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Overkill objects for everyday life

neil.computer

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Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#361

Post by franga2000 »

drstewart wrote: post #249
MonaroVXR wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same for laptops, but most of the people (I assume?) buy Macbooks for programming which is... kinda weird, since it's difficult to repair. Than business laptops like the Z-book, ThinkPad or insert Dell business laptop eg; Latitude 7000 series (Dell XPS isn't a business laptop from my perspective.)

> kinda weird, since it's difficult to repair. Why would I care? If it breaks, I tell my company to pay the repair bill or buy me a new one.

Because when it breaks, your company won't want to use 3rd party repair, so they will send it straight to Apple. That means that it will take at least a month to get back and all your data getting erased is pretty much a guarantee, even if all that was broken was one resistor in the power supply circuit.

Even if they buy a new one, how long will it take you to set it up from scratch?

Meanwhile, any other vendor will have competent technicians available almost anywhere (with a support package maybe even 24/7/365), who will be able to at worst transplant your storage media into a working machine while they refurb your old one. The downtime can be shorter than a big Windows update.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#362

Post by franga2000 »

ValentineC wrote: post #253
MonaroVXR wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same for laptops, but most of the people (I assume?) buy Macbooks for programming which is... kinda weird, since it's difficult to repair. Than business laptops like the Z-book, ThinkPad or insert Dell business laptop eg; Latitude 7000 series (Dell XPS isn't a business laptop from my perspective.)

> This is the same for laptops, but most of the people (I assume?) buy Macbooks for programming which is... kinda weird, since it's difficult to repair. Personally, I don't think I've found anything that beats Apple's laptop trackpads, and I think that my UX matters more than repairability. Then again, I'm still using a 2013 MacBook Pro with an upgraded NVMe SSD.

Idk, not being able to get it fixed without data loss in the case of even a minor hw failure seems like pretty bad UX to me...

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#363

Post by tomcooks »

shellfishgene wrote: post #344
zamalek wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm considering this very seriously: > The entire consumer market is rotten. TV? It's going to come with smart apps. Get one from NEC that's meant for commercial use. A TV has the potential to be a lifetime purchase, but the software on it can render it obsolete. I can always plug my streaming device of choice into the back of a "dumb TV."

I thought buying a TV was bad, but today I wanted to find a good digital picture frame. What a shit show, it seems that search term has even more fake review sites and SEO spam than other electronics, Amazon is full of Chinese brands with random names selling the same few models, and with even the apparently good ones it's hard to find out what they actually do and what not. And then in the fine print you find you th…

Make your own with a raspberry pi,a screen and a couple of beers to enhance the tinkering

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#364

Post by CamperBob2 »

sparselogic wrote: post #299
CamperBob2 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, had no idea that work gloves not designed for use by NASA could cost almost $300/pair. What kind of work are these used for? Safecracking?

That’s for 12 pairs.

I see what you mean now -- they certainly don't make that obvious.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#366

Post by tomcooks »

jedberg wrote: post #342
Denvercoder9 wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony here is that anyone who has actually served would gladly tell you that half the military grade stuff they had to deal with is utter junk.

It was purchased from the vendor with the lowest bid, so that's not entirely surprising.

Depends on which army, decade, and type of object you're talking about.

E.g. British wire cutters, German parkas, French boots, etc.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#367

Post by Wistar »

na85 wrote: post #141
Wistar wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been, over-time, retro-fitting my home with pro/commercial-grade infrastructure items such as: quarter-turn marine-grade ball valves for the water-main; toilets, clothes washer, fridge and dishwasher; recessed sillcock valves; outdoor hose reels and hoses; sprinklers (this is a biggie as so many sprinklers are one-season junk); heavy-duty light switches; ceiling fans (the wonderful Big-Ass fans stuff); locks a…

I'd be interested in a site like that, as I have a similar appreciation for high-quality stuff that's built to last. What kind of dishwasher/fridge/laundry appliances did you end up getting?

I apologize as I wasn't clear enough: I was not focused on the appliances themselves but, rather, the water valves, and hoses, used to supply the water. The small but really important stuff.

Crummy valves break. Most builders use the cheapest crap they can get. They save a couple thousand dollars building a house but replacing the $2 crap can sometimes cost a fortune. One of the worst offenses I have had to deal with is the use of C-PVC pipe which is brittle and will eventually crack or burst.

Ideally, the site I thought about would be to educate folks about the kinds of things, components, they should specify when building or remodeling.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#368

Post by neonological »

kube-system wrote: post #51
neonological wrote: post #30

Consumer grade products are deliberately designed to fail. This is why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5v8D-alAKE&t=833s If you're older, like really old, you can actually remember a time where products were of a much much higher durability before the industry figured out that low durability products were more profitable. So in actuality some of the suggestions on that site aren't necessarily overkill as industrial…

“Engineered to fail” and “planned obsolescence” are both pejorative rephrasings of “consumers prioritize price” Engineering is an exercise in prioritization. If 90% of consumers buy the cheapest blender on the shelf, the blender made with the cheapest materials wins. Hobart still exists, and still makes good blenders. Consumers just started buying new designs that were more cost efficient. If you look at the prices o…

Did you watch the video? It's not just about cheap materials. It's literal design decisions made for the express reason so that the product will fail.

The iphone not having a replaceable battery is a design decision, it doesn't make the phone cheaper.

You are taking two independent phenomenons and trying to group them together as if they are the same phenomenon. Yes making a product cheaper has the side effect of reducing its' lifetime but the video and what I'm talking about is DIRECT engineering decisions for the purpose of shortening lifetimes NOT making things cheaper.

You obviously didn't watch the video.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#369

Post by drewzero1 »

jlkuester7 wrote: post #192
MonaroVXR wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same for laptops, but most of the people (I assume?) buy Macbooks for programming which is... kinda weird, since it's difficult to repair. Than business laptops like the Z-book, ThinkPad or insert Dell business laptop eg; Latitude 7000 series (Dell XPS isn't a business laptop from my perspective.)

I agree that the Dell XPS line does not reaaly fit the "business" look-and-feel like a Latitude or Thinkpad. But after several years of doing heavy sofware dev on one, it is has earned my respect. It is nice to have a machine with a non-brick-like form that still does not compromise in performance (and you can bring to a businesses meeting and not look too RBG....). IMHO the XPS line is designed to compete with MBPs…

I had an XPS M1330 about 10 years ago, and if I could figure out the apparent thermal issue I might still use it sometimes. At the time I found it incredibly portable (compared to my iBook and ThinkPad) without being slow, and the design was striking yet professional. Dell still isn't my favorite brand, but they've come a long way from the crappy Dimensions I had in the early 2000s.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#370

Post by wetpaws »

snth wrote: post #327
kfajdsl wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My rule of thumb for tools is to always first buy the cheapo Harbor Freight special (I'll get something a little better for precision tools) and if that tool breaks then that means I use the tool enough to justify getting something better. Spoiler alert: most of my tools are the cheapest I could find.

I like the idea of this, and I'm sure you save a lot of money, but the downside is this: I want to do some one-off job I haven't done before. It'll be difficult, because I will be trying it for the first time. Do I really want to make it even _more_ difficult by cheaping out on tools? I've done this several times, and I've ended up doing several jobs over again with better tools after I've screwed up the first time.…

You would want to start with cheapest thing cause usually you don't know how good things you actually need.

Using cheep tools gives you a freedom to experiment and know the limitations of the domain area and then invest in things that you exactly need without the risk of overpaying or underpaying, all for a minimum investment.

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