3 ms·

Our use-cases are similar, but if you value your time at anything reasonable, your budget should be much higher. Let me explain. I spend about 10 hours a day o

by ggreer 11y ago

Our use-cases are similar, but if you value your time at anything reasonable, your budget should be much higher. Let me explain. I spend about 10 hours a day on my main computer. If I upgrade every 18 months, even a $1500 machine only costs 28 cents per hour. Set aside frustration with drivers or software bugs; expensive laptops win for purely economic reasons. If a $1500 laptop makes me even 10% more productive, it's worth buying. This is the case for practically anyone who works in tech. My current laptop is a base model 12" MacBook. It is, without a doubt, my favorite computer ever. It's small. It's light. The screen is gorgeous. It resumes before I'm done opening the lid. It has an amazing trackpad, excellent battery life, and a wonderful keyboard. With current technology, it could scarcely be improved upon. I wish there was a combination of hardware and software that could compete with it, but so far, nothing I've seen has come close.

keenerd 11y ago
Nah, for $1500 I could have five of these machines. Or two laptops and a powerful headless build box. You can do a lot better than a mere 10% gain with that sort of budget. You are throwing good money at diminishing returns.
- ggreer 11y ago
  I think you misinterpreted my point. I didn't say a nicer laptop made me 10% more productive. The real number is likely much higher than that. I gave 10% as an example where it would still be worthwhile to pay $1500 for. Considering the hourly wage of a programmer, 28 cents is a rounding error. Yes the returns are diminishing, but they're still totally worth it. With regards to being able to buy more equipment: I do have a powerful rack-mount server in addition to my MacBook. But being able to buy five ordinary laptops for the price of an amazing one? That's not very relevant. I can only type on one keyboard at a time. If anything, more laptops would slow me down. I'd have to keep all of their software up-to-date, sync data between them, ensure their batteries were charged, etc. Imagine making the same argument in other domains. For the price of one plane ticket, I could buy five Greyhound bus tickets to the same destination. For the price of one quality memory-foam mattress, I could buy five innerspring mattresses. For the price of one Aeron chair, I could buy five AmazonBasics office chairs. So what? I don't want more. I want better.
  - keenerd 11y ago
    If you are paying for Applecare, you are paying for "more not better". A second laptop is zero (amortized) overhead: every night your real laptop rsyncs back to the spare. Battery floats at 70% charge, nothing to worry about there either. Now when you spill coffee all over your laptop, you have a hot spare ready to go. If you are accident prone you can do this "for free" up to four times. Imagine the productivity gain not having to visit a store and deal with the Geniuses. It is irresponsible to always buy the "best" when you should be looking for the best value per dollar. Your own bank account is zero-sum, be more effective with it.
purismcomputer 11y ago
Thank you for reminding everyone why quality matters. (We're flattered to be compared to beautifully designed things like Aeron chairs and the Mac.) We think that once you actually see and touch the Librem, hands on, you will find the hardware is even better than a MacBook in many ways. The Librem is definitely much faster, and the screen quality is amazing. The feel is very sturdy. The usability, look/feel of the amazing Mac OSX is harder to exceed but we are working on the UI and ease of use in our Linux-kernel-based PureOS. It's all a work in progress. And one more thing -- we are structured more like an Open Source project than a traditional corporation, so we are able to iterate very very rapidly. The Librem is really created with the feedback of the backers and the community. This is what makes it at the core, very different than any other computer.
purismcomputer 11y ago
But the real argument to pay more for a Librem should be: "What is my data worth?" What is your privacy worth? What is it worth if even one time you have your identity stolen or tax return hacked, or your company's reputation is ruined by a data breach?

by ggreer 11y ago

keenerd 11y ago

Nah, for $1500 I could have five of these machines. Or two laptops and a powerful headless build box. You can do a lot better than a mere 10% gain with that sort of budget. You are throwing good money at diminishing returns.

ggreer 11y ago
I think you misinterpreted my point. I didn't say a nicer laptop made me 10% more productive. The real number is likely much higher than that. I gave 10% as an example where it would still be worthwhile to pay $1500 for. Considering the hourly wage of a programmer, 28 cents is a rounding error. Yes the returns are diminishing, but they're still totally worth it. With regards to being able to buy more equipment: I do have a powerful rack-mount server in addition to my MacBook. But being able to buy five ordinary laptops for the price of an amazing one? That's not very relevant. I can only type on one keyboard at a time. If anything, more laptops would slow me down. I'd have to keep all of their software up-to-date, sync data between them, ensure their batteries were charged, etc. Imagine making the same argument in other domains. For the price of one plane ticket, I could buy five Greyhound bus tickets to the same destination. For the price of one quality memory-foam mattress, I could buy five innerspring mattresses. For the price of one Aeron chair, I could buy five AmazonBasics office chairs. So what? I don't want more. I want better.
- keenerd 11y ago
  If you are paying for Applecare, you are paying for "more not better". A second laptop is zero (amortized) overhead: every night your real laptop rsyncs back to the spare. Battery floats at 70% charge, nothing to worry about there either. Now when you spill coffee all over your laptop, you have a hot spare ready to go. If you are accident prone you can do this "for free" up to four times. Imagine the productivity gain not having to visit a store and deal with the Geniuses. It is irresponsible to always buy the "best" when you should be looking for the best value per dollar. Your own bank account is zero-sum, be more effective with it.

purismcomputer 11y ago

Thank you for reminding everyone why quality matters. (We're flattered to be compared to beautifully designed things like Aeron chairs and the Mac.) We think that once you actually see and touch the Librem, hands on, you will find the hardware is even better than a MacBook in many ways. The Librem is definitely much faster, and the screen quality is amazing. The feel is very sturdy. The usability, look/feel of the amazing Mac OSX is harder to exceed but we are working on the UI and ease of use in our Linux-kernel-based PureOS. It's all a work in progress. And one more thing -- we are structured more like an Open Source project than a traditional corporation, so we are able to iterate very very rapidly. The Librem is really created with the feedback of the backers and the community. This is what makes it at the core, very different than any other computer.

purismcomputer 11y ago

But the real argument to pay more for a Librem should be: "What is my data worth?" What is your privacy worth? What is it worth if even one time you have your identity stolen or tax return hacked, or your company's reputation is ruined by a data breach?