Upgrading my computer’s primary storage from a hard disk (HDD) to a solid state drive (SSD). Really young folks on here have no idea how amazing it was for computers to go from taking minutes to start up to taking seconds.
Buying my first cell phone, which was a Nokia smartphone, in 2003. Having email and useful applications in my pocket, including maps and web search.
I feel like the sheer jump in performance from throwing an SSD into an old system was akin to what people would have expected from the “download more ram” scam ads of the 00s.
TBF, before win95 there was definitely legit software that you could buy (not download) that would compress memory, amongst other tricks, to effectively give you more RAM.
Really young folks on here have no idea how amazing it was for computers to go from taking minutes to start up to taking seconds
Pretty sure we don’t have such an young audience here on lemmy haha
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I upgraded mom’s PC from HDD to SSD, no regrets
I was thinking and nothing was to big a deal but you are right. ssd and before that optical mice were major upgrades relative to price (price being the factor when I finally bought them.)
GPS was life-changing. (Yes, I am that old.) It used to be necessary to find printed maps of wherever you were going, which wasn’t always easy. Then you had to figure out a route. The hardest part was often the last bit of the trip, since you weren’t likely to have a detailed map of your destination city. An if you got lost, figuring out where you were was sometimes quite difficult.
People tend to think of it as mostly affecting longer trips, but finding new addresses in a city was at least as much of an issue. When I lived in the bay area I had a Thomas guide that was 3/4" of an inch thick, just for finding my way around town.
This. Going from pace notes to GPS navigation for delivery was a big improvement. Then going from laptop in the seat to in-dash nav (chinese head unit contoured to fit the car) was the next level. Now, we have android auto/apple carplay, the final evolution. AI voice command is so much better than trying to type on a touchscreen while driving
I worked as a delivery driver before GPS.
If you think looking at your phone while driving is dangerous, we were looking at a folding paper map.
I also had most streets in a major metropolitan area memorized.
But more times than I can count I navigated by the sun or the north star until I was back in an area I recognized.I gather that to get a London cab license you have to pass a test that requires you to know pretty much every street, alley, and major building in the city. I can’t imagine how long it would take to get all of that into your head.
MapQuest ftw! Did so many car trips that way.
Got lost so many times that way.
GPS and navigation was a life changing thing for me as I am, how shall I put it, geographically challenged.
Give me the option of turning left or right and I will constantly choose wrong. I tested this with my family, who thought I was being dramatic and hyperbolic, and they witnessed my failures in all glory. Since then I am no longer allowed to ‘just wing it’ when we are on route…
I can’t left or right, but am well centered in North, South, East, West and can give directions like that. Those stay put. I hate navigation software though, the ones that talk at you, hate so much. Would rather get lost, usually, but have lived in the same city a long time and always know where north is.
Does corrective eye surgery count? Because it fundamentally changed my daily quality of life
I got PRK several years past and for a while I felt the same way. When I saw my eye doctor recently and had to get glasses again, this time in another country, he said that was stupid. Eyes degrade always so you’re really just making it worse in the long term (me not you). I’m still considering doing it again. Expensive and slightly risky, but gods walking in the rain without glasses was magical.
A 1000€ ebike. Best choice ever. Always on time, unaffected by traffic and never get tickets since I don’t have a registration table :)
I absolutely LOVE my ebike. We live on a hill that would be impossible for me to ride up (without breaks), having the pedal assist means I don’t dread it anymore. It’s quite fun! I will often do 20-30 mile rides just because it’s so easy. And it replaced my need to drive my car most places.
The original GameBoy in like 1992, I was 6 and it was everything. Then Pokemon came out and hell yeah
My Ampler E-Bike I bought 2 years ago. More than 5000 km later I still love it to bits.
Bidet attachment for a toilet. Absolute life changer.
It’s sad how there are people out there who look down on the bidet. It really is a game changer. I still use toilet paper, but the process is so much cleaner and easier.
When putting it in, an older family friend (male) asked me, “oh you got that for your lady friend?” No…I want to save money and have a cleaner experience as a male.
I hate bidet hate. If I upend a bowl full of brownie batter on a shag carpet, I’m not going to “clean” it with dry paper towels. Use your heads, people!
The downside to installing a bidet is I now hate pooping without the home court advantage.
Truth, it ruins you for all the other toilets.
Wait you have to put it in?
I have the “portable” kind where you can just put it under the toilet seat you have and it connects to your toilet’s water system that brings in water. It was about $30 off Amazon.
It is really straightforward, but my issue was that after I installed it, I had unknowingly unscrewed one of the components in the toilet and it was leaking and I needed some help to figure that out and get it fixed correctly. It was when I was screwing in the new T shaped pipe that it was unscrewing something in the toilet.
There are also the kind that can come built in a toilet, usually on the higher end toilets, or you can get one of the dedicated bowls that is like a secondary toilet seated next to your toilet too.
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Nah. Anything on Amazon should be fine
Heated water and heated seat are fucking amazing if you got extra budget
A kitchen sink. Did an impromptu kitchen reno due to a gas leak and being without one is such a huge downgrade in quality of life. I was washing dishes in the bathtub nightly and it was absolutely miserable. I don’t think I’ve ever been more appreciative of the technology of modern plumbing than the day I was able to rerun lines to the sink area and get it all going.
Not sure that’s the kind of technology purchase to which the OP was referring. I thought you were going to say you purchased some kind of high tech sink and was excited to hear what it did to improve your life. I mean, I can see the point but…
Wireless noise cancelling headphones and earbuds.
I was reluctant to pay $400 for a gimmick but holy shit, once I did they became my most treasured possessions. Then I got buds for $400.
If we are talking cost per hour of use, they might be the most cost-effective tech I own
Not sure if that counts as technology, but simple LED lights over my kitchen counter (mounted under the upper cabinets) were a pretty inexpensive purchase that made my life significantly better. I don’t understand now how I was ever able to cook with just the ceiling lights on, it’s absolutely terrible.
Bidet. Not even the fancy ones. Like the cheap ones that are no more than $20-30. Every poop, I’ve got a squeaky clean butthole.
Totally agree; I hate pooping without it. Though I did upgrade a while back from a $20-30 one to this: https://luxebidet.com/pages/neo-185-plus-highlights
I took the old one off to really clean it and that sold me on this new flip up one.
I clicked on this thinking it was going to be a link to one of the $200+ electric models, but this is actually a relatively inexpensive upgrade I can get behind (pun?) It looks like it’s a lot easier to keep clean. Thanks for this.
I got a couple of these about two years ago. They work great and we’ve had no trouble with them. 10/10
I’ve been using simple cold water models for over 10 years now. But I really like this upgrade in design. Same basic simplicity, but it looks a lot easier to keep clean.
Almost never having to cram paper in between my buttcheeks is fucking heaven. No more shit smears!
Fitting username.
My e-book reader (Tolino).
As I got older and had problems with my eyes, this was a game changer. I had basically stopped reading books and now I do it daily. I can choose the font and letter size, background color, and backlighting based on what works best for my eyes that day and the light where I am.
Being able to hold a very light device with a big screen when I would have to balance a heavy weight as a paper book is also great, and I take the reader with me everywhere, whereas a big book would stay at home most of the time.
The reader has a bigger screen than my phone and the battery lasts longer.
The reader works flawlessly with my library, so I don’t have to buy books, which keeps costs down, and I don’t have to leave the house to get a new book.
Calibre helps us share books in our family, which is one reason we’ve stayed away from Amazon’s Kindle, so we’ve all gone to “.epub”.
A goddamn dishwasher. I used to wash a lot of dishes by hand growing up so it took until my 30’s before i realized that dishwashers are a wonderful invention.
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I read this in Alec’s voice.
My dishwasher broke and for a year, our dishes got progressively ickier and ickier. Then we got a new one and everything felt clean again.
Maybe it was all mental. But the hot wash kills a lot.
My NAS, having access to all my files anywhere at any time is great
Lighting system as a wake up tool.
Have now been using a light or lighting system as a morning wake up for over 15 years. It’s life changing.
Lights start off dim and red/orange, and brighten very slowly to warm white. Works every time.
I wake up without the jolt of an alarm at home.
In fact - automated lighting in general - just so good.
Similar, but lighting system as a sleep tool. Lights start off warm white and slowly dim to amber / red, then off at the push of a button every night.
