4 ms·

Did you read the article? The author is, well, an author. They don't program or 3d model. Computation sped wasn't even mentioned in the point they were making.

by BowBun 3y ago

Did you read the article? The author is, well, an author. They don't program or 3d model. Computation sped wasn't even mentioned in the point they were making. I guess I don't see the reason to read an article about a specific use-case/point of view, only to follow up and say, "yeah well it wouldn't work for this completely different thing you weren't talking about". It's not the 'gotcha' you think it is.

ido 3y ago
I'm not trying to make a any gotchas. Yes, if all you need is MS Word and a web browser you can use a 10-15 years old laptop, I don't think this surprises anyone here (in fact its why most people these days use phones instead of PCs to do most of their internet browsing).
- jamespo 3y ago
  I guess your superfast laptop wasn't very good at rendering the webpage of the article
  - ido 3y ago
    Are we not allowed to use the article as a springboard for conversation? Am I obligated to only restrict myself to what the author wanted to talk about without expanding the realm of discussion with the people on HN?
    - dejobaan 3y ago
      I feel that, for instance, game developers would fall into this category.
    - kelnos 3y ago
      I just don't think it's that interesting to take an article that says "I and other people with similar needs to me can do X", and reply, "well I have different needs and can't do X". Well... duh? There isn't really much conversation to spring into. Many people who buy new laptops every few years really don't need to do that. Some who buy new laptops every few years actually do see a benefit to doing so. The latter group isn't really all that interesting to talk about, at least not in the context of the article. The former group is, because making old laptops more useful for those types of people could have a huge positive environmental impact.
    - layer8 3y ago
      Yes, but you should start by explaining that you are switching the context, to make it clear that you're aware of it. The author took care to explain that his stance applies to office applications and may not apply to other use cases, even specifically mentioning audio-visual work.
barbariangrunge 3y ago
I’m an author, sometimes. My 2015 MacBook Air has slowed down so much, due to software bloat, it’s painful to use. You need to constantly buy new hardware to run peoples literally exponentially less efficient software
- SCdF 3y ago
  Yes! It's frustrating. I have a perfectly good 2015 MBP 13" that runs as fast as the day I bought it but is now unusable for much of the web, especially video or high Javascript situations. To use YouTube without it being a jetengine you need to force YouTube to return you mp4s instead of vp8 or whatever they use now. Twitch is just unusable is chat moves slightly faster than not at all. Everything in general is a frustrating sluggish mess. My phone is going the same way as well, becoming less and less usable. But it's not the laptop or phone that's changed, it's the rising tide of tech enthusiasts constantly buying new computers, having their performance QC be "feels OK to me", and that raising everyone's minimum spec.
  - fragmede 3y ago
    The worst offender imo is VScode. it won't run smoothly on my 2010 era Thinkpad. yeah it's old, but we're talking about a text editor here. without any plugins it should still be able to do at least that much smoothly. I don't need AAA games to run on it, but text editing!
    - SCdF 3y ago
      Yes, jesus. I am forced to use VSCode because some disability plugin[1] I use only (for now!) exists for it, but having to switch to it over SublimeText + Vim was annoying. If you don't need to use it definitely try either of those options [1] https://github.com/cursorless-dev/cursorless https://github.com/cursorless-dev/cursorless
      - fragmede 3y ago
        I want an ·easy· button for vim. I want to upgrade to a new version, be given new decoration and a new colorscheme to be angry over. but then I want it to have all the modern features. LLM code-complete that i can choose to pay a monthly SaaS for, a bevy of plugins like one to help me program my esp32 for my little iot project, super special handling for language-of-the-month. but I also don't.
nicbou 3y ago
I use my laptop (Macbook 12") to write too. It's fantastic for that... until you start playing YouTube Music in the background or try to use Google Maps. It's getting to a point where the delays on many tasks become noticeable and affect my workflow. That's unfortunate because I love that little laptop.

by BowBun 3y ago

ido 3y ago

I'm not trying to make a any gotchas. Yes, if all you need is MS Word and a web browser you can use a 10-15 years old laptop, I don't think this surprises anyone here (in fact its why most people these days use phones instead of PCs to do most of their internet browsing).

jamespo 3y ago
I guess your superfast laptop wasn't very good at rendering the webpage of the article
- ido 3y ago
  Are we not allowed to use the article as a springboard for conversation? Am I obligated to only restrict myself to what the author wanted to talk about without expanding the realm of discussion with the people on HN?
  - dejobaan 3y ago
    I feel that, for instance, game developers would fall into this category.
  - kelnos 3y ago
    I just don't think it's that interesting to take an article that says "I and other people with similar needs to me can do X", and reply, "well I have different needs and can't do X". Well... duh? There isn't really much conversation to spring into. Many people who buy new laptops every few years really don't need to do that. Some who buy new laptops every few years actually do see a benefit to doing so. The latter group isn't really all that interesting to talk about, at least not in the context of the article. The former group is, because making old laptops more useful for those types of people could have a huge positive environmental impact.
  - layer8 3y ago
    Yes, but you should start by explaining that you are switching the context, to make it clear that you're aware of it. The author took care to explain that his stance applies to office applications and may not apply to other use cases, even specifically mentioning audio-visual work.

barbariangrunge 3y ago

I’m an author, sometimes. My 2015 MacBook Air has slowed down so much, due to software bloat, it’s painful to use. You need to constantly buy new hardware to run peoples literally exponentially less efficient software

SCdF 3y ago
Yes! It's frustrating. I have a perfectly good 2015 MBP 13" that runs as fast as the day I bought it but is now unusable for much of the web, especially video or high Javascript situations. To use YouTube without it being a jetengine you need to force YouTube to return you mp4s instead of vp8 or whatever they use now. Twitch is just unusable is chat moves slightly faster than not at all. Everything in general is a frustrating sluggish mess. My phone is going the same way as well, becoming less and less usable. But it's not the laptop or phone that's changed, it's the rising tide of tech enthusiasts constantly buying new computers, having their performance QC be "feels OK to me", and that raising everyone's minimum spec.
- fragmede 3y ago
  The worst offender imo is VScode. it won't run smoothly on my 2010 era Thinkpad. yeah it's old, but we're talking about a text editor here. without any plugins it should still be able to do at least that much smoothly. I don't need AAA games to run on it, but text editing!
  - SCdF 3y ago
    Yes, jesus. I am forced to use VSCode because some disability plugin[1] I use only (for now!) exists for it, but having to switch to it over SublimeText + Vim was annoying. If you don't need to use it definitely try either of those options [1] https://github.com/cursorless-dev/cursorless https://github.com/cursorless-dev/cursorless
    - fragmede 3y ago
      I want an ·easy· button for vim. I want to upgrade to a new version, be given new decoration and a new colorscheme to be angry over. but then I want it to have all the modern features. LLM code-complete that i can choose to pay a monthly SaaS for, a bevy of plugins like one to help me program my esp32 for my little iot project, super special handling for language-of-the-month. but I also don't.

nicbou 3y ago

I use my laptop (Macbook 12") to write too. It's fantastic for that... until you start playing YouTube Music in the background or try to use Google Maps. It's getting to a point where the delays on many tasks become noticeable and affect my workflow. That's unfortunate because I love that little laptop.