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The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

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Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#61

Post by legulere »

adrianN wrote: post #10
nulltype wrote: post #4

I'm not sure I buy the contrast between old computers and macbooks. The smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook (excluding any wired or wireless peripherals), but the smallest in a normal computer might be the CPU. The CPU cannot be repaired except by replacing the entire thing. You can't repair a CPU or a MacBook, so it seems the the only real difference is how much it costs to replace the broke…

The other difference is the rate at which the part fails. CPUs basically last forever if you keep them sufficiently cooled. Batteries or screen backlights or keyboards, not so much.

Screen backlights are LEDs today and last significantly longer.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#62

Post by StavrosK »

jevgeni wrote: post #19

I can see the point. My hobby is photography. I love my Nikon D5300 to bits, but after a year of usage two buttons are stuck and the eyecup needs replacing. And then there are people using twin reflex cameras from the 50s and they run like butter...

Could it be because your camera is now pretty much a whole photography studio in a compact package, and to make it as sturdy as those old cameras that had three moving parts it will need to cost twice as much?

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#63

Post by poopbutt »

JohnBooty wrote: post #43

Understand that PCs were end-user fixable and upgradeable by accident. The intention was never for you, the person who bought your computer, to be able to pop a new CPU into your Compaq five years later. Standardized, modular parts were always all about the OEMs, who were all trying to build an industry by cloning the IBM PC. They could have a variety of manufacturers making various components and as long as everybod…

Yeah, I hear where you're coming from, but all of those parts are still serviceable. If your starter goes on your Ford car, you might have to buy a Ford starter (or a third party starter for a Ford car), but it can still be fixed with a commonly accessible set of relatively inexpensive tools.

If the RAM in my Macbook gets cooked, either I can buy an entire new motherboard, or a new laptop. It's throwing the baby out with the bath water, and the truck/lawnmower example you've mentioned doesn't extend to that.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#64

Post by JohnBooty »

poopbutt wrote: post #63
JohnBooty wrote: post #43

Understand that PCs were end-user fixable and upgradeable by accident. The intention was never for you, the person who bought your computer, to be able to pop a new CPU into your Compaq five years later. Standardized, modular parts were always all about the OEMs, who were all trying to build an industry by cloning the IBM PC. They could have a variety of manufacturers making various components and as long as everybod…

Yeah, I hear where you're coming from, but all of those parts are still serviceable. If your starter goes on your Ford car, you might have to buy a Ford starter (or a third party starter for a Ford car), but it can still be fixed with a commonly accessible set of relatively inexpensive tools. If the RAM in my Macbook gets cooked, either I can buy an entire new motherboard, or a new laptop. It's throwing the baby out…

I agree; it sucks for the reason you say.

"Moore's Law" is probably part of the reason we're okay with this: by the time RAM/CPU/mobo start failing, a laptop is 5 (or 6 or 7 or 10) years old and the laptop's a dinosaur anyway. Heck, by that point a lot of us are probably hoping our laptops fail so we have an excuse to get a new one.

I wonder if we'll stop being okay with this eventually, now that desktop/laptop CPUs aren't getting faster at the rate they used to. My 2011 Macbook Pro is still plenty fast enough for me. It would be nice if it lasted a long time.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#65

Post by ska »

eitally wrote: post #59
cujo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have Compagnolo components ever been compatible with other maker's parts? As far as I know Shimano and SRAM are compatible, and most of the smaller players work in the same way. Compagnolo, AFAIK, is the only outlier here. As for the seat post, it's these molded carbon frames that seem to be built for short use and then the trash that are problematic in my eyes. They're just wasteful and most of the people buying the…

The flip side to this (triathlon gear) is ITU draft legal racing, where it's basically like a criterion and requires the same UCI compliant bike setups as a road race would. This solves the problem in one way but creates a new one. Take a look at the world standings (for women, especially). Gwen Jorgensen is a beast, for sure, but she wins because she's a ridiculously strong runner who managed to get her swim good en…

Haven't (particularly longer distance) triathalons always been a runners race?

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#66

Post by lemevi »

joe563323 wrote: post #36

Interesting and thought provoking comparison b/w James Bond and Jason Bourne.

It's mostly nonsense. You can invent comparisons like this, which are really just half-baked and not very convincing attempts at social science deconstruction, between any number of things and it may appear to be just as thought provoking.

I am sure that the generation that watched James Bond in the 1960's trusted their employers more than action movie watchers of the last decade but Bourne stories are about government conspiracies and the first book was written even before Iran Contra deals were known and president Reagan took office.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#67

Post by triangleman »

chr wrote: post #11
triangleman wrote: post #7

Can today's Thinkpads still hang with the best of them? (typed on a recently-upgraded late 2006 MBP)

triangle, how did you "upgrade" the MBP you mentioned? Once ram is at 3 gig and the hard drive is SSD, is there anything else to do?

Isn't that good enough? SSD in particular is a huge speed boost.

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#68

Post by triangleman »

mobiuscog wrote: post #42
simonh wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as moores law ends and computers stop being obsolete we may get to a point where a computer could be passed down generations like a solid dining room table I had to smile at this. I just handed down my old iPhone 3GS to my daughter to use as she's started secondary school. I bought it in 2009 and it's now on it's fourth owner - Me, my wife, her father and now our daughter so it's been used by three generations of o…

It's a shame this doesn't apply to the original iPad... no OS updates for quite a while, so you can't use the majority of apps (as they don't offer older versions) and the browser regularly crashes. It was excellent hardware, let down by just becoming obsolete through age.

iPhone 3GS can't go past iOS 6, and it's better that way :)

Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic

#70

Post by smcl »

ucaetano wrote: post #39

It is interesting to compare Bond with Smiley. While Bond is whom the salesman aspired to be, Smiley is whom he would actually become. The expense account is a reptile fund over drafted by senior management for spurious expenses, he travels, but to cold and boring places, usually on a budget and staying out of sight in cramped hotels and safe houses. Instead of sleeping with beautiful women, he spends most of his tim…

What is this? I googled the term and got a bunch of smiley pictures and a horror film released relatively recently.

Edit: should have googled better, it's this smiley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Smiley

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