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I don't think it's unreasonable to release new hardware every year. Apple is iterating on CPUs on an annual basis, and the new CPUs make for a better phone. It

by toast0 2y ago

I don't think it's unreasonable to release new hardware every year. Apple is iterating on CPUs on an annual basis, and the new CPUs make for a better phone. It probably doesn't often make sense for a user to upgrade a single step (anymore), but if you're buying, the newer one has a better cpu, so it's worth considering. That'a separate from software churn though. Desktop OSes tend to support hardware for much longer than mobile OSes. Apple does better than Android here, but they both should do better. My perception is that most android apps support much older versions of Android than iOS apps support of iOS, but I don't know how that ends up looking for age of device supported.

lloeki 2y ago
> That'a separate from software churn though. I'd say that is correct. In a sense it's like part availability for cars or washing machines, and is similarly quite an outrageous situation too: around here law mandates 10y of parts availability; trouble is, reliability has progressively improved to the point that this becomes ludicrously insufficient. An example: I bought a car five years ago, it's well tended and shows no sign of being anywhere close to the scrape yard five years from now, yet parts will become hard to come by; case in point my other car is turning 16 (sixteen!) and barring the need for a full body paint job because the varnish is gradually peeling away (which is kinda expected), is equally in such good order as to most probably be in similar condition for another 10-15 years with proper maintenance; but will I be able to? Parts are getting rarer as they've been in a stock-remainder only basis for five years. Another example: my washing machine had a part fail at the 7 year mark. Fine, parts are supposed to be available, so just repair? Well, the part moved out of production to stock-basis because they evaluated statistically that they have enough stock to cover the 10y mark. Problem: the stock is a sort of archival with glacial operation speeds, the time quoted for part shipping was shy of 6 months, and I couldn't find a replacement. So I bought a new machine out of sheer necessity. 10y is way too short for parts. Software, notably OS and its compatibility primitives for third party software, should be counted as parts. 7y for software is better than before but still way too short. > Desktop OSes tend to support hardware for much longer than mobile OSes. I feel like this is increasingly less true, at least to the point that the difference becomes immaterial to the problem.
- toast0 2y ago
  Windows 11 needs an SSE4.2, which limits to Intel Nehalem and newer (2008+), although I don't know what revision Atoms are needed, and AMD Bulldozer and newer (2011+). You'll most likely need to bypass the cpu model check, and the tpm check for an older machine, but otherwise should work. Windows 10 support's more hardware, of course. I forget where Linux cuts off now, I think it's somewhere between a 486 and a Pentium Pro/II. Although I'd expect you do need a 64-bit CPU to run modern software.
mrweasel 2y ago
> I don't think it's unreasonable to release new hardware every year. It wasn't ten years ago, but now they seem to be struggling to give you an actual reason for the new models to exist. The argument that not everyone upgrades at the same pace is not unreasonable, but still, it makes absolutely no difference if you get the iPhone 13, 14, 15 or 16. The number of people who needs the 16 for something in particular is so small that it wouldn't be a market in it's own right.
bmicraft 2y ago
> Apple does better than Android here Google is supporting their current models until at least Q2 2031.

by toast0 2y ago

lloeki 2y ago

> That'a separate from software churn though. I'd say that is correct. In a sense it's like part availability for cars or washing machines, and is similarly quite an outrageous situation too: around here law mandates 10y of parts availability; trouble is, reliability has progressively improved to the point that this becomes ludicrously insufficient. An example: I bought a car five years ago, it's well tended and shows no sign of being anywhere close to the scrape yard five years from now, yet parts will become hard to come by; case in point my other car is turning 16 (sixteen!) and barring the need for a full body paint job because the varnish is gradually peeling away (which is kinda expected), is equally in such good order as to most probably be in similar condition for another 10-15 years with proper maintenance; but will I be able to? Parts are getting rarer as they've been in a stock-remainder only basis for five years. Another example: my washing machine had a part fail at the 7 year mark. Fine, parts are supposed to be available, so just repair? Well, the part moved out of production to stock-basis because they evaluated statistically that they have enough stock to cover the 10y mark. Problem: the stock is a sort of archival with glacial operation speeds, the time quoted for part shipping was shy of 6 months, and I couldn't find a replacement. So I bought a new machine out of sheer necessity. 10y is way too short for parts. Software, notably OS and its compatibility primitives for third party software, should be counted as parts. 7y for software is better than before but still way too short. > Desktop OSes tend to support hardware for much longer than mobile OSes. I feel like this is increasingly less true, at least to the point that the difference becomes immaterial to the problem.

toast0 2y ago
Windows 11 needs an SSE4.2, which limits to Intel Nehalem and newer (2008+), although I don't know what revision Atoms are needed, and AMD Bulldozer and newer (2011+). You'll most likely need to bypass the cpu model check, and the tpm check for an older machine, but otherwise should work. Windows 10 support's more hardware, of course. I forget where Linux cuts off now, I think it's somewhere between a 486 and a Pentium Pro/II. Although I'd expect you do need a 64-bit CPU to run modern software.

mrweasel 2y ago

> I don't think it's unreasonable to release new hardware every year. It wasn't ten years ago, but now they seem to be struggling to give you an actual reason for the new models to exist. The argument that not everyone upgrades at the same pace is not unreasonable, but still, it makes absolutely no difference if you get the iPhone 13, 14, 15 or 16. The number of people who needs the 16 for something in particular is so small that it wouldn't be a market in it's own right.

bmicraft 2y ago

> Apple does better than Android here Google is supporting their current models until at least Q2 2031.