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Every time I see the selection of cheap laptops/tablets/phones I wonder "why even try to combat climate change?". You've got these bottom of the barrel machine

by bserge 6y ago

Every time I see the selection of cheap laptops/tablets/phones I wonder "why even try to combat climate change?". You've got these bottom of the barrel machines that fail very soon, and barely have enough performance as it is. It makes more sense to save up, buy something twice the price and use it for much longer. It's like the boots theory of wealth. You buy cheap shit over and over again, instead of buying something good that will last many times longer. The sad thing it doesn't just affect you, it affects everything and everyone.

gtirloni 6y ago
I know many people with cheap laptops running for >5 years. Vendors like Asus have stepped up their game considerably.
romanoderoma 6y ago
On the other hand, people using cheap devices usually don't rely on them so much, so the higher consumption is compensated by the lower overall usage, or have made the real environmental savy choice. I've never encountered an iPhone owner that didn't bring a charger in their backpacks. Do you see old people like my father charging their sub 100 € smartphones at Starbucks or young people with shiny high end smartphones? My father use his smartphone so rarely that the battery lasts exactly as advertised: 2+ days on standby (I believe it's ~60 hours). He uses no app, except WhatsApp twice a year and Maps, has no background service running, takes a few pictures of his niece and that's it. How much power can he consume? How much is he contributing to the climate change compared to me, his son, that starts the day at 9 am and at 18 is on 20% battery? An I don't even use the smartphone that much, but hey, WFH, slack and teams are constantly checking for new messages, that friend sent you a message in IG, of course I'm gonna check my timeline. Look, a new notification, Amazon is delivering the package, let me check on the news if the streets are still closed today because they are shooting that Tom Cruise movie (it really happened few days ago!) Etc. etc. How much of this could be saved? On the opposite side, the construction workers who renewed my house all used old phones like Nokia 3330 because they need something though and durable that won't die on them after a few hours, in environments where electrical power is not granted, so they go for the thing with the longest battery life on the market which is also the cheapest option and, in the end, the most power efficient.

by bserge 6y ago

gtirloni 6y ago

I know many people with cheap laptops running for >5 years. Vendors like Asus have stepped up their game considerably.

romanoderoma 6y ago

On the other hand, people using cheap devices usually don't rely on them so much, so the higher consumption is compensated by the lower overall usage, or have made the real environmental savy choice. I've never encountered an iPhone owner that didn't bring a charger in their backpacks. Do you see old people like my father charging their sub 100 € smartphones at Starbucks or young people with shiny high end smartphones? My father use his smartphone so rarely that the battery lasts exactly as advertised: 2+ days on standby (I believe it's ~60 hours). He uses no app, except WhatsApp twice a year and Maps, has no background service running, takes a few pictures of his niece and that's it. How much power can he consume? How much is he contributing to the climate change compared to me, his son, that starts the day at 9 am and at 18 is on 20% battery? An I don't even use the smartphone that much, but hey, WFH, slack and teams are constantly checking for new messages, that friend sent you a message in IG, of course I'm gonna check my timeline. Look, a new notification, Amazon is delivering the package, let me check on the news if the streets are still closed today because they are shooting that Tom Cruise movie (it really happened few days ago!) Etc. etc. How much of this could be saved? On the opposite side, the construction workers who renewed my house all used old phones like Nokia 3330 because they need something though and durable that won't die on them after a few hours, in environments where electrical power is not granted, so they go for the thing with the longest battery life on the market which is also the cheapest option and, in the end, the most power efficient.