3 ms·

Are an extra few hundred dollars every couple of years really that significant? If you hire even one programmer their salary cost exceeds that within a week.

by ido 17y ago

Are an extra few hundred dollars every couple of years really that significant? If you hire even one programmer their salary cost exceeds that within a week. Even if we are talking personal use, I can understand that line of thinking for poor students- not so much for well payed software engineers.

bad_user 17y ago
> Are an extra few hundred dollars every couple of years really that significant? Well yeah, why pay more to get less? And I also work hard for those few hundred dollars ... at the end of a productive day I'm so tired I can barely speak. Few hundred here, few hundred there, oops, there goes the fruits of my labor. > If you hire even one programmer their salary cost exceeds that within a week. Maybe in Silicon Valley, but not where I live.
- ido 17y ago
  > Well yeah, why pay more to get less? The argument was, of course, that you will get more. > Maybe in Silicon Valley, but not where I live. In silicon valley we'd be talking thousands per week, not hundreds. Let's make the unlikely assumption that a software engineer has a 40,000 usd/year salary cost (which is significantly greater than the salary the employee get) where you live. 40000 / 12 / 4.3 = 775 usd/week.
  - bad_user 17y ago
    > The argument was, of course, that you will get more. This isn't my experience or my argument, and I even explained why. > 40,000 usd/year salary cost Personally I'm doing contracting on my own, and that's approximately my monthly income. It's a pretty decent salary considering that the cost of living here is also low (I own my own apartment, if I'd want, I could live on $300 a month). Regardless of salary, I was arguing that you get less for more money ... and I won't throw money on a product just because it has the cool factor.
    - ido 17y ago
      > Regardless of salary, I was arguing that you get less for more money ... and I won't throw money on a product just because it has the cool factor. I guess this is where we are at a disagreement, although I can understand where you are coming from (6 years ago I lived on $500 a month - today I'll probably have to pinch some pennies to live on less than $2000 a month). My most recent mac purchase (a mac mini) probably cost about $300 more than a pc with a similar configuration (cpu, ram, hdd). In return I get a computer that is much smaller, totally quiet, looks nicer and runs an os I like. For me that's worth the extra money. After suffering from a lot of hardware problems with my last 2 pc laptops (acer & dell) I've decided buying the cheapest thing out there isn't worth my time & frustration. It's too early to tell how relaible the mac mini will be, but if it would be as reliable as the previous 3 macs I've owned (all lived >=8 years) it'd definitively be worth the higher cost.
      - bad_user 17y ago
        Heh :) I owned a Macbook Pro, and I was quite happy with it. Their design is indeed awesome. Until one day I spilled some coffee on its keyboard and it fried (well, the quantity of coffee spilled was reasonable :)). A friend had a similar experience, only lighter ... his keyboard stopped working. So it bothers me that it's kind of fragile. By contrast I also spilled coffee on my 2 years old Dell (yeah, I have a habbit :)) which is clunky, loud, the battery lasts for one hour, overall a piece of shit that still works. Nothing happened. I also spilled some Coke on it ... half the keys got sticky, but I could take it apart and clean it. Still works. BTW ... Minis are awesome, but I need laptops.

by ido 17y ago

bad_user 17y ago

> Are an extra few hundred dollars every couple of years really that significant? Well yeah, why pay more to get less? And I also work hard for those few hundred dollars ... at the end of a productive day I'm so tired I can barely speak. Few hundred here, few hundred there, oops, there goes the fruits of my labor. > If you hire even one programmer their salary cost exceeds that within a week. Maybe in Silicon Valley, but not where I live.

ido 17y ago
> Well yeah, why pay more to get less? The argument was, of course, that you will get more. > Maybe in Silicon Valley, but not where I live. In silicon valley we'd be talking thousands per week, not hundreds. Let's make the unlikely assumption that a software engineer has a 40,000 usd/year salary cost (which is significantly greater than the salary the employee get) where you live. 40000 / 12 / 4.3 = 775 usd/week.
- bad_user 17y ago
  > The argument was, of course, that you will get more. This isn't my experience or my argument, and I even explained why. > 40,000 usd/year salary cost Personally I'm doing contracting on my own, and that's approximately my monthly income. It's a pretty decent salary considering that the cost of living here is also low (I own my own apartment, if I'd want, I could live on $300 a month). Regardless of salary, I was arguing that you get less for more money ... and I won't throw money on a product just because it has the cool factor.
  - ido 17y ago
    > Regardless of salary, I was arguing that you get less for more money ... and I won't throw money on a product just because it has the cool factor. I guess this is where we are at a disagreement, although I can understand where you are coming from (6 years ago I lived on $500 a month - today I'll probably have to pinch some pennies to live on less than $2000 a month). My most recent mac purchase (a mac mini) probably cost about $300 more than a pc with a similar configuration (cpu, ram, hdd). In return I get a computer that is much smaller, totally quiet, looks nicer and runs an os I like. For me that's worth the extra money. After suffering from a lot of hardware problems with my last 2 pc laptops (acer & dell) I've decided buying the cheapest thing out there isn't worth my time & frustration. It's too early to tell how relaible the mac mini will be, but if it would be as reliable as the previous 3 macs I've owned (all lived >=8 years) it'd definitively be worth the higher cost.
    - bad_user 17y ago
      Heh :) I owned a Macbook Pro, and I was quite happy with it. Their design is indeed awesome. Until one day I spilled some coffee on its keyboard and it fried (well, the quantity of coffee spilled was reasonable :)). A friend had a similar experience, only lighter ... his keyboard stopped working. So it bothers me that it's kind of fragile. By contrast I also spilled coffee on my 2 years old Dell (yeah, I have a habbit :)) which is clunky, loud, the battery lasts for one hour, overall a piece of shit that still works. Nothing happened. I also spilled some Coke on it ... half the keys got sticky, but I could take it apart and clean it. Still works. BTW ... Minis are awesome, but I need laptops.