5 ms·

Perhaps it's just me, but I feel I'm seeing more and more thinly veiled advertisement on HN. I mean, almost every claim debatably, is an exaggeration or blatan

Perhaps it's just me, but I feel I'm seeing more and more thinly veiled advertisement on HN. I mean, almost every claim debatably, is an exaggeration or blatantly false. As CFTM pointed out, the whole thing is a bunch of weak arguments for you to buy some old, out out lease hardware on ebay. Or buy a known good product, spend the extra cash on the accessories you want, and get what you want.

zaroth 9y ago
What's your theory, that the author is actually the one selling the units on eBay? TFA made a reasonable argument for why this was a great deal. I can't find any fault, and certainly it's not an ad.
- morganvachon 9y ago
  Indeed, while I would like to see them post some cons to go along with the pros, it definitely felt more like sharing a neat find rather than an advertisement. Dell certainly isn't profiting from the sale of 2008 era thin clients on the used market.
- decryption 9y ago
  I'm definitely not selling them! I just think they're cool. I picked one up out of curiosity and thought I'd let people know. I did chuck my affiliate code on the eBay link though.
  - mdip 9y ago
    I'll back you up on that one, even though a few of my posts pointed out some things that I think you should have also considered in your analysis. The reality is that this little PC is a solid choice to consider for a low-end home server -- especially if you have a particular need/desire for x86[0]. They're different platforms that serve different purposes and a micro-desktop like this has a lot of good uses. I used to use a similar device as my playback PC and loved that I could play back every format without having something have to transcode it for me[1]. It didn't even cross my mind to think of that post as 'advertising' or that you might be the actual seller, and I use affiliate links any time I link to a product where I have an affiliate account. I think I've made $5 over a few years, so I wouldn't be inclined to think the inclusion of an affiliate link causes a post to be considered spammy or a motivation to spam. For me, it's just easier to click the associates banner at the top and get a short-link that way. Personally speaking, I enjoyed the post and think it had plenty of value even though I didn't agree completely with the conclusion and decided to pull a 'Someone is Wrong on the Internet!'[2]. So to offset this small amount of grief you have received, consider this my 'Many Thanks for Sharing' and encouragement to continue to do so. [0] Personally, I reload my computer enough and it's always painful for me to go through the steps of setting up my environment for cross-compiling to ARM. I never quite get it right on the first try and often give up half-way through, delaying getting things done that I want to do. If it's x86, I can compile locally and cp away. [1] I'm not sure if that processor could handle H.265, but at the time I was running this device -- which later became my Plex server -- H.265 didn't exist. If it can play back h.265, that would make this quite a solid product for that purpose. [2] And this being 10:30 PM, my time, I'm literally: https://xkcd.com/386/ https://xkcd.com/386/
    - decryption 9y ago
      Nothing with an Atom CPU will do H265 playback. It'll stream fine with Plex to a playback device that supports it, but I'm not sure what's out there that supports H265. Maybe some sort of Chinese Android TV box? Glad you enjoyed the post :)
      - sebthomas 9y ago
        Hey thanks for the tip. I've been thinking of setting up little media station thing...getting tired of using my mac keyboard as a remote.. I have a question.. for anybody, what is the difference between using a PC as media server as OP describes, or using a little Android box thing like the Mi, or something like Apple TV? Basically I have a MBP, and I'll be getting a TV soon, and I want to be able to easily watch dls on the TV, using a remote. And I'd prefer not to have my laptop doing the grunt work. Any opinions/explanations appreciated! ta
      - teknologist 9y ago
        Anything with an Amlogic S905, cheap and popular in China, will decode H265 in hardware at 4K. I like the Xiaomi Hezi 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amlogic#Media_player_SoCs_.28S9_family.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amlogic#Media_player_SoCs_.28S...
dang 9y ago
Please don't insinuate this kind of thing on HN unless you have evidence. It degrades the spirit of the community and most of the time is quite inaccurate. There's a cognitive bias whereby we assume that if something seems wrong to us, nobody else could possibly hold that view in good faith (i.e. they must be astroturfing or shilling). But people hold opposing views in good faith all the time.

zaroth 9y ago

What's your theory, that the author is actually the one selling the units on eBay? TFA made a reasonable argument for why this was a great deal. I can't find any fault, and certainly it's not an ad.

morganvachon 9y ago
Indeed, while I would like to see them post some cons to go along with the pros, it definitely felt more like sharing a neat find rather than an advertisement. Dell certainly isn't profiting from the sale of 2008 era thin clients on the used market.
decryption 9y ago
I'm definitely not selling them! I just think they're cool. I picked one up out of curiosity and thought I'd let people know. I did chuck my affiliate code on the eBay link though.
- mdip 9y ago
  I'll back you up on that one, even though a few of my posts pointed out some things that I think you should have also considered in your analysis. The reality is that this little PC is a solid choice to consider for a low-end home server -- especially if you have a particular need/desire for x86[0]. They're different platforms that serve different purposes and a micro-desktop like this has a lot of good uses. I used to use a similar device as my playback PC and loved that I could play back every format without having something have to transcode it for me[1]. It didn't even cross my mind to think of that post as 'advertising' or that you might be the actual seller, and I use affiliate links any time I link to a product where I have an affiliate account. I think I've made $5 over a few years, so I wouldn't be inclined to think the inclusion of an affiliate link causes a post to be considered spammy or a motivation to spam. For me, it's just easier to click the associates banner at the top and get a short-link that way. Personally speaking, I enjoyed the post and think it had plenty of value even though I didn't agree completely with the conclusion and decided to pull a 'Someone is Wrong on the Internet!'[2]. So to offset this small amount of grief you have received, consider this my 'Many Thanks for Sharing' and encouragement to continue to do so. [0] Personally, I reload my computer enough and it's always painful for me to go through the steps of setting up my environment for cross-compiling to ARM. I never quite get it right on the first try and often give up half-way through, delaying getting things done that I want to do. If it's x86, I can compile locally and cp away. [1] I'm not sure if that processor could handle H.265, but at the time I was running this device -- which later became my Plex server -- H.265 didn't exist. If it can play back h.265, that would make this quite a solid product for that purpose. [2] And this being 10:30 PM, my time, I'm literally: https://xkcd.com/386/ https://xkcd.com/386/
  - decryption 9y ago
    Nothing with an Atom CPU will do H265 playback. It'll stream fine with Plex to a playback device that supports it, but I'm not sure what's out there that supports H265. Maybe some sort of Chinese Android TV box? Glad you enjoyed the post :)
    - sebthomas 9y ago
      Hey thanks for the tip. I've been thinking of setting up little media station thing...getting tired of using my mac keyboard as a remote.. I have a question.. for anybody, what is the difference between using a PC as media server as OP describes, or using a little Android box thing like the Mi, or something like Apple TV? Basically I have a MBP, and I'll be getting a TV soon, and I want to be able to easily watch dls on the TV, using a remote. And I'd prefer not to have my laptop doing the grunt work. Any opinions/explanations appreciated! ta
    - teknologist 9y ago
      Anything with an Amlogic S905, cheap and popular in China, will decode H265 in hardware at 4K. I like the Xiaomi Hezi 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amlogic#Media_player_SoCs_.28S9_family.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amlogic#Media_player_SoCs_.28S...

dang 9y ago

Please don't insinuate this kind of thing on HN unless you have evidence. It degrades the spirit of the community and most of the time is quite inaccurate. There's a cognitive bias whereby we assume that if something seems wrong to us, nobody else could possibly hold that view in good faith (i.e. they must be astroturfing or shilling). But people hold opposing views in good faith all the time.