Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC • Hacker News Board

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#31

Post by jaimex2 » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:40 PM UTC

bargl wrote: post #25

TearsInTheRain wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two articles about this non-story on the first page of HN. What a joke

I think this may be a consequence of HackerNews not having a downvote option for stories. I like the fact that they don't and I wouldn't suggest making the change but it tends to allow stories that have a higher dislike to like ratio to rise because the number of people who have an opinion are very high. This does tend to prevent some filtering of storied I do think should stay up on the top. It would be an interesti…

or you know, we could use our internal filters.

I am disappointed with myself for clicking this link. Sometimes the comments are too hard to pass up.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#32

Post by emp_ » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

The only thing not lasting more than 5 years in my 20+ years owning computers are Macs, other iDevices and PCs are much, much stabler. Macbook Pro 2008 (died in 3 years), iMac 27 2010 (died in 4.8 years), Macbook Air 2013 (dying) and Mac Mini 2012 (dying) are the reason why I always end up coming back to my 2010 gaming PC and 2010 HTPC, the ones to break the 5+ year mark without a major hardware failure.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#33

Post by wrong_variable » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #12

I swear, if a modern tech company went up and said 'We think you should buy our product", someone would start yelling about how its insulting how a company is endorising capitalism and materialism. We've gone from "Won't somebody think of the children" to "Won't somebody think of every single possible group that is possible to somehow offend in some way"

No.

What apple is saying today is something that it has always said - but its only recently that people in america are too poor to buy american products.

I grew up around windows and linux, and whenever I tell that in a job interview - people think I am not being serious since "real developers" use mac.

In my first software job - I was told to abandon my personal cheap linux and use the company's brand new expensive apple - even though I was more productive on my cheap linux.

Apple has always been like that, its just that most people who come from money do not hear it.

Edit:

Also you will notice this in poorer countries - a strong ecosystem for recycling exists everywhere outside of the US/UK. When I brought my first bike in the UK, I wanted to repair it and was told to just ditch it and get a new one !

It was extremely odd to me since I expected that bike to last at-least 20 years.

When my 3 year old laptop stopped working - I had it repaired rather than buy a newer one - even though repairing was almost as expensive as getting a new one. It just fell really wrong ditching a laptop rather than repairing it.

Maybe you are right - western societies do worship materialism.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#34

Post by parenthesis » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:42 PM UTC

Until earlier this year I was still making heavy use of a Powerbook from 2004. I only stopped using it because the graphics hardware started to go funny.

I sold its battery, memory and power supply to someone still using a slightly older Powerbook.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#35

Post by onion2k » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:42 PM UTC

sudosushi wrote: post #3

As someone sitting at a nearly 5 year old Macbook Pro, I took the comment as an off hand throwaway. I understand not liking the comment, but this isn't news. A company thinks everyone should be using the latest of their products. Oh no.

A company thinks everyone should be using the latest of their products. Oh no.

An alternative way to read this is that Apple themselves don't believe their own products will be worth using after 5 years, and will therefore fail to support them properly in the long term. Anyone in the market for a computer to last longer than that (eg most home users, and many corporate users who don't lease) might have to look elsewhere.

This is not an offhand throwaway comment. This speaks to the absolute heart of Apple's strategy.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#36

Post by mikehearn » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:42 PM UTC

I interpreted that comment as a jab at the PC industry. The implication being that in the last 5+ years the PC industry has failed to offer 600 million users a compelling reason to upgrade. Isn't that the correct interpretation, considering the whole point of bringing that up is because they're positioning a new device intended to replace the PC? I seriously doubt it's intended to mean (to quote the article) "LOL poor people".

Granted, this interpretation would make for a boring thinkpiece and would not get me to #1 on HN.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#37

Post by danielvf » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

colund wrote: post #24

In times of climate change debate I think Apple is doing the wrong thing here, encouraging buy and throw away mentality increasing waste.

We definitely need a strong reduction in the introduction of new technology that replaces old, still working hardware. This is so wasteful. Along with this, we need centrally planned production of consumer goods to control the pace of change and prevent overproduction, and these goods need to be have government set prices to insure that everyone can afford them.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#38

Post by Grishnakh » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

johansch wrote: post #8

I built a desktop PC almost exactly five years ago. - Intel Core i5 2500K, 3.3 GHz, quad-core (200 USD) - 8B (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz C9 (100 USD) - 120GB 2.5" SSD Intel X25-M G2 (200 USD) - GeForce GTX 460 1GB (200 USD) It's sad that a full five years later, CPU performance/USD has barely moved at all. RAM is half the cost now, SSDs a quarter the cost. Not sure about how GPUs have developed? (Edit: The GTX 960 which tod…

It's just another facet of the Lost Decade that we're in.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#39

Post by trey-jones » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #15

Yes there are things that are sad about it. A 5-year-old PC is probably not running a recent version of Windows, and has a higher likelihood of being compromised. And if a person wants a new computer but can't afford it, that is sad too. That said, it was an obviously stupid stat for Schiller to cite. But now we're going to be subjected to a long series of Apple-bashing articles that overreach in the opposite directi…

I'm proud to be running my almost-seven-year-old PC, though I think it is about time for an upgrade. I also have a 2013 Macbook Pro, which is more than adequate for work. I'm not exactly poor, and I abhor the way the media runs away with this kind of comment.

But I also get a little peeved at overzealous marketing that takes advantage of people's ignorance. Convincing people that their 5 year old PC no longer meets their needs (when it probably does) is pretty similar to convincing some poor sucker to switch to your super duper maximum strength 4G Long Term Evolution wireless network because you can have 20G of data per month, when you actually only use 0.5G of data per month.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#40

Post by aetherson » Wed, Mar 23, 2016, 2:46 PM UTC

mikehearn wrote: post #36

I interpreted that comment as a jab at the PC industry. The implication being that in the last 5+ years the PC industry has failed to offer 600 million users a compelling reason to upgrade. Isn't that the correct interpretation, considering the whole point of bringing that up is because they're positioning a new device intended to replace the PC? I seriously doubt it's intended to mean (to quote the article) "LOL poo…

I don't think that it means "LOL poor people" either. But I do think that it's bullshit marketing talk. Apple is perfectly happy to be proud (rightly, I think) of the enduring utility of older pieces of Apple hardware -- but if some other company's hardware continues to be perfectly serviceable for 5 years, that's sad?

Also, if you have a 5 year old PC that's genuinely not serving your needs any more, sure, you could pay $600 for an iPad Pro that also probably won't serve your needs, or you could pay around $400 for a new PC that will serve your needs.