When I was given the approval for a new work laptop, I was going to go Mac for my Windows and Linux use... our former VP of Engineering called the Macbook (at the time) the best Windows laptop. But I do graphics work, and the programs I use are all certified to work with Nvidia, and Apple had just switched to ATI, so I ended up with a Dell XPS... however, I agree with you - I otherwise would be typing this on a Mac right now and, on the whole, don't think there'd be a huge difference.
But that's way more than I ever had anyway - even before I cut the cable (or satellite, in my case), I didn't get premium content from HBO, Starz, Showtime, and I don't even know what BritBox is. I already had Amazon Prime for shipping, so I was going to have that anyway, and I already had Netflix. The only thing I added was Hulu. Both Netflix and Hulu have a lot of movies, so I don't know why I'd pay more for one of the other services except to get the most recent stuff and, frankly, on the occasional (once or twice a month, tops) we want to watch something new, we just pay for it on Amazon. So that's like another $8 - $10 month, I get a ton of movies, including a couple of new releases.
The problem is, even without sports, news, or local channels, you're still missing a lot of the "good" network content, like recent episodes of AMC shows.
Hulu is pretty good for that, but there's too much missing to make it a suitable replacement. Still, I'm a patient guy, and I can wait for the full season of The Walking Dead. I don't HAVE to watch it now.
I've actually very disappointed with the lack of content on Hulu. Right when I signed up, they had all the new syfy shows, several major companies - including Turner Broadcasting had made heavy investments into it - Hulu is actually owned jointly by most of the big U.S. networks (Turner, NBC Universal, ABC/Disney, Fox - yet there's a ton of content from those networks that they don't show.
When I joined, SyFy was touting Hulu as the way to watch their content online. Within a month after I subscribed, they pulled most of their content. Hulu is doing the same thing as Netflix - more and more exclusive content. And it's not all bad - I've enjoyed a lot of the Netflix and Hulu content, but it's not why I originally signed up. I'd pay double for Hulu and drop Netflix if that had more recent episodes of the shows I like - instead I have to wait for the next year to get full seasons on Netflix, if I get them at all. It's not a complain - it's just the way it is. If it bothered me that much I'd go back to DirecTV and DVR everything I wanted.
I agree - products are everywhere you look, but now that one appears in a TV show, it's product placement and "ruins" the show. People love their crap and pay extra for shirts, stickers, etc., just to show it. But here's the thing - if you have to choose product placement or commercial break, which do you pick? And there's only one right answer.
Agreed... just like plane crashes, it could be catastrophically bad, but also just like plane crashes, it would probably be so rare that it's still safer than driving.
... and then you go on to speculate. However, I'm referencing what the summary actually said while you're coming up with stuff all on your own. Yes, it's all speculation, but taking over cookie preferences, even third party, is not something I want someone else deciding for me.
I disagree... TFS clearly says the complaint is that Apple is replacing user control of cookie preferences to something Apple controls. That doesn't sound like something I want.
So in the post I was responding to you were just being a douchebag? I know you don't need slimport to display to a TV, it's one of the many ways people can stream to a TV... but if you actually follow the thread, you understand why I was specifically mentioning slimport.
I love science, I love astronomy, I love learning about our universe.... but what does finding this particular star really get us? I'm not being facetious, here. Proof of what they saw? And researchers spend years finding stuff like this, but I don't see benefits - "It's been like searching for a needle in a billion haystacks," and for what?
And for the record, in case it's not obvious, you're treating my replies as if I'm suggesting this is something everybody wants or needs - I'm not, I'm suggesting you don't know what everybody else wants or needs, so if they choose to upgrade their phones that often, then it's their choice.
No, you don't need USB-C to connect to a bigger screen, you need USB-C to connect to a Mirabook and, no, I'm not suggesting a laptop-like experience with your phone can replace an actual PC, but it can do 95% of what most people do - surfing, email, web-based office apps, etc., like a Chromebook - a Chromebook can't replace an "actual" PC either, but people by them because it suits their needs.
Actually, yes. People use slimport to display streaming content, like netflix, on their TV. Why would that surprise you? I travel for work and can watch a movie or show in my hotel room on the big screen... or people don't want to buy separate Roku's or FireTV's or whatnot. Why is that useless?
They probably DID roll the fee into the initial invoice, even if it wasn't explicitly mentioned, and are just trying to extort a little more money. But supposition aside, if it wasn't in the contract, then it wasn't in the contract. Case closed.
At retirement age, depending on how good finances were otherwise (mortgage paid off? No debt?), given current costs, that should last more than a year, but I'd say at least a year.
You think smart phones haven't changed enough in 4-5 years? Sure, if you're just using it as a phone and texting people. If that's what you do, then good for you, jack!
Meanwhile, some people (not me) carry around a portable supercomputer that has enough storage for all the apps they use plus all the videos and 10k+ pixel pictures they take; they do simple video editing on the fly, and some people even dock their smartphones to use as their computer and end up saving $100's over people that buy a dedicated laptop to do what a Chromebook could do. According to Miraxess (makers of Mirabook), the Samsung S8 has more processing power than a Macbook Air.
I'm somewhere in the middle... I find the idea of the phone being my computer very compelling, even if it's not practical at the moment given my work.
The bottom line people like to answer questions like this with snarky "you're a dumbass" replies when everybody has different needs and wants, so it all depends on what you want/need to do with it. People with few requirements can save a lot of money.
Are you kidding? $1000 * interest for 40 years + $1000 * interest for 37 years + $1000 * interest for 34 years... if you think that total cost from potential retirement savings is anywhere near $13k, you need to revisit econ 101.
I don't know what car you bought, but you got ripped off if your car payment was roughly double the lease payment on, oh, say a five year loan/lease. You also neglect to mention that you were probably able to trade in that 11 year old car that should probably have been worth a couple thousand in trade in, whereas at the end of two leases you have zero.
Yes... and no, at the same time. I admit to being on my third "smart" phone, and will likely buy a new one when my plan is up. Generally, when it comes to things like this, I'm of the mind to buy it and keep it as long as humanly possible. Last car was traded in after 13 years only when faced with some costly repairs.
I admit I was envious of things like touch screens and backup cameras, integrated bluetooth (although I bought an adapter for my older car), but none of that is enough to flush a lot of money down the toilet.
The problem I have with the current phone is that there are some features that it either doesn't have, or aren't fully developed yet. The industry moves so fast - these were not features I cared about when I got the phone. In this case, USB-C with slimport capability would allow my phone to easily be used with docks or shell laptops (I'm specifically looking at Mirabook). I didn't even know my phone had slimport capability when I bought it - it's not advertised, but it's also not USB-C.
Even if that weren't looming on the horizon, when we got our recent set of phones (the whole family), three of us opted for the model I have now - and two of them got black-screens-of-death and had to be replaced. Mine is the only one that didn't fail, but my wife and son, while they got replacements, were angry at some data loss and want to get new phones when the contract is up. I've experienced random shutdowns and stuff... not very often. But I'm dreading a sudden loss of phone in this day and age, especially if I'm working remotely (traveling for the company). The last of us, my daughter, just outright broke her phone completely. Entirely her fault. Got a cheap replacement (discounted even more because of lock screen ads...nice punishment). But it's a crap phone,
overall, so she'll be getting a new one, too (these will be Christmas presents, so I'm not really complaining).
So... I don't know. I may keep my phone, I may not, I haven't decided yet. But in this case the phones may not change a whole lot every year, but even things like which kind of USB port start to matter in some circumstances, and they are evolving faster than cars.
Status symbols? No, not for me... definitely for my daughter, though. I will admit that. But as long as what she picks is commensurate in price with what the others are getting, it's her choice.
Exactly. The problem is people want different things. Some people consider it worth it to have a new car every 3 to 5 years or so, so they lease. Fine - it's their money, it's what they want. But to argue that it makes financial sense to lease because it's a depreciating asset is moronic - you're always paying the maximum depreciation (the first few years) when you lease.
But, at this moment in time, you have no idea about what MS wants, but it doesn't really matter to you if MS benefits because they're actually giving people what they want so long as MS benefits you can complain about it. The article says NOTHING, gives NO details about anything, so all anyone here is doing is making up straw-man arguments and then attacking MS.
The problem is MS has done a lot of shitty things over the years, and continue to do so with things like forced Windows 10 upgrades and built in spyware included in it. But lately MS has done a lot of good things, too. Yes, the point is to make money, but in more ways now than ever they are trying to make more money by actually making customers happy. That's not a bad thing. Until you know the details about this cross-play "initiative," it's really unfair to make up stuff to complain about.
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When I was given the approval for a new work laptop, I was going to go Mac for my Windows and Linux use... our former VP of Engineering called the Macbook (at the time) the best Windows laptop. But I do graphics work, and the programs I use are all certified to work with Nvidia, and Apple had just switched to ATI, so I ended up with a Dell XPS... however, I agree with you - I otherwise would be typing this on a Mac right now and, on the whole, don't think there'd be a huge difference.
But that's way more than I ever had anyway - even before I cut the cable (or satellite, in my case), I didn't get premium content from HBO, Starz, Showtime, and I don't even know what BritBox is. I already had Amazon Prime for shipping, so I was going to have that anyway, and I already had Netflix. The only thing I added was Hulu. Both Netflix and Hulu have a lot of movies, so I don't know why I'd pay more for one of the other services except to get the most recent stuff and, frankly, on the occasional (once or twice a month, tops) we want to watch something new, we just pay for it on Amazon. So that's like another $8 - $10 month, I get a ton of movies, including a couple of new releases.
The problem is, even without sports, news, or local channels, you're still missing a lot of the "good" network content, like recent episodes of AMC shows.
Hulu is pretty good for that, but there's too much missing to make it a suitable replacement. Still, I'm a patient guy, and I can wait for the full season of The Walking Dead. I don't HAVE to watch it now.
My daughter is on her third run of Gilmore Girls, and my college aged son is binge watching Naruto. For that I'm going to be paying $16/month? Sigh.
I've actually very disappointed with the lack of content on Hulu. Right when I signed up, they had all the new syfy shows, several major companies - including Turner Broadcasting had made heavy investments into it - Hulu is actually owned jointly by most of the big U.S. networks (Turner, NBC Universal, ABC/Disney, Fox - yet there's a ton of content from those networks that they don't show.
When I joined, SyFy was touting Hulu as the way to watch their content online. Within a month after I subscribed, they pulled most of their content. Hulu is doing the same thing as Netflix - more and more exclusive content. And it's not all bad - I've enjoyed a lot of the Netflix and Hulu content, but it's not why I originally signed up. I'd pay double for Hulu and drop Netflix if that had more recent episodes of the shows I like - instead I have to wait for the next year to get full seasons on Netflix, if I get them at all. It's not a complain - it's just the way it is. If it bothered me that much I'd go back to DirecTV and DVR everything I wanted.
I agree - products are everywhere you look, but now that one appears in a TV show, it's product placement and "ruins" the show. People love their crap and pay extra for shirts, stickers, etc., just to show it. But here's the thing - if you have to choose product placement or commercial break, which do you pick? And there's only one right answer.
If you've ever driven with a self righteous prius driver, you'd understand how realistic it is.
True, but the question was about safety. The resulting damage and impact to travel would be higher.
Agreed... just like plane crashes, it could be catastrophically bad, but also just like plane crashes, it would probably be so rare that it's still safer than driving.
... and then you go on to speculate. However, I'm referencing what the summary actually said while you're coming up with stuff all on your own. Yes, it's all speculation, but taking over cookie preferences, even third party, is not something I want someone else deciding for me.
I disagree... TFS clearly says the complaint is that Apple is replacing user control of cookie preferences to something Apple controls. That doesn't sound like something I want.
So in the post I was responding to you were just being a douchebag? I know you don't need slimport to display to a TV, it's one of the many ways people can stream to a TV... but if you actually follow the thread, you understand why I was specifically mentioning slimport.
I love science, I love astronomy, I love learning about our universe.... but what does finding this particular star really get us? I'm not being facetious, here. Proof of what they saw? And researchers spend years finding stuff like this, but I don't see benefits - "It's been like searching for a needle in a billion haystacks," and for what?
And for the record, in case it's not obvious, you're treating my replies as if I'm suggesting this is something everybody wants or needs - I'm not, I'm suggesting you don't know what everybody else wants or needs, so if they choose to upgrade their phones that often, then it's their choice.
No, you don't need USB-C to connect to a bigger screen, you need USB-C to connect to a Mirabook and, no, I'm not suggesting a laptop-like experience with your phone can replace an actual PC, but it can do 95% of what most people do - surfing, email, web-based office apps, etc., like a Chromebook - a Chromebook can't replace an "actual" PC either, but people by them because it suits their needs.
Actually, yes. People use slimport to display streaming content, like netflix, on their TV. Why would that surprise you? I travel for work and can watch a movie or show in my hotel room on the big screen... or people don't want to buy separate Roku's or FireTV's or whatnot. Why is that useless?
Galaxy S4 has USB-C and slimport? Learn something new every day.
They probably DID roll the fee into the initial invoice, even if it wasn't explicitly mentioned, and are just trying to extort a little more money. But supposition aside, if it wasn't in the contract, then it wasn't in the contract. Case closed.
At retirement age, depending on how good finances were otherwise (mortgage paid off? No debt?), given current costs, that should last more than a year, but I'd say at least a year.
You think smart phones haven't changed enough in 4-5 years? Sure, if you're just using it as a phone and texting people. If that's what you do, then good for you, jack!
Meanwhile, some people (not me) carry around a portable supercomputer that has enough storage for all the apps they use plus all the videos and 10k+ pixel pictures they take; they do simple video editing on the fly, and some people even dock their smartphones to use as their computer and end up saving $100's over people that buy a dedicated laptop to do what a Chromebook could do. According to Miraxess (makers of Mirabook), the Samsung S8 has more processing power than a Macbook Air.
I'm somewhere in the middle... I find the idea of the phone being my computer very compelling, even if it's not practical at the moment given my work.
The bottom line people like to answer questions like this with snarky "you're a dumbass" replies when everybody has different needs and wants, so it all depends on what you want/need to do with it. People with few requirements can save a lot of money.
Are you kidding? $1000 * interest for 40 years + $1000 * interest for 37 years + $1000 * interest for 34 years... if you think that total cost from potential retirement savings is anywhere near $13k, you need to revisit econ 101.
I don't know what car you bought, but you got ripped off if your car payment was roughly double the lease payment on, oh, say a five year loan/lease. You also neglect to mention that you were probably able to trade in that 11 year old car that should probably have been worth a couple thousand in trade in, whereas at the end of two leases you have zero.
Yes... and no, at the same time. I admit to being on my third "smart" phone, and will likely buy a new one when my plan is up. Generally, when it comes to things like this, I'm of the mind to buy it and keep it as long as humanly possible. Last car was traded in after 13 years only when faced with some costly repairs.
I admit I was envious of things like touch screens and backup cameras, integrated bluetooth (although I bought an adapter for my older car), but none of that is enough to flush a lot of money down the toilet.
The problem I have with the current phone is that there are some features that it either doesn't have, or aren't fully developed yet. The industry moves so fast - these were not features I cared about when I got the phone. In this case, USB-C with slimport capability would allow my phone to easily be used with docks or shell laptops (I'm specifically looking at Mirabook). I didn't even know my phone had slimport capability when I bought it - it's not advertised, but it's also not USB-C.
Even if that weren't looming on the horizon, when we got our recent set of phones (the whole family), three of us opted for the model I have now - and two of them got black-screens-of-death and had to be replaced. Mine is the only one that didn't fail, but my wife and son, while they got replacements, were angry at some data loss and want to get new phones when the contract is up. I've experienced random shutdowns and stuff... not very often. But I'm dreading a sudden loss of phone in this day and age, especially if I'm working remotely (traveling for the company). The last of us, my daughter, just outright broke her phone completely. Entirely her fault. Got a cheap replacement (discounted even more because of lock screen ads...nice punishment). But it's a crap phone, overall, so she'll be getting a new one, too (these will be Christmas presents, so I'm not really complaining).
So... I don't know. I may keep my phone, I may not, I haven't decided yet. But in this case the phones may not change a whole lot every year, but even things like which kind of USB port start to matter in some circumstances, and they are evolving faster than cars.
Status symbols? No, not for me... definitely for my daughter, though. I will admit that. But as long as what she picks is commensurate in price with what the others are getting, it's her choice.
Exactly. The problem is people want different things. Some people consider it worth it to have a new car every 3 to 5 years or so, so they lease. Fine - it's their money, it's what they want. But to argue that it makes financial sense to lease because it's a depreciating asset is moronic - you're always paying the maximum depreciation (the first few years) when you lease.
But, at this moment in time, you have no idea about what MS wants, but it doesn't really matter to you if MS benefits because they're actually giving people what they want so long as MS benefits you can complain about it. The article says NOTHING, gives NO details about anything, so all anyone here is doing is making up straw-man arguments and then attacking MS.
The problem is MS has done a lot of shitty things over the years, and continue to do so with things like forced Windows 10 upgrades and built in spyware included in it. But lately MS has done a lot of good things, too. Yes, the point is to make money, but in more ways now than ever they are trying to make more money by actually making customers happy. That's not a bad thing. Until you know the details about this cross-play "initiative," it's really unfair to make up stuff to complain about.