Hacker News × Everyday Carry

Gear HN actually
talks about

Products first: the name, why it comes up, a real quote, and a buy link. Co-mentions and real kits follow.

127,372

EDC-subset comments

59,744

Entity-bearing comments

474

Significant pairs

106

Gear entities

Gear

Top gear

Sorted by weighted score. Open a card for community verdict and co-mentions.

MacBook

Laptops

Why it comes up — 11,919 authors · 24,887 mentions · 2007–2026

Often with Travel router · Surface Laptop

“Yeah, because apple is totally reliable for sleeping when it is supposed to. I love my macbook, but I have dealt with over a decade of macbooks waking when they should not. Love it when my macbook cooks itself in my bag ”— jscheel · 2025 · HN

Details Buy

MacBook Pro

Laptops

Why it comes up — 6,485 authors · 11,150 mentions · 2007–2026

Often with Herman Miller · Surface Laptop

“I really want this. My daily driver is a macbook pro and I use a boox max lumi as my main programming display. I'd love to have a laptop with this built in.”— JoelMcCracken · 2022 · HN

Details Buy

ThinkPad

Laptops

Why it comes up — 4,788 authors · 9,058 mentions · 2007–2026

Often with USB-C hub · HP Spectre

“They’re not more reliable. I’m still using a thinkpad from 2013 as my daily driver. My work mbp failed after 6 months because dust specs got under the keyboard keys and stopped them from registering presses anymore.”— ornornor · 2020 · HN

Details Buy

E-ink

Why it comes up — 3,120 authors · 5,355 mentions · 2007–2026

Often with Garmin · Pixel

“I use Dasung's e-ink monitor (Paperlike Pro) daily . A mouse cursor is fully usable. You can even watch videos on that thing. Of course, the refresh rate is far from perfect, but its performance is acceptable. I code on ”— Funes- · 2020 · HN

Details Buy

MacBook Air

Laptops

Why it comes up — 3,390 authors · 5,489 mentions · 2008–2026

Often with ASUS Zenbook · Surface Laptop

“If you're looking for compact and oh so light, I love my Macbook Air 11' inch screen. Love it, love how light and powerful it is on the go -- and you can connect it to a bigger monitor at home for a bigger screen.”— jotjotzzz · 2017 · HN

Details Buy

iPhone

Phones

Why it comes up — 3,554 authors · 4,856 mentions · 2007–2026

Often with Apple Watch · AirPods

“i love my iphone 12 mini for this very reason. It's still small enough to fit 'mostly' comfortably in my pocket, even a shirt pocket. I hate how large most phones are now and everyone i know that sees my phone makes fun ”— NiagaraThistle · 2024 · HN

Details Buy

iPad

Tablets

Why it comes up — 2,756 authors · 4,169 mentions · 2010–2026

Often with Apple Watch · iPhone

“I use my iPad exclusively at home. I now never take my work laptop home and it had dramatically made my life better. iPad forces me to be much more switched off but I can still email if need be. It's honestly one of the ”— SandersAK · 2015 · HN

Details Buy

Kindle

E-ink

Why it comes up — 2,605 authors · 3,775 mentions · 2007–2026

Often with Lamy · Galaxy

“I love my kindle paper white. It has great battery life, and is a convenient size to just throw in a bag or my back pocket.”— jneumann004 · 2023 · HN

Details Buy

Framework Laptop

Laptops

Why it comes up — 1,577 authors · 2,585 mentions · 2021–2026

Often with PinePhone · Apple Silicon M4

“Just wanted to chime in that I love my Framework 13 as well. It's been running great on Ubuntu for well over a year now--no complaints.”— gregwtmtno · 2024 · HN

Details Buy

#10

Dell XPS

Laptops

Why it comes up — 1,243 authors · 1,656 mentions · 2008–2026

Often with HP Spectre · Lenovo Yoga

“I love my Dell XPS 13 running Ubuntu - yes, a lot of things (docking stations, video conferencing tools, etc.) that "just work" on Windows and Mac need some TLC to get working, but once over that hump it's been great.”— GlibMonkeyDeath · 2023 · HN

Details Buy

#11

Mechanical keyboard

Peripherals

Why it comes up — 1,117 authors · 1,385 mentions · 2009–2026

Often with Keychron · Logitech

“I use HAVIT HV-KB390L, it's a low profile mechanical keyboard, I absolutely love typing on this keyboard.”— kemurla · 2019 · HN

Details Buy

#12

Split keyboard

Peripherals

Why it comes up — 1,369 authors · 1,984 mentions · 2008–2026

Often with Moonlander · ErgoDox

“I use a similar setup with my desktop: Split keyboard with trackball in the middle. Been using it for 3 years now and I love it.”— coopykins · 2024 · HN

Details Buy

#13

Apple Silicon M1

Laptops

Why it comes up — 1,117 authors · 1,591 mentions · 2020–2026

Often with Pinebook · Chromebook

“My wife is still using her 2020 M1 Air and it’s still as snappy as the day we got it, still works for all her use cases. Ah! my early 2015 13" Macbook pro died only few weeks back. I don't think any other laptop will las”— krisgenre · 2025 · HN

Details Buy

#14

ThinkPad X series

Laptops

Why it comes up — 1,037 authors · 1,551 mentions · 2011–2026

Often with HP Spectre · ASUS Zenbook

“I recently settled on a Thinkpad X230 -- add a couple hundred to that price to upgrade the screen to IPS, and an i5 cpu (and backlit keyboard) -- it's worth it. I also added an internal SSD (you can install it under the ”— derekp7 · 2012 · HN

Details Buy

#15

Kinesis

Peripherals

Why it comes up — 1,062 authors · 1,850 mentions · 2007–2026

Often with Herman Miller · Standing desk

“I've been using the Kinesis Maxim for years, and I highly recommend it. It's split, adjustable (both width and height), has great keying, and is very sturdy: http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/max-spec.htm”— digisth · 2013 · HN

Details Buy

#16

reMarkable

E-ink

Why it comes up — 778 authors · 1,185 mentions · 2012–2026

Often with Lamy · iPad

“I use my reMarkable daily for notes and never thought of it as something you'd run a live REPL on. Really neat build.”— tylerhackbart · 2026 · HN

Details Buy

#17

AirPods

Audio

Why it comes up — 1,050 authors · 1,365 mentions · 2016–2026

Often with Apple Watch · Flashlight

“I have been using Apple airpods for about six months now without any issues. They fit well and seem comfortable enough that sometimes I forget they are still in ear long after the meeting is over. Never had sound or mic ”— ketanmaheshwari · 2021 · HN

Details Buy

#18

ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Laptops

Why it comes up — 788 authors · 1,134 mentions · 2011–2026

Often with HP Spectre · ASUS Zenbook

“I use a Thinkpad X1 Carbon as my daily driver with Ubuntu and it works well. My main advice is whatever laptop you choose, make sure there is good driver support (unless you really like tinkering).”— Nelkins · 2018 · HN

Details Buy

#19

YubiKey

Security

Why it comes up — 833 authors · 1,138 mentions · 2009–2026

Often with OnlyKey · Nitrokey

“I use my yubikey and I love it. I have it set up to do GPG, SSH, TOTP, and U2F and it works great. It is worlds better then any other Smart Card or second factor out there, and U2F is literally just plug it in and tap it”— dkhenry · 2017 · HN

Details Buy

#20

Pixel

Phones

Why it comes up — 825 authors · 988 mentions · 2009–2026

Often with Chromebook · Garmin

“I loved my Pixel 4, it was a really good phone albiet very expensive (£669). I went out for a run one day and it rained my phone got slightly damp in my pocket, never booted again and Google Support offered to repair it ”— daleharvey · 2020 · HN

Details Buy

#21

Surface Laptop

Laptops

Why it comes up — 599 authors · 867 mentions · 2012–2026

Often with HP Spectre · Lenovo Yoga

“I‘d recommend buying a Surface Go. Using WSL you can tool up, like on any other machine. However, remember to grab the 8GB model.”— immnn · 2020 · HN

Details Buy

#22

Chromebook

Laptops

Why it comes up — 722 authors · 922 mentions · 2011–2026

Often with Pixel · Lenovo Yoga

“I'm a big fan of my Chromebook Pixel. galliumos.org is my daily driver, which is the best linux experience I've ever had -- everything just works.”— simon_weber · 2016 · HN

Details Buy

#23

ErgoDox

Peripherals

Why it comes up — 630 authors · 1,013 mentions · 2013–2026

Often with Moonlander · Split keyboard

“> I recommend visiting the ergo keyboard comparison tool [1] As far as I can tell, the list of keyboards seems dated and does not include the Ergodox EZ”— hosteur · 2022 · HN

Details Buy

#24

Boox

E-ink

Why it comes up — 482 authors · 851 mentions · 2013–2026

Often with Pixel · iPad

“I really want this. My daily driver is a macbook pro and I use a boox max lumi as my main programming display. I'd love to have a laptop with this built in.”— JoelMcCracken · 2022 · HN

Details Buy

See all 106 →

Kits · real HN loadouts

Whole kits in one comment

Newest first; ≥3 items across categories, families folded. All kits

20263 items · 3 cats

Framework Laptop iPad iPhone

“I have a nice Framework laptop on my desk running Kubuntu alongside my Macs. Every now and then I check in, make sure I could switch to it if I needed to, test all my important tasks, plug it in so the stupid mainboard b”— dofm · HN