4 ms·

> "I personally dropped $20k on a high end desktop" This absolutely boggles my mind. Do you mind if I ask what type of computing you do in order to justify thi

by NoSalt 7mo ago

> "I personally dropped $20k on a high end desktop" This absolutely boggles my mind. Do you mind if I ask what type of computing you do in order to justify this purchase to yourself?

distances 7mo ago
I'm thinking the same. My total computing purchases in the last 25 years, including desktops, laptops, monitors, phones, and tablets is way under 20k. I would bet it continues to be more affordable to buy reasonable specs with current consumer hardware, rather than buying a top system once.
- NoSalt 7mo ago
  I haven't purchased a new computer in, at least, 10 years. I take pride (i.e., I have a sickness) in purchasing used laptops off eBay, beefing them up, and loading Debian on them. My two main computers are a Dell E5440 and a Lenovo ThinkPad T420. I, too, am a software developer, but [apparently] not as much of a rock star software developer at this gentleman. :-D
barrkel 7mo ago
Any and all. It's not particularly justifiable. It's more like, I'm a software engineer, and this is my home workshop. I run dozens of services, experiment with a bunch of different LLMs, tune my Postgres instance for good performance on large datasets, run ML data prep pipelines. All sorts really. I'm also into motorcycles. Before I owned a house with a garage, I had to continuously pack my tools up and unpack them the next day. A bigger project meant schlepping parts in and out of the house. I had to keep track of the weather to work on my bikes. Then, when I got a house, I made sure to get one with a garage and power. It transformed my experience. I was able to leave projects in situ until I had time. I had a place to put all my tools. The workstation is a lot like that. The alternative would be renting. But then I'd spend a lot of my time schlepping data back and forth, investing in setting things up and tearing them down. YMMV. I wouldn't dream of trying to universalize my experience.
snypher 7mo ago
~%25 of mean US household income.

by NoSalt 7mo ago

> "I personally dropped $20k on a high end desktop" This absolutely boggles my mind. Do you mind if I ask what type of computing you do in order to justify this purchase to yourself?

distances 7mo ago

I'm thinking the same. My total computing purchases in the last 25 years, including desktops, laptops, monitors, phones, and tablets is way under 20k. I would bet it continues to be more affordable to buy reasonable specs with current consumer hardware, rather than buying a top system once.

NoSalt 7mo ago
I haven't purchased a new computer in, at least, 10 years. I take pride (i.e., I have a sickness) in purchasing used laptops off eBay, beefing them up, and loading Debian on them. My two main computers are a Dell E5440 and a Lenovo ThinkPad T420. I, too, am a software developer, but [apparently] not as much of a rock star software developer at this gentleman. :-D

barrkel 7mo ago

Any and all. It's not particularly justifiable. It's more like, I'm a software engineer, and this is my home workshop. I run dozens of services, experiment with a bunch of different LLMs, tune my Postgres instance for good performance on large datasets, run ML data prep pipelines. All sorts really. I'm also into motorcycles. Before I owned a house with a garage, I had to continuously pack my tools up and unpack them the next day. A bigger project meant schlepping parts in and out of the house. I had to keep track of the weather to work on my bikes. Then, when I got a house, I made sure to get one with a garage and power. It transformed my experience. I was able to leave projects in situ until I had time. I had a place to put all my tools. The workstation is a lot like that. The alternative would be renting. But then I'd spend a lot of my time schlepping data back and forth, investing in setting things up and tearing them down. YMMV. I wouldn't dream of trying to universalize my experience.

snypher 7mo ago

~%25 of mean US household income.