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Overkill objects for everyday life

neil.computer

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Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#461

Post by Tijdreiziger »

MereInterest wrote: post #445
bayindirh wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moreover, consumer items beyond a price point are both very well made and backed by long term warranties anyway. Paying a bit more for a better item which can be repaired or serviced for a very long time makes it cheaper in the long run in my experience, because you buy it once and for life. I love "overkill items for everyday life" point of view, but it comes with trade-offs for noise, ergonomics, size, replaceabili…

> Moreover, consumer items beyond a price point are both very well made and backed by long term warranties anyway. Except that there isn't a good way to distinguish between something that is expensive because it has quality construction and something that is expensive because it is a brand name. Searching for information online is nigh-useless due to aggressive SEO on the part of advertisers. Sometimes I can get luck…

This is what consumers' associations do all day. You usually have to pay to read their research, which helps them maintain their independence.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#462

Post by airbreather »

verst wrote: post #260
jlkuester7 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Except my $3500 XPS 9500 (64GB RAM 2TB, 8 core CPU, Nvidia 1650Ti, 4K Touch Display) that thermal throttles so much that a 3 years older MBP gives much much better performance and I continued using that machine for work. Fortunately by switching teams at work I was then able to get a new Mac and I'm thrilled with my M1! I spoke with a very nice person from Dell via Twitter who out of personal interest went above and…

Mine, this goes away if I restore windows factory image or boot to linux.

The windows refresh joy typically lasts about two weeks and then the jet engine starts again, laggy, some long waits - something in some windows apps/drivers it really does not seem to like and I havent tracked it down yet.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#463

Post by monkpit »

Symbiote wrote: post #283
mnd999 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the spec usually says things like “Can be dropped 6ft onto concrete”.

Just buy a toy tested according to European Union standards, and labelled with the "CE" mark. > Drop the toy, or the relevant toy component, five times through a height of (850 ± 50) mm on to a 4 mm thick steel plate with a 2 mm thick coating of Shore A hardness (75 ± 5) as measured according to EN ISO 868 or ISO 7619-2 and which is placed on a non-flexible horizontal surface. > Prior to release, orientate the toy in…

I’ve always wondered what the difference between “orient” and “orientate” is... apparently there’s no difference, it’s just a UK vs US thing

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#464

Post by BeFlatXIII »

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…

Does the following scenario often happen with value engineering or is it just my mind playing tricks on me?

A product category exists at around $450–500 and there are plenty of household who do without. It gets value engineered down to a $100 product and sees mass adoption. However, 90% of the market for the original $500 product also chooses the half-broken $100 version, leading to the $500 quality moving upmarket (such that it now costs $1000) or disappearing altogether (or moving to a commercial appliance that is unfit for household use).

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#465

Post by aflag »

MonaroVXR wrote: post #158
dan-robertson wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dishwashers are another example. You could buy a commercial one but it will come with no roll-out trays (you load up different plastic racks for different things and you can load a rack while the dishwasher is running) and it’s designed for an environment with lots of ventilation (you just open it when it is done and let the steam get ventilated away) which people are unlikely to have in their own kitchens. Other ite…

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.)

Interesting. I've been buying thinkpads throughout most of my career. However, my latest laptop is a XPS 13. I really enjoy it, I use it to develop and it works very well both in docked mode as well as on the go. It's lightweight and super powerful yet quiet.

Meanwhile, my business laptop, the one the company provides me, has been macbooks for the most part, recently I've got a dell latitude. The latitude is one of the worst laptops I've had, bulky, heavy, noise. Yet, in terms of performance, I can't say I really see any differences in my day to day usage. On top of it all, the bluetooth is constantly causing issues, which I've never had with any of my previous laptops.

What do you like about the dell latitude line?

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#466

Post by samatman »

Animats wrote: post #326

I have a ruggedized phone with Caterpillar Tractor branding. There are other waterproof and rugged phones now, but a few years ago, they were the first to have a smartphone with reasonable toughness. (Of course, before smartphones, there was Nokia.) I have it so that if I get dumped off the horse, I can call for help.

It may not suit you for other reasons, but a cellular Apple Watch will call for help for you if you get dumped off the horse.

I think they're a no brainer for riders, be it motorcycle, bicycle, or horses. If it's not a bad spill, you can cancel, but opt-out is far superior to opt-in for this scenario.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#467

Post by aaron5 »

bartread wrote: post #360
IgorPartola wrote: post #341

I will postulate an opposing view to TFA: Quality consumer goods are better in two key areas. First, they are replaceable. I don’t want a military grade mixer in my kitchen if getting a broken whisk or motor on it is going to require me hunting all over eBay for the specific part hoping it’s available. I was very excited at one point about the idea of getting a commercial dishwasher that can run a load of dishes in l…

I think one needs to be a bit selective here. About 8 years ago I bought the cheapest catering/professional microwave/combioven I could get my hands on. I did this because I got tired of consumer units with overcomplicated UIs designed (apparently) by unregenerate misanthropes, rotating dishes that are a pain in the ass to clean, overzealous bleeps that go off every 30 - 60 seconds after a cycle is finished, peeling…

'designed (apparently) by unregenerate misanthropes'

haha! I try to keep myself to one complaint or less per day, and ten cuss-words or less per day. The days I break my cuss-word quota are the days I use the microwave.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#468

Post by drewzero1 »

pengaru wrote: post #153
adrianmonk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, that stand mixer isn't going to fit in my kitchen cabinet. Compare that to my consumer-grade Sunbeam. It's smaller, and the top part (motor, etc.) separates from the stand part via a quick-release button, so it fits on a shelf which isn't very tall at all.

We made the mistake of ordering a Sunbeam set of chef knives w/wood storage block off Amazon for the kitchen at my last startup. Every knife was dull and identically serrated like a budget steak knife, despite presenting as a comprehensive set of chef knives. The whole set was almost completely useless. Sunbeam is not the reasonable quality brand it once was back in the Sears days, stay away.

Neither is Sears/Craftsman. The stuff they're selling now under that name really doesn't live up to the historic quality of that brand in its heyday, and a lot of old-timers I've talked to don't seem to have caught on yet.

I have some older Craftsman tools that seem indestructible, and I really hope they are, because you can't get replacement parts or support for pretty much any Craftsman tool any more (even the newer ones).

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#469

Post by s0rce »

lucb1e wrote: post #255

This started off as a fun article about "what's the most overkill way I can get this?" and then looking for second-hand fighter jet seats just for the shits and giggles. I like that. But then it goes south from there, the author seems to believe that anything that isn't from the USA military must be crap: > Made in the USA from military grade [...] preferably a military supplier [...] This is the real thing, used by…

Cleanroom wipes are actually great. I use them all the time in lab, no lint, often woven and super durable, chemical resistant fibers. Totally overkill for some, although I have taken some home when we had odd sized samples we didn't need and they make nice cleaning wipes.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#470

Post by BeFlatXIII »

franga2000 wrote: post #362
ValentineC wrote: post #253

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. 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...

…and all the time you’re not having your MacBook in for repair, its trackpad is still night & day better than its competitors. This was true in 2009 and somehow remains true in 2021 (though it would be a very pleasant surprise to be proven wrong)
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