The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
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The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
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Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#2"The world is seven billion people swimming in a boiling froth of water, oil, guns, steel, race, sex, language, wisdom, secrets, hate, love, pain and TCP/IP."
Yep. There's my quote of the week.
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#3"The world is seven billion people swimming in a boiling froth of water, oil, guns, steel, race, sex, language, wisdom, secrets, hate, love, pain and TCP/IP." Yep. There's my quote of the week.
Mine:
> More to the point, this is why the soi-disant-designer snob ... comes across as such a douchebag. It’s not “minimalist” if you buy a new one every two years; it’s conspicuous consumption with chamfered edges.
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#4I'm not sure I buy the contrast between old computers and macbooks. The smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook (excluding any wired or wireless peripherals), but the smallest in a normal computer might be the CPU. The CPU cannot be repaired except by replacing the entire thing. You can't repair a CPU or a MacBook, so it seems the the only real difference is how much it costs to replace the broken part.
I like to think that as moores law ends and computers stop being obsolete we may get to a point where a computer could be passed down generations like a solid dining room table. In that case maybe it makes more sense to be able to repair it and people build them that way. Or maybe computers cost nothing and it's like bequeathing a pez dispenser.
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#5I'm not sure I buy the contrast between old computers and macbooks. The smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook (excluding any wired or wireless peripherals), but the smallest in a normal computer might be the CPU. The CPU cannot be repaired except by replacing the entire thing. You can't repair a CPU or a MacBook, so it seems the the only real difference is how much it costs to replace the broke…
CPU's have been soldered to the motherboards of most laptops for an age now.
Memory is beginning to be soldered to the motherboard too- I'm dubious as to how upgradable or modular the next generation will be.
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#6seems interesting, gonna save for later reading, BUT the hook for me, Bond/Bourne relation to the salaryman at their respective time...
awesome stuff, so far :)
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#7Can today's Thinkpads still hang with the best of them? (typed on a recently-upgraded late 2006 MBP)
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#8I'm not sure I buy the contrast between old computers and macbooks. The smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook (excluding any wired or wireless peripherals), but the smallest in a normal computer might be the CPU. The CPU cannot be repaired except by replacing the entire thing. You can't repair a CPU or a MacBook, so it seems the the only real difference is how much it costs to replace the broke…
CPU's have been soldered to the motherboards of most laptops for an age now. Memory is beginning to be soldered to the motherboard too- I'm dubious as to how upgradable or modular the next generation will be.
The “soldered to the motherboard” memory on a $400 computer today costs 10,000 times less than the same quantity of memory in 1995.
What’s the point of making something repairable generations down the line when nobody is going to still want it because you’ll be able to buy 10 new ones that are each 100 times better for the same price.
The only computer parts from <2000 that are still worth keeping around today are the keyboards, and maybe the laser printers.
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#9Well then we're all Bob Howard from the Laundry. The unassuming backroom guy who knows his way around a computer yet surprisingly can hold it together when confronted with gibbering Lovecraftian monsters from beyond the void. Has an iphone that can kill demons, the senior management are keen to push him up the ladder and has a wife who is clearly out of his league.
Re: The Jason Bourne Aesthetic
#10I'm not sure I buy the contrast between old computers and macbooks. The smallest replaceable part on a MacBook is the entire MacBook (excluding any wired or wireless peripherals), but the smallest in a normal computer might be the CPU. The CPU cannot be repaired except by replacing the entire thing. You can't repair a CPU or a MacBook, so it seems the the only real difference is how much it costs to replace the broke…
The other difference is the rate at which the part fails. CPUs basically last forever if you keep them sufficiently cooled. Batteries or screen backlights or keyboards, not so much.