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How and why I stopped buying new laptops

solar.lowtechmagazine.com

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Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#131

Post by [deleted] »

farss wrote: post #43
karaterobot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We need to actually coin a word to describe "company solved their use-case wonderfully and can't resist fiddling around with it for reasons that don't align with their user-base*. Can't help coin a new word, but Ralph Caplan described this phenomenon really well. I'm a (software) designer, and I think about this all the time: > When cuffs disappeared from men’s trousers, fashion designers gave interviews explaining…

Trouser cuffs do have a function. The extra weight helps the cloth drape better.

[deleted]

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#132

Post by brutus1213 »

HPsquared wrote: post #45
karaterobot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We need to actually coin a word to describe "company solved their use-case wonderfully and can't resist fiddling around with it for reasons that don't align with their user-base*. Can't help coin a new word, but Ralph Caplan described this phenomenon really well. I'm a (software) designer, and I think about this all the time: > When cuffs disappeared from men’s trousers, fashion designers gave interviews explaining…

In fashion, "newness" is a function.

IMHO the Ribbon UI in MS Office is the same. Also, most things Reddit has done in the past 5 years.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#133

Post by giantrobot »

bxparks wrote: post #29

I guess I've been doing something similar. I currently use 9 laptops (2 Windows, 5 Linux, 1 MacBookAir, 1 Chromebook). Only the MBA11 and the Chromebook were purchased new. The rest were bought on eBay for $250-$600. After getting them, I max out the RAM, replace the HDD with SSD, or upgrade the SSD. A few of them needed some parts replaced (e.g. fans). The battery almost always needs replacing at some point. Fortuna…

The website is hosted on a solar powered Raspberry Pi (IIRC). So the background is colored such to show the current battery level of the server. While a clever idea, there's much better ways it could be done that would make the site more readable. If I were being uncharitable I'd say it's more about virtue signaling than actual utility.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#134

Post by giantrobot »

edsonmedina wrote: post #129

For a low-tech solar powered website, it does require a lot of loading (>500Kb for the homepage, >350kb just for this article). You should optimize your images. This would probably drastically reduce your electricity use per unique visitor. Nice article by the way. I love the frugality.

It's a solar powered Raspberry Pi!

Behind CloudFlare which is not solar powered and does most of the work sending stuff to clients.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#135

Post by fy20 »

Igelau wrote: post #62
mlacks wrote: post #6

> If you do graphical or audiovisual work, it’s more complicated, because in that case, you’re probably an Apple user and unwilling to listen. Well that’s too bad. Sounds like the author just didn’t have the experience or energy to give advice to windows/ Linux users like myself that do audio/ graphical work. I was really interested in seeing what he had to offer. I personally use an NEC Lavie Hybrid Zero to make my…

Ah, thanks. That spares me from attempting to read past that awful "power level as backdrop" trick. Maybe it looks okay on desktop, but on low-tier mobile it's unbearable.

The same article is available on a fossil fuel powered server too, no annoying backdrops:

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/12/how-and-why-i-stoppe...

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#136

Post by aidenn0 »

Const-me wrote: post #8
ryan-duve wrote: post #2

As someone coming from the other direction of this "hack", I agree with the author's point to match needs to hardware. Since being introduced to Linux in high school in the early 2000s, I have had a penchant for bringing old computers back from the dead. As a result, every laptop I have ever owned has been one that a friend or partner throws away when Windows gets slow. Every 3-5 year old laptop I have found can be b…

Have you considered a desktop? They are much faster than laptops, who are constrained by thermal issues. It’s hard to dissipate 500W+ of heat from a laptop-sized thing, they simply don’t have enough available surface for air intakes and exhausts. If you want a smaller one to be occasionally portable, there’s Mini-ITX. I currently use a PC I built in this case: https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/node/node-2…

500W? That's an absurd amount of heat. I suppose they don't make 75W GPUs anymore (I'll replace my 1050Ti when they do), but still...

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#137

Post by tcpekin »

Someone once posted a website they made in the HN comments that filtered Craigslist/Ebay for the exact old style laptops to reuse... does anyone remember what that was, or what it was called? Was a very nice way to keep on top of the offerings in a region without having to keep track of all the keywords.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#138

Post by sfgweilr4f »

That raspberry pi 400[1] seems to partially fit the bill for me. Hook up a USB monitor if you want to have the laptop aspect since those sometimes have an internal battery. Some sort of trackpad etc.

I'm sure, with enough enthusiasm, someone could have a workable laptop for basic tasks like writing or video. For those with less enthusiasm, don't underestimate the power of duct tape.

[1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#139

Post by aidenn0 »

ogre_codes wrote: post #36
dayjobpork wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is also the company that decides that 'x port' is the new greatest thing ever and drops support for previous ports

This is nonsense. Apple maintained the iPhone 30 pin connector for 10+ years. The Lightning port is 10 years old. Apple supported Thunderbolt for its entire life as a standard. Apple was one of the first to use USB-A and supported it for ~20 years until they switched to USB-C (another standard). Apple does tend to go all in on a bus, but they don't change them often. You won't find 8 different ports on a Mac to satis…

I think apple has this reputation because even if they keep a port for 10 years, that means 20% of the people get their first apple product within 2 years of the port disappearing
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