Old devices and peripherals you can pry from my cold, dead hands

Upgrading PC components never gets boring, but what excites me even more is upgrading my peripherals. Switching to an OLED monitor, high-end headset, or high-fidelity speakers can be just as thrilling as getting a new graphics card. That said, I still have a handful of my older peripherals and devices that I use to this day. Most of them are part of my main PC setup, while some make themselves useful occasionally. From my first-ever mechanical keyboard to my current gaming monitor, here are the products I'll probably be using for years to come.

5 Adata HD710 Pro external hard drive

It'll probably outlast my PC

This 2TB model dates back to 2017–2018 and is a product of its time. While the HD710 Pro isn't impressive in terms of transfer speeds (5Gbps), I got it for a good deal. Plus, its shockproof case offers at least some protection against accidental jolts and drops. It cost me just $60 when I bought it a few years ago, and the 120MB/s speed it offers is fine for my occasional transfer needs. It mostly stores rarely accessed data like system images, data backups, and old photos and videos.

I know external SSDs have come down in price, and I might benefit from an upgrade, but I just don't see the value in replacing my external hard drive just yet. It doesn't show any signs of impending failure, and has plenty of free space left to last me a few more years.

4 Cosmic Byte CB-GK-18 mechanical keyboard

You never forget your first one

Before the Cosmic Byte CB-GK-18, I used a Cooler Master membrane keyboard for 3–4 years. It worked fine, but I had a hankering for a mechanical keyboard that I couldn't resist. Enter the Cosmic Byte budget mechanical keyboard that only cost me $25 at the time. It wasn't anything special, as I'm sure you can guess from that price tag, but the clickety clack of the red switches was enough to make me forget my membrane keyboard.

It's been four years since then, and I've used a dozen other mechanical keyboards in that time. My current board is the Akko 5098B, a far cry from my humble Cosmic Byte roots, but I still use the latter when I need a wired keyboard for some quick diagnostics on my secondary PC or a client build. The switches still work fine, and the keyboard does what I need it to do. Sometimes I even use it on my laptop when I feel like working away from my desk.

3 Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones

Still a legend

Back in 2022, I was tracking the Sony WH-1000XM4 like crazy. I wanted premium noise-canceling headphones for a long time, and when I found them on Amazon for around $200, I pulled the trigger. Thanks to a promotion and a credit card discount, I got my dream headphones for a sweet deal. It was still the most I had ever spent on a pair of headphones, but the experience more than justified it (or I'm just convincing myself).

Three years later, I'm still using this fantastic device almost every day, and I see no reason to upgrade to the XM6 or even the XM5. The battery life is still excellent, and there's barely any damage to the headband or the earcups. The XM4 remains one of the best pairs of noise-canceling headphones on the market, even five years after launch.

2 Apple iPad 9th Generation

My comic book reader

The discontinued 10.2-inch iPad, launched in late 2021, isn't the best-looking iPad Apple has ever released, nor is it particularly powerful. In fact, I tried to double it as a laptop on one of my trips, but soon realized it wouldn't work. That said, it is still one of my most-used devices — I love to read comics on this thing or browse Google Photos with my partner. The battery life remains top-notch, and despite a few slowdowns here and there, the performance is just fine.

I know I can do a factory reset to restore it to its past glory, but I'm just too lazy to do it. I don't need it to be uber-snappy for reading comics or watching old photos or videos. Despite newer iPads improving on pretty much every aspect of my iPad 9th Generation, especially the design, I probably won't get rid of it for a long time.

1 LG 27GL850 gaming monitor

I don't see a reason to upgrade

I've been using my current monitor for 4 years, and it's a 2019 model. One of the best gaming monitors of its time, the LG 27GL850 was a fantastic purchase. I paid around $450 for it, which was a lot back then, but considering the performance I got out of it, I'd say it was worth it. It's a 27" 1440p 144Hz IPS monitor with a 1ms response time. With decent brightness levels for an IPS panel and great ergonomics, it still holds up in 2025.

Any monitors that I'm truly interested in are still quite pricey. OLEDs, Mini-LEDs, and QD-OLEDs are all great, but too expensive for me to consider an upgrade. Even the 27" 1440p OLED monitors currently retail for a minimum of $750 in India. It'll be a long time before the market here will actually be good enough that I can switch to a significantly better gaming monitor.

My old peripherals are still gold

Upgrading PC peripherals and other devices never gets old, but I'm more than happy using the ones I've been using for the last five years. Whether it's my LG gaming monitor, iPad 9th Generation, or Sony XM4 headphones, I see little reason to upgrade any of them. Sure, I have excellent new products in mind, especially when it comes to my iPad or monitor, but the prices need to fall further for them to become worthy upgrades.