Am I being a snob?

[Kristev]

My brother's a computer genius, and I am not. So when I got tax refund money a couple of years back, I asked my brother to go with me when I went to buy the computer I have now. He knew what to look for and knew what to ask. He told me that Wal-Mart computers are generally absolute junk that break in a year. Instead, he took me to Best Buy and we spent over an hour reviewing computers. Though, to be fair, I did consult with a store tech as well to make certain. He and my brother agreed on one particular computer, so I bought it. I've been 90 % happy with it.

But I had the sense to bring someone with me who knew a lot about computers. Now if my brother only knew anything about respect.

[mikoyan29]

Sounds like my ex-brother-in-law's twin brother telling me he knew everything there was to know about computers. His example was what to do about deleting something by accident - just remove it from the trash bin.
Me: What about in Unix?
Him: Every computer has a trash bin.
Me: DOS?
Him: EVERY computer has a trash bin.
Me: HP9000's don't. (That was the platform we used at work at the time.)
Him: EVERY COMPUTER HAS A TRASH BIN!
Me: Only GUI's have a trash bin, and only for things from the local drive. Networked files don't go into the trash bin.
Him: EVERY COMPUTER HAS A TRASH BIN, JUST PULL IT OUT OF THERE WITH THE MOUSE!!!!
Me: <gets up and goes into another room>

(Note: my ex BIL's name is Bob. His twin brother's name is Bobbie. And they are from the hills of Kentucky...)

I'm sure that the Burroughs 7800's that my dad used to work on (and I used to play Star Trek on) in the day didn't have a recycle bin. It may have had a trash bin for the old punch cards though.

[dalesys]

I'm sure that the Burroughs 7800's that my dad used to work on (and I used to play Star Trek on) in the day didn't have a recycle bin. It may have had a trash bin for the old punch cards though.

Wasn't the most important part the bit bucket, to catch the leaks?

[/dev/null]

[underemployeed]

QFT ^_^

My idea of the perfect computer is "whatever board/cpu/card just dropped to 20% of its original price/$120", whichever is lower I have NO problem running hardware that's just a bit behind the curve if it means I can build an entire really nice comp for the price of ONE "SOTA" component.

You bring up an interesting fact that most state of the art components individually cost the same as his "SOTA" computer, that I will laugh when it dies a week after the warranty period. I guess what bothers me is how he pretty much insisted there was not a way to get a better computer, and he never even bothered to look at Best Buy that has a vastly wider selection of desktops/laptops monitors. Along with components to upgrade them.

I actually saw the SOTA box in the garage, should take a look at it to see if it is a quad or dual core.

[Moirae]

lol. I know what you mean. It always surprises me how little people know about computers, especially if its my generation or younger.

[Flying Grype]

Compaq. lol.

GRYPE SMASH

Seriously, uh. Yeah, you can tell when people are buying because they saw an ad, and either didn't want to do further research or didn't realize there was such a thing as further research. I suspect the latter if he thought a $300 Compaq was in any way "state of the art".

If you and I are snobs, then we're all snobs here in Unsupportable, by nature. We're sitting here making fun of them in private but we aren't making fun of them in front of their faces. Whenever I get a chance (e.g. if someone asks "what computer should I buy if I want to do this and this with it?") I steer them away from the FailMart specials and try to help them find something that will actually do stuff. I've never mocked someone's computer in front of them.

Brand snobbery ahead: Acer FTW, baby.

FWIW, since we've got the measuring stick out: I built my own desktop machine for $1600 four years ago. It's still the fastest and best computer I use anywhere, at work or at home. I suspect it was state-of-the-art-ish at the time and now it's just a good old box that mmmmmaaaayyyybeeee needs a new graphics card if I want to play anything more intensive than The Sims 2.

[Taurus52]

A certain snobbery is earned. When someone comes to me for computer advice we start with the tasklist. Then we find a computer to do all being asked of it plus a little room for growth. When you've gone through the trouble to learn enough that others come to you... I think you've earned a little right to be a snob to those who do or say stupid stuff.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

I've got a 300 dollar Wal Mart special because that's all I can afford. But state-of-the-art it is not. I can't even play some flash videogames on it. It has no graphics card, no sound card. It doesn't like a lot of drivers. It works the way I require it to, but it's lousy at showing movies and things. Good thing I'm not that into videogames.

Luckily I've been saving up. I'm already cable-bill free, but I want to be able to see the programs online the way they are intended--I also wouldn't mind seeing YouTube fullscreen! Can't right now. So that's you're state-of-the-art. Maybe I'm snobbish, too.

[earl colby pottinger]

Snob?

Forget about being a snob.

Can you name one product out there that the state-of-the-art sells for $300 or less?

Sunglasses? Phones? Even the lowly hamburger costs more than $300 if you want the best of the best (check out http://www.bornrich.com/ if you don't believe me).

Plus brains means more than CPU power, I have gotten my latest machine from the local dump - yes dump! And I can still do stuff on my 2.1Ghz machine that people with machines with 3+Ghz quad cores can't do. Mainly because I use a light OS, have no virus or bloatware software on my machine and write my own code.

Next month the same guy who was boasting, will be complaining that he can't get a two year old game to run on his system.

[earl colby pottinger]

Found it

http://www.bornrich.com/entry/5000-w...er-experience/

Yes, $5000 for a burger.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

$5000 for a glorified slider?

I believe somebody once said something witty about a fool and his money.

[dalesys]

http://www.bornrich.com/entry/5000-w...er-experience/

Yes, $5000 for a burger.

That burger better come with a stupendous #### of #### and a #### ###.

[Blade_Raver]

Back in '99 I earned my A+ certification. I built a few computers and really enjoyed doing it. Then people would start asking me to build them a desktop computer.

First few times I actually got my hopes up and genuinely wanted to build them a great machine. When they learned that decent parts/software cost on average 1000-1500 dollars, they act like I slapped them in the face or something then tell me that box retailer down the street is selling computers for $300* and he'll go buy that instead because it's the "same thing."

* Usually is a $600 computer but with a $300 rebate when they purchased a 3 year contract of dial-up service with CompuServe, AOL, etc. Let's not forget that there may be proprietary parts in said machine (Power supply connectors, motherboard, RAM types, etc)

I told them "Okay, you go get your cheap computer. You'll get exactly what you pay for. In a year or so, when your apps won't run because of the hardware being severely obsolete, or the OS slows to a halt after too many patches/upgrades running on said obsolete hardware, or the proprietary hardware may fails a week or so after warranty which costs quite a bit to replace, don't come crying to me to fix it."

More often than not.. within a year, they're trying to talk me into building them a machine again only to continue their infinite loop of disappointment.

Nowadays, I tell them "If you want me to build you a machine but don't want to spend more than $1000, don't waste my time."

Oh, by the way. Current computer I'm using now? I built it back in 2009. Parts/OS cost me about $2000. Still works great now and runs all apps that I need!

[emax4]

I haven't sold computers, but trying to explain this to customers and getting them to buy the right one is a hard pill to swallow for them. I'm a MacBoy, but I tell people to let the application determine the platform, which nowadays isn't always true. I think that the budget is more appropriate, but it may not be far off the mark in saying, what others have said here, is that you get what you pay for.

You can explain that the Wal-Mart sold laptop may be ok for the current state of technology, but most laptops can't have a processor upgrade for what comes out in a year or so, but that they should still be able to run next year's software (again, let the application...). At least with desktops, most of the hardware can stay the same but the motherboard or processor can be swapped if the customer needs to have the latest and greatest.

I saw a news article recently where a female salesperson from BB was on the news explaining different laptops for back to school. I could understand from her point of view (salesperson trying to make money) why she was pushing the i5-series over the Core2Duo series, but in my my mind I'm thinking "what educational software is going to utilize all 4 cores in an i5, where the kids are most likely going to be on Facebook anyway?" Then again, from a customer's point of view, you have tech people and sales staff rambling off various three-letter acronyms and jargon, and since most customers don't do their homework, it's easier for them to get suckered in to buying things they'll never need or use and still pay money for.

[Chromatix]

At some point I should see whether it's even possible to build a complete computer for $300 - or more likely €300 - using off-the-shelf parts. I suspect that it is, but only with some major compromises.

Upgrading an existing computer may be somewhat easier. As long as your graphics card will fit and your PSU will provide enough power, you can drop a new m/board, CPU and RAM combination into almost any computer and see a corresponding improvement. This lets you keep the hard drive, case, graphics card, PSU, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, optical drive, printer, scanner, soundcard, modem, etc. that might have been in the old one, saving lots of money.

The graphics card would be the next thing to upgrade, and nearly everything else doesn't need upgrading on such a regular basis.