Ask HN: What are your most regretted tech purchases?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Cheap vs. quality tools

  • Many regret ultra-cheap hardware tools that broke quickly (e.g., drills, specialty tools), but others report long, surprisingly good service from budget brands if used within limits.
  • Emerging heuristic: buy cheap to test whether you’ll use a tool; upgrade to quality if it proves essential. For battery ecosystems, people pick one brand early to avoid charger/battery chaos.

Audio gear & headphones

  • Strong regret around expensive ANC/Bluetooth headphones: connection bugs, bad touch controls, sound changes under ANC, poor durability, annoying voice prompts.
  • Counterpoints: some midrange models (e.g., specific Anker/Soundcore, wired Audio‑Technica, Bose QC wired models) are praised as reliable and enjoyable.
  • Wired headphones and physical media (CDs, high‑fidelity recordings) are rediscovered as more satisfying than years of compressed/streamed audio.

Smart / connected devices (IoT)

  • Sonos and other smart speakers/TV-audio ecosystems are heavily criticized: bad app redesigns, instability, forced updates, bricked/abandoned hardware, cloud dependence, and painful setup. Some still praise Sonos’ audio sync and speaker quality.
  • Smart locks and “smart” appliances (locks, fridges, kettles, scales, doorbells, robot vacuums) often disappoint: poor behavior in real climates, battery issues, unreliable apps, weak UX, and thin or deceptive “smart” value.
  • A recurring theme is regret over any device that requires proprietary cloud apps or accounts; many vow to return to “dumb” devices plus local control.

Computers, laptops, tablets

  • Regrets span: noisy or power‑hungry servers at home, short‑lived gaming laptops, flaky ultrabooks, and some Intel MacBook Air/2016–2018 MacBook Pro models (heat, keyboards, sudden obsolescence vs M1).
  • Others love Apple Silicon laptops and some ThinkPads, noting excellent performance and battery life when well‑matched to needs.
  • iPad Pro (even with Pencil/keyboard) is frequently called a “great consumption device, bad computer” due to iPadOS limitations, odd file handling, and app gaps.

Displays, TVs, lighting

  • Cheap or off‑brand monitors and TCL TVs often fail just after short warranties; warranties and repairability matter.
  • LED lighting sparks strong division: some say modern, high‑CRI warm LEDs are great; others find most LEDs harsh, headache‑inducing, or low‑quality vs incandescent/halogen and stockpile old bulbs.

VR, gaming, and entertainment hardware

  • Many regret VR headsets (Oculus/Meta, PSVR, expensive PC VR): initial “wow” followed by little use, motion sickness, weak game libraries, and rapid obsolescence.
  • Retro mini‑consoles and remasters often become dust collectors once nostalgia wears off.
  • Gaming chairs are widely panned as uncomfortable, overpriced, and inferior to good office chairs.

Peripherals & misc.

  • Split/60%/ortholinear mechanical keyboards divide opinion: some love custom layers; others find layers and missing keys too cognitively costly across multiple OSes.
  • Home printers—especially consumer inkjets and “smart” models—remain a core regret; monochrome office‑grade lasers (often Brother) are seen as the only reliable home option.