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I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

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Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#271

Post by paulryanrogers »

tmtvl wrote: post #262
Casteil wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Err, mobility? M1 / M2 Pro MBPs pack a serious punch... and they don't have to sacrifice battery life to do so - they smoke virtually all other laptops in terms of battery life.

Mobility is such an antifeature. Taking your work home with you is something you really shouldn't have to do. Worse even, taking your computer which potentially holds sensitive data with you could result in it getting stolen, at which point you've got a big problem on your hands. Laptops for work make no sense unless you're a field researcher.

Journalists and plenty of other fields benefit. Though I agree with the sentiment. A Mac mini is probably good enough for most folks who work in largely the same place.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#272

Post by lannisterstark »

kibwen wrote: post #83
redroyal wrote: post #37

“Laptops don’t change” Really? because a few years ago battery life was maybe 7 hours and now it’s 18. And with faster processors, thunderbolt 4 and USB C charging, wifi 6, better screens and lighter. I keep hearing this argument for not buying a new laptop every year and it just doesn’t hold water. I say buy the latest MacBook, expense it, factor it in as a monthly cost. These are expendable and essential tools. The…

> a few years ago battery life was maybe 7 hours and now it’s 18 At what point do battery improvements become completely unnecessary? Who's out here using their laptops for 18 hours continuously? It's like an electric car that can go 2,000 miles on a single charge; YAGNI. The vast majority of people would be perfectly well-served by a smaller, lighter, less expensive laptop that cuts down the battery to just 10 hours…

>Who's out here using their laptops for 18 hours continuously?

"We should stop battery improvements because no one I know uses it" (to put it with a bit exaggeration) is certainly a novel take. Sometimes I put my laptop on the kitchen counter after doing stuff and not have to worry it'll be dead next afternoon when I need it for something.

You're forgetting one important take. Batteries degrade. In 3 years your "10 hour battery" will be more like 3 hours.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#273

Post by 2h »

andrekandre wrote: post #269
2h wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because we aren't talking about candy here. we are talking about purchases that are hundreds or thousands of dollars. and people are normalizing making these purchases yearly. sure if you're dumb and rich go ahead buy what you want. but the culture pushes this mindset on people who cant afford it as well. unless you have the money to blow, then having critical thinking is an important skill. to ask yourself "is this…

> but the culture pushes this mindset on people who cant afford it as well. so the problem is with consumerism isn't it?

at the moment the problem is with you.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#274

Post by [deleted] »

2h wrote: post #237
andrekandre wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this is why Apple is a trillion dollar company. because people mindlessly buy any new thing they put out, regardless if it makes sense or not. not to defend apple or anything but whats the complaint here?... that apple is really good at capitalism?

> whats the complaint here Its dont mindlessly buy any new thing Apple puts out

[deleted]

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#275

Post by Shekelphile »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #144
tyg13 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The main product AFAICS is virtue signaling. Friendly reminder that people do care about things you don't care about. Claims of virtue signaling say more about you than them, quite frankly. And really, you should care about the massive amount of e-waste generated every year.

This. I lose any hope for us as a species being able to reverse climate change if the top comment about an article that goes quite deep into meaningful ways to “reduce, reuse, recycle" is that this is virtue signaling, and that we should buy Macbooks every year instead because they are "expendable tools". Guess what, their impact on the environment is very much noticeable. There is no way we are going to reverse or e…

Owning a macbook vs owning a framework laptop isn't going to effect climate change in any way. In fact, Apple's track record is that their products generally outlast the competition, even when they do otherwise stupid things like software DRMed screen and battery replacements and soldered SSDs.

It is purely virtue signaling. If you want to do good by the climate and still want a powerful tool there is no better option than a used macbook.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#276

Post by lannisterstark »

2h wrote: post #264
andrekandre wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, because you haven't provided any evidence for these "mindless" consumers so i'm not going to try and debate that point (besides calling apple customers mindless and then saying thats why they have 3 trillion dollar market cap is nearing troll territory) my point is: if i (mindlessly perhaps?) concede the point that those consumers are mindlessly spending money on useless things... then so what? its their money,…

because we aren't talking about candy here. we are talking about purchases that are hundreds or thousands of dollars. and people are normalizing making these purchases yearly. sure if you're dumb and rich go ahead buy what you want. but the culture pushes this mindset on people who cant afford it as well. unless you have the money to blow, then having critical thinking is an important skill. to ask yourself "is this…

>we are talking about purchases that are hundreds or thousands of dollars

...with their own money. For items they see a use for. What they consider to be worth it.

----

>to ask yourself "is this a waste of money?", "should I really be buying one of these every year?"

"Hm, is this worth it to me? Yes." There you go.

---

I agree every year is a bit much, but I'm not trying to stop people from spending their money in way they find useful. It's not my money. I'm ok with that.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#277

Post by lannisterstark »

2h wrote: post #273
andrekandre wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the culture pushes this mindset on people who cant afford it as well. so the problem is with consumerism isn't it?

at the moment the problem is with you.

there's no actual need to be an ass. If you're unable to have a discussion, don't comment.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#278

Post by piaste »

vel0city wrote: post #236
redroyal wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That issue can’t be solved by reusing laptops or sorting cans from cardboard. The argument that every little helps is totally flawed. Fantasy, make believe. The other 8 billion people simply don’t care and why would they? 50 years from now they’ll all be dead. Since when did people care about future generations and the good of humanity? It’s a very recent western fashion. The only thing that truly motivated the vast…

There's 8 billion people so my actions don't matter. I guess I'll pour all my old paint and paint thinner down the storm drains. Maybe my motor oil and used coolants as well. After all I'm just one person out of 8 billion, my actions don't matter. I'll just litter all my stuff as well. Single use plastics? Sign me up, I'll just throw it out in the street. I'm only one of a few million in my city, my actions don't rea…

Your actions do not, indeed, matter. Neither does your vote, or your boycotting of $global_evil_corp, precisely because there's millions or billions of people involved. (To be pedantic: while not literally zero, your actions matter several order of magnitude less than would be necessary to be able to perceive their effects.)

But that's a really hard pill to swallow. Your post is a beautiful example of that difficulty: you spell out examples of how your actions don't matter [as much as you would like], and then wildly swing into open denial with "Or maybe my actions do really matter".

My advice - if you focus on the consequences of your actions that you can actually perceive, instead of the ones you only wish you could, you'll be less frustrated. For example, helping your local community will typically give you far better returns than trying to improve any global issue.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#279

Post by lost_tourist »

zokier wrote: post #54
wyldfire wrote: post #14

I often buy a ~one generation old phone for this same reason. It's just so much better value to buy someone else's phone. The folks who keep buying the newest generation tech often seem to take really good care of their gear - perhaps because they plan to resell it later. I haven't done this as much with laptops because I do tend to keep those for such a long time that I can reasonably amortize a bigger investment ov…

But the biggest reason (for me) to replace phone is to get security updates; buying used is counter-productive to that end

what are you talking about? I have an iphone 10 that that is several generations old at this point and it's still getting security updates and will for a couple more years.

Re: I stopped buying new laptops (2020)

#280

Post by lost_tourist »

ido wrote: post #5

Nice. Now try to do the same as (some types of) programmer or 3d modeller or video editor. The newest MacBook with an M2 chip compiles and runs my projects drastically faster than the 2015 Dell XPS Skylake-i7 laptop I used to have and the GPU on the M2 is so ridiculously more powerful it's like going from 3dfx voodoo to a modern GPU.

I don't think that anyone is implying that a few people need the newest hardware they can get, however if you're working on webpages, cloud apps, project management, most phone apps, etc you don't need a brand new laptop to get that done. And that's just for developers, your typical student or home user certainly doesn't need the latest and greatest. I recently bought an M2 32GB machine but that was to replace my 2015 macbook lol.
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