Best of Hardware — August 2025

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   Article

   Hacker News·42w

   I spent 6 years building a ridiculous wooden pixel display

   A maker spent six years building Kilopixel, a 1000-pixel wooden display that changes one pixel at a time using a CNC gantry system. The project combines hardware fabrication, CNC programming, web development, and live streaming to create an interactive art installation where anyone can submit pixel art through a web interface. The display uses custom wooden pixels, stepper motors, Raspberry Pi control, and streams live to YouTube with automated timelapse generation.

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   Article

   Hacker News·39w

   You should buy a faster CPU

   Modern CPUs have become dramatically faster, with desktop processors offering up to 10x performance improvements over older laptop chips. The author argues that investing in top-tier CPUs like the AMD Ryzen 9950X ($500) provides better value than AI coding subscriptions ($480/year) for developer productivity. Benchmarks show desktop CPUs are roughly 3x faster than laptops, and current generation processors are 3x faster than models from 3 years ago, making build times significantly shorter and development workflows more efficient.

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   Article

   The Verge·39w

   Bye-bye barrel jack: Framework brings 240W USB-C charging to laptops

   Framework launches the first standards-compliant 240W USB-C PD power adapter for laptops, priced at $109. This breakthrough eliminates the need for traditional barrel jack chargers and can fully power high-performance laptops without battery drain during intensive gaming. Framework also introduces an upgradeable RTX 5070 graphics card for their modular laptop, featuring a 240W-capable USB-C port for single-cable docking solutions.

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