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If you are going to start making a list of expensive hobbies, $3K for a computer isn't going to be anywhere near the top of the list.
by criddell 1y ago
If you are going to start making a list of expensive hobbies, $3K for a computer isn't going to be anywhere near the top of the list.
- IshKebab 1y agoI think it actually would be quite near the top, in terms of ranking. Most hobbies are a lot cheaper. Of course, not near the top in terms of money because there are a few hobbies that cost vastly more.
- brulard 1y agoWhat do you mean "in terms of ranking" vs "in terms of money"?
- IshKebab 1y agoI mean if you ranked all the hobbies in terms of cost, casually spending $3k on a laptop would be near the top of the list. But there are a small number of hobbies that are vastly more expensive. The distribution is highly skewed. Like wealth. The 99th percentile are near the top in rank (by definition) but nowhere near the top in absolute terms.
- mingus88 1y agoThere’s some nuance to it. Judging by the authors preference for Linux, I’m guessing this hobby has some professional applications as well. $3k is the price of a very nice guitar, but I am not about to casually shell out that money every few years. However, I earn my wage using a computer, so it’s a lot easier to justify staying relatively current on specs.
- leidenfrost 1y agoI interpreted it as: if you include all hobbies and games made by humans in history, I'm pretty sure most of them involve a set of cards made of paper, some others involving wooden figurines (chess, checkers) or even drawing on dirt with a stick. A computer is many, many orders of magnitude more complex and expensive than that. This isn't said with the intention to demonize expensive hobbies if no one is harmed because of it. But I do sometimes wonder if my hobbies are too dependent of a power plug. Even reading, which I do with a e-reader.
- brulard 1y agoI can not think of many hobbies which are less expensive if you are serious about them. Some hobbies around me, where $3000 wouldn't get you far: Motorcycles, cars, cycling, collecting anything, woodworking, machining, music making, traveling, horses,...
- IshKebab 1y agoI can think of dozens. Running, dance, knitting, painting, woodworking (you can go very far for much less than $3k), archery, chess, board games, drawing, painting, brewing, darts, cycling, etc. etc. Obviously you can spend pretty much any amount of money on those if you want (if you are "serious" about it) but you don't have to and most people don't. Also he said this $3k expenditure wasn't for serious work.
- yayitswei 1y agoSome of those, like horses, are 1% hobbies. But many of the others can be done very affordably. Buying used equipment, learning from YouTube and online resources, starting small and scaling gradually make most of those hobbies accessible at a fraction of the cost.
- snoman 1y agoYou could say the same about computing as a hobby. Maybe that’s your point, hard for me to tell. I always compare it as a hobby to golf or hockey- both of which are common where I come from and pretty pricey hobbies.
- prmoustache 1y agoThe cycling industry does a hard work making sure people think they need expensive bicycles but you can perfectly enjoycycling as a hobby without spending a fortune on it. And in contradiction to computers, a bicycle from 40 years ago still does the same job as it did at the time, there is no software making it incompatible and it doesn't feel slower than the more modern stuff. All you need is a set of brake pads, cables, tires, chain and cassette every once in a while. All these consumables are fairly cheap if you aren't chasing the newest/highest end tech and stick to 2x9 / 2x10 speed transmissions.
- snowwrestler 1y agoMedian vs mean, essentially, is how I read it.
- dylan604 1y agoJust off the top of my head in hobbies that I've been in/around that this $3k would be a nothing burger: photography, wood working, grease monkey, cycling, gun collecting, antiquing, recreational substances...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bdangubic 1y agoI actually can’t think of one hobby that costs less than $3k
- azundo 1y agoFor me the only one would be sketching/painting. But I agree with the point in general, most hobbies cost a lot.
- mikepurvis 1y agoA lot of things are cheap to taste — a second hand bike and some $200 running shoes and you’re training for a triathlon. Or a makerspace membership and you’re now sewing or doing 3d printing. It’s once you get “serious” and need to have your own equipment that all these things get real. Or in the case of things like social dance, you want to take time off with and travel further and further away to attend pricey exchanges and camps.
- schrijver 1y agoIt’s perfectly possible to enjoy hobbies deeply without getting “serious” in the way you describe. I’ve taken my 10 euro dance classes for years without feeling the necessity of pricey exchanges and camps. My neighbour goes to the park many evenings to play petanque, doesn’t cost him anything. A couple I’m friends with goes on day hikes where they do bird watching—maybe they bought a nice pair of binoculars once? Another couple likes to lay jigsaw puzzles together, not exactly breaking the bank! My sister is learning Finnish because she never learned a non indo-european language. She bought a book. I would wager most people’s hobbies are low key like this because either they don’t have disposable income to spend on them, or they don’t want too!
- Onavo 1y agoTry general aviation as a hobby. It will be eye opening
- eastbound 1y agoThinking it’s a hobby is an american thing. I’ve never met anyone who do it, but for Kobe Bryant, Harrisson Ford, Tom Cruise it seems normal. Most people save $400 per month tops, that they spend on holidays.
- _yb2s 1y agoIt’s a doable common hobby for middle class Americans. I grew up in a rural area with a dirt airstrip and everyone owned planes- even people that could barely afford a reliable used car. You can sometimes find something like an old Cessna for about $20k, and if you’re willing to do “experimental” planes that you fix yourself, sometimes just a few $k. Like anything, if you’re an insider in the community you can get good deals, sometimes even free from friends that age out, etc. Many universities in rural areas have student clubs that offer lessons and rent club owned planes for cheap.
- prmoustache 1y ago> even people that could barely afford a reliable used car. You can sometimes find something like an old Cessna for about $20k, Not sure what you call a "reliable used car". My low mileage for its age 2006 Mercedes B200 costed me 5.5k€ for instance. A car doesn't have to cost a lot to be reliable. Around me $20k is an expensive price for a car and most people buy second hand +20y old cars they buy for less than 5k€.
- _yb2s 1y agoCultural attitudes about that vary a lot by locale I think. That is not how most American consumers think, at least where I live… people largely consider older cars, especially German ones to be too unreliable to count on and they are (wrongly) believed to be so expensive to maintain that it will cost more than a new car- so they're categorically ruled out. Even people that can barely afford food or housing will often take out a loan for a new or nearly new car under the idea that they won’t get to work consistently otherwise. I am also into older cars and can get a reliable car for a few hundred dollars, but I would never be able to convince anyone else I know that it is an option. So yea, you can get a reliable car for a lot less than a cheap airplane only if you don’t have some irrational bias against older cars.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- criddell 1y ago> Most hobbies are a lot cheaper. Sure, but I did specify expensive hobbies.
- asdff 1y agoThe type of person shelling out 3k for a computer is not running it until the wheels come off.
- brailsafe 1y agoWhat does the purchase price have to do with it? Seems like it would entirely depend on circumstances and constraints, rather than cost, how long someone would run something
- asdff 1y agoTells me they are price insensitive and probably get a new computer every couple of years.
- biinjo 1y agoThat reasoning does not make any sense. I spend $3-4k on a MBP and run it till it fall apart, usually 5-7 years later.
- RossBencina 1y agoI reckon it makes some sense for Apple users. You have to be willing (and financially able) to upgrade when Apple says. Apple forcefully obsoletes their products way too quickly to be a viable option if you care about longevity[0]. I have five excellent-condition still-perfectly-working Apple products next to me, none of which have current operating system support from Apple. [0] EDIT: for reference, my previous ThinkPad lasted me 14 years.
- ekianjo 1y ago> $3K for a computer isn't going to be anywhere near the top of the list. That says a lot about the community you live in.
- tjwebbnorfolk 1y agoThat they've worked hard to be able to afford nice things? What do you think it says, exactly? This is a pretty irritating comment.
- nine_k 1y agoWorked hard, won a lottery, whatever. It mostly says that these are people with tens of thousands to burn on fun stuff, and such people are a rather narrow slice of the population. There's nothing bad about that, it's just a rather niche community, whose opinions may not be very relevant for the large majority of people outside that niche.
- fragmede 1y agoHN is that niche community though. HN is a forum targeting a niche community that skews technical no matter where someone is physically from, and that community skews relatively rich. Concern trolling that there are starving kids in Africa when there are literal billionaires posting here; I mean sure, I'm not saying we shouldn't say something for fear of their feelings. Nor am I saying that everyone here must be rich in order to comment her. Just that some members of the niche community can recognize are inordinately rich. Advertising eg the Volonaut here will likely generate a couple of sales, and if you thought a $3k laptop was a lot, definitely don't look that one up.
- nine_k 1y agoHN is a specific slice, but not along the financial line. For each @pmarca or @pg or other founder who has made many millions, there is likely 10k other users, mostly engineers, but not only, all the way to people who are currently unemployed and homeless. The fact that HN has "everyone", and a uniquely relevant person would almost always show up in every thread, is one of the very attracting properties of HN for me.
- michaelcampbell 1y agoIt's not the absolute expense, it's the delta over what else would have worked just as well.
- BeFlatXIII 1y agoJust wait until they see the price of of a 300/2.8 lens or quantum-tuned rocks to isolate power cables from the floor.