3 ms·

I like some of this argument. It reminds me of the story of Warren Buffet not wanting to buy a $20K car because he said with discount to present value the oppo

by Lio 6y ago

I like some of this argument. It reminds me of the story of Warren Buffet not wanting to buy a $20K car because he said with discount to present value the opportunity cost would make it cost him $100K. On the other hand all things are not equal. Take laptops. You might think that a cheap one that costs a quarter of an expensive model would mean that you change it more often for the same cost. By the end of the upgrade cycle you'd probably have a faster cheap laptop than the original expensive one and that might be true but you'd also have to live with the cheap keyboard and the cheap screen and the cheap build quality of the case. So you have to make the trade off I guess.

owenversteeg 6y ago
Well, yes and no. In the case of laptops, I have a top of the line souped up Lenovo C940 as a work laptop and a Thinkpad T440p as a personal laptop. The T440p cost 200 bucks refurbished, the c940 ten times as much new. The T440p is actually faster for a number of tasks. Sure, the screen is nicer, but is that worth $2k? And sure, the magnesium case of the thing is nice, but the build quality on my T440p isn't half bad. But I know what you mean, sometimes the cheapest option really isn't. For cars especially, a $500 car in the long run may end up significantly more expensive than a $2000 car, and the boost in comfort, safety, features etc in the $2000 car may make the more expensive car a no brainer.
jamesgeck0 6y ago
> On the other hand all things are not equal. Take laptops. You might think that a cheap one that costs a quarter of an expensive model would mean that you change it more often for the same cost. > By the end of the upgrade cycle you'd probably have a faster cheap laptop than the original expensive one and that might be true but you'd also have to live with the cheap keyboard and the cheap screen and the cheap build quality of the case. It isn't actually the case that the cheap laptop would be faster, unfortunately. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but my $1000 i5 MacBook Air from 2013 is still a snappier machine than a recent $250 Celeron Chromebook.

by Lio 6y ago

owenversteeg 6y ago

Well, yes and no. In the case of laptops, I have a top of the line souped up Lenovo C940 as a work laptop and a Thinkpad T440p as a personal laptop. The T440p cost 200 bucks refurbished, the c940 ten times as much new. The T440p is actually faster for a number of tasks. Sure, the screen is nicer, but is that worth $2k? And sure, the magnesium case of the thing is nice, but the build quality on my T440p isn't half bad. But I know what you mean, sometimes the cheapest option really isn't. For cars especially, a $500 car in the long run may end up significantly more expensive than a $2000 car, and the boost in comfort, safety, features etc in the $2000 car may make the more expensive car a no brainer.

jamesgeck0 6y ago

> On the other hand all things are not equal. Take laptops. You might think that a cheap one that costs a quarter of an expensive model would mean that you change it more often for the same cost. > By the end of the upgrade cycle you'd probably have a faster cheap laptop than the original expensive one and that might be true but you'd also have to live with the cheap keyboard and the cheap screen and the cheap build quality of the case. It isn't actually the case that the cheap laptop would be faster, unfortunately. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but my $1000 i5 MacBook Air from 2013 is still a snappier machine than a recent $250 Celeron Chromebook.