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The new entry-level PC will be a cloud-based thin client subsidized by collecting every bit of data it can about you directly on a Microslop server where you will have zero user choice.
Yeah, I think one of the reasons the AI bubble hasn't popped yet is because it's being weaponized to remove consumer hardware from the market entirely. These companies want as much processing done on the cloud as possible so that they can control, monitor and mine data from every user.
Don't forget the rentseeking.
I'm this close to just quitting society and becoming Amish or something. Technology is just getting worse and worse. Maybe I could be Amish but instead of being locked in the 1800s I just stay in like 2007 when technology was fun
Technology keeps getting better and better; it is capitalism that keeps getting worse and worse.
Frutiger Amish
We can't even get reliable broadband across the full US yet (Hughesnet still somehow has customers), i don't see consumer-VDI being especially popular any time soon.
They don’t need to stream you a desktop
They just make all their UIs browser based, all the storage cloud based
The own everything, they rent it to you, and you can be cut off if you refuse to be exploited.
Capital’s wet fucking dream
They don't care. It's a cost-benefit analysis.
If 5% of users can't access a VDI because of poor internet connectivity but it means the remaining 95% create an extra 10% of annual profit, they will just tell that 5% to get fucked. Individuals don't matter to them; only aggregates do.
They don't care. They will literally throw people under buses at this point.
You're not allowed to say 'Microslop' it's ILLEGAL!!!
Not now clippy... not now.
I will go back to MB of ram from a new company that wants to fill the gap at any cost and will not be surprised if that happens.
I ain't fuckin doin it
Along with anything else costing less than $500.
Adjusting for inflation, a $10 banana in 2003 would cost about $17.50 today. Probably a lot worse if tariffs are factored in.
Damn that joke becomes less and less funny each year
Before I’d say building your own can be more cost effective, but I can’t even say that now with those RAM and GPU prices.
I hope that they just fail in their half-assed attempts and the prices fall again.
Me too or supply rises to met demand with new companies, which can also lower the price. But I mostly want AI to fail.
Mac mini starts at $499 and has gone on sale for $479.
It’s not really for gaming, but for $500, neither is the Windows box. And the laptop is a lie, even with those bezels.
But let’s be real, you can get a decent PC for way less than $500! It won’t compete with the Mac, but it may yet be better for light gaming.
Light gaming, like Pong, or Breakout. Time to rediscover the classics!
I was restricted to my MacBook Air when I was in hospital, and that has the same specs as a 500USD Mac mini (m4, 16GB RAM). It plays 3D stuff like Valheim at 60FPS! The only issue is the more limited library compared to my Linux and Windows machines.
For £500 you are doing a lot more than pong. I am kinda curious how far back you have to go at different price points to play the majority of games from that era. Pretty sure £500 is still doing a lot of games 10+ years old.
Retro gaming on a Pi comes in at £50 or so, depends on which one you get though as more RAM does cost more. Downside here is ARM might limit your options a bit for some things not quite so old but it probably would otherwise be powerful enough for. Box86 + wine exists but that looks too much like 2010 Linux gaming that I would rather leave in the past. Some open source games could be compiled on it too.
Pi Zero could run a few games too and that is like £15. But your choices are going to be very limited for anything beyond retro gaming. CDDA should compile and technically run, slowly. Got a pinephone which has similar specs and can do it but compiling takes about an hour and I found out the game had loading screens I wasn't even aware of before trying to run it on specs like that.
"You'll never own another computer cheaper than $500"
Chinese tech firms produce high end computers for less than $500
"SANCTION! TARIFF! EMBARGO!"
Only due to basically one reason - oligopolies.
It's not actually the "older hardware" that's responsible for security vulnerabilities, it's Microsoft chosing to end support for Windows 10.
That "older" hardware capable of running Windows 10 is more than capable of running any Linux distro which will keep on getting security updates for a long while (and you can just upgrade it again if that stops as Linux is nowhere as hardware demanding as Windows, especially the latest, Electron + AI, Windows).
For people who just use their PC for Office software, e-mail and browsing - who are the ones getting entry level PCs - hardware has been more than powerfull enough for 2 decades, and it's only Windows bloatware having grown to use the available computing power that has forced people to upgrade the hardware.
Also distros aren't the final step of availability.
There are forks like elks linux runnable with 256Kb RAM.
New low end laptops have always sucked. I hope more people become open to used and refurbished devices. A 3 year old used business machine kicks the shit out of a new similarly priced POS. New low end laptops are born e waste.
Absolutely this! I just lucked out on a secondhand Thinkpad E14 for $400. It’s basically the same as my X1 except I can add more ram if I want. My husband gave me the side eye when I grabbed it but I just said it’s only going to get worse, having a spare laptop is imperative. Which reminds me, I need to get some ram for it while I can…
Holding on to stuff longer isn't necessarily a bad thing as the pc market was in a very wasteful state before all this. Still sucks though they way things have become :(
That's true, but I'm also dreading the day my ram breaks down or I need more storage.
I just had to get a replacement drive for my NAS. Cost about half of what I paid for 3 drives 2 years ago.
It’s probably all to plan, for controlling the masses. Subvert and destroy education. Control media.
Also. Remove unmonitored access to information (phones only, outside of work). Especially those Linux fuckers who build their own, can’t have that spreading.
Access to the information superhighway will be relegated to only those who can afford a yacht. /s
Full circle back to the first days of the internet that only universities and the rich could use. Also high storage prices again when we've had it dirt cheap for decades.
Nothing new.
I see the landlords found their new rent seeking endeavour. Allons-y les gars, lá révolution nous appelle une fois de plus.
Saving for my kids college went out the window.
Saving for my kids computers now
Got myself a GTX 1660 for 460$ 5 months ago and I thought I paid too much for it, but now I'm glad I bought it Edit: GTX 1660 laptop
Does anyone know how difficult it is to swap keyboards on ThinkPads? I wanna get one used but the problem is, most of them don't have US keyboards since I live in Japan.
Do they even still exist?
Sure, but they tend to be low-end mini PCs with older CPUs, very weak iGPUs, a tiny SSD and something along the line of 8 GB RAM.
Here’s an 8-core N305 mini PC w/ 16GB DDR5 and a 512GB SSD for $400.
https://www.amazon.com/i3-N305-Desktop-Computers-Windows-Display/dp/B0DGGGQPH1
Similar build with the N305 swapped for a Ryzen 3500U available at the same price as well. Perfectly serviceable and capable of light gaming.
The ones I've seen have "i5 processor", but hide the generation. Those are generally quite old, and were a bad deal back then.
Checking second hand for my SO.