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The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

nytimes.com

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Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#41

Post by neilv »

esotericn wrote: post #18

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…

Sometimes, you're not stuck at 32-bit. When I was using my stockpile of ThinkPad T60 units, luckily, I was able to upgrade the CPUs to 64-bit easily. (Reportedly, most T60 motherboards supported 64-bit, even though most shipped with 32-bit, and the CPUs are socketed, and can be swapped without much laptop disassembly.)

I ended up upgrading from T60 to somewhat newer, less-well-designed other ThinkPad series, mainly for a larger display, so that I wasn't tied to my desk as much. And I still transplant original T60 keyboards into the somewhat newer models, since, after the T60, Lenovo started making the keyboard flex.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#42

Post by kingkongjaffa »

mantas wrote: post #12
EliRivers wrote: post #7

“We’re in the golden age of smartphones,” he said. “Your smartphone from two years ago still works great and will continue to work for a while.” If this is where smartphones peak - usable for two and a bit years - we need to take ourselves out to the car park for a strong conversation.

I'm still on iPhone 6. 4.5 years old. I want to upgrade for bling factor, but it just doesn't die. I'll probably try DIY battery replacement once next iPhone is out. Either I get to brag about my battery replacement skills or I have a reason to upgrade.. Win-win!

The only thing about my iphone6s I wish was better is the camera.

In terms of cultivating better/more positive habits, it's probably better to just buy a standalone mid range digital camera.

Run the iphone until it dies/stops being supported by updates and apps that I care about.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#43

Post by RussianCow »

imtringued wrote: post #29
jotm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have a HTC One M8, which is almost 5 years old. The processor is fine, storage seems fine, battery is almost dead which is normal... But 2GB of RAM is now not enough for the same apps I've used for years. Open a few tabs in Firefox and it slows down a lot. Before quad core processors, I found the CPU was a serious bottleneck, as well. And fwiw, Windows Mobile phones had full fledged browsers and 3G long befor…

I'm still using the HTC one M7. The battery is dying and the charging port is wearing out. I bought a magnetic charging cable so I can keep the plug inside permanently. I have dropped it several times and at least twice on the pavement. It has 5 2mm wide indentations in the aluminum frame. The glass is as good as new. It will probably survive another two years.

I loved that phone. If not for the lack of OS updates and the small amount of RAM, I'd still be using it. Everything since then by HTC has been considerably worse in terms of hardware quality.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#44

Post by kingkongjaffa »

afthonos wrote: post #6
fmajid wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The non-S are usually a much bigger improvement over their predecessors than the S. Almost as if Apple have an A-team working on the non-S and a B-team refining them into S with minor iterations.

However, the S is almost always the version I prefer; your so-called “B-Team” are the ones who polish the designs, and the results are clearly superior. As the saying goes, a trifle makes perfection, but perfection is no trifle.

This rings true for me, I got a iphone 6plus at launch and hated the large form factor.

it broke and I bought a used 6s (non-plus) and it was so much more refined.

Not to mention the smaller size was way more practical. The only time I wished for a larger screen was to watch movies on flights and an iPad is way better for that anyway.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#45

Post by tannhaeuser »

mantas wrote: post #12
EliRivers wrote: post #7

“We’re in the golden age of smartphones,” he said. “Your smartphone from two years ago still works great and will continue to work for a while.” If this is where smartphones peak - usable for two and a bit years - we need to take ourselves out to the car park for a strong conversation.

I'm still on iPhone 6. 4.5 years old. I want to upgrade for bling factor, but it just doesn't die. I'll probably try DIY battery replacement once next iPhone is out. Either I get to brag about my battery replacement skills or I have a reason to upgrade.. Win-win!

Just bought a 6s (my first iPhone actually, though I have/had iPads and iPods). My former Samsung S8 and Android was working well, but was so fscking huge and fragile, it fell apart after only one year of use, with a screen replacement costing 270 bucks! Now I'm enjoying the creamy look HN is supposed to have, which I didnt't get on AMOLED.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#46

Post by iamnotacrook »

bigmanwalter wrote: post #33
spodek wrote: 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

Are you implying OP is a thief?

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#48

Post by zitterbewegung »

I generally buy products when I need to than when I want to.

For other products I usually wait 3 months or more for all of the tech reviewers to get in their 2 cents on each product.

Although, waiting for longer periods of time might be more beneficial because then you know more information about the devices long term durability.

I have started to buy used Macs due to a bad experience with buying a Macbook Pro 2017. I think I may have had some processor issues at that time. The other problem was that during repair my laptop was lost for a few weeks. I had other concerns on the long term durability so I sold it for a large loss.

I have a Desktop computer that I use as my "lab" computer. I generally use it for video games but I have also used it to do some freelance work in the past.

I try to avoid version one of any product that I could own also.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#49

Post by paggle »

drevil-v2 wrote: post #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 s…

Even a ordinary new car like a Toyota Corolla will be vastly safer than your 15 year old car, even if the old one is a luxury brand.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#50

Post by iamtheworstdev »

mgkimsal wrote: post #22
kd5bjo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's nothing smart about not benefiting from the new features today for the sake of saving a few hundred dollars. Sure there is. For every life-changing new feature, there are a dozen that end up not going anywhere. For the ones that are, their true advantages and disadvantages only become clear after they’ve been in the world for a while. I’m thankful for all of the early adopters out there that hapily deal wit…

"For every life-changing new feature, there are a dozen that end up not going anywhere" "3D Touch" (IIRC?) would seem to fall in to that camp, no? I've never had a device that offered it, and the folks I know that do didn't realize they had it.

I left Apple phones before that feature came out, and because of that feature I feel like I have no idea how to use a new Apple phone. I want to say it's just error but I really feel like they just forced a bunch of UI into that feature too hope it would catch on.
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