I would never buy the subscriptions that most people buy (YouTube Premium, Netflix or similar). It’s just too easy to pirate.
I don’t know if never.
But I don’t want a smartwatch.
I’ve never carried a watch in general and I don’t see the appeal of it when I carry a smartphone all day anyway.
Smart - anything.
Why do you need a smart doorbell? Why do you need a smart appliance? You’re just inviting waves of survelliance not to mention the bandwidth from all of that shit having to tap into the internet.
Car. I hope I never have to buy a car. They suck.
Holiday decorations. They are just plastic shit. Put a gun to my head, I would already know that every other weekend estate sale is going to have a whole room full of decor that is headed for a landfill. Some psychotics even buy new gimcrack every single year. They are evil, and they need to be stopped.
- A car
- Subscriptions of any kind (except a good VPN)
- New clothes (I always buy used)
- If the app is paid or even freemium I don’t use it.
- Food delivery (Really? $40 for a fucking burger)
- Guess that leaves rent and renter’s insurance which I have to have if I want a roof over my head.
After building my first pc I will never buy a pre built again. I might never buy a pc again (pc of thesius!)
At some point if you decide you want a significantly newer or more powerful CPU or GPU (for example), there’s a solid chance you’ll need to replace the motherboard or the power supply. At that point, we’re playing Theseus.
Then again, mine was a 10 year old budget build and my hobbies changed significantly, so you might not actually need to upgrade at all if your computing needs aren’t hungry.
Yeah, replacing the motherboard is when I begin to consider building a new one and repurposing my current one. Because if I’m replacing the mobo, I’m probably going to have to replace the CPU and RAM, because the sockets will be different. And at that point, I might as well just go ahead and replace the PSU too, so the rating is up to date. Now I can rip out my old GPU and move it over, but that would leave my old build without one… And what if I wanted to use it for something that would potentially need a GPU, like a 4k Plex/Jellyfin server? My cooler can probably be repurposed, at least?
you’re only saying that because you have the one computer
wait until you start running your own servers and whatnot. used prebuilts with some expansion room are the most cost effective
for my gaming pc, though? fuck no. just keep changing parts out as required
wait until you start running your own servers and whatnot
Oh yeah I forgot about that, I’ve already bought several computers by that metric.
I built my PC in 2003. I upgraded it 3 times. I still use the same case.
Smart home devices. IOT devices. Subscriptions to things I paid for at purchase (car stuff like upgraded performance or heated seats)
Tickets to sports events. Yawn.
- Phones on contract payment plans
- New monitors: Maybe my eyes suck, but my set of two 21-inch LCD monitors from 2005 is still going strong
- Third-party meal delivery: I’m fine sitting down with a microwaved meal or some canned soup if I don’t feel like cooking
- A new car every x years: My car of choice is old and relatively cheap, so I could afford to pay in full in cash. Bonus of being spyware-free, so I’ll just maintain it for as long as I can.
- Stuff from Aliexpress, Temu and the like: the user experience is horrendous, customer service is nonexistent, and discount codes are pure gimmicks
New monitors: Maybe my eyes suck, but my set of two 21-inch LCD monitors from 2005 is still going strong
Your eyes don’t suck. You just want to abuse them for some reason. Modern display tech is way easier on your eyes.
How so? I’d expect two monitors showing the same thing at the same brightness would by physiologically identical.
The monitor my work provided me is much more recent and it touts:
- Reduced blue light emissions (thought I don’t know how that should be achieved without affecting color accuracy)
- 90 Hz refresh rate
- Potentiometric brightness control to avoid PWM flicker
Some individuals are much more sensitive to the latter two, but I don’t feel much of a downgrade when I come home to my crappy old monitors, hence I joke that my eyes suck.
I got a OLED monitor and it gives me more eye strain then my old monitor. I’ve tried software and hardware setting and it still persists. Flux, dark mode, high contrast settings, brightness settings. Tried it all, unless there is something I missed.
I use it sparingly now while playing FPS games (picture is amazing by the way, wish my eyes weren’t like this)
My eyes would bleed at the sight of my laptop’s 1366x768 TN panel if I got used to anything better! Those are the “good” monitors haha.
I was with you up until aliexpress.
There’s definitely junk on there, but if you look for high purchase volume plus good ratings you’ll get plenty of high quality stuff (minus the middle-man markup).
Am wondering, how do you complete a transaction on Aliexpress? On Librewolf and Firefox, something always goes wrong for me at some point, usually a bogus security check failing or buttons mysteriously ceasing to work.
Huh… FF is my main browser and I’ve never had an issue. Could it be an extension issue?
A 144hz monitor has been the biggest upgrade to my computer since switching from an HDD to a SSD. It’s that big of a difference.
Yeah, cant go back from that. I have one myself, 30 inch. Everything looks super crisp and smooth on it.
Not as dramatic of a shift, but going to 4k HDR OLED has made me so spoiled in terms of movie watching experience.
I bought a 144hz 4K 32" monitor a few years ago, it wasn’t cheap (800€) but I don’t regret buying it, everything just looks better on it than it ever did on the previous monitor.
Am I the only one that would never change a car? Like you buy one, shouldn’t you keep it for 60 years? Why should anyone want to change a car? I had to change my car once because I’m Canadian so it rusted. It was awful.
Yeah, my 1st car died a rust death due to its winters in Syracuse (basically a Canadian climate). I’m 40 y/o and my 2nd car is still going strong (much to my wife’s dismay)
My last car was 30 years old when I ditched it, the underside was rusted to a point of no longer being safe. Plus the exhaust kept falling off.
my problem is I can’t even find a car to replace my old one. been trying, but when 2012-2014 is the newest model they make of what I want… hard to find for a reasonable price
I just want a small wagon
I might end up looking at newer stuff, but… how tf am I going to avoid shitty touchscreens, spyware, LED headlights, and all that garbage?
I might end up looking at newer stuff, but… how tf am I going to avoid shitty touchscreens, spyware, LED headlights, and all that garbage?
And going to get harder to avoid a lot of that stuff once enough of them eventually get into the much cheaper levels of the used market. Though by then (and even currently in the higher priced used levels) most of the stuff will no longer even be supported to use (even if you for some reason did find a need to use them and be okay paying).
I got a 2015 Rogue SV that stuff like nav or whatever other stuff doesn’t even have access to the apps from Nissan to set them up. And was like one or two years behind Android Auto or even Apple’s stuff. So can’t just have the main screen just cast my phone’s maps. Really only irritates me when I need to go into settings and see stuff for features I can’t use if I wanted to do so. But the backup camera and phone pairing over blutooth for calls and music works, so that is nice to have and useful daily.
I am torn on replacing the head-unit like I did with my much older cars in the past. But those were so much more easy and “normal” to replace. I mostly worry that since it is much more integrated, that beyond just not flowing with the design, that there would be more problematic issues caused with the electrics (especially after seeing how much just replacing headlights with LEDs messed up a lot of cars when they were not a standard part) and the main computer.
Had really randomly bad issues with my last car’s computer towards the last four or five years that I never had with much older cars before. But is also possible that aside from my much more abusive driving while being younger, that I just hadn’t had something with any computer element (just the main one as it wasn’t anything built-in with lots of features.
ewwww LED headlights
As a fan of sedans and hatchbacks…car shopping is very interesting right now
how so? like just because nobody fucking makes them anymore?
Yup many manufactures stopped making anything other than trucks and SUVs in the US, and if that doesn’t make it enough of a challenge, many buyers (especially locally to me) prefer larger vehicles so I have fewer used options to choose from (and I’m too cheap to buy a new car)
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Slate Truck/SUV ends up being just marketing hype, but I’m keeping my eye on it since they promise a minimalist EV where you plug in the smarts in the form of your own smartphone. Otherwise, it’s just a dumb EV, which is how I’d keep it.
I am ready to be disappointed by it, but I’m not ignoring it. hope they can achieve it
This guy frugals.
To this day, I’ve never been tempted to buy a nice display, I’m right there with you. Like, I go to electronics stores for whatever and am dazzled by the bright colours on the modern ones, but not enough to need it when I’m posting on Lemmy, let alone pay an arm and a leg for it.
Lottery tickets.
They’re basically just a tax on the dumb. But man the slogans — all you need is a dollar and a dream, you gotta be in it to win it, etc. — sheer marketing genius.
Its not about the odds. Youre temporarily renting hope in a hopeless world.
I call it the stupid tax. I pay it knowing I won’t win but it would be nice to get some fuck you money.
I don’t mind spending 10 a month to maybe pay off my house years early.
The lottery people aren’t looking for one person to buy all the tickets.
If you are buying 10 a month and a significant amount of people think like you then they are going to make bank on that.
If you win I expect a “Fuck You” reply and a picture of a ridiculous amount of cash
At least it is a crown corporation so the money goes to the province not to a private company.
If I ever win, I will track down this comment of yours and show myself posing with an incredibly large pile of loonies($1 coins with a loon on them).
I will buy one but that is it. It enhances the fantasy when there is a non zero chance something could happen even if ridiculously unlikely. That being said all the big, dreamworthy jackpots are no longer a dollar and much like fast food that has become to rich for my blood.
I buy one maybe a few times per year. Its also a very good gift to someone. You get a bit of excitement together and there is always that tiny chance of winning.
That tax goes both ways.
There are moments where the potential payout for a ticket is greater than the value of the ticket.
In that mathematical moment, buy exactly one ticket.
There are moments where the potential payout for a ticket is greater than the value of the ticket.
Has this ever happened in recent history?
In that mathematical moment, buy exactly one ticket.
I’d say buy as many as you can within the amount of money you’re ready to waste. Same as with investing, pretty much.
I’ll buy them as “gag gifts” but not for myself.
Apple anything
You must buy $1600 iphone to support failing US economy.
Please don’t look at all the alternatives that are 3 years ahead in tech and 1/3rd of the cost.
Ahhhh but those devices don’t have ‘the ecosystem’. You know, that bloated software that locks you into apple everything by making a handful of tasks marginally more convenient for the tech layperson.
TBH nowadays android is becoming just as guilty of the walled garden bullshit. We need mobile linux and we need it now.
Hard agree!
The only Apple stuff I use are phone, watch, headphones. I don’t use Google products or services and haven’t for a decade, so it’s my other good option. I don’t wanna fuck around with custom ROMs, and my last phone lasted almost six years.
Windows and Linux for computers. Unfortunately I have a game that’s extremely important to me that is impossible to run on Linux.
Even if you’re not in Apple’s ecosystem, I think iPhones are pretty great phones. Expensive yes, but they last a long time.
Yes, buy a secondhand google pixel, it’s better for privacy/security etc with grapheneOS installed. But if you like apple hardware, nothing wrong with a secondhand iphone
Streaming subscriptions. I swear the average nowadays seems to be like 4 per person because ppl don’t know how to torrent anymore
Yo ho
ppl don’t know how to torrent anymore
I’ll admit I was guilty of this until a few years ago, when I started learning the proper, safer ways.
Any advice? I’d love to stop paying for streaming services
I highly recommend the /c/piracy / /r/piracy wiki. Has guides, advice and links to the better public sites.
See the links on the sidebar of https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy
Others have suggested FMHY and piracy communities, but besides the normal advice of having a trustworthy enough VPN and not g••gling something like “free movie torrent” and just clicking on the first link/links, one thing I’ve learned is just, assuming the file is somewhere around 750Mb, I think, seeing what VirusTotal has to say about it is advised.
Also, avoiding programs like BitTorrent in favor of things like Qbittorrent or Transmission is probably a good step. Last I checked, one of the communities said that at one point BitTorrent, or one of the old torrent clients, had become a virus ridden shell of its past.
Speaking of torrent clients, binding your client to your VPN is a good idea. You definitely don’t want your torrents to continue when your VPN disconnects you for any reason. Different clients may have different ways of doing it, or the setting will be in a different spot, so looking up how to do it for your client is a good idea, if you don’t know how to.
Though, I think this final part is real important for your safety when visiting certain sites to find torrents: have some form of working adblock! Because no reputable business want their ads on a piracy website, you might get caught up in a situation where you might get invisible full-screen ads that will take you to porn sites or other probably virus riddled sites just by clicking, sometimes without any way to get rid of said ads. That, or you’ll get lucky and the site just has normal ad placements, but they’re still not something you should click on.
not g••gling something
If you’re censoring because it’s a horrible company name, I just say “searching”.
Adding to this, anything where I’d be paying a publisher middleman. Avoid whenever possible, pay directly if you’re in a position to support the creator/s of smaller projects.
This also applies to other things, like food ordering and travel accommodation. Some places offer a significant discount if you go directly to them - both of you get a bigger cut.
English speakers (and in some cases even other language speakers) can watch pretty much anything nowadays through free streaming sites. Been binging myflixer for over a year.
✨alternative✨ streaming services are moral.
My country has a huge piracy tradition, we have counterfeit of everything and no one gives a fuck. I have this satellite decoder that let me watch any satellite-broadcasted channel in the world, and the guys who made those are so awesome that they also offer a streaming service they upload everything from all major streaming services, and it’s completely free, no subscription, you just buy their device and you have access to their private streaming
Alcohol, tobacco
Most people go to the supermarket and buy cruelty, torture, violence, atrocity, and slavery.
