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by LittleTimothy 527 days ago
I was surprised at how little the author mentioned their actual experience using the laptop. Some things haven't changed and that's fine. I'm sure you can do word processing on that machine, but there are areas where you can't control the fact the rest of the world has moved on. How does the average website appear? Can you browse youtube? Can you actually log on to internet banking? Do you have to disable scripting on websites in general? How bad is the screen? What's the wifi speed like?

Also, given that this is the author's work laptop, what's the economic justification for not investing in the primary tool you use for work?
2 comments
karteum 527 days ago
> Also, given that this is the author's work laptop, what's the economic justification for not investing in the primary tool you use for work?

The author explains that there are motivations not related to money (we live on a finite earth, the manufacturing of a laptop encompass a considerable amount of energy and raw materials for mining, etc).

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sangnoir 527 days ago
> Also, given that this is the author's work laptop, what's the economic justification for not investing in the primary tool you use for work?

Shouldn't the burden of proof be on the obverse - Why should one buy a new laptop when an old one will do? Your framing sounds to me like a post-hoc justification for consumerism. Why not "invest" in getting the absolute best in the primary means of transportation, or couch, TV or random product category?

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LittleTimothy 527 days ago
Come on now, even the author is pretty clear they're making compromises. Whether that's slower internet speed, lower quality display, worse battery or inability to run modern apps/web apps. There are a lot of ways in which this is making a trade off to priortize cost vs productivity. Sure, you can say all the ways in which the old laptop is inferior are unimportant, but I would atleast like to see some serious consideration of it.
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sangnoir 526 days ago
I have my doubts you'd take any such arguments seriously, if you are set on the idea that productivity universally requires a 14-hour battery and a 2.5k screen.

I was traveling recently and got a lot done on an 8-year old tablet. I was very productive, I suspect the combination of being offline (no 5G modem), no random notifications, just me, the terminal and a Bluetooth keyboard. The compact size & weight, and not having to worry about losing or having an expensive iLaptop stolen made for a worthwhile trade-off. Any productivity gains would have been marginal at best, and not worth the cost.

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