Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers

Post by nicoburns » Tue, Aug 12, 2025, 1:38 PM UTC

mvdwoord wrote: post #67

wodenokoto wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese Manga Cafes / Internet Cafes give you all you can drink coffee and tea for hourly pricing, and usually comes with a PC and a private booth. I'm not sure how much of a thing they still are though, but they were big in the 2000s and early 10s

This is what we had all over the world (...) when Internet Cafes were a thing. Perhaps they should come back?

Post by nicoburns » Tue, Aug 12, 2025, 1:43 PM UTC

ahartmetz wrote: post #57

dominicrose wrote: post #38

Why would anyone except a gamer buy a desktop computer anyway. I guess some people still have their old computer and a lot of south korenas are gamers, but laptops are just better overall because of the portability. If people bring printerS pural then starbuck could "just" have a free-ish printer

Show me that quiet, 16 core, 5 GHz, 128 GB RAM laptop that's actually pretty cheap, too. I do need the CPU performance, that computer is used to compile C++ code. The RAM is for local LLMs - not fast enough to be practical most of the time tbh, but I like to experiment anyway.

Post by ryao » Tue, Aug 12, 2025, 1:51 PM UTC

ahartmetz wrote: post #57

dominicrose wrote: post #38

Why would anyone except a gamer buy a desktop computer anyway. I guess some people still have their old computer and a lot of south korenas are gamers, but laptops are just better overall because of the portability. If people bring printerS pural then starbuck could "just" have a free-ish printer

Show me that quiet, 16 core, 5 GHz, 128 GB RAM laptop that's actually pretty cheap, too. I do need the CPU performance, that computer is used to compile C++ code. The RAM is for local LLMs - not fast enough to be practical most of the time tbh, but I like to experiment anyway.

Post by nicce » Tue, Aug 12, 2025, 1:53 PM UTC

Yizahi wrote: post #84

johnisgood wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most developers could not really do their own thing on a PC/laptop that is not theirs. Are they supposed to set up their development environment each time?

For work oriented cafe, owners can partner with Teamviewer, license seats from it and then advertise this as a fast remote service. Iirc teamviewer requires payment only for host machine, clients can be free. Though I imagine the market for such setup would be extremely small and unprofitable.

Post by mhitza » Tue, Aug 12, 2025, 1:54 PM UTC

mathiaspoint wrote: post #83

stby wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Newer Coworking places generally seem to have some Starbucks-vibes, but AFAIK they are not doing to well. Maybe the price of a coffee is exactly what people are willing to pay for a seat, a small table, and wifi for some hours.

I haven't seen a coworking place that isn't insanely overpriced compared to a coffee shop so it's no surprise they're not doing well.