3 ms·

It seems a good portion of the HN crowd is obsessed with spending more money than necessary. I totally get the "Put money into things that matter" idea, but ove

by RegEx 14y ago

It seems a good portion of the HN crowd is obsessed with spending more money than necessary. I totally get the "Put money into things that matter" idea, but overpaying for outdated specs is not some honorable trait.

sliverstorm 14y ago
A key counterpoint to the "put money into things that matter" idea is "but don't put unreasonable amounts of money into those things". In other words, it doesn't rationalize spending $10,000 on a laptop if the $1,000 model is 99% as good.
- robryan 14y ago
  I think it depends, obviously if it really were 99% as good it is a no brainer, a $4000 laptop that you value say 30% more could well be worth it. If you are bringing in 100k+ a year mostly using your laptop the $4000 figure is really quite insignificant in the long run.
shinratdr 14y ago
Because a computer is nothing more than a list of specs right? It's the same quality logic behind "My number is bigger than his, so therefore my computer is better."
- RegEx 14y ago
  > Because a computer is nothing more than a list of specs right? What else would it be? If my computer is faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time, how could it be worse?
  - AllenKids 14y ago
    Oh. There are a thousand ways it could be worse.
    - RegEx 14y ago
      Could you share some? I use a MBP at work, and if I'm not "doing it right", I'd like to know how I can get the most out of my machine.
      - ricardobeat 14y ago
        It's all about getting the most of your time using the machine, unless you're doing CPU-intensive work (and why wouldn't you offload that to a server farm?). Convenience, reliability, usability, efficiency, etc. After obsessing over pc parts since childhood, these days I don't give a shit about specs and am happier for it - unless I'm trying to play Counter-strike, even then I only wish I could use my PS3 and forget about it :)
        RegEx 14y ago
        My work MBP is fast enough for what I do. I don't need 16gig 2133 DDR3, or an i7. My problem, though, is that you're paying PC i7 level price for an i3/5, for example.
        shinratdr 14y ago
        That's like saying by buying a Smart Car you're paying V6 price for a four cylinder engine. In other words, you couldn't be missing the point more.
        RegEx 14y ago
        I guess I just view things from a different perspective, not having the disposable income of the average HNer (where 2200 is a "rounding error", as seen in this thread)
  - slantyyz 14y ago
    >> If my computer is faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time, how could it be worse? Different people value different things. Myself, I care less about specs than I do about weight, display quality and build quality -- I'll pay extra for those things too. Other people might prioritize storage speed, and spend a fortune on the biggest possible SSD, even though the cost per GB might not be worth it to most other people. If you are happy with a faster, cheaper computer, more power to you, because you're happy, and really, that's all that matters.
  - shinratdr 14y ago
    > If my computer is faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time, how could it be worse? Seriously? Let's just take the most obvious example then. One is a laptop, one is a desktop. There. One is "faster, cheaper and lets you accomplish the same things in the same amount of time" but one requires you to be tethered to a wall and the other doesn't. If that example is too much of an extreme for you, how about a desktop replacement laptop? I can get a 11-pound beast that is "faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time" than my MacBook Air. Good luck opening it and using it anywhere other than a full desk though. A computer is not just a spec sheet, much like a car is not a spec sheet. If you don't value the differences that putting more into a car or computer brings, that's fine. However it makes you look pretty out of touch if you can't even see what others value in it.
  - robryan 14y ago
    Build quality is generally not considered in terms of specs, it is hard to quantify. Also if we are talking Macs there is a lot around interoperability and software.
  - snowwrestler 14y ago
    It's hard to put numbers on things like the trackpad on the Apple laptops, which are very large, accurate, have a great, durable, low-friction surface, a ton of useful gestures, and excellent heuristics to ignore palm brushes etc.

by RegEx 14y ago

sliverstorm 14y ago

A key counterpoint to the "put money into things that matter" idea is "but don't put unreasonable amounts of money into those things". In other words, it doesn't rationalize spending $10,000 on a laptop if the $1,000 model is 99% as good.

robryan 14y ago
I think it depends, obviously if it really were 99% as good it is a no brainer, a $4000 laptop that you value say 30% more could well be worth it. If you are bringing in 100k+ a year mostly using your laptop the $4000 figure is really quite insignificant in the long run.

shinratdr 14y ago

Because a computer is nothing more than a list of specs right? It's the same quality logic behind "My number is bigger than his, so therefore my computer is better."

RegEx 14y ago
> Because a computer is nothing more than a list of specs right? What else would it be? If my computer is faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time, how could it be worse?
- AllenKids 14y ago
  Oh. There are a thousand ways it could be worse.
  - RegEx 14y ago
    Could you share some? I use a MBP at work, and if I'm not "doing it right", I'd like to know how I can get the most out of my machine.
    - ricardobeat 14y ago
      It's all about getting the most of your time using the machine, unless you're doing CPU-intensive work (and why wouldn't you offload that to a server farm?). Convenience, reliability, usability, efficiency, etc. After obsessing over pc parts since childhood, these days I don't give a shit about specs and am happier for it - unless I'm trying to play Counter-strike, even then I only wish I could use my PS3 and forget about it :)
      - RegEx 14y ago
        My work MBP is fast enough for what I do. I don't need 16gig 2133 DDR3, or an i7. My problem, though, is that you're paying PC i7 level price for an i3/5, for example.
        shinratdr 14y ago
        That's like saying by buying a Smart Car you're paying V6 price for a four cylinder engine. In other words, you couldn't be missing the point more.
        RegEx 14y ago
        I guess I just view things from a different perspective, not having the disposable income of the average HNer (where 2200 is a "rounding error", as seen in this thread)
- slantyyz 14y ago
  >> If my computer is faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time, how could it be worse? Different people value different things. Myself, I care less about specs than I do about weight, display quality and build quality -- I'll pay extra for those things too. Other people might prioritize storage speed, and spend a fortune on the biggest possible SSD, even though the cost per GB might not be worth it to most other people. If you are happy with a faster, cheaper computer, more power to you, because you're happy, and really, that's all that matters.
- shinratdr 14y ago
  > If my computer is faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time, how could it be worse? Seriously? Let's just take the most obvious example then. One is a laptop, one is a desktop. There. One is "faster, cheaper and lets you accomplish the same things in the same amount of time" but one requires you to be tethered to a wall and the other doesn't. If that example is too much of an extreme for you, how about a desktop replacement laptop? I can get a 11-pound beast that is "faster, cheaper, and lets me accomplish the same things in the same amount of time" than my MacBook Air. Good luck opening it and using it anywhere other than a full desk though. A computer is not just a spec sheet, much like a car is not a spec sheet. If you don't value the differences that putting more into a car or computer brings, that's fine. However it makes you look pretty out of touch if you can't even see what others value in it.
- robryan 14y ago
  Build quality is generally not considered in terms of specs, it is hard to quantify. Also if we are talking Macs there is a lot around interoperability and software.
- snowwrestler 14y ago
  It's hard to put numbers on things like the trackpad on the Apple laptops, which are very large, accurate, have a great, durable, low-friction surface, a ton of useful gestures, and excellent heuristics to ignore palm brushes etc.