The Antique Microwave Oven that's Better than Yours

Technology Connections
7 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2020–2025
YouTube
2.7M views · 5 years ago · explainer · evergreen

Technology Connections reviews an older microwave oven and compares its controls and features with those of microwaves today. He argues that the older design's controls and sensing suit the job better than the newer ones.

HN brings it up in threads on appliance design to show how older appliances did simple things better than modern smart ones.

“The most advanced microwave oven I've seen was from the 90's and definitely didn't splurge on an microprocessor.”
Design of everyday thingsIndustrial design
#microwave#appliancedesign#controls#technologyconnections#smartappliances

25 comments from Hacker News

T
@TimeBearingDown2024 · in “Microwave spontaneously turned on by its LED display”
Don’t forget a physical handle to pull open the door. I’d take a steam sensor as well. Thanks to Technology Connections, great channel. Convinced me to read all the fine print until I found a Breville that had it. ▶ this video
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z
@zinekeller2023 · in “The antique microwave oven that's better than yours (2020) [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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c
@cuddlybacon2021 · in “A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today”
Since everyone is mentioning Technology Connections (he deserves it, great channel), I want to bring up this video: ▶ this video To me, this really shows the sad direction smart appliances have gone in. I would love to see that smart appliances would have continued to evolve in this direction. I don't like the current state of smart appliances, but going back to the absolute basic seems like an over-reaction to me.
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m
@mxcrossb2021 · in “The Antique Microwave Oven That’s Better Than Yours”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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T
@TonyTrapp2020 · in “Pimp My Microwave”
Tangentially related, Technology Connections published an interesting video just a few days ago, "The Antique Microwave Oven that's Better than Yours": ▶ this video
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g
@gibolt2020 · in “Pimp My Microwave”
Great 'Review' of an old Microwave loaded with features. ▶ this video Why can't we have nice things by default, especially with appliances like microwaves, toasters, printers...
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g
@guerby2020 · in “The future of microwave cooking is solid-state (2016)”
Fun video about microwave oven now vs thirty years ago: ▶ this video "The Antique Microwave Oven that's Better than Yours" by Technology Connections
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i
@immibis2025 · in “Tor browser removing various Firefox AI features”
▶ this video (it's Technology Connections about a really old microwave that does this well)
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d
@dlcarrier2025 · in “Run Erlang/Elixir on Microcontrollers and Embedded Linux”
Espressif's ESP32 line uses an MCU IC, either sold by itself (link) or with flash memory and RAM ICs, all packaged together in a system-in-package footprint. (e.g. link) There are various options for which flash and RAM ICs are packaged together, but the ESP32 die itself is very much an MCU and has only has 520 KB of SRAM. A managed switch is very computy heavy, and does usually run a microprocessor with a full RTOS, if not Linux itself, which probably costs in the mult-dollar range. It's also not something most people have at home, outside of the switch built into their router. Everything elese you mentioned usually runs on microcontrollers with under 1 MiB of RAM. For example, Infineon's CYUSB306X series ASICs for webcams come in two RAM sizes: 256 KiB or 512 KiB, despite handling gigabits per second of data, and having an MCU at all isn't even necessary. (link) The Pinecil's Bouffalo BL706 MCU has 123 KiB of RAM, despite being a low-volume product where design time matters more than component cost. (link link) Microwave ovens are so high volume that they often don't even use packaged microcontrollers, mounting the die directly on the PCB, with an epoxy blob protecting it, and there's no way any would splurge on megabytes of SRAM. The most advanced microwave oven I've seen was from the 90's and definitely didn't splurge on an microprocessor. (▶ this video) A slow MCU with external memory could run anything, like booting into linux on an AVR (link) but it's going to be extremely slow and not practical for any commercial product, which if produced in any volume will have as little RAM as possible.
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j
@jchw2025 · in “The Nightmare Bicycle”
The popcorn button on a microwave actually does something unique, or at least it does on microwaves with a real popcorn button. I think microwave designs are only bad insofar as they have been made so cheap that the special functions have been made vastly less useful. Obligatory Technology Connections. ▶ this video
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N
@NotYourLawyer2025 · in “Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)”
Better microwaves existed. Nobody wanted them. Technology Connections: ▶ this video
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g
@gcanyon2024 · in “A History of Microwave Ovens”
The Antique Microwave Oven that's Better than Yours [video] ▶ this video I owned one of these, it was indeed awesome. It really did cook food intelligently.
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