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That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

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Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#461

Post by puranjay »

waspleg wrote: post #41

I completely agree with the author of the article. Apple is the real-world incarnation of the economic premise of Huxley's "A Brave New World". This was just the mask dropping for a second to pander to the faithful. I'd like to add, as someone who works at K12 public high school, that I've seen the reality of the article played out. My building is 100% free lunch, most are extremely poor, and yet there is a sizable n…

My $500 Windows laptop is over 4 years old. I run Windows 7 on it and I'm in no mood to upgrade any time soon.

Screw it. I can afford to buy any new computer tomorrow, but I'm not doing that because what I have works perfectly fine for my needs

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#462

Post by asmosoinio »

mangeletti wrote: post #418
asmosoinio wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But all of those are available in a 50$ android phone as well. Arguably not as usable, but around 100$ the difference to an iPhone at 7x the price is not that much.

It's not important that it's 7x better. It's important that the increase in productivity (or enjoyment, etc.) is enough to justify the $600 difference in price over a (perhaps) 24 month period (e.g., do you get ~$1/day more out of it). Not to mention, a 2 year old iPhone will probably sell for $250-350, while a $100 smartphone will probably sell for $25 after 2 years. This makes the difference more like $300. So, "Do…

I thought this thread was in the context of people who could not really afford an iPhone - or at least have to really think about their spending to be able to buy one. In that context the 0.50$ makes a huge difference.

To me it seems interesting that a lot of people here want to play up the excellence of iPhones.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#463

Post by kdamken »

Scea91 wrote: post #195
kdamken wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sad that I can't disagree with you. Most people don't realize how much those monthly (and daily) expenses add up. A huge failing of our society is that we don't teach people how to be responsible with money. All they see are ads telling them to buy more, spend all your money, keep up with the Joneses. Either you have parents who teach you, or you figure it out on your own. And for the poorer people, it's just a c…

I just wonder sometimes if it is really that hard to figure this on their own. We can't teach every basic thing to everyone. I would hope that people are able to figure such obvious things on their own. It is really strange that they don't.

Most people just don't know any better. And when the social norm is spending all your money (and then some) on things you don't need, most people don't even realize there's another option.

I myself didn't realize until I stumbled upon Mr. Money Mustache two years ago (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/), and it kind of woke me up. Now I buy way less, save at least half my income every month, and am overall much happier.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#464

Post by bobochan »

na85 wrote: post #113
bobochan wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the iPad is a great platform to have when you have a lot of different computing options available and just need a lightweight client to bring with you. The most important app for me is Prompt2, an SSH client, that allows me to be work very efficiently, particularly when I pair a wireless keyboard. VMware Horizon lets me pull up an office desktop when I need one. Efficiency aside, I love using my iPad for readi…

But now you're lugging around an iPad and a wireless keyboard. Essentially you've got a 2-piece laptop with twice as many batteries to worry about, with awful performance-per-dollar. Might as well just get a Chromebook and put Linux on it.

The only performance that really matters to me is the ability to keep up with my typing over SSH, which the iPad handles beautifully. I have used Chromebooks and I do not get nearly the same utility out of them, mostly because I am very happy with the quality of the apps that I have access to and how well it integrates with everything I have at home and at the office. The battery life is excellent, so that is rarely a concern.

I get that there are definitely times when local processing power is necessary, and I lug my laptop around when needed. The iPad definitely works for me 80% of the time for me, and the important thing is that I actually ENJOY using it. That is worth a premium for me.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#465

Post by jp555 »

rorykoehler wrote: post #411
mangeletti wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why? Because they don't want to look poor or be thought of as such. This is not necessarily correct. A lot of people still regard iPhones and other high-end smartphones as being something of a luxury. They are a luxury when you compare them to what we need for survival (food, water, shelter), but there is something to be said about a small rectangular device that, once purchased, can provide nearly free: 1. enterta…

Smartphone != iphone I spent $250 on mine and it is does everything meaningful that an iphone does. Iphone is definitely a luxury even among smartphones.

the delta between your $250 smartphone and a new $400 iPhoneSE is pretty small when you consider the total cost and include the costs to provide the phone with data access - cellular plan + home internet plan.

Is $150 the difference between luxury and not luxury for something that is used 4+ hours a day for years?

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#466

Post by bduerst »

Klinky wrote: post #454
rorykoehler wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smartphone != iphone I spent $250 on mine and it is does everything meaningful that an iphone does. Iphone is definitely a luxury even among smartphones.

When you walk into a phone store you're going to get upsold on the high-end phones, broken into small monthly payments. Also there are still many value phones being sold that are pieces of crap. A poor person may be better off spending $20/mn on the latest iPhone that "just works" than getting a budget phone for $10/mn that crashes from not enough memory, has a terrible touchscreen and will be unusable in 1 year. The…

I doubt it's an upsell conspiracy, because the iPhone isn't the only high-end phone that can be upsold.

More likely that the iPhone is viewed as an image luxury good. Same with ridiculously expensive flat screen TVs.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#467

Post by ryao »

vidarh wrote: post #457
ryao wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should read things like YNAB: http://www.youneedabudget.com It is amazing how much money one has when one exercises restraint when spending it.

Budgets rapidly break down when you're regularly faced with unforeseen but necessary expenses that blow your cash reserves out of the water. A lot of the problems of poverty is that once you get below a certain level, even if you are the most thrifty person around, you lose predictability in ways that end up costing you a lot of extra money. Suddenly your employer pays you a day late and your carefully arranged bill…

The purpose of trying to budget is to stop living from paycheck to paycheck. There might be some people for which this will not work, but the ones leasing new cars every few years (or signing overpriced contracts because of the "free" phone every two years) are not among them. I am sure that many people in such circumstances could find little things that could be cut if they looked (e.g. Cable TV, the landline phone, etcetera). Such things add up.

I have been applying such things to my parents' budget. Just the other day I heard from my mother that she no longer worries when unexpected medical expenses come up because she has found that the savings that my suggestions made more than paid for it. She gets TV for free OTA, replaced her expensive landline with free VoIP through Google Voice using an Obihai ATA, has lower electrical consumption (from various things, but the simplest being putting a lid on the frying pan to reduce evaporative heat loss, which is an efficiency improvement that allows food to cook faster), has a promotional rate for the newspaper she insists on having, has cell phone service that has no monthly fee (through ring plus), obtains heating oil at COD pricing, etcetera. Such things add to a four figure amount each year.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#468

Post by bechampion »

I own a macbook and I love it but, what I really need is

Browser Terminal Python

That is it , to me is very relative ... i can work with a 5 year old laptop... no problem , most of my things run on servers etc etc. Ipad Pro? no way .. give it to kids.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#469

Post by kplanz »

I do not agree with the author of the article. I think there also is reason #3: They think they don't need an upgrade.

There are a lot of people who own an old PC and think it's the best possible setup. But in reality they actually wouldn't need a full PC because all they do is browse the web and read/write emails. My opinion is that many people would be better off with an iPad than a PC. It's small, portable, intuitive, easy to maintain, has great customer support and so on.

Re: That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

#470

Post by greybox »

bobochan wrote: post #464
na85 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But now you're lugging around an iPad and a wireless keyboard. Essentially you've got a 2-piece laptop with twice as many batteries to worry about, with awful performance-per-dollar. Might as well just get a Chromebook and put Linux on it.

The only performance that really matters to me is the ability to keep up with my typing over SSH, which the iPad handles beautifully. I have used Chromebooks and I do not get nearly the same utility out of them, mostly because I am very happy with the quality of the apps that I have access to and how well it integrates with everything I have at home and at the office. The battery life is excellent, so that is rarely…

Ultimately I guess it comes down to Just using the tool your most productive with, whether that be hardware, software, programming languages etc ...
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