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The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

nytimes.com

31–40 of 74 posts

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#31

I just wish that smartphones had a more standardised OS. Old laptops are fully usable in exactly the same way as a modern machine. They might be slightly slower. Well, I mean, it's getting more difficult to deal with 32bit hardware, but that's about 10-15 years old now. My 32bit atom netbook is still usable; still gets security patches; runs the latest everything (it's just very slow, and e.g. some distros dropped 32…

> I think that the phone manufacturers, Google, etc, should address the fact that they are creating mountains of e-waste for no good reason. The last new phone I bought was partly because old software stopped running on my version of Android. That's really a shame. this might be naive, but I do suspect we are getting close to an inflection point with the two year phone lifetime. up until the last few years, phone har…

I'm not so sure. We need an "IBM PC" of the smartphone world.

It's not a matter of the hardware manufacturers "supporting an OS". It's about the lack of standardization, hardware drivers, fragmentation etc.

Samsung don't support my 15 year old laptop, but it works and works fine, because it's a PC.

If the kernel drivers for my phone were mainlined that would be a huge step.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#32
I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets.

On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me.

It's different strokes for different people.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#33
post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

Lots of Craigslist computers are bought with stolen credit cards

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#34

I think particularly with phones, 5-10 years ago it was necessary to get a flagship model to get something that at least wasn't awful, and you wanted to upgrade that flagship as often as possible to get to 'good' as soon as possible. The last 5 years we reached 'good' for all flagship models, and so you bought one to get that but could then just keep it until it broke. Now, and going forwards, I think we're in the ph…

I agree that we've reached "peak phone". The newer models don't have any features you particularly need so keep using your existing one as a commodity until it breaks. The sales cycle is now looking like it's supposed to skip a generation of users. Unless you are getting it for free that 1000 or 1200 dollars you spend on a flagship could be used to enhance your life, either through having more disposable income, a holiday or investment. Enjoy your life and don't be a slave to devices.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#35

I just wish that smartphones had a more standardised OS. Old laptops are fully usable in exactly the same way as a modern machine. They might be slightly slower. Well, I mean, it's getting more difficult to deal with 32bit hardware, but that's about 10-15 years old now. My 32bit atom netbook is still usable; still gets security patches; runs the latest everything (it's just very slow, and e.g. some distros dropped 32…

> I just wish that smartphones had a more standardised OS.

going back in time, we have ibm (yes !) to thank for that :o) i don't know, if it would be possible for current duopoly to replaced anytime soon...

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#36

I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets. On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me. It's different s…

A couple years ago I bought an almost new video iPod circa 2005. It was my first Apple product so I didn't have the cable to charge it. I went to a Sprint store near my apartment and asked if they had a cable. They told me that they didn't carry "budget items" and that maybe I should try the Walgreen's next door. Ten short years this iPod was center stage at an Apple keynote and considered the best in the world, and it still worked just as well as it did when it came out. It just goes to show that the value of tech is relative to the times.

I'm waiting for the day when I can pick up a cheap Tesla that "only" goes 200 miles and "doesn't even drive itself". I'm already seeing Craigslist ads for Teslas where they have to state no autopilot. No car ad five years ago that would have to say that.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#37

I always wanted a MacBook (the 2015+ Retina one), but they always seemed too expensive once the storage was upgraded, and sadly this year Apple discontinued it. But last month I happened to look on the right Amazon site and hey, they have unsold brand-new stock for the latest model with the upgraded storage in the colour I want, discounted several hundred euros. Finally a good price :D

Note that the 2015 MBPs are a great buy - you can upgrade the SSD yourself using a $10 adapter: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/upgrading-2013-2014-mac...

Grabbed a used 13" model with 16 GB RAM, and put in a 1 TB drive myself. Couldn't be happier upgrading from a 2010 edition

If they release new models with fixed keyboards next year, I might upgrade and shell out for the SSD and RAM upgrades.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#38

I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets. On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me. It's different s…

I will pick up a new Kindle as soon as they release a Type-C version, that will probably last a while as my current Kindle has that is getting flaky page turn buttons (basic 2013 edition)

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#39

I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets. On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me. It's different s…

That's it, there's good new and good old. That's something we need to know. Very often a new version of a product is not better. Just made shinier and with now less expensive parts that may or may not be as good as the first gen.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#40

I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets. On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me. It's different s…

Sometimes waiting can lead to lost opportunities.

I bought a used original Kindle for text to speech. Newer models dropped the feature. (I think only the Fire tablets still have TTS, but only as part of accessibility.) Sure they can still be had used, for now. Once all break or Amazon drops support then it'll probably never come back.

Multiplayer games suffer from a wave-like network effect. If you wait too long to try the game the community may have moved on. Only the hardcore remain, and they may not be the nicest members.

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