Episode: 1559
Title: HPR1559: We don't always need new gear.
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr1559/hpr1559.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-18 05:07:13

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Hello, hacker public radio.
It's been a while since I've done an episode.
My name is Nightwise. I'm actually the host of the Nightwise.com podcast.
A podcast about hacks, tips and tweaks for cross-platform geeks for people who use multiple operating systems and slide from one OS to the other.
I am in my car at the moment. I am as usually stuck in traffic on my way to work and I thought it would be a good idea to record a small HPR about what's on my mind these days.
One of the things that's on my mind these days is getting new gear.
I have started up my own freelance consulting company and because of that I need to buy some new gear.
I need to make investments and I need to buy some new gear to get my things that I do in my consultancy.
My freelance consultancy gig done. So basically buying the essentials of what I need.
A phone, a laptop, a tablet, stuff like that.
Now, the funny thing is I privately own a phone, a tablet and whatever I need.
Of course, I'm a geek. I own several phones, several tablets and multiple machines.
So I have been going through this registry. We all go through when we want to buy new stuff, which I call new stuff for play.
New stuff for play is the act of going online and researching in detail the myriad of products that are out there that you can buy.
What their specifications are reading hours of reviews and then ultimately deciding slash getting the device that you want.
This is something that takes up a lot of time is somehow very entertaining to do but is not very productive.
So when I once again caught myself reading the umpteenth review of the Microsoft wedge keyboards,
which I selected as a possible candidate to match my upcoming new tablet purchase going for a tablet with a keyboard combo for quick and dirty email typing,
I kind of stopped myself. I stopped myself and I said, what am I doing? I am spending hours and hours online researching new stuff.
Now, you need to research when you're going to buy new stuff. That is of course very, very important.
But what I did find out is that I was reading specifications of products and thinking up ways I could use that.
And that's when I said this is silly. I should have a list of requirements before I go into this.
And I did, I mean, I stepped back and I started thinking, why do I need a laptop for? What am I going to use it for?
What do I need a tablet for? What am I going to use it for? And what do I need a phone for? And what am I going to use it for?
There are some valid requirements that you can have. This is what I need and this is what I require. Good.
But then you go online and you read out these reviews and you read out these product reviews and what people say about them and you watch demo videos on YouTube.
And you know, they present all of these functionalities and you go like, oh yeah, I could do that with it and I could do that with it and I could do that with it.
For example, when I was looking for my laptop, I went like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I need that 16 gigabytes of RAM to run virtual machines.
And then I thought, how many times do I run virtual machines on my laptop on the road?
Because you know, it's all connected. Where am I going to use it? How many times? What am I going to do with it?
Where am I going to use it? What do I really need it for? And then there's one question that we kind of forget.
And that is how often are we going to use it?
When I bought my previous big laptop, my investment, that was I guess two to three years ago when I bought my MacBook Pro.
It's a great machine. I have pimped it with 265 gig SSD drive throughout the optical drive, moved my 500 gigabyte spinning disk drive in there, opened it up throughout the RAM and punched 16 gigabytes of RAM in there.
And until this day, that machine is performing admirably.
What do I do with that machine? Well, I do everything with that machine. I blog, I surf the internet, I record audio, do my podcast and video.
It's a dual booting machine, so I can also run Linux on it. And it's basically a little bit of a one stop shop.
So when I went looking for my new machine, which I need to buy for my company, I also started thinking about what am I going to do on that machine?
Well, it's going to be my main machine, so I'll probably be doing some video editing on it. I'll probably be doing some audio editing on it.
You know, this machine will see fairly hefty use. And for me, that validated my requirement of buying a hefty machine.
Good, that's probably what it's going to be. I'm still, you know, a little bit on the fence about the screen size, whether I'm going to get an 11 inch MacBook Air, which I pimped out or a 13 inch MacBook Pro.
And then of course, there's that question, how are you going to use it? Well, the 11 inch MacBook Air is going to be a light on the road machine that I type on, while the 13 inch MacBook Pro would be my main workhorse that would do basically everything.
So then I said, yeah, but with the MacBook Air, the 11 inch, I need eight gigs of RAM at least and an i7 processor to run virtual machines on it. And there's, there's the mistake that I made by thinking, I'm going to run virtual machines on this little MacBook Air.
Because of the screen size, I'm probably not going to use it like I would use a 13 inch laptop.
It's just smaller and running VMs on it. I could, I could spec the machine up at how many times would I do that.
So that's something that we should always try to catch ourselves on when we go buy something.
Think of where you're going to use it and what you're going to do with it before you go online.
With my tablet, it's kind of the same thing. I went like, what do I want out of a tablet? Well, I want to be able to consume content.
Good. I want to be able to consume content offline. Good. I need a good screen. Good.
Am I going to use it as a main machine on the road? No, probably just as it's a secondary machine. Good. Fine.
Now, right now, I have an XS7, which, which is a little, is a tablet that I adore.
So I went out looking for another tablet. And, you know, you have your specifications where you want good screen, good resolution, comfortable size, not too heavy.
Possibly preferably extendable storage because I want to put a lot of movies on there. And yeah, that'd be probably it.
So, you know, I surfed around spend hours and hours looking at all kinds of tablets in different form factors, debating whether I could get 10 inch or 8 inch or whatever.
And then I came across the Galaxy Note. No, sorry, the Samsung Note Pro 8.4, which to me was a nice device and it did what I wanted it to do.
So my requirements list was, you know, I'll be able to run Android and all of the Android apps. Yes, check. Have a fairly good battery life.
It needs to be have a battery life of at least a day. Yeah, okay. Check. Good resolution. Check. Be able to consume content on it. Check extendable storage. Check. You know, it takes all the boxes.
And then I took a look at my Nexus 7, which had all of those, which actually matched all of those requirements as well. My current tablet matched them all, except for the fact that it didn't have extendable storage.
And then I thought, how many times do I use that extendable storage? And then I took a look on what was on my tablet. And basically I have some TV shows on there.
And I have them into 32 gigabytes of memory. I bought a 32 gigabyte version of my tablet. And, you know, there's some whole shows on there that I have put on there for, you know, a good couple of months ago.
So I thought, wait a minute. I'm telling myself that I need expendable storage because I want to put movies and TV shows on my tablet. And my current tablet doesn't have extendable storage.
But why do I use that extendable storage for ultra-store TV shows? Well, apparently on my older tablet, I am not really running into any problems with storage because the TV shows that are on there have been on there for quite a while.
So if I delete the ones that I watch and I put new ones on there, it will be fine. I don't have a shortage of storage. I mean, I can refill the content faster than I can consume the content.
So basically, the storage that I have is enough because I will be near a computer every, you know, every day where I can put new content on.
Unless I'm going to go into the Sahara for six weeks to watch, I don't know, old reruns of Star Trek on my tablet, I don't think that the current storage that I have is not enough.
And that's where I thought, you know, what about the laptop? And then I took a look at the laptop. What do I want to do with my laptop? Well, I want to do this video editing, audio editing.
Does it do it? Yes. Is it as fast as the new machine? No, probably not. It will, I guess, make a difference of perhaps 20 minutes or 25 minutes when I encode a piece of video.
All right. Do I encounter speed problems on a daily basis? No. Do I encounter speed problems when the encoding process takes a little longer than when I would do it on the new machine? Well, no.
Do I feel that I have problems in running SSD, sorry, in running virtual machines? No. Do I really miss that retina display? No. So is my current laptop actually still good enough? Well, yeah.
And that's when you start to see it, that everything that's online, podcasters who do reviews, articles, reviews on an gadget, I don't know, YouTube reviews, online stores, eBay, Amazon, canoes, what, it's all geared toward selling you stuff.
And that is something that we sometimes forget. We are being sold stuff constantly and not only by Google ads and God knows what we are into a selling mentality.
The internet is becoming this, well, it's not becoming this, it's always being this, but the geek culture is becoming this, I don't know, selling machine somehow, somewhere, people hijacked the geek community, if I call it like that, and turned it into a selling machine because we are doing reviews and guilty of that as well.
We are doing reviews about applications in hardware and how to use them and stuff like that, but we seldom ask ourselves the question, when we review new product, slash service, slash application, X, Y, Z, do we really need this?
And perhaps that's something that you might want to think about, next time you go to Walmart or Best Buy or you surf on Amazon, do I really need this?
And do I do, does the gear that I have, it will is that able to cut it? And there used to be a time where your old Pentium 1 just couldn't cut it when it came to running, I don't know, Windows 2000.
There was a time where you just couldn't run game XYZ with your current video card, but when I take a look at the speed that machines have these days, we are seldom running into situations where you actually physically are impossible or are hindered to do a certain task.
Yes, perhaps you needed a new processor to go from Word 97 to Word 2010, while I hope so.
But, you know, ever the last couple of years have you ever said, oh my god, I really, really, really need to get rid of this machine because I can't do my work on it anymore, I need a faster machine.
When I take a look at tablets, the speed tests on tablets, I mean, come on, what are you going to do, surf Facebook at lightning speed?
I think that a Tigra 3 and a Tigra 4, if those exist, sorry, I might just be making stuff up, will be just perfectly capable of running Facebook at the speed that you wanted to.
And if you are really, really, really bothered with the fact that your tablet is not fast enough because you want to run game XYZ, will buy a friggin console.
So, sometimes we tend to tell ourselves we need the latest thing because it's there and it's not, and that's not the case.
I challenge you to write down on a piece of paper or tablet or a notepad or a text file or, I don't know, on the back of a naked lady, what you really do with technology.
If you're on the cusp of buying a new thing or a new tablet thingy or a new laptop or perhaps even a new console, write down what you really want to do with your technology.
Then write down where you find limitations and then write down how many times you do it.
I want to run VMs. How many times? Once a month? Once a year? I want to edit full HD multi-camera video.
When? Once a year lifetime or two times a day? Because frequency is very important.
Then I want you to take a look at your new gear and tell me where your new gear takes the boxes and where it can help you do these things.
And then just before you start buying your new gear, I want you to turn around and take a look at your old gear and treat your old gear as if it were new gear.
I did that with my laptop and my tablet. I re-researched the specs on the Nexus 7. I re-read reviews on the Nexus 7.
I researched that MacBook Pro, I think it's a 2010 model that I have. And I read reviews about that and those reviews are three years old.
And when I read those reviews, I said, wow, that's a great machine. I want that. Well, guess what? I already have it.
I challenge you to read the review of the new thing you have and to read the review of the thing that you already...
Sorry, to read the review of the new thing you want to get and reread the review of the old thing you already have with the same enthusiasm.
And you will probably be stunned with amazement at the fact of how much your old gear can still do for you.
So be aware that we are in a society that we are on an internet that is geared towards selling you stuff.
And it's not only obvious when Amazon makes a phone to sell you stuff. I mean, this was done by Apple as well,
a phone to sell you music and apps by Android, by Google to sell you ads and to sell your information.
These are all just very expensive shopping carts we have in our back pockets.
Our tablets are probably the same things. Our laptops are probably the same things.
When we go online, you know, reviews, websites about stuff, product websites, social media, it's all geared to sell you stuff.
And sometimes we lose ourselves in that. We lose ourselves in the illusion that we need the latest and biggest new things and if possible, two of them.
Now, I'm a European and I feel I sense that we are a little bit more relaxed in that culture of getting stuff than some of the American friends that I have.
So depending on where you live, it might even be worth. But being a freelance consultant and coming from a line of entrepreneurs we are, my family,
it goes back to 100 years of being independent salespeople and stuff like that.
The biggest secret that I learned is that the best way to sell stuff is not to sell stuff.
The best way to sell you those steak knives is not by saying, here are steak knives, they are awesome, buy them.
No, it's by giving you the illusion that, no pun intended, your current steak knife doesn't cut it anymore.
And that perhaps one day you will need to do a task where you need to cut something and your current steak knife will not be able to cut that anymore.
It's perfectly able to do it right now. The task where your steak knife, current steak knife is inadequate is not going to be anytime soon and the chances and frequency of that happening are both very low.
But if I can plant the seed in your mind that you need a new steak knife, then I've made a good sell because that's how the internet works.
And sometimes I think that the internet used to be for different things, it used to be for learning things, it used to be for communicating.
But it used to be for porn, for crying out loud, but now it's a lot about selling you things, a lot.
So when you're surfing, researching, and spending hours watching YouTube videos, and reviews about a $50 keyboard, try to stop yourself and think about what it's really about.
And close down the review site, go on to Wikipedia and learn something, watch a 10 video, listen to a podcast that kind of focuses on the stuff you have and how to use it instead of enticing you to buy new stuff.
Ask yourself the question, do I really need this before you go out and find out why you need it?
That's something that you should know in advance. Why do I need it? That's not something the reviewer is going to be able to tell you, that's something you must be able to tell yourself.
And once you've got that down, take a look at the gear that you have, maybe it will suffice just brilliantly.
And there is no shame in repurposing old hardware. There is an art in repurposing and holding on to old hardware.
Any dumb flock of sheep can go into a store and buy stuff and pretend that they need it.
It's only a real geek and a real craftsman and a real hacker, if I can say that, has the ability to circumvent that contraption of trying to sell you things.
When you're a real true geek and a master of your technology, you will be able to fulfill your requirements on your current gear or on the gear that you choose and not on the gear that the salespeople tell you you should probably use.
I'll close off with a beautiful quote from Star Trek, of course, where Spock says, having is not as pleasing as wanting.
It's not logical, but it's the truth.
My name is Knightwise.
I host of the Knightwise.com podcasts.
We deal with hacks, tips, and tweaks for cross-platform geeks.
You can find us on www.kniGHTWISE.com
From the car in Belgium, and at a sunny dawn, this was Knightwise for Hack or Public Radio.
It's signing off. Goodbye!
You've been listening to Knightwise. You can find more articles and the Knightwise.com podcast at www.nightwise.com
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The podcast with hacks, tips, and tweaks for cross-platform geeks.
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