFi. Ethernet is a protocol not the cables and its used with wired networks and WiFi.

          • azuth
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            27 months ago

            It appears I either misunderstood or misremembered what I read.

            It probably referred to MAC addresses being reused on WiFi. However the frames used are not Ethernet frames.

            Ethernet however is not restricted to twisted pair cat cables it’s on fiber and originally was on co-axial.

            • @[email protected]
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              17 months ago

              I was only referring to wired vs wireless. The type of wire is kind of irrelevant. Fiber, co-axial, whatever. :)