5 ms·

so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day? there is objectively no reason to spend more than 200 Euro on a

so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day? there is objectively no reason to spend more than 200 Euro on a smartphone - except for attempting to inflate one's ego.

falsedan 9y ago
> so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day? I sure do, because I prefer the quality control and availability of municipally-supplied mains rather than sinking a well in my back yard. Your point about conspicuous consumption is pretty unfocused. Should everyone use the same laptop, do the same job, be paid the same rate, lest be accused of propertarian tendencies?
- blubb-fish 9y ago
  > municipally-supplied mains I don't know where you live but here in Germany this water source is pretty cheap while of high quality. So this would rather be an example of pragmatic spending behaviour. A $1000 smartphone would rather correspond to vanilla-flavored water filtered in a space ship using a high-tech-crystal-structure ... > Should everyone use the same laptop, do the same job, be paid the same rate, lest be accused of propertarians tendencies? Exactly - you are identifying yourself with those possessions. In my experience people with such materialist life philosophy are tedious and annoying.
  - Retric 9y ago
    Your water example is ill conceived because bottled water often considered a reasonable purchase in bulk yet it is also a vastly larger price increase vs just a 5x on a phone. Bottled water is basically the same thing just in slightly more convenient form yet it's ~1000x as expensive. Because it's not the relative price that's important it's the price relative to the benifit.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Bad example. People usually drill wells because there isn't a municipal source available. Municipal water is not a luxury good that you pay a premium for. Indeed, wells are likely to end up higher cost because of drilling, failures, etc. Better example is drinking bottled water rather than tap water. Which many people do but is IMO a total waste of money. To say nothing of environmentally wasteful.
  - falsedan 9y ago
    > Bad example I work with the material I get given.
alkonaut 9y ago
I work at a keyboard 8h per day, so I happily pay $100 for a keyboard that is nice, even though I could get one for $20. Same with the phone. Even if it's just some minor improvement I use it so much that it's worth it. Also it depends on what you use it for. If you use it for web browsing/messaging/email/phone calls then most phones will do. But other features such as the camera might be very dependent on price. Adding $100 to the price doesn't add much to the ability to make calls, but photos actually get noticably better with each dollar still.
- walterstucco 9y ago
  Except a good keyboard really makes the difference, an iPhone is worse in many ways from my Xiaomi Mi5, that costed 200 euros. For example you can't use the iPhone as an usb disk.
  - Retric 9y ago
    This is not limited to iPhones, you can buy very nice Android phones that are meaningful upgrades vs a Xiaomi Mi5.
    - walterstucco 9y ago
      Sure! I tend to buy top of the line devices given a price range. Mi5 was the flagship phone for Xiaomi when I bought it I also was a owner of previous Xiaomi products and I wanted to test the new one My point is that iPhone is a very limited platform And its value for money is very low
  - totony 9y ago
    What makes a keyboard better in your opinion? I once bought a 100$ mechanical keynoard and ended up going back to my 10$ keyboard because it was familiar I am not sure if the difference between keyboards is that price dependant
    - rockostrich 9y ago
cjrp 9y ago
> so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day? That's literally the mineral water industry. So yes, lots of people do!
jonknee 9y ago
It's not like your phone vanishes after a new model comes out. A year old iPhone can be sold for a shockingly high amount of money (in no small part because--unlike 200 Euro smartphones--they are provided software updates for years to come). You can buy a new iPhone every year while selling your previous one and stay cutting edge for not too much money.
pound 9y ago
for apps/general phone use 200 Euro phone is fine, but it will have quite a mediocre camera. For many camera on the phone is really important (let's say it's the only camera you have on you most of the time you spend with your little kids), and so you have to avoid cheapo phones that perfectly satisfactory for any other needs (texting/emails/maps/web etc (and phone calls if someone still doing it))
csomar 9y ago
You are confusing price insensitivity. If the iPhone is a better phone, I'll just buy it and save myself the hassle of dealing with the stupid android one. But getting to the water point: Yes, people spend too little on the water they drink. They should be more careful but generally speaking it is not that serious. (ie: Focusing on quitting smoking will have more significant health improvement)

falsedan 9y ago

> so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day? I sure do, because I prefer the quality control and availability of municipally-supplied mains rather than sinking a well in my back yard. Your point about conspicuous consumption is pretty unfocused. Should everyone use the same laptop, do the same job, be paid the same rate, lest be accused of propertarian tendencies?

blubb-fish 9y ago
> municipally-supplied mains I don't know where you live but here in Germany this water source is pretty cheap while of high quality. So this would rather be an example of pragmatic spending behaviour. A $1000 smartphone would rather correspond to vanilla-flavored water filtered in a space ship using a high-tech-crystal-structure ... > Should everyone use the same laptop, do the same job, be paid the same rate, lest be accused of propertarians tendencies? Exactly - you are identifying yourself with those possessions. In my experience people with such materialist life philosophy are tedious and annoying.
- Retric 9y ago
  Your water example is ill conceived because bottled water often considered a reasonable purchase in bulk yet it is also a vastly larger price increase vs just a 5x on a phone. Bottled water is basically the same thing just in slightly more convenient form yet it's ~1000x as expensive. Because it's not the relative price that's important it's the price relative to the benifit.
ghaff 9y ago
Bad example. People usually drill wells because there isn't a municipal source available. Municipal water is not a luxury good that you pay a premium for. Indeed, wells are likely to end up higher cost because of drilling, failures, etc. Better example is drinking bottled water rather than tap water. Which many people do but is IMO a total waste of money. To say nothing of environmentally wasteful.
- falsedan 9y ago
  > Bad example I work with the material I get given.

alkonaut 9y ago

I work at a keyboard 8h per day, so I happily pay $100 for a keyboard that is nice, even though I could get one for $20. Same with the phone. Even if it's just some minor improvement I use it so much that it's worth it. Also it depends on what you use it for. If you use it for web browsing/messaging/email/phone calls then most phones will do. But other features such as the camera might be very dependent on price. Adding $100 to the price doesn't add much to the ability to make calls, but photos actually get noticably better with each dollar still.

walterstucco 9y ago
Except a good keyboard really makes the difference, an iPhone is worse in many ways from my Xiaomi Mi5, that costed 200 euros. For example you can't use the iPhone as an usb disk.
- Retric 9y ago
  This is not limited to iPhones, you can buy very nice Android phones that are meaningful upgrades vs a Xiaomi Mi5.
  - walterstucco 9y ago
    Sure! I tend to buy top of the line devices given a price range. Mi5 was the flagship phone for Xiaomi when I bought it I also was a owner of previous Xiaomi products and I wanted to test the new one My point is that iPhone is a very limited platform And its value for money is very low
- totony 9y ago
  What makes a keyboard better in your opinion? I once bought a 100$ mechanical keynoard and ended up going back to my 10$ keyboard because it was familiar I am not sure if the difference between keyboards is that price dependant
  - rockostrich 9y ago

cjrp 9y ago

> so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day? That's literally the mineral water industry. So yes, lots of people do!

jonknee 9y ago

It's not like your phone vanishes after a new model comes out. A year old iPhone can be sold for a shockingly high amount of money (in no small part because--unlike 200 Euro smartphones--they are provided software updates for years to come). You can buy a new iPhone every year while selling your previous one and stay cutting edge for not too much money.

pound 9y ago

for apps/general phone use 200 Euro phone is fine, but it will have quite a mediocre camera. For many camera on the phone is really important (let's say it's the only camera you have on you most of the time you spend with your little kids), and so you have to avoid cheapo phones that perfectly satisfactory for any other needs (texting/emails/maps/web etc (and phone calls if someone still doing it))

csomar 9y ago

You are confusing price insensitivity. If the iPhone is a better phone, I'll just buy it and save myself the hassle of dealing with the stupid android one. But getting to the water point: Yes, people spend too little on the water they drink. They should be more careful but generally speaking it is not that serious. (ie: Focusing on quitting smoking will have more significant health improvement)