Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Cu3PO42 1380 days ago
Living in Germany I'd definitely still qualify $3k as a lot of money. Median net wage per month comes out to around $2200, so that's almost one and a half months of work for the average person, ignoring all other expenses.

Once you consider inflation since '95, it's probably closer to $6k of today's USD. Of course it's still possible for someone to have that much in savings, but to be able to spend it (or justify spending) on a computer is something else entirely.

Now obviously "a hell of a lot" is a very subjective term. Where would you say it starts?
2 comments
brailsafe 1378 days ago
OP here. I pretty much agree with your assessment here, though coincidentally enough I'm working for a German company and getting paid in CAD in Canada.

I grew up relatively poor, I've come to realize, so I'm relatively frugal by nature. In a bit of a contrast to those parents I mention, I think I'm good at assessing the value I'd get out of something. So while I'm frugal, I'm happy to spend what I think is worthwhile on something. I'm currently working on a ~$3k MBP, and it serves me tremendous value, but I think the demands of the thing would need to dramatically increase, or whatever is announced next would need to be an intense upgrade for me to consider it.

and I am somewhat close, but recently trying to fix my damn beat up gaming pc that I bought off the street has reminded me how good the MBP is, even though it's 2019 and a lower specced model. No blue screens, no driver issues, the luxury of a refined OS, and it's fast. Docker is really pushing the limits of this thing though.

link
implements 1380 days ago
Not OP, but traditionally I had £400 as the expenditure price-point you really didn’t want to make a mistake with. (Oddly enough, because it was a new laptop budget figure a couple of decades ago - and you couldn’t afford to buy a lemon)
link
brailsafe 1378 days ago
OP here. I think that's not too far off, but it depends on the purchase. For a phone it's basically $500 to solve all of my uses for the thing, and not that much of a risk and no debt. If I break the thing in half, it's a $500 hit over the course of about ~3 years instead of over $1000.
link