by WebKeyDesign | Oct 11, 2024 | In Stock, Out Of The Box
For my next project, I started thinking about building a home NAS (Network Attached Storage) server. I thought it would be an interesting project and allow me to reuse some hardware that I have on the shelf. I am in no hurry to complete this project, as I have to concentrate on other projects that I cannot ignore. As usual the problem that you run into when selecting hardware, you often find that what you want is out of stock or it is only made by one company and that company is most likely in China. There are a few computer cases that are specifically for building a NAS server, however most of them are not impressive or are are costly for what they offer. Newegg and Amazon both sell computer cases from JONSBO and I specifically liked the N4 case, which was unavailable in the USA from either retailer. AliExpress.com also sells JONSBO products. I have never bought anything from AliExpress and finding credible online reviews is not easy. Hence this is a review of my shopping experience with AliExpress.com and not the actual JONSBO case. I will eventually do that later.
AliExpress Similar to Amazon
The first thing to know is that AliExpress is similar to Amazon. It is a marketplace of different sellers, all selling the same product. If you have the model number for what you want and the company name who makes it, it is pretty easy to find multiple links for the product. The price will vary dramatically and remember that you are buying a product that is in China that has to be shipped to you directly, so shipping charges and import fees will apply. If you are buying something for a couple of hundred dollars, you might not pay much, however if you are purchasing something that is moderately expensive, then it might not be worth it. You would be better off comparing the prices to Amazon if they carry the product. Since what I was interested in was under two hundred dollars, I decided to go ahead and purchase the case.
I searched through all the product listings that I could find for the JONSBO N4 Case and found a link that appeared to be from JONSBO, the actual company, and not a reseller. They included free shipping as well. Note, you have to be extra careful at time of purchase, because the product page lists multiple cases, and I specifically wanted the N4 black model. Double-check that in the Cart page you have selected the correct model and or product.
Buying anything from China directly is confusing, because the companies do not always accurately translate into English their product descriptions and or websites.
Once I completed the order, then you wait. This is not Amazon Prime shipping, because the warehouse is literally across an ocean and multiple states!
Shipping Experience
The order was completed on August 28th at 10 PM US Central time. This is the email confirmation that I received right away.
To track the package, I checked the AliExpress Order Tracking page and here is what it looked like eventually:
The Order Tracking is not accurate. I actually received the package on September 25th. There is a tracking number that is provided did not link to anything, so I checked it manually and found that this was a FedEx number and I was then able to track the package from FedEx.
The Box
Upon inspecting the box, I noticed it stated N3 and not N4. Inside the box, there was an N4 computer case. Much like other companies that make a small number of products, the box is designed for one model, but they ship everything in the same box. I have bought computer speakers and found that they used the same box. You had to check the package label or open the box to make sure you got what you ordered. Here is what the box looked like in my garage.
by WebKeyDesign | Mar 13, 2024 | Out Of The Box, Tech Notes
Since I work from home now, I started to try and make everything in the home office as quiet as possible. I replaced the fluorescent light ballasts with new ones that do not buzz. In fact, when replacing one of the ballasts, I found that it was actually burned out! I swapped out the tubes as well with new LED ones. The next thing was to tackle the tower Windows Server box that sits in the office. I took the case completely apart and installed all new Noctua fans except for the CPU cooler fan. The fan power control for the motherboard was still too noisy, so I used a Noctua fan controller instead to power most of the fans to be slower. This reduced the noise and I was able to work in a quiet office for several months. What eventually cropped up was the power supply started to make some fan noise. This Windows Server runs all the time, so some components can fail over time.
The Power Supply
This is actually the second XFX power supply. The original XFX 850 failed after a couple of years. I sent in for warranty and received a new replacement. In the mean time I purchased this model:
XFX ProSeries P1-1050-BEFX 1050 W ATX12V 2.2 / ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Now after a few more years with the 1050, it started to whine and make fan noise when the tower would heat up. Trying to get warranty service for slight fan noise, will probably be hard and this power supply is out of warranty at this point. It has been running for 9 years!
WARNING! POWER SUPPLY HAS ELECTRICITY AND CAN HURT YOU!
Do not do this if you do not know what you are doing. It is best to just buy a new power supply if you are not proficient with electronics.
Disassembly
I disconnected the power cord from the power supply, then held the power button for a couple of minutes on the computer to discharge some of the electricity. Next, I disconnected all the computer cables from the power supply and unscrewed it from the tower case. After this, I unscrewed the main screws and carefully opened the power supply. The HA13525H12F-Z fan is partially glued to the case, so I recommend a plastic tool to detach it.
Once I had it opened, I did not detach the fan power line to the supply. After using a can of compressed air to clean off the dust, here is what it looked like:
The power supply and fan were not as dusty as what I thought it would be. Make sure you do not touch the blue capacitors as they may still have a charge. You can google the fan model number HA13525H12F-Z if you want to replace it with a new one. For me, I just want to see if I can keep the original fan after some maintenance. A replacement fan would most likely be $25 or more and so it would be easier to just buy a new power supply.
This is perhaps one of the easiest fans to work with. It literally snaps apart and once you have it disassembled, you can clean the inside with some cotton swabs and a bit of rubbing alcohol. Be careful, as you do not want to break any of the copper coils.
What I noticed is that there really was not much lubricant left, so this can explain the whining sounds. I used some sewing machine oil and a bit of Permatex Anti Seize lubricant. Less is more in this application, because you do not want any oil or lubricant spilling out. Clean up any excess and check it once more, after snapping the fan back together.
Conclusion
After this maintenance, my fan noise is now gone and I hope to get a few more years out of this power supply. Another plus is that I kept more electronic waste from the landfill.
by WebKeyDesign | May 13, 2022 | In Stock, Out Of The Box, Reviews
One of the projects I took on during the lockdown months was to build a desk for my son’s room. It use to be that a desk meant some piece of furniture that featured drawers for all your paper files. Now multiple decades into the computer age, we no longer need all those drawers and file cabinets. Today a desk means a simple table and perhaps a riser for monitors. Most desks are just particle board, some metal, and perhaps a glass top in some cases. The problem with inexpensive desks is that they are flimsy and not made to last. On the internet you will find plenty of people who build their own desks. These do-it-yourself projects do not end up being cheap. Even a simple wood top can cost a few hundred dollars and that is before you consider if you will treat and finish the wood yourself. For my son, the cheapest option I found was a very affordable butcher block board from HomeDepot and some simple steel round legs. For some reason, I was able to get the butcher block top delivered to my house, however the table legs, I had to actually drive to the store and pick them up. Both items were not in stock in the store, so you had to order them on the website.
Bare Wood Needs Care
If you decide to get unfinished wood, you will need to treat it somehow. For a butcher block, you can use a conditioner or mineral oil. I ended up using oil-based pre-stain, stain, and finally a polyurethane finish. This was my first experience with a wood staining project and I learned that you need a lot of patience for doing this type of work. Wood needs lots of sanding and it becomes tedious work really quickly. It is also the little things that count in wood furniture. The edges of wood should be rounded and for someone who is not a carpenter, you would never have thought of that. Now when I go to a store and look at furniture, I can’t not notice if the edges are rounded or slightly beveled. The reason to treat wood is that wood dries out and sealing it, staining it, or using some other penetrating oil keeps it looking good. For a new shelf that I wanted to build quickly, I used teak oil on bare wood and was amazed at how smooth the wood came out days later. The smell took a week to go away, but other than that the process was very easy compared to multiple coats of stain.
Some Assembly
The one tool that I can’t live without is my Dewalt Drill. For the longest time I had it still in the box and now I can’t stop using it. I used it to for all sorts of projects in the last year. For my son’s desk, I used the drill to drive in 4 screws for each leg mount. Once all the mounts were setup, we moved the butcher block top to the bedroom and attached the legs. The end result was a nice sturdy desk that will last for a long time.
The Home Office Desk
I was planning on making a secondary desk for my home office, but I’ve had some trouble with sitting all day long. Instead I needed a quick solution, so I looked at the options on Monoprice and found a couple of different ones. I settled for this Workstream dual motor frame and a matching 5 foot Workstream Table Top. The 6 foot table top seemed appealing, but when I measure my current table, it was actually less than 5 feet wide and so it would be more work to make a 6 foot table top fit.
Due to inventory, I ordered the frame from Monoprice directly and ordered the table top from Amazon instead. Both arrived in a few days. The frame was heavy and unassembled.
I removed my old desk that I have had since college from my office and once I cleared the floor space, I was ready to assemble the new desk. The frame comes with the necessary hex key tool. You will need your own Phillips screwdriver, and I would recommend your trusty Dewalt Drill with a driver, a measuring tape (I used instead a carpenter’s square). The frame is easy to assemble, just take your time. You will need another pair of hands to help you slide the table top underneath the frame. The predrilled holes in the table top will not line up with the frame. I used one hole only to line up the frame and then measured using the square to line up the legs equally on each side. Using your screwdriver drive in the one screw to the predrilled hole for each leg. You might need some lighting or a flash light if you got the black table top like me. Keeping each leg properly lined up on each side, use your drill to drive the rest of the screws for each leg. It goes without saying, but do not over tighten the screws. To be careful, I only use the drill most of the way, and then use the screw driver to finish tightening.
The rest of the assembly is the wire management. You might consider getting some adhesive Cord Clips – size 3/8″. They are rather expensive, but will help with the cord management. I prefer them to cable ties, because you can easily unclip cables if needed.
At this point, you will need your friend or spouse to help you lift the desk upright and move it to its final resting place. The rest of the setup is putting back all your equipment. The immediate need will be for having longer power cables. I ended up making a narrow shelf to hold my UPS to the right of the desk. A quick trip to Staples for a two outlet extension cord to plug my monitors into, so that raising the desk would not be a problem for my monitors.
Standing or Sitting
The control panel allows for three memorized settings. After two weeks, I’ve setup a standing height and a sitting height. Most mornings, I start with a standing desk and have my same routine of a couple of morning meetings on Teams and responding to multiple emails. In the afternoon, I’ll switch to a sitting desk position and be more in engaged in doing some work in Excel. Generally if I have a meeting where I have to present or that I am hosting, I will choose a sitting position, otherwise I stand for most meetings.
Final Thoughts
Overall the Monoprice solution works well. The implementation could be better. The wire management is still a pain when it comes to computers. It would be nice if either the table top came with pre-drilled holes for cables or some other cord management system, such as an attachment underneath to hold wires. You can buy third party solutions at Staples and even Monoprice offers some of their own too. My other leftover issue is that due to the monitors getting bigger, I have to figure something out for my studio monitor speakers which are bookshelf size. I may need to add a shelf to the wall to hold those. For now I will place them underneath with a small riser for them to be off the ground.
The big improvement that is evident is that my home office is clean for the first time in years. My old desk was mostly a cluttered mess of computer parts and paper work.
by WebKeyDesign | Nov 9, 2021 | Apple, Out Of The Box
Like the character Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, I have a designated spot in my living room. I often do online shopping from my couch and my default device is a MacBook Pro that I have had for a very long time. This is the 2010 model and it still has a working battery since most of its lifetime has been spent plugged in. This MacBook was replaced with a new MacBook Pro 16 last year. Both of these laptops are near and dear to me and represent a significant investment, so I want to protect them and keep them for a long time.
The most immediate danger is to the MacBook Pro that I use in the living room. There is a curious and very needy dog that lives in our house and he considers the living room his domain. In order to protect my Apple laptop from his paws, I decided to try and skin my laptops. Unlike a hard cover, a skin is more like a protective thin layer that you can apply to the top and bottom of your laptop. It won’t overheat your laptop and it is removable in case you want to sell your laptop or go back to its original look. Skins can be applied to all areas of your laptop, but overall the best benefit is to to the top and bottom of your closed laptop. This will protect the outer shell from scratches and may even prevent a dent. Another benefit, is that you can easily wipe off dust, hot sauce, cookie crumbs, and other things you might happen to spill on your closed laptop.
There are multiple websites that specialize in skinning. Almost all of theses skins are made from the same material and they are not exactly cheap. For the MacBook, I visited the forums on Macrumours.com and did a search for skins and found multiple threads on skinning your Apple devices. I tried three different skins, and found that ColorWare to have the better quality product. You may find a cheaper seller.
Once you get the skin, you can watch a couple of youtube videos that show you how to install the skin. You will need a hair dryer if you end up wanting to remove the skin. Lining up the skin perfectly will take some trial and error and you will want to be careful. Stretching the skin can rip it or deform it so that the end result will not look good. One skin I tried ended up ripping, so I do think ColorWare had better results due to it being a slightly better product. If you do purchase skins for the sides or other areas of your laptop, I think there is minimal return for the time that you put in. I would recommend just doing the top and bottom. Removing the skin is very easy to do, just use a hair dryer on low and a plastic tool (plastic credit cards or guitar picks will work as well).
After you have your laptop skin, you can rest assure that your laptop is a bit more protected from curious pets and your own carelessness at times.
by WebKeyDesign | Jul 19, 2017 | Out Of The Box
When technologies go through major upgrades, they are most often evaluated not on the technical merits of the upgrade but on how the market reacts overall to the technology. For me personally, the iPhone had a major impact and it was my first personal cell phone. Most everyone I know today was impacted by the iPhone. Even if you don’t have an iPhone today, you most likely have an Android, and even though Google was working on Android prior to the iPhone’s release, they ended up having to change their designs, once they saw iOS. In the world of home entertainment, the DVD player and HD television have had monumental impacts as well. In 2017, I looked at my home theater and decided it was time to move into the next big upgrade, namely 4K.
The three big components of home theater system is the television, the surround receiver, and a blu-ray player. Once you talk about speakers and sub-woofers, then you get into things that cannot be accurately described in reviews. Audio is something that is best experienced. Lets just say that I have 7 speakers and a sub-woofer, so it is a surround system.
My first component upgrade was the television. Our television was the first flat screen we ever bought. It is nice television for its time, but it certainly paled in comparison to today’s modern TVs. For some reason, in 2017, televisions are more than just screens. Once you decide on a screen size, you still have to decide what type of screen technology you can afford, if it comes with apps (similar to your phone), and even if you can talk to it. Showing my age, I chose a 55-inch Sony. My father’s generation had Zenith, my generation has Sony, and if you are younger than me, you probably have a Samsung or LG for your brand of choice. Sony makes nice televisions, but their price is higher than you would expect. The new Sony television annoyingly comes with Google Android. I say annoying because, I don’t want to talk to my TV, and I don’t want it to tell me what to watch. All I really want to to is turn it on, and then watch a movie or play a video game. Sony needlessly complicated their television and forces me to deal with an Android OS, its apps, and networking. Aside from this the screen is flat, appears bright, and is just awesome for watching movies.
Content Problems
4K is a technology upgrade that is in search of content. The problem is that DVD resolutions do not look very good on a 4K screen. I am a cable cord-cutter, so online content comes from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime video. The Sony TV includes these apps, and these apps are also on my Apple TV, Playstation, and Blu-ray Player. Regardless, my connection to the internet at home is not capable of delivering 4K resolution streams, so streaming content is not really going to look all that great on the 4K screen. Slow and unreliable internet connections are a barrier to 4K. I will also mention that ISPs with data-caps are also a barrier to 4K adoption. If you do have the internet capacity to have 4k streaming, then Amazon Prime video is a good source for content. Netflix charges extra for 4K content, so you might need to spend a bit more on subscriptions. Content is also in a mix of formats at this time. This means that higher resolutions than 1080HD are available, but they will vary in resolution and HDR color and of course audio formats will vary. It is best to stick with the native apps on the television if your 4K television has HDR as well.
The Cord Problems
HDMI has both been a blessing and a curse for me. While having one cable for both audio and video makes connections easier and cleaner, the DRM protections included with the standard has meant having to upgrade cables, and unplug them multiple times! In the case of my previous Onkyo Receiver, it even meant having to ship the component for repair due to a malfunctioning HDMI board. Yes, HDMI is awesome when it works, but when it doesn’t it is the most frustrating part of any setup. For 4K, it means another round of replacing all your HDMI cables so they will support the 4K speeds and DRM standards. Don’t even think about using your current cables, just go to monoprice.com and buy new ones. Once you have them, set your HDMI connection to Enhanced (at least that is what Sony calls it if you want to view 4K content), and be prepared to spend 20 minutes trying to make sure the blu-ray player syncs up right. In the case of the Apple TV and my Denon receiver, well, just unplug everything, power it off and start plugging one device at a time! HDMI is suppose to be automatic, but it seems that this was more of a goal than an actual reality for some manufacturers. Yes, I am talking about you Apple! Getting any Apple TV to work with your receiver is the opposite of plug-and-play. Note that a lot of devices do not support 4K at this time.
Receiver 4K Support – Pass Through – Upscaling?
Similar to computer companies who put Intel Inside stickers on their laptops, it has also become fashionable for electronics to be adorned with stickers advertising features and technologies. In the case of my Denon receiver, there was some sticker on it that mentioned 4K. But what does that even mean? Unless your receiver was made in 2017 or is newer, it means almost nothing. The surround receiver, much like the Sony television has become more complicated as well. Modern receivers are slaves to the technologies that televisions and blu-ray players implement. This has meant HDMI boards to allow for multiple inputs and network capabilities. For HDMI specifically, this has meant that the receiver has to support the newer and faster speeds of the HDMI Specification, and at the same time come up with a way to not interfere with the DRM protections (HDCP) that are grounded between the television and the media device (Apple TV, Playstation, XBox, Blu-ray Player, etc). It is the DRM protection that is a problem for older receivers. Although my Denon receiver can pass through 4K resolutions and speeds, it does not know what to do with the newer DRM protection that 4K UHD requires. You will need to upgrade to a new receiver in order to get 4K to be passed through your receiver to your 4K television. Before you buy HDMI cables, a receiver or other component to add to your 4K setup, look for these specifications to be at least: HDCP 2.2 and HDMI 2.0.
UBP-X800 UHD Blu-ray
Given today’s economics, the magic price point for consumers is $300. This is the price range that you will see most companies try to hit when it comes to devices. It is a price that customers view as affordable for entry level tablets, to fancy thermostats and wireless routers. It is the same price range that Sony aimed for the UBP-X800 UHD Blu-ray player. At this price range, the UBP-X800 provides an overall good quality player with an assortment of streaming apps. Sony made some trade-offs in regards to physical outputs and front panel display in order to get to this price range. There are two HDMI outputs, however the second HDMI output is for audio only. This allowed me to keep my Denon receiver and have it process audio only, while connecting the UBP-X800 directly to my television via the first HDMI output. Overall the UBP-X800 is the most responsive disc player that I have ever bought. It beats the previous five Sony Blu-ray players that I have. Is it a perfect high-end player? No. There are $500+ players out there that have more features, but again those players are in a different price range.
Is Blu-ray Dead?
In 2017, there are multiple market realities that are going to hold back 4K adoption. You have the obvious factors such as price and for people who already have invested in 1080 flat televisions, the upgrade to 4K is not as compelling due to the limited internet connections. A more detrimental factor might rest not with consumers but with the media companies themselves. As services like Netflix and iTunes became more popular, physical media sales have been declining for multiple years now. The VHS and DVD formats were very profitable, but as the internet became a content delivery platform of choice, it has resulted in a declining Blu-ray format. A trip to your local BestBuy or Walmart shows that the space dedicated to Blu-ray media is shrinking with every store remodeling. Much like music CDs, the availability of Blu-ray movies is becoming more limited. The upsale to 3D Blu-ray was never more than a passing fad and today you won’t find a 3D Blu-ray section in most stores. The movie studios have begun to adjust to the market; the end result being that some films are no longer even being considered for a blu-ray release!
The market at this time has three different physical formats: DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD Blu-ray. The DVD format is not going away. Internationally DVD is still a high end format. You will find in some international markets, people still renting VHS movies. Those markets will be adopting DVD for multiple years and the inexpensiveness of DVD discs will allow DVDs to remain popular. In the USA, step into any gas station and you will find cheap DVDs for sale.
This leaves us with Blu-ray and 4K UHD. At this time, 4K is not an option by itself. Instead you have to purchase a combo-package that contains usually at least a Blu-ray disc and a 4K UHD Blu-ray. These combo-packages are anywhere from $5-15 above the normal price of single Blu-ray or DVD disc. At this price range, the 4K format is being priced as the most expensive of all formats, including digital online delivery. This does not bode well for the future of 4K or Blu-ray in general. The movie studios should consider lowering the price of entry, because the movie industry has multiple problems.
There are younger generations of consumers who do not go to the movie theater and who do not consider spending two hours watching films to be a worthwhile experience. There is then the glaring issue with films not featuring female and minorities as leads. In my opinion these are bigger threats to the movie industry than pricing Blu-ray discs for profitability. These problems and others with the movie industry can only be ignored for so long.
With Blu-ray in decline and 4K discs being limited and expensive, 4K adoption will be slow and might have to be saved by consumers themselves. The mobile phone is for many consumers already a 4K camera with HDR capabilities. If Disney won’t release Empire on 4K, it may be that you can reach for your phone and make your own 4K content.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I come home and sit down in front of my setup, throw in John Wick on the UBP-X800…
People keep asking if I’m back and I haven’t really had an answer. But now, yeah, I’m thinkin’ I’m back.
And yes, it sounds and looks amazing!
by WebKeyDesign | Sep 9, 2016 | Out Of The Box, Windows
For this review, I will discuss my experience with a different type of external SSD drive. The Mushkin Enhanced Atlas FLUX USB 3.0 mSATA III SSD Enclosure Kit (AT-ENCKIT) is about the size of Zippo lighter and weighs 2.4 ounces (not including the mSATA drive that you need to purchase separately). Most people would probably prefer a regular USB Flash type drive than this type of solution. The Atlas costs about $20 and then the needed mSATA drive that fits inside can vary from $35 and up. The primary reason I purchased the Atlas, is due to the fact that I had an mSATA drive that I could not utilize for my latest laptop project. The Intel 310 Series 80GB mSATA Solid State Drive SSDMAEMC080G2C1 is an older drive that I purchased on Amazon and which I installed in the Atlas Flux enclosure.
Specifications
Mushkin Enhanced Atlas FLUX USB 3.0 mSATA III SSD Enclosure Kit (AT-ENCKIT)
- Controller: AS Media 1053E USB 3.0 Controller
- Attachment: USB Attached SCSI Protocol support
- Casing: Durable aluminum casing
- Supported Drives: Supports 50mm and 25mm mSATA drives
- USB Compatible: USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Compatible
- Transfer Speeds: Supports SATA 1.5 Gb/s
- Plug and Play (PnP) with 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s SSDs
- Hot-swappable
Intel 310 Series 80GB mSATA Solid State Drive (SSDMAEMC080G2C1)
- Capacity 80GB
- Sequential Read – Up to 200 MB/s
- Sequential Write – Up to 70 MB/s
- SATA 3.0 3Gb/S
- Intel Product Page
Installation
The installation is quite simple. Mushkin includes a tiny screwdriver, however I recommend using a higher quality Philips #00 screwdriver. I have big hands and it is easier to use a regular full size screwdriver when removing tiny screws as this. Once you remove the panel, the board inside should slide out, and you should now be able to carefully install your mSATA drive. You slide the mSATA drive at a slight angle and then push it down. A snap on clip then holds the drive in place, similar to memory DIMM slots in a laptop. Finally screw back on the panel and you are done.
On Windows 7
I tested the Atlas Flux with my Dell Latitude e5430 laptop. This laptop has three kinds of ports that this drive can connect to. There is a USB 2 port, a USB 3 port, and an eSATAp port (also referred to as an eSATA/USB combo port). The operating system is Windows 7 64-bit. The main issue I had with the drive is that it is not really hot-swappable. Plugging it in the first time, the drive will appear and you are able to format it. But if you unplug the drive and then plug it back in, it will not appear in Windows again. You can restart Windows and then the drive will appear again. The problem was worse on the eSATAp port. The drive would remount over and over on this port. To fix this issue, with the drive visible in Windows, Go to the Start Menu and type DEVICE MANAGER and click on Device Manager in the results. Under Device Manager, under Disk Drives, find the drive and double-click on it. Now click on Policies and select Better Performance and click OK. The Atlas Flux cannot utilize the Quick Removal feature. This means that you must Eject the drive via the systray USB icon or by right-clicking on it and choosing Eject. The drive will now be stable and you may use it without restarting Windows. (more…)
Since I work from home now, I started to try and make everything in the home office as quiet as possible. I replaced the fluorescent light ballasts with new ones that do not buzz. In fact, when replacing one of the ballasts, I found that it was actually burned out! I swapped out the tubes as well with new LED ones. The next thing was to tackle the tower Windows Server box that sits in the office. I took the case completely apart and installed all new Noctua fans except for the CPU cooler fan. The fan power control for the motherboard was still too noisy, so I used a Noctua fan controller instead to power most of the fans to be slower. This reduced the noise and I was able to work in a quiet office for several months. What eventually cropped up was the power supply started to make some fan noise. This Windows Server runs all the time, so some components can fail over time. 
One of the projects I took on during the lockdown months was to build a desk for my son’s room. It use to be that a desk meant some piece of furniture that featured drawers for all your paper files. Now multiple decades into the computer age, we no longer need all those drawers and file cabinets. Today a desk means a simple table and perhaps a riser for monitors. Most desks are just particle board, some metal, and perhaps a glass top in some cases. The problem with inexpensive desks is that they are flimsy and not made to last. On the internet you will find plenty of people who build their own desks. These do-it-yourself projects do not end up being cheap. Even a simple wood top can cost a few hundred dollars and that is before you consider if you will treat and finish the wood yourself. For my son, the cheapest option I found was a very affordable butcher block board from HomeDepot and some simple steel round legs. For some reason, I was able to get the butcher block top delivered to my house, however the table legs, I had to actually drive to the store and pick them up. Both items were not in stock in the store, so you had to order them on the website.
Like the character Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, I have a designated spot in my living room. I often do online shopping from my couch and my default device is a MacBook Pro that I have had for a very long time. This is the 2010 model and it still has a working battery since most of its lifetime has been spent plugged in. This MacBook was replaced with a new MacBook Pro 16 last year. Both of these laptops are near and dear to me and represent a significant investment, so I want to protect them and keep them for a long time.
When technologies go through major upgrades, they are most often evaluated not on the technical merits of the upgrade but on how the market reacts overall to the technology. For me personally, the iPhone had a major impact and it was my first personal cell phone. Most everyone I know today was impacted by the iPhone. Even if you don’t have an iPhone today, you most likely have an Android, and even though Google was working on Android prior to the iPhone’s release, they ended up having to change their designs, once they saw iOS. In the world of home entertainment, the DVD player and HD television have had monumental impacts as well. In 2017, I looked at my home theater and decided it was time to move into the next big upgrade, namely 4K.