9 ms·

Give yourself extra life. Buy the best tools you can. Don't let virtues learned by necessity become the vices that suck up your lifetime. You'll never get th

by w10-1 4y ago

Give yourself extra life. Buy the best tools you can. Don't let virtues learned by necessity become the vices that suck up your lifetime. You'll never get the time back that you spend working on unimportant projects, sustaining old builds, placating unhappy people, working on slow computers, etc. Unless it's the fastest way for you to deliver whatever good you have to the world, put it aside, especially if you've invested time to get good at tending it. There's no deeper hole to lose your irreplaceable lifetime.

vladvasiliu 4y ago
While I agree with the general sentiment, I think this can be nuanced. By that I mean that always keeping up with the latest and greatest can be overrated, [0] and actually be quite a huge time sink to keep looking for a new computer and / or new parts, compare them, etc. Sure, if you only buy the latest MBP that's easy, since there's not much to choose from. But it is expensive, and it's not always worth it. I'd been working all through the pandemic lockdowns on an i5-6500 I had saved from the bin at work. Old SATA SSD from ~2012, 16 then 32 GB RAM. Integrated HD graphics (not the newer UHD). I never felt held back by it, it would chug along nicely through pretty much everything I threw at it. The only thing for which I had to wait around a bit was Rust compilation. Then at the end of last year, my work laptop was up for renewal. So I spent around a week comparing models, looking up on intel vs amd, etc. In the end, I ended up with a zen 3 model. While the CPU is fast, in my day-to-day I see no difference compared to the old one. It compiles some of my Rust projects almost twice as fast, but it's still not instant, and I don't wait around for full compiles anyway. [1] Aside from that, Teams, web pages, etc, there's absolutely no difference in perceived performance. I get that this is less extreme than OP's situation, but I guess the point is that they maybe shouldn't go to the other extreme and upgrade with each new CPU that comes out. I also realize that up until last year or so Intel CPU upgrades didn't bump performance all that much. --- [0] Yes, some people absolutely need the last drop of performance they can squeeze, by even among HN readers, I think those people are not the majority. [1] Incremental Rust compiles were still somewhat slow on the AMD, but in the meantime I've found out about mold, which speeds things up nicely even on the old machine.
- thefz 4y ago
  Yes. The post you reply to makes it sound like his author's life is too important not to get the fastest cpu possible. Some people have modest hardware requirements that are satisfied with modest hardware for years. Not everybody compiles or renders.
f1shy 4y ago
Pretty good piece of advice. Not that you should never repair anything, but thinking about cost/benefit is worth it.
- na85 4y ago
  But how will I signal conspicuous consumption to my Bay Area peers unless I have an M2 and a hoodie with no logos?
Bancakes 4y ago
Seriously? You're such a hustler that you can't afford maybe 2 hours per month maintaining your house/car/electronics? You can't afford to be self reliant and self sufficient? People used to write their own Haskell compilers, now they buy stagnant/slow computers as an upgrade.
- aspyct 4y ago
  You have a point, but I don't remember that time when people used to write their own Haskell compilers...
  - scrapheap 4y ago
    They still do - the rest of us are just lucky that they make them open source so we don't have to write our own :)
jjav 4y ago
Agreed, in that it's not a benefit to hobble yourself with bad tools that hold you back. But... the worthwhile upgrade cycle has become ever longer. Back in the early 90s it always felt that last years CPU was unimaginably slow. But over the last decade and more, there's hardly a convincing reason to upgrade very often other than marketing or perhaps cutting-edge gaming (don't know much about gaming). My primary server at home I built in 2010. It runs my zfs file server, many VMs for assorted things and all odds and ends to run the house. I've upgraded a few drives and added some RAM, but still the same hardware mostly. I get the urge to upgrade every now and then, but objectively I can't justify it. It works great and does everything it needs still fast enough. My personal laptop is a Toshiba I bought also in 2010 but it was used, so I think it might be 2008 or 2009. Dual boot Linux (primary use) and Windows (for some exercise and astrophotography tools). Still runs perfectly fine, zero urge to ugprade it. My desktop is my newest machine, a 2014 Mac Mini. No urge to upgrade either, it works perfectly. And in comparison, my work 2020 MacBookPro is a far inferior machine. Fan runs constantly, always overheating. I'm glad that junk machine is not mine, just have to tolerate it for work. I'd feel sick if I'd bought it with my money, so I'm glad I keep my trusty 2014 Mac.
- rompic 4y ago
  Maybe related in case you are charging the macbook from the left side: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find-cause-of-high-kernel-task-cpu-usage?answertab=active#tab-top https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find...
  - jjav 4y ago
    The two right-side USBC ports died entirely. If I plug anything in there, the machine immediately reboots. So the left-side ports are all that remain in working condition. This machine is to me the depth of how low Apple quality has fallen.
jamal-kumar 4y ago
Have you ever lived south of the USA before? Shit gets EXPENSIVE out this way for electronics. I mean I can get my groceries extremely cheap and rent hasn't ever been more than 200$/mo, but electronics are all manufactured out of Asia and the supply lines and/or taxes on specifically that just add all this extra cost that's hard to justify in certain cases. We're talking like 50%+ of the cost you'll find in the USA. I learned programming specifically because my shitty computer from 1999 wasn't good enough to waste all my time playing world of warcraft like my peers, who were too busy playing video games in high school and being well-off to get into programming or getting their dicks sucked. Now they ask me how to get girls or what they need to do to learn programming. It's extremely different here. If you live in more humid areas you're forced to replace your electronics a lot faster just because they rust like that. There's computers in plywood boxes with an incandescent lightbulb in there just to prevent the humidity from wrecking it kind of level.
- Jonanin 4y ago
  Why are the import taxes so high?
  - southerntofu 4y ago
    Why are multinational companies who rely on slave labors from the mines to the factories selling for so high prices? (And how is it even legal?) That's a rhetorical question of course. As for the import taxes, i would guess because electronics are a luxury commodity in many places they are taxed as such. When not used as a luxury good for rich kids to play video games, they're used by industry which makes a lot of money so taxing them makes sense. Remember many places around the world still don't have reliable electricity (if any at all) or internet infrastructure. Some regions don't even want it as they'd rather preserve their eco-friendly way of life than contribute to the crazy show we've been offering them: first invent new problems (eg. electronics in cars or in agriculture) then sell solutions that will create more problems (eg. mining/refining/factory/landfill pollution). Most times low-tech is the best answer, and i personally would argue the world and the environment would be much better off if IT/electronics industry were highly regulated and taxed, and had strong obligations to make everything 100% recyclable and actually recycled (also: interoperable, repairable, etc).
forty 4y ago
It's interesting and very sad how all the comments seem to ignore completely the positive impact of repairing on the environment :( No wonder why we are in such a bad situation now.
- marttt 4y ago
  For me, this is one of the main (subconscious) reasons why I stick with old tech for as long as I can. It is really frustrating to imagine a computer I would "throw away" to literally land on a landfill and rot there. In reality, this is not quite how it goes -- some parts get recycled; students in my country (Estonia) are currently refurbishing donated laptops for Ukrainian war refugees, etc. But there still is a lot of electronic waste in junkyards. Thinking about this always makes me feel like a loser -- because I have neither the skills nor the time (nor even the need, considering that I already have all the necessary gear for daily life!) to repair as much of that stuff as I could. Junk is nasty and embarrassing. We have a lot of junk.
  - Termitiono 4y ago
    If it's not broken, my stuff goes to ebay. An advantage to buying better hardware in the first place: it will still be worth enough for someone else to buy it from me. I sometimes also donate my stuff and repairing issues before. Like my two last laptops
    - marttt 4y ago
      > An advantage to buying better hardware in the first place: it will still be worth enough for someone else to buy it from me. Yep, a great source of inspiration for this line of thinking: https://forum.thinkpads.com/ https://forum.thinkpads.com/
- Termitiono 4y ago
  Have you read his hardware specs? I do a lot of things which just wouldn't be possible on his setup at all.
wtk 4y ago
"Don't let virtues learned by necessity become the vices that suck up your lifetime." I really like this line. It resonates with me as this quote from Henri Bergson (from memory, can't find exact quote) ~ "tools we use become a burden when the environment that we used them within, no longer exists"
trhoad 4y ago
Sadly, this attitude is endemic; the only goal in life is to make things as easy as possible for yourself, rather than leave things in a better state than you found them. You might be giving yourself "extra life" (the massive assumption being that repairing and reusing tools is a net negative timesink rather than a positive pleasure) but you're taking life from the people at the other end of your supply chain.
- Termitiono 4y ago
  That's a weird sentiment. Without the investment of early adopters the hardware would not be as cheap or as good as it is right now. Also no one throws older hardware away.
  - trhoad 4y ago
    People literally throw old hardware in the bin where I'm from
  - nicoco 4y ago
    I literally have 2 laptops, 1 tablet and 1 desktop computer at home that friends/family gave to me because they were about to throw it away. Why? Because they were too slow, ie, for some reason windows was something something. After an OS reinstall, I'll give them away to whomever need them. I wish people didn't throw working hardware in the bin, but in my country (France) and social circles (middle class), people definitely do.
    - Termitiono 4y ago
      In your example though they gave it away, to you ;)
tremon 4y ago
I tend to look for yesteryear's best tools, not today's. Proven track record, initial flaws have been documented or corrected, and usually only half the price of this year's new thing.
11235813213455 4y ago
I've a different view on this, which comes more and more relevant with pollution and climate changes. It's to consume for things you really need and minimize your environmental footprint
tpoacher 4y ago
This may be good advice under very, very specific circumstances, but it's making a lot of specific assumptions that were not stated by the submitter. For all we know the attachment this has created for this machine may well have enriched its user's life instead, with no practical hindrance for their work and enjoyment of the machine. If anything, this person felt proud enough of this little triumph that they felt the need to share on HN. (it didn't sound like an "I hate me shitty 15-yo machine" rant to me ... quite the opposite)
HenriTEL 4y ago
I completely disagree with you. First it's really not that hard to replace components in a desktop and second the virtues of reusing components are some of the most valued one in today's world. I mean, global warming is not going to solve by itself right? Apart from specific needs like gaming and video editing you don't need newer components. What may slow your computer is crappy corporate software, dozens of greedy tabs open, fancy animations on your 4k screen. But you know what? All this is gone when you use an OS that's does not make high-end components assumptions (i.e. linux). Yeah, you don't need macOS or windows to be a productive programmer. Edit: added some punctuation
PostOnce 4y ago
This is predicated on the idea that new computers are meaningfully better, when they generally aren't for most of us. I want a new computer, but I go shopping and here's what I see: They don't have any more RAM than they did... 10 years ago. Maybe it's marginally faster RAM on paper. They run software that used to run in 0.9ms in 0.72ms and no one cares. It's all instant to me. The graphics got better, but not hugely so. 2015 GPUs still run... everything, unless you have some particular need for VR or something. I could buy a new computer tonight, but why? To do the same stuff at the same speed? I'll buy a new computer when they do something new, or something substantially better. I keep thinking that's a few months away, but it never happens.
- nbaksalyar 4y ago
  > They don't have any more RAM than they did... 10 years ago What do you mean? Today, building a desktop PC with 64GB or even 128GB of RAM on board is affordable. 10 years ago it was 8GB or 16GB at most. > They run software that used to run in 0.9ms in 0.72ms and no one cares. It's all instant to me. Maybe that's true for single-core performance, but nowadays you can get a 16-core CPU at home which I think is mindblowing. It's very beneficial for tasks such as compilation or rendering and can save you minutes (and it adds up). > The graphics got better, but not hugely so. 2015 GPUs still run... everything In my opinion, the difference between 2015 and 2022 is quite drastic. You can buy a display with an 8K resolution, 4K + 144hz, QD-OLED. All of these make a huge difference and they weren't available or affordable back in 2015. That's only speaking of productivity; for graphics in games, have you seen Unreal Engine 5 demos? And that's just a start of the next generation!
fho 4y ago
Some time ago I got the advice to buy twice ... first, get the cheapest option that is available (within reason). This allows you to get familiar with whatever you are getting into (be it new tools, new hobby equipment, cars ... basically everything). Then, once the cheapest option breaks or just is not good enough anymore, spend the money and get the best thing you can afford. Often times I found that the cheap option is perfectly reasonable (e.g. a 500€ cordless screwdriver is not 5x as good as a 100€ one), saving me money in the long run. Other times I quickly outgrow the cheap option, but the experience on the cheap model makes me appreciate the expensive option more (e.g. going from a 150€ Ender 3 to a 2000€ Voron 2.1). Buy twice, once cheap, then good ... I'll just repeat this advice here :-)
seba_dos1 4y ago
I wish software developers wouldn't commonly take this advice. There's so many inefficient software out there which appears to be done this way just because the developers are always using the latest and greatest hardware that allows them to be unreasonable about resource usage.
- ephbit 4y ago
  This.
zippity-zappity 4y ago
Sorry for disagreeing, but you clearly talk this from a privileged point of view. For some people, buying the best tools is out of question; if they need to choose between feed the family or buy the latest Apple M2 processor, they're choosing to feed the family. For some, the allegedly saved lifetime does not pay the bills. Of course, you said "buy the best tools you can". It is not wrong, because for some folks the best tool they can buy is none. I am also brazilian, and we are living a hell of time. Economy is ruined, inflation is getting high, food cost is sky rocketting, and a lot of people are starving (for real). Getting the best tools is clearly way down in the list of priorities in this country. Remember not everybody have the same conditions than yourself.
troyvit 4y ago
There are more ways to deliver whatever good you have to the world than what's in your day job. Embracing frugality, understanding one's tools by digging in and repairing them? That actually sounds rewarding, teachable, memorable. I laud it.
lbschenkel 4y ago
As a Brazilian who later emigrated, I believe you may be underestimating how expensive things can be in a developing country. A nice desktop may cost a year of wages. When I lived in Brazil I could do way more with less, out of necessity.
MetroWind 4y ago
I agree in principle. However in many situations "buy the best tools you can" is meaningless because one just cannot. Other comments have argued about this better than I'd ever could. On the other hand, have you consider that maybe it's not the hardware is slow; it's just that the software you are using is just plain bad? Before I had my current desktop which I assembled ~2 years ago, my desktop was a 4790K with 16GB DDR3, which was cutting edge at its time. However it booted up Windows really slowly. After I uninstall the Adobe suite, the boot up time improved by 5 minutes. I haven't been using any Adobe software ever since. In a similar fashion, when I had my 2011 MBP 15 inch, I once tried PyCharm on it. Guess what, after I fired it up (and waited for the UI to be stable), it needed 30 seconds to react to my first key press. Of course now most 1st world people have SSDs, but bad software is still a waste of energy (ahem nodejs).
mpcannabrava 4y ago
A very honest answer. However each person's reality will dictate what they can do.

by w10-1 4y ago

vladvasiliu 4y ago

While I agree with the general sentiment, I think this can be nuanced. By that I mean that always keeping up with the latest and greatest can be overrated, [0] and actually be quite a huge time sink to keep looking for a new computer and / or new parts, compare them, etc. Sure, if you only buy the latest MBP that's easy, since there's not much to choose from. But it is expensive, and it's not always worth it. I'd been working all through the pandemic lockdowns on an i5-6500 I had saved from the bin at work. Old SATA SSD from ~2012, 16 then 32 GB RAM. Integrated HD graphics (not the newer UHD). I never felt held back by it, it would chug along nicely through pretty much everything I threw at it. The only thing for which I had to wait around a bit was Rust compilation. Then at the end of last year, my work laptop was up for renewal. So I spent around a week comparing models, looking up on intel vs amd, etc. In the end, I ended up with a zen 3 model. While the CPU is fast, in my day-to-day I see no difference compared to the old one. It compiles some of my Rust projects almost twice as fast, but it's still not instant, and I don't wait around for full compiles anyway. [1] Aside from that, Teams, web pages, etc, there's absolutely no difference in perceived performance. I get that this is less extreme than OP's situation, but I guess the point is that they maybe shouldn't go to the other extreme and upgrade with each new CPU that comes out. I also realize that up until last year or so Intel CPU upgrades didn't bump performance all that much. --- [0] Yes, some people absolutely need the last drop of performance they can squeeze, by even among HN readers, I think those people are not the majority. [1] Incremental Rust compiles were still somewhat slow on the AMD, but in the meantime I've found out about mold, which speeds things up nicely even on the old machine.

thefz 4y ago
Yes. The post you reply to makes it sound like his author's life is too important not to get the fastest cpu possible. Some people have modest hardware requirements that are satisfied with modest hardware for years. Not everybody compiles or renders.

f1shy 4y ago

Pretty good piece of advice. Not that you should never repair anything, but thinking about cost/benefit is worth it.

na85 4y ago
But how will I signal conspicuous consumption to my Bay Area peers unless I have an M2 and a hoodie with no logos?

Bancakes 4y ago

Seriously? You're such a hustler that you can't afford maybe 2 hours per month maintaining your house/car/electronics? You can't afford to be self reliant and self sufficient? People used to write their own Haskell compilers, now they buy stagnant/slow computers as an upgrade.

aspyct 4y ago
You have a point, but I don't remember that time when people used to write their own Haskell compilers...
- scrapheap 4y ago
  They still do - the rest of us are just lucky that they make them open source so we don't have to write our own :)

jjav 4y ago

Agreed, in that it's not a benefit to hobble yourself with bad tools that hold you back. But... the worthwhile upgrade cycle has become ever longer. Back in the early 90s it always felt that last years CPU was unimaginably slow. But over the last decade and more, there's hardly a convincing reason to upgrade very often other than marketing or perhaps cutting-edge gaming (don't know much about gaming). My primary server at home I built in 2010. It runs my zfs file server, many VMs for assorted things and all odds and ends to run the house. I've upgraded a few drives and added some RAM, but still the same hardware mostly. I get the urge to upgrade every now and then, but objectively I can't justify it. It works great and does everything it needs still fast enough. My personal laptop is a Toshiba I bought also in 2010 but it was used, so I think it might be 2008 or 2009. Dual boot Linux (primary use) and Windows (for some exercise and astrophotography tools). Still runs perfectly fine, zero urge to ugprade it. My desktop is my newest machine, a 2014 Mac Mini. No urge to upgrade either, it works perfectly. And in comparison, my work 2020 MacBookPro is a far inferior machine. Fan runs constantly, always overheating. I'm glad that junk machine is not mine, just have to tolerate it for work. I'd feel sick if I'd bought it with my money, so I'm glad I keep my trusty 2014 Mac.

rompic 4y ago
Maybe related in case you are charging the macbook from the left side: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find-cause-of-high-kernel-task-cpu-usage?answertab=active#tab-top https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find...
- jjav 4y ago
  The two right-side USBC ports died entirely. If I plug anything in there, the machine immediately reboots. So the left-side ports are all that remain in working condition. This machine is to me the depth of how low Apple quality has fallen.

jamal-kumar 4y ago

Have you ever lived south of the USA before? Shit gets EXPENSIVE out this way for electronics. I mean I can get my groceries extremely cheap and rent hasn't ever been more than 200$/mo, but electronics are all manufactured out of Asia and the supply lines and/or taxes on specifically that just add all this extra cost that's hard to justify in certain cases. We're talking like 50%+ of the cost you'll find in the USA. I learned programming specifically because my shitty computer from 1999 wasn't good enough to waste all my time playing world of warcraft like my peers, who were too busy playing video games in high school and being well-off to get into programming or getting their dicks sucked. Now they ask me how to get girls or what they need to do to learn programming. It's extremely different here. If you live in more humid areas you're forced to replace your electronics a lot faster just because they rust like that. There's computers in plywood boxes with an incandescent lightbulb in there just to prevent the humidity from wrecking it kind of level.

Jonanin 4y ago
Why are the import taxes so high?
- southerntofu 4y ago
  Why are multinational companies who rely on slave labors from the mines to the factories selling for so high prices? (And how is it even legal?) That's a rhetorical question of course. As for the import taxes, i would guess because electronics are a luxury commodity in many places they are taxed as such. When not used as a luxury good for rich kids to play video games, they're used by industry which makes a lot of money so taxing them makes sense. Remember many places around the world still don't have reliable electricity (if any at all) or internet infrastructure. Some regions don't even want it as they'd rather preserve their eco-friendly way of life than contribute to the crazy show we've been offering them: first invent new problems (eg. electronics in cars or in agriculture) then sell solutions that will create more problems (eg. mining/refining/factory/landfill pollution). Most times low-tech is the best answer, and i personally would argue the world and the environment would be much better off if IT/electronics industry were highly regulated and taxed, and had strong obligations to make everything 100% recyclable and actually recycled (also: interoperable, repairable, etc).

forty 4y ago

It's interesting and very sad how all the comments seem to ignore completely the positive impact of repairing on the environment :( No wonder why we are in such a bad situation now.

marttt 4y ago
For me, this is one of the main (subconscious) reasons why I stick with old tech for as long as I can. It is really frustrating to imagine a computer I would "throw away" to literally land on a landfill and rot there. In reality, this is not quite how it goes -- some parts get recycled; students in my country (Estonia) are currently refurbishing donated laptops for Ukrainian war refugees, etc. But there still is a lot of electronic waste in junkyards. Thinking about this always makes me feel like a loser -- because I have neither the skills nor the time (nor even the need, considering that I already have all the necessary gear for daily life!) to repair as much of that stuff as I could. Junk is nasty and embarrassing. We have a lot of junk.
- Termitiono 4y ago
  If it's not broken, my stuff goes to ebay. An advantage to buying better hardware in the first place: it will still be worth enough for someone else to buy it from me. I sometimes also donate my stuff and repairing issues before. Like my two last laptops
  - marttt 4y ago
    > An advantage to buying better hardware in the first place: it will still be worth enough for someone else to buy it from me. Yep, a great source of inspiration for this line of thinking: https://forum.thinkpads.com/ https://forum.thinkpads.com/
Termitiono 4y ago
Have you read his hardware specs? I do a lot of things which just wouldn't be possible on his setup at all.

wtk 4y ago

"Don't let virtues learned by necessity become the vices that suck up your lifetime." I really like this line. It resonates with me as this quote from Henri Bergson (from memory, can't find exact quote) ~ "tools we use become a burden when the environment that we used them within, no longer exists"

trhoad 4y ago

Sadly, this attitude is endemic; the only goal in life is to make things as easy as possible for yourself, rather than leave things in a better state than you found them. You might be giving yourself "extra life" (the massive assumption being that repairing and reusing tools is a net negative timesink rather than a positive pleasure) but you're taking life from the people at the other end of your supply chain.

Termitiono 4y ago
That's a weird sentiment. Without the investment of early adopters the hardware would not be as cheap or as good as it is right now. Also no one throws older hardware away.
- trhoad 4y ago
  People literally throw old hardware in the bin where I'm from
- nicoco 4y ago
  I literally have 2 laptops, 1 tablet and 1 desktop computer at home that friends/family gave to me because they were about to throw it away. Why? Because they were too slow, ie, for some reason windows was something something. After an OS reinstall, I'll give them away to whomever need them. I wish people didn't throw working hardware in the bin, but in my country (France) and social circles (middle class), people definitely do.
  - Termitiono 4y ago
    In your example though they gave it away, to you ;)

tremon 4y ago

I tend to look for yesteryear's best tools, not today's. Proven track record, initial flaws have been documented or corrected, and usually only half the price of this year's new thing.

11235813213455 4y ago

I've a different view on this, which comes more and more relevant with pollution and climate changes. It's to consume for things you really need and minimize your environmental footprint

tpoacher 4y ago

This may be good advice under very, very specific circumstances, but it's making a lot of specific assumptions that were not stated by the submitter. For all we know the attachment this has created for this machine may well have enriched its user's life instead, with no practical hindrance for their work and enjoyment of the machine. If anything, this person felt proud enough of this little triumph that they felt the need to share on HN. (it didn't sound like an "I hate me shitty 15-yo machine" rant to me ... quite the opposite)

HenriTEL 4y ago

I completely disagree with you. First it's really not that hard to replace components in a desktop and second the virtues of reusing components are some of the most valued one in today's world. I mean, global warming is not going to solve by itself right? Apart from specific needs like gaming and video editing you don't need newer components. What may slow your computer is crappy corporate software, dozens of greedy tabs open, fancy animations on your 4k screen. But you know what? All this is gone when you use an OS that's does not make high-end components assumptions (i.e. linux). Yeah, you don't need macOS or windows to be a productive programmer. Edit: added some punctuation

PostOnce 4y ago

This is predicated on the idea that new computers are meaningfully better, when they generally aren't for most of us. I want a new computer, but I go shopping and here's what I see: They don't have any more RAM than they did... 10 years ago. Maybe it's marginally faster RAM on paper. They run software that used to run in 0.9ms in 0.72ms and no one cares. It's all instant to me. The graphics got better, but not hugely so. 2015 GPUs still run... everything, unless you have some particular need for VR or something. I could buy a new computer tonight, but why? To do the same stuff at the same speed? I'll buy a new computer when they do something new, or something substantially better. I keep thinking that's a few months away, but it never happens.

nbaksalyar 4y ago
> They don't have any more RAM than they did... 10 years ago What do you mean? Today, building a desktop PC with 64GB or even 128GB of RAM on board is affordable. 10 years ago it was 8GB or 16GB at most. > They run software that used to run in 0.9ms in 0.72ms and no one cares. It's all instant to me. Maybe that's true for single-core performance, but nowadays you can get a 16-core CPU at home which I think is mindblowing. It's very beneficial for tasks such as compilation or rendering and can save you minutes (and it adds up). > The graphics got better, but not hugely so. 2015 GPUs still run... everything In my opinion, the difference between 2015 and 2022 is quite drastic. You can buy a display with an 8K resolution, 4K + 144hz, QD-OLED. All of these make a huge difference and they weren't available or affordable back in 2015. That's only speaking of productivity; for graphics in games, have you seen Unreal Engine 5 demos? And that's just a start of the next generation!

fho 4y ago

Some time ago I got the advice to buy twice ... first, get the cheapest option that is available (within reason). This allows you to get familiar with whatever you are getting into (be it new tools, new hobby equipment, cars ... basically everything). Then, once the cheapest option breaks or just is not good enough anymore, spend the money and get the best thing you can afford. Often times I found that the cheap option is perfectly reasonable (e.g. a 500€ cordless screwdriver is not 5x as good as a 100€ one), saving me money in the long run. Other times I quickly outgrow the cheap option, but the experience on the cheap model makes me appreciate the expensive option more (e.g. going from a 150€ Ender 3 to a 2000€ Voron 2.1). Buy twice, once cheap, then good ... I'll just repeat this advice here :-)

seba_dos1 4y ago

I wish software developers wouldn't commonly take this advice. There's so many inefficient software out there which appears to be done this way just because the developers are always using the latest and greatest hardware that allows them to be unreasonable about resource usage.

ephbit 4y ago
This.

zippity-zappity 4y ago

Sorry for disagreeing, but you clearly talk this from a privileged point of view. For some people, buying the best tools is out of question; if they need to choose between feed the family or buy the latest Apple M2 processor, they're choosing to feed the family. For some, the allegedly saved lifetime does not pay the bills. Of course, you said "buy the best tools you can". It is not wrong, because for some folks the best tool they can buy is none. I am also brazilian, and we are living a hell of time. Economy is ruined, inflation is getting high, food cost is sky rocketting, and a lot of people are starving (for real). Getting the best tools is clearly way down in the list of priorities in this country. Remember not everybody have the same conditions than yourself.

troyvit 4y ago

There are more ways to deliver whatever good you have to the world than what's in your day job. Embracing frugality, understanding one's tools by digging in and repairing them? That actually sounds rewarding, teachable, memorable. I laud it.

lbschenkel 4y ago

As a Brazilian who later emigrated, I believe you may be underestimating how expensive things can be in a developing country. A nice desktop may cost a year of wages. When I lived in Brazil I could do way more with less, out of necessity.

MetroWind 4y ago

I agree in principle. However in many situations "buy the best tools you can" is meaningless because one just cannot. Other comments have argued about this better than I'd ever could. On the other hand, have you consider that maybe it's not the hardware is slow; it's just that the software you are using is just plain bad? Before I had my current desktop which I assembled ~2 years ago, my desktop was a 4790K with 16GB DDR3, which was cutting edge at its time. However it booted up Windows really slowly. After I uninstall the Adobe suite, the boot up time improved by 5 minutes. I haven't been using any Adobe software ever since. In a similar fashion, when I had my 2011 MBP 15 inch, I once tried PyCharm on it. Guess what, after I fired it up (and waited for the UI to be stable), it needed 30 seconds to react to my first key press. Of course now most 1st world people have SSDs, but bad software is still a waste of energy (ahem nodejs).

mpcannabrava 4y ago

A very honest answer. However each person's reality will dictate what they can do.