Ugh, the latest step in the "get family members a working laptop" saga might be my having to recommend a MacBook Neo. I very much don't want to, because that then means teaching a whole new set of skills around how to stay safe in the OS duopoly, and how to dodge all the AI integrations there, to say nothing of Tim Apple going all in on Trump.
But the affordability difference between $600 and $2,000 is just too big to ignore. I don't know how they've kept costs down with AI-driven shortages.
At least with a desktop, you can kinda get by by buying components and assembling yourself, so that you never need to worry with Windows or macOS, but laptops and phones are just so much more depressing still.
If I want to tell someone with approximately $1k of budget how to get a working laptop (which, critically, for a less technically skilled user means I cannot recommend either Windows or macOS lightly; the skills to safely use either are nontrivial), there's just nothing these days.
Once you get to $2k in budget, there's options again! Not great options, and I want to cry at how much more expensive those options are than they used to be, but still. It's that lower end that's just... gone.
And yes, buying used is an option, but I'm really aiming at someone who doesn't want to maintain their machine. Someone who doesn't want to have to clean up crapware and slopware with every update, or fix different components that have started having issues.
@xgranade @mcc Following this thread now because I'm going to need to replace some equipment sometime in the next year or so. I'm running my game on two mini desktops right now and I'd like to switch to laptops so I have less to carry and set up, and a bit more horsepower to run to #DJ software I just invested in, as I'm branching out to that and #karaoke .
And yes, the whole price-gouging aspect of AI and the other antisocial bits they are shoehorning into the tech is absolutely maddening.
Cassandra is only carbon now
mcc
atomictrivia