I prefer a 5 year old computer that is open, repairable, I can run any OS I want than the "Ultimate PC replacement" that can only run software signed (and sold) by Apple.
That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
451–460 of 595 posts
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#452I 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 still use a computer bought 10 years ago. I never upgraded it because I don't need to. It still runs XP but I am fine with it because it works. The author's point is very relevant here. You would take other options if you ever needed one.
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#453The superior attitude of Apple execs is nothing new. Even right at the start of the company that's a culture Jobs started with, looking down on all its competitors. What's rather sad is the laughing audience, to me, who left their brains at the door and laugh and applause when they are told to. Just like in 1984's iconic Apple ad, by the way. The loop is complete.
picture is worth a 1000 words, the photo of the laughing audience tells the demographic tale.
it seems to me a lot of comments here are focusing on the tech aspects of this (no surprise i guess) instead of the point: this is a marie antoinette moment, a la "let them get an ipad pro"
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#454Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why? Because they don't want to look poor or be thought of as such. This is not necessarily correct. A lot of people still regard iPhones and other high-end smartphones as being something of a luxury. They are a luxury when you compare them to what we need for survival (food, water, shelter), but there is something to be said about a small rectangular device that, once purchased, can provide nearly free: 1. enterta…
Smartphone != iphone I spent $250 on mine and it is does everything meaningful that an iphone does. Iphone is definitely a luxury even among smartphones.
When you walk into a phone store you're going to get upsold on the high-end phones, broken into small monthly payments.
Also there are still many value phones being sold that are pieces of crap. A poor person may be better off spending $20/mn on the latest iPhone that "just works" than getting a budget phone for $10/mn that crashes from not enough memory, has a terrible touchscreen and will be unusable in 1 year.
There are quality low-end smartphones, but you must research which they are, and the naming of them can be very similar to crappy phones. Going in and saying you want an iPhone is a more sure thing than guessing which variant of the value Galaxy line isn't crap, or which unknown brand name has the best features.
Often the sales people are just as clueless as the person buying, and they're motivated to sell whatever makes them a commission.
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#455Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not sure if I was suddenly without money, the iPhone would be what I would want to give up. The utility of the device is incredible: Mapping. Phone. Internet. Email. Alarm Clock. Calendaring. Photography. If anything we should work to get smart phones in the hands of the poor. It would be a great way to improve their lives for a somewhat modest cost. I am not sure it is all for looks. Maybe we could quibble abou…
> 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 am not aware of a socialized plan to put phone in the hands of poor people
https://www.fcc.gov/general/lifeline-program-low-income-cons...
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#456Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. I have a mid-2011 iMac. I ran Win 7 in Bootcamp for a few years until upgrading to 8.1 last month because Apple said Windows 10 wasn't supported on my machine. Have you had any problems?
I have two issues that can be worked around (this is for the 2006 MacBook 1,1, which requires Windows 10 32-bit). The first is that the Apple Bootcamp drivers refuse to install under Windows 10 due to Apple blocking it - I had to modify the install to bypass the Windows version check. The main glitch is that the backlight doesn't always activate on login. The first Windows logo appears, but at login the brightness is…
Thanks! That's really helpful.
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#457Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're close, the poor in most cases have self-defeating money habits. Any time they get money, they spend it immediately on things that have a short term feel-good effect, because their life has so little of that otherwise. This might be junk food, cigarettes/booze/drugs, lottery tickets, restaurant meals, gadgets or other "bling" etc. They rarely have a person in their life who models delayed gratification and savi…
They should read things like YNAB: http://www.youneedabudget.com It is amazing how much money one has when one exercises restraint when spending it.
Budgets rapidly break down when you're regularly faced with unforeseen but necessary expenses that blow your cash reserves out of the water.
A lot of the problems of poverty is that once you get below a certain level, even if you are the most thrifty person around, you lose predictability in ways that end up costing you a lot of extra money.
Suddenly your employer pays you a day late and your carefully arranged bill payment schedule goes out the window and you get charged extra fees, or your car that you depend on to keep your job breaks down and you're forced into ridiculously high interest credit.
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#458Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not important that it's 7x better. It's important that the increase in productivity (or enjoyment, etc.) is enough to justify the $600 difference in price over a (perhaps) 24 month period (e.g., do you get ~$1/day more out of it). Not to mention, a 2 year old iPhone will probably sell for $250-350, while a $100 smartphone will probably sell for $25 after 2 years. This makes the difference more like $300. So, "Do…
If you have serious money problems, you can't spend the "extra" $600 you have on an iPhone, even if it supposedly pays for itself after 24 months. You spend $600 on food and necessities. Because you need to survive.
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Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#459Earlier quoted context omitted.
Smartphone != iphone I spent $250 on mine and it is does everything meaningful that an iphone does. Iphone is definitely a luxury even among smartphones.
Correct. But look at who has a corner on the advertising. iPhones are still seen as another class above by many, if not most, people. Edit: Forgot to say, that by comparison, Android/Windows/whatever smartphones are relatively unknown.
> Forgot to say, that by comparison, Android/Windows/whatever smartphones are relatively unknown.
Huh? Android has nearly twice the market share of iOS: https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share...
> iPhones are still seen as another class above by many, if not most, people.
This is severely anecdotal. But here's an anecdote from me to balance things out: where I come (and indeed within the industry I work in) most people look down on iPhones because they see them as uninteresting toy devices or devices for old people. Nobody I know would be 'impressed' by an iPhone. Something like a OnePlus One, Xiaomi Mi5 or even a Blackberry Z30 would have a lot more cool/novelty factor.
iPhones got boring a long time ago. Much like the rest of Apple, it pains me to say.
Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people
#460I'm not convinced the new iPad pro will even be usable for 5 years.
I gave up on the iPad 1 and iPad mini because they didn't have enough RAM to load many websites. The new iPad pro has only 2GB of RAM and even 5 year old PCs had 4GB or 8GB.