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That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

techinasia.com

191–200 of 595 posts

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#191
I paid my bills from Nov 2006 to Feb 2013 with a HP nc8430. I let it go because it started to be annoyngly low on memory because of my new usage patterns: more VMs of more memory hungry OSes and more browser tabs, only 4 GB. Furthermore it run out of support and I would have had to buy my spare parts, no more next business day on site assistance. I got a Zbook 15 and I feel like I can go on with that for another 6 years (i7, up to 32 GB). No need to be on a 2 years update cycle, sadly for HP (or Apple) but not for me.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#192
Give me a break! That was not a jab at poor people. It was explaining how a market there is.

If you want to see a jab at poor people look at Gainsbourg burn a 500 franc note (about 100USD at the time) on live television. That's a jab at poor people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMq3Zr9_ARE

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#193
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but claiming 4 year old devices are usable with iOS 9 is a joke. The rule of a thumb with iPhones is that you update n+1 version your phone shipped with. Anything more kills the performance to almost a standstill. I won't go into the debate if it's intentionally or not, but as sure isn't with much added value.

You say that, but the guy sitting right behind me happily used his 4s until last month. And he's a heavy app user, installing all sorts of stuff, from flight tracking, weird weather apps, bird watching, whatever. I'm not sure if that counts as a joke from where I'm from.

There, a test on the 4S : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J6R0NnqOzc

If you look at it this way - all that's changed are "clients", the data displayed is the same for both. But only on one phone the system experience is enjoyable. I guess Schiller forgot about that they once had a good optimized mobile OS.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#194

Story time! My gf and I went to take pictures of some expensive cars at an Audi dealership. While there one of the nicely dressed sales people started talking to us about the Q7. He quoted about 70k cdn as a starting price and argued, sure it was an expensive car but it lasts longer and you save money in the long run. I think maybe that's what apple was trying to get across, buy some quality hardware that is updated…

lol at luxury cars lasting longer and saving you money over the long run. Rare cars with rare parts.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#195
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a guess a lot of the phones are bought on payment plans with carriers - so the up front cost is relatively manageable but you're paying for 2 years. This kind of deal is much much harder to value correctly and for sure people are looking at it as a "we can find $40 a month" rather than "that's equivalent to a price of $900 - can we afford that?".

I'm sad that I can't disagree with you. Most people don't realize how much those monthly (and daily) expenses add up. A huge failing of our society is that we don't teach people how to be responsible with money. All they see are ads telling them to buy more, spend all your money, keep up with the Joneses. Either you have parents who teach you, or you figure it out on your own. And for the poorer people, it's just a c…

I just wonder sometimes if it is really that hard to figure this on their own. We can't teach every basic thing to everyone. I would hope that people are able to figure such obvious things on their own. It is really strange that they don't.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#196

I just can't bring myself to feel the author's anger, in any capacity. He wants to position this as a jab against those who build their own PCs, but that is utterly irrelevant. What percentage of those 600 million five-year-old PCs do you really think are being thoughtfully maintained by modders? Does the author realize that most people do not want the responsibility of maintaining their own hardware? Or that they do…

I don't think Apple is thinking about the money aspect here. Instead they find it sad because many of these people are missing out on _progress_. Especially with regards to ease of use. Many of these people would be much better served with an iPad than with the PCs that they use now.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am not sure if I was suddenly without money, the iPhone would be what I would want to give up. If you have an iPhone and then become poor, sure. You probably won't get ahead much by getting rid of your iPhone. If you're already poor, then an iPhone (not a smartphone) is definitely a luxury. There are capable smartphones for much cheaper then an iPhone that could get the job done. That's what GP was likely getting…

> There are capable smartphones for much cheaper then an iPhone that could get the job done. That's what GP was likely getting at. True enough. And yet, if you yourself are not actually poor, you may not realize the value that a marginal luxury like an iPhone or Air Jordans or a top brand purse (sorry, I don't know what the hot brand of purses is atm) can bring to someone in that situation. Spending a few hundred dol…

At the expense of being more in debt, or worse, skipping a rent payment or a grocery run.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#199
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought an iPhone 3GS in 2009, that's 6 and a half years ago and my daughter now uses it at school. It even still connects to the App Store. Other than a cracked screen it works fine. Battery life isn't great, but it gets her through the school day. These things have incredible lifetimes and also keep their resale value very well. So in terms of value, I'm not convinced that iPhones are a frivolous luxury. In my exp…

Most of the things my family used an original ipad for stopped working after a very short amount of time. It is now essentially garbage that I can't bring myself to throw away.

And my wife and I still use our iPad 2 without issue aside from the noticeable sluggishness switching apps or updating. Anecdotes!

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#200
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am not sure if I was suddenly without money, the iPhone would be what I would want to give up. If you have an iPhone and then become poor, sure. You probably won't get ahead much by getting rid of your iPhone. If you're already poor, then an iPhone (not a smartphone) is definitely a luxury. There are capable smartphones for much cheaper then an iPhone that could get the job done. That's what GP was likely getting…

I bought an iPhone 3GS in 2009, that's 6 and a half years ago and my daughter now uses it at school. It even still connects to the App Store. Other than a cracked screen it works fine. Battery life isn't great, but it gets her through the school day. These things have incredible lifetimes and also keep their resale value very well. So in terms of value, I'm not convinced that iPhones are a frivolous luxury. In my exp…

We've got an iPad 2 that is not useless, but much worse after upgrading to ios9. I still play Kingdom Rush games on it but its so slow now its too frustrating to use for internet browsing and other things.
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