11/11 China Master Race Deals

This is a time-sensitive post about the best deals you can find on Aliexpress by exploiting discounts and Dear Leader’s transportation network, assuming you don’t care about shipping time and warranties. Neocities saves you hosting costs and now regular spending costs too!

AMD’s RX 570 and RX 580

Navi GPUs are just around the corner, but if you don’t care about the latest and greatest, you can exploit the used market. You can find deals in the €70-80 range, mostly for the 4GB models. 4GB should be enough for most games at high settings; VRAM is important primarily for textures. While Navi cards are more powerful, they’re on a different price segment, and the architecture is newer, so there are still some kinks to iron out. It’s very unlikely you’ll find anything better in for this price. Keep in mind that you’ll likely have to repaste and clean the GPU when it arrives.

Mechanical Keyboards

The Ajazz AK33 and also the MeToo memeboard are both on sale again, though to be fair they’re on sale for most of the year. They both are very plastic and have Zorro switches, which aren’t very good compared to other Chinese switch manufacturers like Gateron or Kailh. Nevertheless, as entryways to the mechanical keyboard hobby, they’re good enough, and you’ll only spend like €23. If you want something smaller (and more expensive) there’s numerous GK61 keyboards for €35 or so, though personally I don’t like the layout. If you wanna do the soldering yourself, the XD75RE PCB is also on sale, though that’s more of a time investment, and the ortholinear layout is not for everybody.

Xperia XZ

You can find Sony’s former flagship, refurbished, for €88. This must be close to the cheapest way to get your hands on a Snapdragon 820 in the world right now. You’ll be buying a bit of an outdated industrial design, with larger bezels than we’re used to, but it’ll have a headphone jack and lack a notch, so really, it’s an upgrade. Some 600 series processors outperform the 820 presently, but the XZ is also well-known for its custom ROM and open-source support, so you can load it with LineageOS to protect your privacy, and of course since it’s by Sony, there’s more ecosystem support with accessories and what have you. If I didn’t have a smartphone, or if I had a smartphone that sucked, that’s what I’d be buying, but alas I already got a cheap 820 Chinese phone (which is no longer available anywhere as far as I know).

Xiaomi Mi Max 3

If you want your phone to also be your tablet, this is what you want. It’s literally 6.9″, so about the size of the old, beloved Nexus 7 of yore. It’s selling for €138 or so, which is around half of its market price elsewhere in the world. Larger screens are great for watching video and reading. I feel kinda bad for not waiting more before buying my tablet, cause I could have had this instead, but what’s done is done now. There isn’t an official LineageOS ROM, but there is an unofficial port. A friend has this phone and it’s highly suggested; it’s metal, too! Good stuff.

Quick Charge Chargers

Many manufacturers, notably Apple, ship their extremely expensive smartphones with slow chargers in 2019. That’s a fucking disgrace, but if you’re stuck in that situation, you can fix it for very cheap.

Magnetic USB cables

Apple used to have this technology built into their Macbooks, called MagSafe, where the cable was magnetically attached, so that it was easier to plug in and out, reduce friction and thus damage to the cable, and prevent your device from dropping to the floor when somebody trips over it. They forgot this technology exists now that everything must charge over USB-C for no reason, but worry not, because you can fix that for next to nothing. Grab a magnetic cable, and magnetic tips for all your devices, and you’ll never have to worry about fiddling around with USB again.

Rem

Whether you want to have some “fun times” with your waifu, or simply to piss off retarded feminists who think degeneracy is virtue and vice versa, it’s good to be surrounded by your waifu. You can grab nendodroids, key chains, T-shirts, and, of course, dakimakura pillows. Don’t have too much fun and always remember to clean up after yourself. :)

Samson Semi-Open-Back Headphones

Semi-open-backs are a bit of a meme, but be that as it may, you can get these for less than €20, and I guarantee you they sound way better than they should given their price. Even the snobby audiophiles among you will have to admit they’re a good buy if all you have in your pocket is a €20 bill. Keep in mind that open-backs bleed sound, so people will hear what you’re hearing, and you will hear outside noises. If privacy or noise-cancellation are important to you, stay away from these. The benefit is a wider, more realistic sound-stage, so that sounds don’t feel like they’re coming from the inside of your skull.

Mechanical Pencil with 2mm thick lead

If you do a lot of writing or drawing, you will surely have noticed that mechanical pencil leads tend to break at the slightest hint of pressure. Worry not, because the solution is simple: make the lead thicker. If you’ve never tried 2mm leads, you should, and I guarantee it’ll change your life forever. You can buy writing supplies for peanuts if you import from China; don’t be like me, spending hundreds of dollars on overpriced bullshit that you don’t care about cause you just want to take some goddamn notes.