I won't be the guy driving the BMW or wearing the rolex, but I'll be living damn comfortable, debt free.
Debt free is definitely the best way to live.
I may have splurged on the car, but that is the only thing I have gone extravagant on in the past few years. (unless you count $1-2k/year on computers as extravagant, but this being/. I might be behind the curve on that one)
Which brings us back to the original idea of the thread. It is entirely possible to get by on a given salary, so long as one doesn't overextend his means.
After my final car payment, I will be down to less than half of my original student loans (after 5 years) and a perpetual balance of $1k on credit cards (only because I keep taking continuing education classes at the community college), with no other debt to my name. And without a car payment, no mortgage or excessive credit debt, I highly anticipate the student loans won't last to see their 6th anniversary.
99% of my purchases are cash or debit, the credit cards only come out in instances where the risk is more than I'm willing to assume on my own -- usually for internet purchases. I prefer not to give my checking account information out to unknown companies when I can use a credit card with a very low spending limit.
As to why I didn't go looking for another used car a year and a half ago, was because there wasn't anything majorly wrong requiring replacement of my old one, and, like all people, every once in a while something comes along that catches my eye and incites my passion. For me at that time it happened to be a brand new model of car, something that would meet all of my anticipated needs and offer that little bit more that I couldn't get out of my previous car. A car that wasn't available until I put my money down and placed one of the first orders for them at my local dealership. I suppose I could have waited a year for the early-adopters to have bought, driven and sold theirs off for me to pick one up for $25k, never to know how badly it was abused before I got my hands on it. But after 21,000 miles and 15 months, I'm still happy with it and gladly accept the compliments of my peers, some of whom think it still has that "new car smell"
This was my one opportunity, possibly for my entire life, to do something wild and crazy that wouldn't put me in a serious financial hole, and I could get some good use out of it for at least a few years after it's paid off.
Everyone has their passions in life, and if I spend my entire life depriving myself of them because they don't make financial sense, I'd be a bored shell of a man with a big bank account and nothing to spend it on save the retirement home, at which point I'll be too old and senile to enjoy it provided I survive the age-60 curse of the men in my family.
I'm pretty sure that's the misunderstanding of this thread. Both of us raise valid points (some more sensible, some more visceral), but they are still opinions.
I don't understand one bit how someone can wash $35k (plus interest) down the sink and not care
I don't look at is as a wash. I'm getting something for my $35k. I'm getting a reliable (albeit expensive) form of transportation that will last me several years.
5 to 10 years down the road the car situation is going to present itself again.
In 5 to 10 years, I'll see what my life situation is, and worry about the car then. At that point, it'll have been 3.5 to 8.5 years since my last car payment, so I ought to have a good amount in savings for the next one. I might pick up that sexy little sports coupe, or I might be married with kids, and looking for an inexpensive minivan.
you can survive perfectly fine with $10k cars if all you are doing is commuting to work.
Once again, a valid point, but I don't only commute from home to work and back. Considering I spend an average of at least an hour per day on the road (that's just the home/work commute), and often much longer if I'm travelling (3-8 hours each way, at least every couple months), I wanted a vehicle with a few more creature comforts than are found in most $10k cars, and without the risks/upkeep costs inherent in a used/older vehicle. I did that my first 4 years with the $14k car.
And as far as a car and house as representing "freedom" exactly how free are you when you're making mandatory monthly payments on them?
Car == "freedom"; House == "responsibility"
My car gets me to where I want to go when I want it to, and by paying off the loan a couple years before it's due, it puts a quick end to the "mandatory monthly payments," which I believe was one of the points of my first post (though it may not have been explicitly articulated).
As for a house, I do not own - I bought the new car instead and started renting from my roommate when he bought the condo. I have no reason to be tied down to this area, and the only reason I live where I do is because of my job. Given the nature of the tech industry the last 4 years of constant layoffs and/or questionable opportunities, I haven't come up with a good excuse for committing myself to an expensive area I wouldn't have lived in if it hadn't been for the job in the first place.
Upon graduation, I decided I'd had enough of the $500 curbside special used cars available (I'd already gone through 2 during college, each lasting less than a year of mild use), so I picked up a reasonable USED car at $14k which would last me until I wanted to replace it without putting my mechanic's kids through school.
And having graduated with $1500 to my name, I figured not paying full price all-at-once on the car was a good idea, especially considering I still had to make a security deposit on an apartment, and pay for food and gas for the next month before I got my first paycheck. That car was paid off in 2 years instead of the 5 the bank originally signed me for, so while I did have to suffer for a bit, it wasn't for as long as you're trying to make it sound like.
With regards to my new car, it's utterly irrelevant how much someone would be willing to buy it for now. I'm not selling it, and unless something extreme happens to me in the next 5 years, I'm not selling it for a long time anyway. I don't care if it's currently worth less than the $25k down-payment I put on it 15 months ago, I'm not looking to recoup that money ever.
I don't buy food and clothing as an investment option when I know I am going to eat/wear them, why would I buy transportation as an investment when I'm going to be driving it to hell and back on a regular basis? If that were the case, I would have a 2 or 3 year old beemer that sits in the garage, not the car that I wanted and the freedom to go where I want when I want.
Some people look at cars and houses and see investments and lists of expenses.
I look at them and see freedom and responsibility.
If I were as paranoid about money and return on investment, I'd have bought a new-construction condo in a downtown highrise and be a slave to public transportation if I ever wanted to leave my 800sq-ft studio hovel as I wait for it to appreciate in value. That may be what other people want out of life, but it's not what I live for. So long as I can live within my means while putting a little away on the side for the future, I can be happy without drowning in debt.
The $650/month housing costs is my half of the rent/utilities (my roommate pays at least as much, plus taxes, since he bought the condo. I'm just renting from him). Single bedroom apartments in my area go for $800-1200/month + utilities as well. I could easily live on my own without severe impact to my financial sitation (I did it for my first 2 years), I just like having extra spending money for computers and video games, so I have a roommate. As for how I got the car at graduation, I'd managed to save $1000 during 4 years of college which went for the downpayment, and I found a dealership that was willing to take a chance on me given that I already had an offer of employment for my current job, so they let me off with a 5-year, 13.9% interest loan on the rest of the car. So, not only was I in debt $20k+ for school, I now had a $14k car loan to go with it within 2 weeks of graduation.
Having been a softare engineer for the past 5 years (straight out of college, $52-64K/year. not the games industry, but still in tech), I think I have a fairly good idea of what one can do on 60K/year. Living in the suburban Chicago area, things aren't cheap, but it's not (quite) the most expensive area to live. So long as one isn't inclined to go out on constant spending sprees or clubbing constantly, it isn't that difficult to live a comfortable life on that salary. Unless you're great with investments, don't expect to have the big house and the beemer in the driveway. But one or the other is not out of the question. So far I've purchased 2 cars, but am still renting (one car at $14k immediatly after graduation, the other at $35k last year, and it's 1 month from being paid off). My roommate has purchased a $25k car and a 2-bedroom condo in that same amount of time (I rent from him, it works for us). Yes, I still have some student loans and minor credit card debt, but nothing unmanageable. My roommate is still paying on his car, but he also has a mortgage as well, but nothing crazy either. The only costs we share are on rent/morgage and household utilities, and it averages about $650/month total. It wouldn't matter to me if he didn't work in the same company and make the same salary as I do, so long as his contributions keeps my rent at a decent level. We don't live extravagantly, but we've never had to scrape by either on a 'measly' 60k per year. So long as one is willing to live within their means and not harbor unrealistic expectations of wealth, it is a good enough amount to get by. I see plenty of beemers in the parking lot at work. I'm not sure how many go home to 4000 sq ft mansions at the end of the day, but I'm sure some go to more modest dwellings.
I have to agree as well. The most pictures I've printed at any one time on my injet printer has probably been about 15, and that was for a photography class (which I am no longer taking). Aside from this, it's usually when I want one picture at about 2am and I don't feel like getting dressed, finding a place that's open at that hour, and then waiting for them to print me something. I don't mind spending an extra relative 30 cents if I can push a button, walk across my bedroom 2 minutes later, and have a finished copy. And it's only a relative cost insomuch as I don't have to put 2 quarters into my printer every time I want a picture. I bought an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax which came with ink a year and a half ago, and guess what? It still prints with no additional investment. (one of the advantages of being a professional nerd is having plenty of printer paper on hand at all times for no apparent reason). For low-use, impatient types with money for big toys, and who like to fiddle around with things, home printing is still a viable option. However, if for some unforseen reason I did want to batch-job about 100+ prints for something, I'd probably ship it off to Walgreens or somewhere else. But when I want something specific at 1am, I'm not going to be bothered to change out of my jammys for a chance at a relativistic savings of $0.25
... what would the average slashdotter need such a machine for?
I think that's the problem that many here on/. have with this device, it's NOT for the average/. reader. It's a niche product, that will mainly attract those with very specific needs. It could be very useful as a tool to deliver vertical apps more simply (e.g. medical, military, etc). It's not meant to replace laptops.
I feel you are correct, it is not meant to be a one-size-fits-all kind of tool. The limitations/advantages of using such a form factor for this level of computing guarantee that it won't suit everyone's needs. And setting the price point where it is, helps to assure those who are going to purchase one think twice first to be sure it will meet their needs.
However, being an average/.'er with a bit of extra money on my hands, I went and bought one last year for the 'cool' factor anyway.
The portability is very nice, while startup time, battery life and heat output are a bit uncomfortable but bearable.
I use mine primarily when I go on vacation. While I do have to pack the power supply, spare battery, and bluetooth keyboard/mouse (for those vacation coding urges), it's still a smaller and lighter bundle than a fullsize laptop. Otherwise I use it for when I feel like doing some light websurfing from the couch.
Good news: you won't be recharging it every hour. Bad news: you'll probably never get the full advertised 3 hours out of it, and end up recharging or swapping batteries every 1.5 to 2 hours.
I speculate this is the approximate average battery range for the Model 01+ because that is about what I get with my Model 01 that I purchased last year, and not very much has changed that I would expect to affect battery drain. I usually use my Oqo for wireless web browsing (when I don't feel like lugging the laptop around) or some minor coding (gcc, text editor, etc) and iTunes. I don't run Office or too many major apps, so if you're a heavy user you might notice a bit shorter battery life.
I have also made a PVR out of a Via mini-itx board (M10000), with a Hauppage PVR-250 tv tuner, 512MB ram and 120 and 160GB hard drives. I had to upgrade to a 90W power adapter for the second hard drive. Originally I had a 60W power adapter, which worked well for a 2.5" hard drive and full-sized CD-rom. A desktop CD-Rom drive and 3.5" HD were straining the limits of the power supply and had intermittent troubles during spinup. After switching to an external CD-rom, I was able to run the system with a 2.5" and 3.5" hard drive and PVR card off of the 60W power supply. Eventually this sort of setup will run low on hard drive space under frequent video recoring (which I do), so I swapped out the 2.5" drive for a second 3.5", but that would cause occasional problems during HD spinup as well (even with the external optical drive on it's own power supply), so I had to upgrade to a 90W power adapter and it has been fine ever since.
Since optical drives are not always needed 100% of the time, using an external drive when necessary, and low-power hard drives, it is possible to run such a system at low power levels, even with Windows XP.
It depends on what you want/need a desktop PC to perform. I'm currently running a Via 1Ghz Mini-itx M10000 as a PVR PC running Windows XP-pro, with 512MB DDR ram, 120 & 160GB hard drives, and a Hauppage PVR-250 tv-tuner card. For my purposes, it handles quite well (though I have learned not to do much extra on it while it is under CPU-heavy loads -- recording/editing video being the primary resource hogs), and it doubles for web surfing/instant messaging when my main computer (a K6-2+ 450MHz screamer with WinMe;) is on the blink) Considering that these (and a few other computers) share my bedroom with me and those two are normally on 24/7, power consumption and noise are primary factors over having the fastest/most expensive components. Plus they handle my needs well -- what I consider to be "desktop use" is different from what other people would consider it to be, and given that most of my "desktop use" is easily handled by a computer half as powerful as my mini-itx box, the form factor may well support many people's requirements (until Windows Vista gets here, of course -- then they probably won't even be able to bring up the command prompt let alone solitaire or minesweeper)
Speaking of TV cards, a bit over 2 years ago I set up a PVR-style computer (mini-ITX motherboard, Hauppage PVR250, and a couple big hard drives). I was able to install Windows XP Pro on the first attempt using the drivers that came with the motherboard, installed the software for the TV-tuner that came in the box, which allows me to watch TV, pause, record and schedule record events to automatically turn on the TV program and record when I'm not home. And the included remote control does everything I expect it to do. I later added an external DVD burner, which came bundled with video editing software, which after a small learning curve I have made very good use of. None of this required fiddling around or re-doing installs. I don't intend to move the tuner to another computer so I'm not interested in repeat-installability. All my home computers are unique in purpose, so I personally don't worry about having everything installed identically everywhere.
Coupled with AVG Free anti-virus, Ad-Aware, and regular updates from WindowsUpdate, it has been remarkably stable. In the 24+ months this computer has been in constant operation, it has crashed maybe a dozen times, and usually from me trying to do too many things at once on it (editing, recording and copying large video files simultaneously tends to be a bit much for the 1Ghz Via processor).
That computer was built for a specific purpose, which Windows handles remarkably well (and there's no reason it shouldn't), plus it acts as a backup when my main computer is on the fritz (a 2 1/2 year old install of WinMe on old hardware -- a surprisingly long-lived install of Win9x, I will concede. Only needs rebooting once per week on average to avoid crashes.)
The only problem with Windows is that it tries to be everything to everybody, and with such broadness comes the vast increase in opportunity for instability, not to mention increases in resources required to simply install and run the OS. However, since it is so widespread, it usually has almost universal support from vendors most average consumers are going to deal with. Linux/BSD/etc. can offer stability through specialization, but because they're not as widespread at the average consumer level, most of the products offered for sale at retail stores don't have native support for these operating systems.
In fact, if the gryoscopes can be rotated, it could easily be something that tries to tilt the controller out of your hand.
...something to make me drop the controller even more than I already do.
Maybe they're going to try to make a profit on the replacement controller market this time around?
I have neither the time nor the extreme technical knowledge of the details involved with writing drivers for all the hardware I buy for my computers. I want something that works the way it says it will on the box, not something that I have to scour the web for in vain hopes someone else already wrote the drivers for it, or dig into the details trying to piecemeal my own together to get it to do what it says on the box. Simply checking HP's website for my all-in-one wireless networked printer/scanner/copy/fax yields Windows and Mac drivers. None for Linux. Granted, most of the functionality (copy/scan/fax) can be done with the built-in web interface for my printer, but I like to actually print from the computer once in a while, and that requires drivers on my computers. Not to mention fully manufacturer-supported drivers for video cards, TV-tuners, etc. (yes, I know there's some things in Linux that will do this, but it's not as easy as in Windows -- plug in the hardware, start windows, when it finds the hardware, put the CD in and hit 'install')
Which brings me to another point. I love the flexibility that Linux and such allow, but sometimes I want to listen to a music CD (not mp3, not ogg). In Windows, I can put the disc in the drive, and it brings up Windows Media Player and starts playing. Done. Half the time I've installed Linux, I don't even have sound. The rest of the time, I keep forgetting how to mount/unmout CD's so I can get to the content on them. Let alone figure out which one of the pre-installed media players actually works.
Yes, I am a nerd, but I am one who is very distracted by real life as well. I don't always have time to rebuild drivers and kernels and reconfigure everything every time I buy a new piece of hardware to plug into my computers. I like things that work they way they say they will on the box the first time I try.
I'm a right-hander, but also somewhat ambidexterous (handwriting leftie is still quite slow and not very accurate). As for the touchpad, I use both hands (all fingers and/or thumbs, whichever is closest). I have been using this on my work laptop for the past 4 years now, and I find it quite comfortable because it allows me to keep my hands close to home-row position for touch-typing (I never could get the hang of those eraser-button pointers, even though my laptop has one of those as well).
For my home setup, since I have two sets of keyboards/mice at my computer desk (multiple computers), I have one mouse on each side, and the keyboards in the middle (one is a Logitech wireless set, so the keyboard is easily moved out of the way). Both of my mice in this configuration are Logitech right-handers, but the wireless one isn't as bad about the ergonomics, so it is configured (in the Windows mouse properties for it's computer) for left-hand use (the fwd/back nav buttons are awkward to use with the ring finger/pinkie, but that's about it).
I have been using modern desktop computers for about 10 years now (high school, college, and beyond). Before that, my dad had previously had a Franklin (old Apple II clone) when I was in elementary/middle school, which I don't remember it having a mouse.
I will mouse whatever way is most comfortable for me at the time in the space constraints, but I prefer to use keyboard navigation whenever possible as I don't like having to look down to reposition my hands after having moved them from their usual touch-typing position. One of these days I'm going to have to find myself a good touchpad for my desktop PC's.
In going from Xbox to 360, it's emulation of the i386 on a PPC architecture. From old Apple to Intel-Apple, it's PPC on i386 architecture. I'd be inclined to think things might be easier to translate one direction than the other, if Microsoft didn't already have available the Virtual PC software to run Windows XP on PPC based Macs (as found in some versions of Office:Mac)
Seriously, if Super Metroid is available for this thing for anywhere up to $25 for the game ($35 if I can put it on a flashable card I can play on my DS/GBA), I will be getting a Revolution ASAFP.
How long it takes me to buy one after initial release is dependant on price of the console, of course, but of all the info I've seen of the next-gen consoles, the Revolution is the only one that has caught my interest, and that's because of the "downloadable nostalgia" feature alone.
....
Vertex shaders and polygon counts
may dazzle the young new fools.
But give me 2D-sprites and memory bytes
that colored my gaming youth,
And my loyalty shall be plainly seen
in the nostalgia brought to my TV.
....
Long forgotten treasures,
battles laid aside.
Is the time to come,
a gaming resurrection?
Or perhaps a pseudo-revolution,
next-gen reviving the old?
How high will the system manufacturers have to raise the prices of the consoles and games to price themselves out of the market? I remember years ago when the NeoGeo was first introduced, with prices aroud $400 and up while the rivals (SNES, Genesis) could be had for about $150 or less. Needless to say, they'd managed to price themselves out of the market. Nowadays, with games themselves going for $50-60 and consoles running $250-300 new, how much longer until the general public realizes how much they are paying now vs. what games and systems used to cost, and how willing will they be to support the manufacturers by buying multiple titles? Does the general public even remember scrounging their allowances back in the day for a new $30 game? I may personally be financially better off now than when I was in middle school, but the idea of shelling out ever-increasing prices as the "industry standard" bump that comes with each new console still worries me, and makes me think twice about what else that money could be better spent on. (some of these are vague memories, so don't quote my numbers)
I've spent $30,000 on a car, and $900 for a good computer monitor a few years back, but cheaped out and only dropped about $400 on my current bed. Maybe that's why I only sleep about 6 hours per night?
But seriously, if it's worth it to you to spend the money on it, if you think you're going to get your money's worth, then go for it. In the Fall of 2001 when I was building up my computer system, most of the parts were good tech, from about 1 year prior. The monitor, on the other hand, I figured would outlast anything else, and I'd be staring at it most often, so I shopped around, comparing the newfangled 15" lcd's, or the similarly priced 21+" CRT's, and settled on a monster 22" Iiyama CRT. Ironically enough, that computer is still in use to this day largely untouched (hard drives have been replaced and supplemented a few times in the need for extra space, but that's it), and the monitor was the first to go -- after 4 years of near constant use, averaging about 6-8 hours of active use per day, every day. After the beast's unfortunate demise, it was replaced with a bargain $200 17" lcd, because I'd just recently picked up the car and couldn't comfortably afford a new $900 monitor, so I have my current one as a holdover until I'm in the mood for a sexy widescreen 1920x1200 lcd, and it'll give the market time to lower prices a bit. (though that Apple 30" lcd is definitely drool-worthy, IMO. I just don't have the spare $5,000 for it and the accompanying Mac to use it...yet...)
You're crazy man, the nostalgia factor isn't as big as the WOW $()#@#)($ Graphics factor.
Depends on who you're talking to. As a person in his late-20's from the NES generation, the rumors about downloadable nostalgia actually caught my interest and got me to look at the E3 report from Nintendo. I could care less about PS3 and Xbox360 and the whiz-bang shiny new graphicness of doom.
If there isn't a draw for me, I won't buy the system. Especially if it costs as much as the current generation of consoles did. (I do own a PS, PS2, GameCube, GBA and GBASP, only the SP was new, and it was the retro-styled model)
Nintendo is catering to a different corner of the gamer market with this idea, rather than jump into the fray of the bloodfest with two well-armed opponents.
If there were a way to port downloaded games to a handheld system (say, load them onto a special GBA cartridge with flash RAM), I would love it even more and would probably by a Revolution with subscription within the first week of it's release in the US. I have NEVER had a new gaming system that close to release, and I've been playing video games all my life, starting on my dad's Odyssey2.
For me, inexpensive downloadable nostalgia games would be the killer ap.
Also part of the laws governing salaried employees, the companies are not required to compensate for work put in that comes in excess of the standard 40-45 hour work week that is typically expected.
The company I work for is notorious for abusing this the past few years, especially after the tech market crash in 2000/2001. For a couple summers, we had mandatory 6 day/week, 10+ hr/day schedules, without any added compensation above our normal salaries aside from the vague promisies of 'comp days,' which by their unofficial status were virutally impossible to redeem. Fortunately the tech market has rebounded slightly in recent years, so the threat of mass layoffs has abated, and other companies are hiring occasionally so they don't dare abuse us quite so badly because we now do have options to work for someone else.
I think it definitely has something to do with the car driven. In my car, I can easily get a 4-5+mpg difference between taking it extremely smooth to going hard out all the time. But then I don't drive a tiny Insight or any other Honda either. I drive a Dodge Magnum RT, with the 5.7l V-8 Hemi. Under hard driving (mostly congested suburban, stop-and-go), the mileage gets down to the 14-15 mpg range, yet with careful, smooth pacing and a lot of luck concerning other traffic, I've peaked at a hair under 20mpg for a tank of gas driving in the same area. Under light-load cruising conditions, the cylinder deactivation really helps cutting off fuel to 4 of the cylinders, basically turning it into a V-4 wagon, and this really helps the mileage. On the rare occasion I get to put most of a tank of gas to continuous highway riding, my best has been up around 23mpg, but for comparison purposes, that doesn't relate to the typical driving I do.
All in all, different cars have different fuel consumption rates, some drastically moreso than others.
Seriously, why they would wait so long when OS X 'Tiger' was announced months ago, I do not know. Maybe they're just trying to get their name out there, I hadn't thought of or looked at TigerDirect's web site in a few years, as I had found other retailers to buy computer junk through. It's not like I personally would think that Apple's operating system had anything to do with a mass PC parts vendor.
In America, any publicity is good publicity, and the easiest lately seems to be to target a popular company/person with a lawsuit, irregardless of how frivolous. Any serious action to prevent Apple's use of the name should have been sought when it was first announced, not wait until the eve of the product launch. This just gives the impression of riding on the coattails of Apple's popularity.
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Debt free is definitely the best way to live. /. I might be behind the curve on that one)
I may have splurged on the car, but that is the only thing I have gone extravagant on in the past few years. (unless you count $1-2k/year on computers as extravagant, but this being
Which brings us back to the original idea of the thread. It is entirely possible to get by on a given salary, so long as one doesn't overextend his means.
After my final car payment, I will be down to less than half of my original student loans (after 5 years) and a perpetual balance of $1k on credit cards (only because I keep taking continuing education classes at the community college), with no other debt to my name. And without a car payment, no mortgage or excessive credit debt, I highly anticipate the student loans won't last to see their 6th anniversary.
99% of my purchases are cash or debit, the credit cards only come out in instances where the risk is more than I'm willing to assume on my own -- usually for internet purchases. I prefer not to give my checking account information out to unknown companies when I can use a credit card with a very low spending limit.
As to why I didn't go looking for another used car a year and a half ago, was because there wasn't anything majorly wrong requiring replacement of my old one, and, like all people, every once in a while something comes along that catches my eye and incites my passion. For me at that time it happened to be a brand new model of car, something that would meet all of my anticipated needs and offer that little bit more that I couldn't get out of my previous car. A car that wasn't available until I put my money down and placed one of the first orders for them at my local dealership. I suppose I could have waited a year for the early-adopters to have bought, driven and sold theirs off for me to pick one up for $25k, never to know how badly it was abused before I got my hands on it. But after 21,000 miles and 15 months, I'm still happy with it and gladly accept the compliments of my peers, some of whom think it still has that "new car smell"
This was my one opportunity, possibly for my entire life, to do something wild and crazy that wouldn't put me in a serious financial hole, and I could get some good use out of it for at least a few years after it's paid off.
Everyone has their passions in life, and if I spend my entire life depriving myself of them because they don't make financial sense, I'd be a bored shell of a man with a big bank account and nothing to spend it on save the retirement home, at which point I'll be too old and senile to enjoy it provided I survive the age-60 curse of the men in my family.
I'm pretty sure that's the misunderstanding of this thread. Both of us raise valid points (some more sensible, some more visceral), but they are still opinions.
I don't understand one bit how someone can wash $35k (plus interest) down the sink and not care
I don't look at is as a wash. I'm getting something for my $35k. I'm getting a reliable (albeit expensive) form of transportation that will last me several years.
5 to 10 years down the road the car situation is going to present itself again.
In 5 to 10 years, I'll see what my life situation is, and worry about the car then. At that point, it'll have been 3.5 to 8.5 years since my last car payment, so I ought to have a good amount in savings for the next one. I might pick up that sexy little sports coupe, or I might be married with kids, and looking for an inexpensive minivan.
you can survive perfectly fine with $10k cars if all you are doing is commuting to work.
Once again, a valid point, but I don't only commute from home to work and back. Considering I spend an average of at least an hour per day on the road (that's just the home/work commute), and often much longer if I'm travelling (3-8 hours each way, at least every couple months), I wanted a vehicle with a few more creature comforts than are found in most $10k cars, and without the risks/upkeep costs inherent in a used/older vehicle. I did that my first 4 years with the $14k car.
And as far as a car and house as representing "freedom" exactly how free are you when you're making mandatory monthly payments on them?
Car == "freedom"; House == "responsibility"
My car gets me to where I want to go when I want it to, and by paying off the loan a couple years before it's due, it puts a quick end to the "mandatory monthly payments," which I believe was one of the points of my first post (though it may not have been explicitly articulated).
As for a house, I do not own - I bought the new car instead and started renting from my roommate when he bought the condo. I have no reason to be tied down to this area, and the only reason I live where I do is because of my job. Given the nature of the tech industry the last 4 years of constant layoffs and/or questionable opportunities, I haven't come up with a good excuse for committing myself to an expensive area I wouldn't have lived in if it hadn't been for the job in the first place.
And having graduated with $1500 to my name, I figured not paying full price all-at-once on the car was a good idea, especially considering I still had to make a security deposit on an apartment, and pay for food and gas for the next month before I got my first paycheck. That car was paid off in 2 years instead of the 5 the bank originally signed me for, so while I did have to suffer for a bit, it wasn't for as long as you're trying to make it sound like.
With regards to my new car, it's utterly irrelevant how much someone would be willing to buy it for now. I'm not selling it, and unless something extreme happens to me in the next 5 years, I'm not selling it for a long time anyway. I don't care if it's currently worth less than the $25k down-payment I put on it 15 months ago, I'm not looking to recoup that money ever.
I don't buy food and clothing as an investment option when I know I am going to eat/wear them, why would I buy transportation as an investment when I'm going to be driving it to hell and back on a regular basis? If that were the case, I would have a 2 or 3 year old beemer that sits in the garage, not the car that I wanted and the freedom to go where I want when I want.
Some people look at cars and houses and see investments and lists of expenses.
I look at them and see freedom and responsibility.
If I were as paranoid about money and return on investment, I'd have bought a new-construction condo in a downtown highrise and be a slave to public transportation if I ever wanted to leave my 800sq-ft studio hovel as I wait for it to appreciate in value. That may be what other people want out of life, but it's not what I live for. So long as I can live within my means while putting a little away on the side for the future, I can be happy without drowning in debt.
The $650/month housing costs is my half of the rent/utilities (my roommate pays at least as much, plus taxes, since he bought the condo. I'm just renting from him). Single bedroom apartments in my area go for $800-1200/month + utilities as well. I could easily live on my own without severe impact to my financial sitation (I did it for my first 2 years), I just like having extra spending money for computers and video games, so I have a roommate.
As for how I got the car at graduation, I'd managed to save $1000 during 4 years of college which went for the downpayment, and I found a dealership that was willing to take a chance on me given that I already had an offer of employment for my current job, so they let me off with a 5-year, 13.9% interest loan on the rest of the car.
So, not only was I in debt $20k+ for school, I now had a $14k car loan to go with it within 2 weeks of graduation.
Having been a softare engineer for the past 5 years (straight out of college, $52-64K/year. not the games industry, but still in tech), I think I have a fairly good idea of what one can do on 60K/year.
Living in the suburban Chicago area, things aren't cheap, but it's not (quite) the most expensive area to live.
So long as one isn't inclined to go out on constant spending sprees or clubbing constantly, it isn't that difficult to live a comfortable life on that salary.
Unless you're great with investments, don't expect to have the big house and the beemer in the driveway. But one or the other is not out of the question. So far I've purchased 2 cars, but am still renting (one car at $14k immediatly after graduation, the other at $35k last year, and it's 1 month from being paid off). My roommate has purchased a $25k car and a 2-bedroom condo in that same amount of time (I rent from him, it works for us).
Yes, I still have some student loans and minor credit card debt, but nothing unmanageable. My roommate is still paying on his car, but he also has a mortgage as well, but nothing crazy either.
The only costs we share are on rent/morgage and household utilities, and it averages about $650/month total. It wouldn't matter to me if he didn't work in the same company and make the same salary as I do, so long as his contributions keeps my rent at a decent level. We don't live extravagantly, but we've never had to scrape by either on a 'measly' 60k per year.
So long as one is willing to live within their means and not harbor unrealistic expectations of wealth, it is a good enough amount to get by. I see plenty of beemers in the parking lot at work. I'm not sure how many go home to 4000 sq ft mansions at the end of the day, but I'm sure some go to more modest dwellings.
I have to agree as well.
The most pictures I've printed at any one time on my injet printer has probably been about 15, and that was for a photography class (which I am no longer taking).
Aside from this, it's usually when I want one picture at about 2am and I don't feel like getting dressed, finding a place that's open at that hour, and then waiting for them to print me something. I don't mind spending an extra relative 30 cents if I can push a button, walk across my bedroom 2 minutes later, and have a finished copy.
And it's only a relative cost insomuch as I don't have to put 2 quarters into my printer every time I want a picture. I bought an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax which came with ink a year and a half ago, and guess what? It still prints with no additional investment. (one of the advantages of being a professional nerd is having plenty of printer paper on hand at all times for no apparent reason).
For low-use, impatient types with money for big toys, and who like to fiddle around with things, home printing is still a viable option.
However, if for some unforseen reason I did want to batch-job about 100+ prints for something, I'd probably ship it off to Walgreens or somewhere else. But when I want something specific at 1am, I'm not going to be bothered to change out of my jammys for a chance at a relativistic savings of $0.25
it's a Windows XP computer that can fit in a pocket. (though you'll want to turn it off before you try that or you'll set your pants on fire.)
I think that's the problem that many here on /. have with this device, it's NOT for the average /. reader. It's a niche product, that will mainly attract those with very specific needs. It could be very useful as a tool to deliver vertical apps more simply (e.g. medical, military, etc). It's not meant to replace laptops.
I feel you are correct, it is not meant to be a one-size-fits-all kind of tool. The limitations/advantages of using such a form factor for this level of computing guarantee that it won't suit everyone's needs. And setting the price point where it is, helps to assure those who are going to purchase one think twice first to be sure it will meet their needs. /.'er with a bit of extra money on my hands, I went and bought one last year for the 'cool' factor anyway.
However, being an average
The portability is very nice, while startup time, battery life and heat output are a bit uncomfortable but bearable. I use mine primarily when I go on vacation. While I do have to pack the power supply, spare battery, and bluetooth keyboard/mouse (for those vacation coding urges), it's still a smaller and lighter bundle than a fullsize laptop. Otherwise I use it for when I feel like doing some light websurfing from the couch.
Good news: you won't be recharging it every hour.
Bad news: you'll probably never get the full advertised 3 hours out of it, and end up recharging or swapping batteries every 1.5 to 2 hours.
I speculate this is the approximate average battery range for the Model 01+ because that is about what I get with my Model 01 that I purchased last year, and not very much has changed that I would expect to affect battery drain.
I usually use my Oqo for wireless web browsing (when I don't feel like lugging the laptop around) or some minor coding (gcc, text editor, etc) and iTunes. I don't run Office or too many major apps, so if you're a heavy user you might notice a bit shorter battery life.
I have also made a PVR out of a Via mini-itx board (M10000), with a Hauppage PVR-250 tv tuner, 512MB ram and 120 and 160GB hard drives. I had to upgrade to a 90W power adapter for the second hard drive.
Originally I had a 60W power adapter, which worked well for a 2.5" hard drive and full-sized CD-rom.
A desktop CD-Rom drive and 3.5" HD were straining the limits of the power supply and had intermittent troubles during spinup.
After switching to an external CD-rom, I was able to run the system with a 2.5" and 3.5" hard drive and PVR card off of the 60W power supply.
Eventually this sort of setup will run low on hard drive space under frequent video recoring (which I do), so I swapped out the 2.5" drive for a second 3.5", but that would cause occasional problems during HD spinup as well (even with the external optical drive on it's own power supply), so I had to upgrade to a 90W power adapter and it has been fine ever since.
Since optical drives are not always needed 100% of the time, using an external drive when necessary, and low-power hard drives, it is possible to run such a system at low power levels, even with Windows XP.
It depends on what you want/need a desktop PC to perform. ;) is on the blink)
I'm currently running a Via 1Ghz Mini-itx M10000 as a PVR PC running Windows XP-pro, with 512MB DDR ram, 120 & 160GB hard drives, and a Hauppage PVR-250 tv-tuner card.
For my purposes, it handles quite well (though I have learned not to do much extra on it while it is under CPU-heavy loads -- recording/editing video being the primary resource hogs), and it doubles for web surfing/instant messaging when my main computer (a K6-2+ 450MHz screamer with WinMe
Considering that these (and a few other computers) share my bedroom with me and those two are normally on 24/7, power consumption and noise are primary factors over having the fastest/most expensive components.
Plus they handle my needs well -- what I consider to be "desktop use" is different from what other people would consider it to be, and given that most of my "desktop use" is easily handled by a computer half as powerful as my mini-itx box, the form factor may well support many people's requirements (until Windows Vista gets here, of course -- then they probably won't even be able to bring up the command prompt let alone solitaire or minesweeper)
Speaking of TV cards, a bit over 2 years ago I set up a PVR-style computer (mini-ITX motherboard, Hauppage PVR250, and a couple big hard drives).
I was able to install Windows XP Pro on the first attempt using the drivers that came with the motherboard, installed the software for the TV-tuner that came in the box, which allows me to watch TV, pause, record and schedule record events to automatically turn on the TV program and record when I'm not home. And the included remote control does everything I expect it to do.
I later added an external DVD burner, which came bundled with video editing software, which after a small learning curve I have made very good use of.
None of this required fiddling around or re-doing installs. I don't intend to move the tuner to another computer so I'm not interested in repeat-installability. All my home computers are unique in purpose, so I personally don't worry about having everything installed identically everywhere.
Coupled with AVG Free anti-virus, Ad-Aware, and regular updates from WindowsUpdate, it has been remarkably stable.
In the 24+ months this computer has been in constant operation, it has crashed maybe a dozen times, and usually from me trying to do too many things at once on it (editing, recording and copying large video files simultaneously tends to be a bit much for the 1Ghz Via processor).
That computer was built for a specific purpose, which Windows handles remarkably well (and there's no reason it shouldn't), plus it acts as a backup when my main computer is on the fritz (a 2 1/2 year old install of WinMe on old hardware -- a surprisingly long-lived install of Win9x, I will concede. Only needs rebooting once per week on average to avoid crashes.)
The only problem with Windows is that it tries to be everything to everybody, and with such broadness comes the vast increase in opportunity for instability, not to mention increases in resources required to simply install and run the OS. However, since it is so widespread, it usually has almost universal support from vendors most average consumers are going to deal with.
Linux/BSD/etc. can offer stability through specialization, but because they're not as widespread at the average consumer level, most of the products offered for sale at retail stores don't have native support for these operating systems.
Maybe they're going to try to make a profit on the replacement controller market this time around?
I have neither the time nor the extreme technical knowledge of the details involved with writing drivers for all the hardware I buy for my computers.
I want something that works the way it says it will on the box, not something that I have to scour the web for in vain hopes someone else already wrote the drivers for it, or dig into the details trying to piecemeal my own together to get it to do what it says on the box.
Simply checking HP's website for my all-in-one wireless networked printer/scanner/copy/fax yields Windows and Mac drivers. None for Linux.
Granted, most of the functionality (copy/scan/fax) can be done with the built-in web interface for my printer, but I like to actually print from the computer once in a while, and that requires drivers on my computers.
Not to mention fully manufacturer-supported drivers for video cards, TV-tuners, etc. (yes, I know there's some things in Linux that will do this, but it's not as easy as in Windows -- plug in the hardware, start windows, when it finds the hardware, put the CD in and hit 'install')
Which brings me to another point. I love the flexibility that Linux and such allow, but sometimes I want to listen to a music CD (not mp3, not ogg). In Windows, I can put the disc in the drive, and it brings up Windows Media Player and starts playing. Done. Half the time I've installed Linux, I don't even have sound. The rest of the time, I keep forgetting how to mount/unmout CD's so I can get to the content on them. Let alone figure out which one of the pre-installed media players actually works.
Yes, I am a nerd, but I am one who is very distracted by real life as well. I don't always have time to rebuild drivers and kernels and reconfigure everything every time I buy a new piece of hardware to plug into my computers. I like things that work they way they say they will on the box the first time I try.
I'm a right-hander, but also somewhat ambidexterous (handwriting leftie is still quite slow and not very accurate).
As for the touchpad, I use both hands (all fingers and/or thumbs, whichever is closest). I have been using this on my work laptop for the past 4 years now, and I find it quite comfortable because it allows me to keep my hands close to home-row position for touch-typing (I never could get the hang of those eraser-button pointers, even though my laptop has one of those as well).
For my home setup, since I have two sets of keyboards/mice at my computer desk (multiple computers), I have one mouse on each side, and the keyboards in the middle (one is a Logitech wireless set, so the keyboard is easily moved out of the way).
Both of my mice in this configuration are Logitech right-handers, but the wireless one isn't as bad about the ergonomics, so it is configured (in the Windows mouse properties for it's computer) for left-hand use (the fwd/back nav buttons are awkward to use with the ring finger/pinkie, but that's about it).
I have been using modern desktop computers for about 10 years now (high school, college, and beyond). Before that, my dad had previously had a Franklin (old Apple II clone) when I was in elementary/middle school, which I don't remember it having a mouse.
I will mouse whatever way is most comfortable for me at the time in the space constraints, but I prefer to use keyboard navigation whenever possible as I don't like having to look down to reposition my hands after having moved them from their usual touch-typing position.
One of these days I'm going to have to find myself a good touchpad for my desktop PC's.
In going from Xbox to 360, it's emulation of the i386 on a PPC architecture.
From old Apple to Intel-Apple, it's PPC on i386 architecture.
I'd be inclined to think things might be easier to translate one direction than the other, if Microsoft didn't already have available the Virtual PC software to run Windows XP on PPC based Macs (as found in some versions of Office:Mac)
Doesn't sound too far off from the Holodeck.
How long it takes me to buy one after initial release is dependant on price of the console, of course, but of all the info I've seen of the next-gen consoles, the Revolution is the only one that has caught my interest, and that's because of the "downloadable nostalgia" feature alone.
....
Vertex shaders and polygon counts
may dazzle the young new fools.
But give me 2D-sprites and memory bytes
that colored my gaming youth,
And my loyalty shall be plainly seen
in the nostalgia brought to my TV.
....
Long forgotten treasures,
battles laid aside.
Is the time to come,
a gaming resurrection?
Or perhaps a pseudo-revolution,
next-gen reviving the old?
How high will the system manufacturers have to raise the prices of the consoles and games to price themselves out of the market?
I remember years ago when the NeoGeo was first introduced, with prices aroud $400 and up while the rivals (SNES, Genesis) could be had for about $150 or less. Needless to say, they'd managed to price themselves out of the market.
Nowadays, with games themselves going for $50-60 and consoles running $250-300 new, how much longer until the general public realizes how much they are paying now vs. what games and systems used to cost, and how willing will they be to support the manufacturers by buying multiple titles?
Does the general public even remember scrounging their allowances back in the day for a new $30 game? I may personally be financially better off now than when I was in middle school, but the idea of shelling out ever-increasing prices as the "industry standard" bump that comes with each new console still worries me, and makes me think twice about what else that money could be better spent on.
(some of these are vague memories, so don't quote my numbers)
I've spent $30,000 on a car, and $900 for a good computer monitor a few years back, but cheaped out and only dropped about $400 on my current bed.
Maybe that's why I only sleep about 6 hours per night?
But seriously, if it's worth it to you to spend the money on it, if you think you're going to get your money's worth, then go for it.
In the Fall of 2001 when I was building up my computer system, most of the parts were good tech, from about 1 year prior. The monitor, on the other hand, I figured would outlast anything else, and I'd be staring at it most often, so I shopped around, comparing the newfangled 15" lcd's, or the similarly priced 21+" CRT's, and settled on a monster 22" Iiyama CRT. Ironically enough, that computer is still in use to this day largely untouched (hard drives have been replaced and supplemented a few times in the need for extra space, but that's it), and the monitor was the first to go -- after 4 years of near constant use, averaging about 6-8 hours of active use per day, every day. After the beast's unfortunate demise, it was replaced with a bargain $200 17" lcd, because I'd just recently picked up the car and couldn't comfortably afford a new $900 monitor, so I have my current one as a holdover until I'm in the mood for a sexy widescreen 1920x1200 lcd, and it'll give the market time to lower prices a bit. (though that Apple 30" lcd is definitely drool-worthy, IMO. I just don't have the spare $5,000 for it and the accompanying Mac to use it...yet...)
Depends on who you're talking to. As a person in his late-20's from the NES generation, the rumors about downloadable nostalgia actually caught my interest and got me to look at the E3 report from Nintendo. I could care less about PS3 and Xbox360 and the whiz-bang shiny new graphicness of doom. If there isn't a draw for me, I won't buy the system. Especially if it costs as much as the current generation of consoles did. (I do own a PS, PS2, GameCube, GBA and GBASP, only the SP was new, and it was the retro-styled model)
Nintendo is catering to a different corner of the gamer market with this idea, rather than jump into the fray of the bloodfest with two well-armed opponents.
If there were a way to port downloaded games to a handheld system (say, load them onto a special GBA cartridge with flash RAM), I would love it even more and would probably by a Revolution with subscription within the first week of it's release in the US. I have NEVER had a new gaming system that close to release, and I've been playing video games all my life, starting on my dad's Odyssey2.
For me, inexpensive downloadable nostalgia games would be the killer ap.
Also part of the laws governing salaried employees, the companies are not required to compensate for work put in that comes in excess of the standard 40-45 hour work week that is typically expected.
The company I work for is notorious for abusing this the past few years, especially after the tech market crash in 2000/2001.
For a couple summers, we had mandatory 6 day/week, 10+ hr/day schedules, without any added compensation above our normal salaries aside from the vague promisies of 'comp days,' which by their unofficial status were virutally impossible to redeem.
Fortunately the tech market has rebounded slightly in recent years, so the threat of mass layoffs has abated, and other companies are hiring occasionally so they don't dare abuse us quite so badly because we now do have options to work for someone else.
I thought that's what Slashdot was for...
I think it definitely has something to do with the car driven.
In my car, I can easily get a 4-5+mpg difference between taking it extremely smooth to going hard out all the time.
But then I don't drive a tiny Insight or any other Honda either.
I drive a Dodge Magnum RT, with the 5.7l V-8 Hemi.
Under hard driving (mostly congested suburban, stop-and-go), the mileage gets down to the 14-15 mpg range, yet with careful, smooth pacing and a lot of luck concerning other traffic, I've peaked at a hair under 20mpg for a tank of gas driving in the same area.
Under light-load cruising conditions, the cylinder deactivation really helps cutting off fuel to 4 of the cylinders, basically turning it into a V-4 wagon, and this really helps the mileage.
On the rare occasion I get to put most of a tank of gas to continuous highway riding, my best has been up around 23mpg, but for comparison purposes, that doesn't relate to the typical driving I do.
All in all, different cars have different fuel consumption rates, some drastically moreso than others.
Seriously, why they would wait so long when OS X 'Tiger' was announced months ago, I do not know.
Maybe they're just trying to get their name out there, I hadn't thought of or looked at TigerDirect's web site in a few years, as I had found other retailers to buy computer junk through.
It's not like I personally would think that Apple's operating system had anything to do with a mass PC parts vendor.
In America, any publicity is good publicity, and the easiest lately seems to be to target a popular company/person with a lawsuit, irregardless of how frivolous.
Any serious action to prevent Apple's use of the name should have been sought when it was first announced, not wait until the eve of the product launch. This just gives the impression of riding on the coattails of Apple's popularity.