|
Nocheez posted:Anyone else laughing at the "minimalist" who wants to buy one of the most expensive lines of laptops available? Well, you can own many crappy items, or a few excellent items. I guess you can see minimalism in terms of number of items or the nature of those items, I don't know. As it stands right now, without the laptop, I think my lifestyle is becoming pretty minimal. I remember in 2006 having this same conversation with someone. I had gone through half a dozen $60-$120 MP3 players in a few years at that point, and I wanted to try the one that all the critics loved and people were really passionate about, so I bought the 80gb iPod. And for seven years that thing has been rock solid and absolutely perfect. I still use it every day. The same thing happened with my iPhone. I am a... vigorous user of personal electronics and have destroyed many mobile phones, but my iPhones never broke or had any issues and they were always absolutely excellent.
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 02:42 |
|
|
tuyop posted:Ok that laptop is just hideous. quote:So, since I can't move my desktop I have to go 10k to the library rather than 3k to the coffee shop if I want to do anything on the internet outside of work hours.. *I'm talking "several years old" used, not "exactly one gen old as of the new gen being announced" used.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:11
|
|
|
I've been working full time on my laptop since 2008, and it's the slightly-more-expensive-than-cheapest Dell model. And was and am in a much better position than you, financially. You can't afford a macbook. You CAN afford a refurbished PC or maybe a really old used Macbook.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:19
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Well, you can own many crappy items, or a few excellent items. We have a laptop thread that can help you choose a laptop, and there are things like the Thinkpad X230 that can be found as low as $650 for a Core i5 ultraportable under 3 lbs weight. You don't even have to get a Thinkpad, I just believe that they are excellent computers that stand up to severe wear and tear well. Yes, they all look like that. You may well have a need for a laptop, and even an extremely portable laptop with the hardware specs to last 5 years, but it's not 2008 anymore and you can have that for under $800 easily. Edit: I don't mean to say "go for it and get an $800 laptop", I think you should look at your budget and decide if you can afford a nice midrange laptop or need to settle for a used netbook or tupperware Dell, which would still last the 4 years you need it to. Twerk from Home fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Jun 6, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:22
|
|
|
Weinertron posted:We have a laptop thread that can help you choose a laptop, and there are things like the Thinkpad X230 that can be found as low as $650 for a Core i5 ultraportable under 3 lbs weight. And if it helps the non-consumerist, don't-use-disposable-poo poo in you, those things are basically unkillable. We've had a few at work for the past six months and those things are built though. Also, cheaper than a drat MacBook Air, which is a goddamn luxury item no matter how you cut it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:25
|
|
|
Tuyop, What do you think of this laptop?
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:38
|
|
|
My prediction: "But it's not made by apple. What will all the boys and girls at recess think when I don't have a Macbook." -Tuyop
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:45
|
|
|
/\/\ Well, that too. I am going back to university in the fall, guys. This is an important consideration. Actually that's why I want ultraportable, I'd like it to be as bicycle-portable as possible. It sounds like a good deal, but it has to function fully with intermittent connectivity. I can take this over to the laptop thread, though. I'll also see about May's update after I do some budgeting tonight and maybe get some screens from the library. tuyop fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Jun 6, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:46
|
|
|
Amazon posted:This item cannot be shipped to the selected address They won't ship it to Canada. Not that this should stop tuyop from buying a cheap laptop, it just won't be that one from that seller.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:53
|
|
|
tuyop posted:/\/\ Well, that too. I am going back to university in the fall, guys. This is an important consideration. I can't wait until the inevitable "my bicycle fell apart again while I was riding it home and I fell off and shattered the laptop in my backpack" story.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 20:57
|
|
|
tuyop posted:I am a... vigorous user of personal electronics and have destroyed many mobile phones, but my iPhones never broke or had any issues and they were always absolutely excellent. If you treat your electronics harshly I really don't recommend the Air. It's also a horrible idea for you financially, but everyone's pointed that out already. I've owned three mac laptops in the past 8 years for grad school and now work. The MacBook lasted 5 years, my current Pro is on year 2 and looks new, but the Air only lasted 1 year. I'm not hard on my electronics; I do bike commute but I had no accidents. The LCD cracked twice because the screen made contact with the case on the keyboard side. I dont' know if the current model still has tapered edges, but those things bend like paper; I had a bent corner after transporting it in a laptop backpack throughout a day of teaching. Also, the computing power is so crappy relative to my Pro that if I needed that level of portability again I'd just buy a tablet and keyboard. I know some people swear by their bulletproof Airs but that wasn't my experience. Of course yours will probably just wind up in a lake or disintegrate somehow in the middle of a lecture, so what good are product recommendations?
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 21:34
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Actually that's why I want ultraportable, I'd like it to be as bicycle-portable as possible.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 21:52
|
|
|
IllegallySober posted:I can't wait until the inevitable "my bicycle fell apart again while I was riding it home and I fell off and shattered the laptop in my backpack" story. It's nowhere near going to be that simple. It'll be something like "I was riding along, minding my own business when the ground beneath me opened up and swallowed the front wheel of my bicycle. I have a concussion and my laptop is in fifty pieces. My final is due tomorrow and I didn't back it up." We'll get a picture of his hospital bracelet and a sinkhole that looks like goatse right in the middle of the road. Then he'll buy a brand new apple laptop for $4500 (somehow). Because that's just how his luck runs. Tuyop, buy an HP. I wanna see what happens.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 23:20
|
|
|
SA Mart often has used laptops for sale. I bought a $200 HP 3 years ago, and it still works great. 8 hour battery life, quite light, and does everything I need (and I'm a software developer). It is ugly, but I'm not willing to pay $1000 for pretty. Secondly, the point you're making about minimalism = buying premium stuff makes SOME sense. It is better to buy good stuff that lasts for 5 years than crappy stuff that lasts for 1. The thing is, Apple isn't the only company who makes good laptops. If you look for something from a business line (not a consumer class) from a reputable place, especially used, you can get a great computer for much less money. It just might be ugly.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 23:55
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Yeah I would wait until the new models come out if I go that route. Even if I get like an HP, they're going to update their lines soon as well. Better processors and battery life all over the place. I can think of a few good reasons why I should own a nuclear submarine. That does not in any way mean that I need one. Apple is a luxury brand, and even among apple computers, the Air is a luxury computer. You can't afford luxuries. tuyop posted:Well, you can own many crappy items, or a few excellent items. This is a fallacy of the missing middle, something you do loving constantly in this thread and which I have called you out for before in the past. You have more than two options. You are ignoring the middle here. You could own a reasonable amount of reasonably good items! When people tell you that you can't afford luxuries that does not mean they are telling you you must live in a cave or that you can't own a computer. They are telling you only exactly what they're actually saying: you can't afford luxuries. quote:I guess you can see minimalism in terms of number of items or the nature of those items, I don't know. As it stands right now, without the laptop, I think my lifestyle is becoming pretty minimal. Minimalism isn't (or shouldn't be) a goal in and of itself: that's meaningless. Rather, minimalism should be a means to some other end. That other end can be things like financial prudence, an ethical lifestyle that avoids waste, psychological health, whatever. In what way does having a Macbook Air, instead of (say) a small but reasonable quality laptop from a non-luxury brand, achieve any of these goals? It's not financially prudent, they're not ethically made, having one computer instead of a different computer is not really going to make you more mentally serene. It's just luxury gear for the gear-whore in you. quote:I remember in 2006 having this same conversation with someone. I had gone through half a dozen $60-$120 MP3 players in a few years at that point, and I wanted to try the one that all the critics loved and people were really passionate about, so I bought the 80gb iPod. And for seven years that thing has been rock solid and absolutely perfect. I still use it every day. Hey cool anecdote there man, it's a good thing you are able to set aside the irrationality of anecdotal evidence, right? Because as a reasonable person you of course recognize that even if the 80gb iPod had far better durability and longevity than other competing MP3 players of its generation (and it didn't), that would say very little about the durability or longevity of a MacBook Air, which shares essentially no components in common with your old iPod, and is not used in the same way either? quote:The same thing happened with my iPhone. I am a... vigorous user of personal electronics and have destroyed many mobile phones, but my iPhones never broke or had any issues and they were always absolutely excellent. Hey guess what if you constantly break poo poo maybe you should buy less expensive poo poo so when your poo poo gets broken you will have destroyed less of your personal wealth? Because I assure you that your MacBook Air will definitely be busted if you drop it onto the concrete, fall off your bike onto your backpack, step on it in the middle of the night, close your car door on it, or whatever goddamn thing you're going to do.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 00:01
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Fair warning, guys. I'm buying a laptop soon. Ok, so you need a laptop. How much research have you done into the topic? It seems like you're stuck on the Mac and are just being stubborn when people have now opened your eyes to some problems with the Mac and some cheaper options that may serve your needs just as well. Why don't you answer the following questions: What are you looking for in a laptop? List things you feel you NEED and then things you feel you WANT in a latop. What is the timeframe for when you're buying the laptop? You say soon, but when are you realistically going to buy the computer? As soon as new models are released? Right before you start school? NOW? What is your ideal price range for a computer that you feel you can afford when taking into account time frame, debt, savings goals etc.? What is the price of the computer you've picked out? Look at time frame and price, now how are you going to modify your current budget to save up for the computer? What categories of spending will you decrease to make room for your new purchase so that you can afford it by the time you need it? Show us where you're subtracting. If you can come up with the money by decreasing categories like entertainment rather than increasing debt/decreasing debt payments substantially, then I'd say you can afford whatever. Whether or not it's a wise choice to get such an expensive computer isn't really for me to say. I would suggest doing more research and having the laptop thread guide you based on what you want and what your ideal, realistically affordable price range is.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 00:05
|
|
|
As someone that's destroyed or had stolen well over $15,000 worth of Apple laptops before I finally learned my loving lesson, don't buy something expensive if you do things such as: 1) Take it in a backpack on a bike 2) Take it in a backpack on a train 3) Take it in a backpack on a bus 4) Take it in a backpack to school 5) Take it in a backpack to Starbucks 6) Take it in a backpack to a concert These are all actual events that resulted in having less Apple hardware for me to use. Also, since you're going to buy this anyway, find out if in Canada you can get a personal property rider that covers you when you drop it, sit on it, kick it, dunk it in a lake, lose it, get it stolen, use it to stop a bullet, or use it to cause severe bodily injury to yourself. In the US, this cost me about $100 a year to cover such things, with a $200 deductible. Which made $15,000 worth of hardware end up costing me more like $3500, but jesus christ so much money.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 00:45
|
|
|
Macbook Airs are great but I thought you were relatively poor or something? You can get a laptop with comparable specs in terms of raw performance (except for SSD) but with a crappier physical design for like half the cost.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 01:38
|
|
|
Cicero posted:Macbook Airs are great but I thought you were relatively poor or something? He makes more than the average salary for Canada and has a cushy job but makes terrible decisions because he doesn't learn.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 02:36
|
|
|
Baloogan posted:He makes more than the average salary for Canada and has a cushy job but makes terrible decisions because he doesn't learn. edit: According to his last graph he is indeed over $30,000 in debt. You don't get to buy fancy computers when you have that much debt, that's stupid. I thought you read MMM, tuyop? YOUR HAIR IS ON FIRE Cicero fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Jun 7, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 05:00
|
|
|
/\/\ Yes, but I've dialed back the debt repayment because my job is also on fire and I don't know how I'll be living in 4-12 weeks at any given time.HooKars posted:Ok, so you need a laptop. How much research have you done into the topic? It seems like you're stuck on the Mac and are just being stubborn when people have now opened your eyes to some problems with the Mac and some cheaper options that may serve your needs just as well. The whole point is really moot because I don't actually NEED a laptop. It's solidly a wanted item because I won't be using it to make money and all of its functions can be had in other ways if I just settle for less convenience. It'd be really great to have in September for schoolwork, but still not NEEDed. As for your questions: When: After June 15th, before September 15th. Price Range: $500-$1000? Price How: I just went over the budget last night and the cost we can afford is $0. Potentially the wedding savings could go to the laptop once we pay for the photographer and food because we both have plane tickets and the dress is done. But I may have tuition to pay and unemployment to think about. The budget has lots of discretionary room that can be carved, though. We can bring the car expense down to a possible 600 from 1000 (200 insurance, 375 payment, some gas), for instance. There's also the 875/month extra that toeshoes is making in Edmonton since we're only paying one rent, which I'm assuming is just going to get eaten up by nonspecific lifestyle inflation because we have to maintain two "households" now. It needs to be accounted for somehow once she gets settled, though. I guess I've concluded that a laptop is a bit of a messed up priority to have right now. Carry on, guys.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 14:28
|
|
|
tuyop posted:I guess I've concluded that a laptop is a bit of a messed up priority to have right now. Carry on, guys. Yay! We're not saying you shouldn't save for an obtain a reasonable laptop, just that you shouldn't run out and buy a luxury laptop. Your situation is better than it was, but you've still got some work to do, and these kinds of realizations are great to see.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 14:53
|
|
|
Mint doesn't seem to be pulling info from one of our accounts because the card number changed and we didn't fix it for a couple of weeks. Now it's just missing that couple of weeks of transactions instead of refreshing with all of them. What's the easiest way to fix this? Just enter them all manually? It's only like a dozen transactions.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 16:19
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Mint doesn't seem to be pulling info from one of our accounts because the card number changed and we didn't fix it for a couple of weeks. Manually entering them is probably the only way. Depending on how long you've had the account, you could delete it than re-add it. That might force it to re-pull all of the old transactions, including for the missing period. This won't work if you've had the account for a while, and you'll lose any re-categorizations/splits/whatever you've done, so I wouldn't recommend it. The only hiccup I could see with entering them manually is if Mint suddenly decides to pull those missing transactions, and you end up with duplicates. So just be on the lookup for that.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 19:06
|
|
|
Ugh you guys see the work I put in for these pretty graphs and charts?
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 19:16
|
|
|
Yeah you're going to need that MacBook to redo it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 21:34
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Ugh you guys see the work I put in for these pretty graphs and charts? Will you continue graphing things while you're living in your tent?
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 21:37
|
|
|
cstine posted:Will you continue graphing things while you're living in your tent? Yes but they'll be done with pen and paper, photographed with his iPhone and posted via Instagram.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 21:39
|
|
|
Shooting Blanks posted:Yes but they'll be done with pen and paper, photographed Minimalize, yo.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2013 21:51
|
|
|
Tuyop, you need to pay particular attention to the following two points: 1. Your financial straits are moreso the result of your attitudes than your situation. 2. Right now you are like a goldfish: no matter your financial situation, with your current outlook you will always grow to the size of your tank. You need to fundamentally change your relationship with your finances. Your priorities have been less than focused to say the least, but it's your spending habits that will always bring you down. You're not making below the poverty line, in fact your income is quite good. Your outgoing is what's killing you, but as evidenced by the latest manic purchasing impulse, you've not got a handle on it. At the end of the day it's not going to matter how much you're tracking your budget, nor what you're going to be able to earn through employment; unless you start looking at your needs and wants and working out which is which, you'll never be financially solvent. You could go broke on a million-dollar income, because you're Tuyop. You need to work out what a *serviceable* product is before you make any purchases. No, you don't go for cheapo products, but there's no such thing as future-proofing, and the return on extra investment threshold for the products you buy is way, WAY different to where you currently perceive it. You should also think about the fact that you consider living in your car with a chronic, career-ending back injury to be somehow reconcilable with simultaneously buying an expensive ultrathin laptop, and get better therapy, because 
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2013 13:09
|
|
|
I am so lost on the convoluted ins and outs of your current and future budget. Are you moving to Edmonton? If yes, why are you not going to live with your wife? If not, why did you give up your apartment? What is the actual status of your discharge from the military, and what benefits are you going to be able to expect? What will you do if your discharge does not come through before classes start in the fall?
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2013 23:37
|
|
|
Breetai posted:Tuyop, you need to pay particular attention to the following two points: What are you talking about? Please post an example of a large item that I've purchased in the past year that is not a used bicycle. Actually, two years. Is this referring to the Ikea stuff that we bought in the fall? Evaluating future purchases is why this thread is here, and your post has been repeated many times regarding things that I haven't actually bought. You know that I haven't actually purchased a Macbook Air, right? Never you mind posted:I am so lost on the convoluted ins and outs of your current and future budget. Are you moving to Edmonton? If yes, why are you not going to live with your wife? If not, why did you give up your apartment? What is the actual status of your discharge from the military, and what benefits are you going to be able to expect? What will you do if your discharge does not come through before classes start in the fall? Are you moving to Edmonton? Not yet. Nobody knows when, but it could be next week, or never. I could also hear next week, today, or tomorrow, or in two months, that I'm going to Gagetown or staying here. Why did you give up your apartment? We can't afford 1635/month in rent as a family while meeting our debt repayment and savings goals. Normally there are benefits for people in our situation, but there’s a technicality that says that we don’t qualify. Working on this but it's pretty cut and dry. What is the actual status of your discharge from the military? I'm waiting for a release message from the administrative side of the medical release process. This could take up to eight weeks. What benefits are you able to expect?
What will you do if your discharge doesn’t come through? If I don’t get my message by July 5th, I’m going to reevaluate and put in a voluntary release and apply for the same benefits as above from Veteran’s Affairs. We’re at a weird point of no return right now, though, where a voluntary release may actually take longer than waiting for the current message. Nobody knows for sure, though.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2013 14:04
|
|
|
On April 25th, 2012 tuyop posted:I also don't know how long I have to wait. I've seen people get released in three weeks and we have one guy who's been waiting 14 months. It's a mysterious process. How is it that these incomprehensible, Kafkaesque mystery processes always seems to end up in you being the 14 month guy (and counting)?
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2013 14:44
|
|
|
bam thwok posted:How is it that these incomprehensible, Kafkaesque mystery processes always seems to end up in you being the 14 month guy (and counting)? Just lucky, I guess. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2013 14:46
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Just lucky, I guess. You're way too fatalistic, man. Maybe I'm ignorant and in denial of just how extreme the boot-on-neck-random-acts-of-existential-grief-bureaucracy is for things like this, but I have to imagine that the people who get things in writing, make 10 calls a day, secretly record phone calls, and altogether make a lot of productive noise are the three-monthers, while the  folks are the ones who end up with their dicks in their hands riding a desk to intermittent homelessness.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2013 19:51
|
|
|
bam thwok posted:You're way too fatalistic, man. You're missing the part where I spend all day talking to these people and spent all last year administering them. There's nothing that the "lucky" ones do that I haven't done and I'm in a pretty much ideal position to administer my case. There are no mysteries here except for what happens in the opaque organizations like Director Medical Policy and Director Military Careers and Administration that can take such a huge range of time. Since at least February of last year I've written at least fifteen memos (I have them on my personal drive) and countless emails, with all the required references that specify that whatever request I'm making must be followed. Each time, the answer has been no for at least one of the following reasons: 1. My supervisor doesn't interpret that policy that way, and his boss sides with him. 2. I'm untrained so that policy doesn't apply to me because. 3. I'm on category so that policy doesn't apply to me because. 4. I'm not on the right category so that policy doesn't apply to me. 5. "Computer says no" - the clerk believes that a contradictory policy takes priority over the one I referenced in this case because of 1-4. Their supervisor sides with them. (going to Edmonton to live with my wife is a solid case of 1 at this point, the issue is very cut and dry but nobody wants to pay for it) In each of these cases it's possible to go outside of the chain of command to "redress the grievance". However, for most of my requests, which range from "let me take french training please" to "let me go live with my loving wife please", the issue wasn't worth burning up all of my good will to press. This current issue is actually going very well and people are amazed at how much I'm getting done because I'm willing to burn all of my bridges and contact all the members of parliament, newspapers, padres or whatever that I need. Beyond two things (make friends with people who have friends in the relevant office, and call the ombudsman), there's nothing you can do to get into the black box organization that has my file now and pull out anything but the most vague timelines. I've done everything that I can do and it's helped a lot to this point.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2013 20:21
|
|
|
If I were you I'd probably be at the point where they can give me my red stapler or I'm burning the whole loving place down.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2013 21:31
|
|
|
bam thwok posted:secretly record phone calls I'd just like to point out that this is a terrible idea, and it could land tuyop in all sorts of trouble with the CF, Jesus Christ almighty.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2013 23:02
|
|
|
FrozenVent posted:I'd just like to point out that this is a terrible idea, and it could land tuyop in all sorts of trouble with the CF, Jesus Christ almighty. As with all things said on the internet, my advice is flawless and legally beyond reproach. That said, I'm not a lawyer, but in the US for the most part but the rule tends to be "one party consent" to permissibly record conversations. Meaning as long as one person involved with the conversation or phone call agrees, it's fine, and that one person can be yourself. Canadian military law might be different. Also, obviously, don't blackmail anybody. bam thwok fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Jun 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2013 15:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 02:42 |
|
|
bam thwok posted:but in the US As you have clearly noticed tuyop isn't in the US, which means your in depth knowledge of US law is not actually relevant here.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2013 15:41
|
|
