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Brands often slap a gaming label on products to charge extra for their supposed performance benefits. Skepticism aside, some gamer-focused products can deliver a genuinely superior experience thats worth paying for. Gamers arent the only people who can benefit, either.
A monitors refresh rate, measured in hertz (Hz), is the number of times the display is updated every second. A 60 Hz monitor refreshes 60 times per second, outputting 60 frames per second (fps). If the computer renders at higher than 60 fps, you wont get any benefit from this because the monitor cant keep up.
This isnt to say there arent any benefits to playing with higher refresh rates than those supported by your monitor (reduced input lag is a big one). However, thats one of the main reasons many gamers turn to high-refresh-rate monitors. Generally, high-refresh-rate monitors start at 144 Hz and go all the way up to 240 Hz.
With the right hardware driving the monitor, playing games at 144 Hz or better is noticeably smoother than a basic 60 Hz experience. Many professional eSports players use high-refresh-rate monitors to reduce input lag and improve response times.
A higher refresh rate improves games, but it also improves the entire computing experience. It makes your computer do everything buttery smooth. From dragging your cursor across a window to scrolling a website, who wouldnt prefer a hardware setup that just feelsbetter?
If youre looking to add some sparkle to your desktop, high-refresh-rate monitors are no longer prohibitively expensive or restricted to disappointing twisted nematic (TN) panels. You can now buy in-plane switching (IPS) panels with an excellent contrast ratio that hit response times of one millisecond at 144 Hz.
Its not just computer monitors that are embracing high refresh rates, either. Many Android phones now offer increased refresh rates of 90 Hz or better, for that responsive edge consumers love. Apple had the same thought in 2017, when it introduced 120 Hz displays in the 10.5- and 12.9-inchiPad Pros.
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Whether youre a receptionist, coder, or just spend way too much time on Slack,your keyboard can make your job significantly more pleasant. You dont have to buy an exorbitantly priced, ergonomic keyboard, but a mechanical onemight be worth the investment.
While cheap keyboards usually have a rubber membrane with a simple key mechanism above it, the mechanical kind have individual switches for every key. The benefits of this are huge. Mechanical keyboards deliver a more consistent typing experience thats deeply tied to the type of switches used for the keys.
These switches are produced at a higher standard thannonmechanical varieties, which means theyll last longer. Since each key has its own switch, you can replace the switches when they break relatively inexpensivelyand that goes for the keycaps, too. Theyre also really easy to clean, as they come apart easily with a keycap remover.
So, what about the typing experience? Well, that depends on what you expect from your keyboard. The switches you choose determine the characteristics of the keyboard. Some are loud and clicky, while others are quiet and dampened for coding or typing at speed.
Different switches have different intended uses. Cherry MX is the worlds best-known manufacturer of mechanical keyboard switches. The companys Red switches offer linear switching mechanics, with no audible click. The Blue switches have an audible click and tactile switching characteristics.
Different manufacturers (like Razer) categorize their switches differently, though, so you cant choose based on color alone. The best way to determine which isthe right mechanical keyboard for you is to spend some time using one. Head to a store or take advantage of a free trial offer from an online retailer.
You dont have to spend hundreds of dollars on a mechanical keyboard. Even one that costs under$40will still provide a better typing experience than a comparably priced membrane keyboard. It will likely last a lot longer, too.
RELATED: If You Haven't Tried a Mechanical Keyboard Yet, You're Missing Out
Poor posture can impact your life over both the short- and long-term. While standing desks were supposed to save us all from the perils of a sedentary lifestyle, most people still prefer to sit while working. If youre one of them, do yourself a favor and get a good desk chair.
If money were no object, wed all be lounging around in aHerman Miller Aeron. But most of us cant justify dropping a grand on a chair, even if its tax-deductible for the self-employed. The next best thing might be a gaming chair. These are designed tolooklike they cost $1,000, but, often, they only cost a few hundred.
DXRacer isone of the most recognizable brands of gamer-focused chairs, thanks to endless YouTube sponsorships and eSports tie-ins. These chairs all cost less than $400. Theyre also finished in PU (vegan) leather and include a lifetime warranty on the frame.
Unfortunately, the gamer chair aesthetic isnt for everyone. Finding one that suits a grown-up office environment might be a challenge. Many gamers lament the obnoxious detailing and loud branding, but swear by the comfort these chairs provide.
Maybe you can convince your boss on health grounds? If you work from home, the comfort might be worth the gaudy design.
RELATED: Those Ugly Racing-Style Gaming Chairs Are So Dang Comfortable
Gaming mice have more precise sensors than their mainstream counterparts to give competitive gamers an edge in online shooters. They offerhigher polling rates for smoother precision movements.
This offers some clear benefits, regardless of what you use a mouse for. Even if youre just browsing the web, a more precise mouse is more pleasant to use. For tasks like photo editing, a more precise mouse could make life significantly easier.
Gaming mice are often covered in additional wheels and buttons. While these might be a bit dizzying at first, theyre productivity hacks that can help you get more done in less time. These mice are frequently accompanied with custom software that allows you to customize each button.
This means you can set up dedicated shortcuts on your mouse, like cut, copy, and paste. You could use one button to launch your email client, and another to lock your computer. The buttons on the side of the mouse could go back- or forward in the web browser. The less often you need to move your hands from one peripheral to another, the less time you waste.
The caveat with gaming mice is the same as the chairs and keyboards: they often have an over-the-top gamer designed. Expect to find programmable RGB lighting and obnoxious branding that wont fit in at more professional offices.
Solid-state drives (SSDs) arent just marketed to gamers, but you wont see many from most hardware manufacturers that produce workstations for home and office use. For example, Apple was one of the first companies to go all-in on SSDs in MacBooks, yet, it doesnt include one in the base iMac model.
Traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) store data on metal platters. A mechanical arm moves across the platter to read various parts of the disk, which can be a time-consuming process. Thanks to a reliance on moving parts, HDDs are also prone to spontaneous (and not-so-spontaneous) failure. Theyre notoriously slow and susceptible to physical damage.
SSDs do away with moving parts entirely, which results in much faster read and write speeds. Drives are less prone to fail because there are no moving parts. Any process that relies on data retrieval (like launching an application) or creating new data (like copying files) gets a significant speed boost.
This has led to SSDs becoming one of the best upgrades you can make to any computer. Almost every aspect of general use will be improved by switching to an SSD. Its also quite easy to doyoure just switching one storage device for another.
You dont even have to store everything on an SSD. By installing your operating system and most-used applications on an SSD, youll see a leap in performance, even if you continue to store personal files and other data on a traditional hard drive.
The most important part of a gaming setup is the computer. Chairs, keyboards, and high-end monitors are worthless if the machine that powers it all isnt up to scratch. While you dont need the latest, greatest hardware, it pays to know where to spend your money to get the most performance bang for your buck.
For a gaming PC, you want a powerful CPU and a GPU (graphics card) that can handle your desired level of visual fidelity and resolution. If you want to run the latest games on ultra settings in 4K, youll be spending over $1,000 on a GPU.
But acceptable results are very achievable on a much more modest budget. AMDs Ryzen family of CPUs offer excellent performance at a price that gives Intel a run for its money. Similarly, youll be able to play most modern games in full HD at respectable quality settings if you spend around $400 on a graphics card (even a used one thats a year or two old). Throw in a decent amount of RAM and an SSD, and youre flying!
All that power wont go to waste when youre not playing games, either. With a decent CPU and enough RAM, you can flick through 100 open tabs with ease. Resource-intensive web pages and spreadsheets with thousands of cells wont grind your machine to a halt
Editing native 4K video is possible with a powerful enough GPU. Tasks like RAW image editing can cause Photoshop to chokeif you dont have a dedicated GPU. Other processes, like running virtual machines, data analysis, compiling from source code, video transcoding, or even using your machine as a makeshift server, would all benefit from better-than-average hardware.
If theres one thing manufacturers have realized, its that virtually anything can be turned into a gaming product with the right branding. Often, this is just a ploy to get more money.
However, high-end products that focus on power and precision offer a superior computer experience. So, give those gamer products a look, even if you dont game or like the aesthetics.
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These Gamer PC Products Are Great for Office Work - How-To Geek
