News Survey Shows Consumers Still Plan to Buy Gadgets, Despite Inflation

[Admin]

Only 18 to 24 percent of respondents planned to delay or cancel tech purchases.

Survey Shows Consumers Still Plan to Buy Gadgets, Despite Inflation : Read more

 

[bit_user]

So far this year, I've taken advantage of low prices to make a couple SSD & RAM purchases I wouldn't have otherwise done. If you're curious, the SSDs are discussed here:

Discussion - Datacenter SSDs for Home Lab

With SSD prices near bottoming-out, I got the idea that it's probably a good time to replace some of the older SSDs in various machines I use. I'll be first to admit that none of these is subject to particularly intensive use, but I always like to "over-build" my machines, particularly when it...

forums.tomshardware.com

I'm also in the market for a GPU, but I'm waiting to see what a possible Alchemist+ looks like and I'm also interested in AMD's new mid-tier (i.e. RX 7700 & RX 7800).

I'll probably buy a new monitor, but I'm in no hurry. Maybe towards the end of the year. I commented on this thread with some of the details, if you're curious:

Question - New monitor suggestions ?

Hi, I want to buy a monitor and I can't decide which one will be good for me I mostly playing valorant and counter strike and sometime squad and MW2 my graphic card is RTX 4090 my options that I saw will be good are: LG 32GQ850-B Asus XG27AQMR(and if someone can tell me if it's good because I...

forums.tomshardware.com

My phone is on year 4 and its second battery. The thought crossed my mind to exploit the discounts and replace it now, but I just have a hard time replacing something that truly works well enough for my needs.

Lastly, on the SBC front, I'll probably pick up a RK3588 board, at some point. Right now, the leading contender seems to be the Orange Pi 5 Plus:

Raspberry Pi Alternative Orange Pi 5 Plus Brings RK3588 to the SBC Game

A beefier SoC

www.tomshardware.com

http://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-5-plus.html
​

And, of course, I'll need another 2280 M.2 SSD for it. My current thinking is that the SK Hynix P31 Gold should be an excellent fit, due to its outstanding power efficiency (not to mention the RK3588 only has PCIe 3.0 anyway).

SK hynix Gold P31 M.2 NVMe SSD Review: High-Performance, Unprecedented Efficiency (Updated)

The first SSD with 128-layer NAND, SK hynix’s Gold P31 sets the bar for efficiency

www.tomshardware.com

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

I stopped upgrading my phone years ago.

They can pretty much do all the same things. The only difference is repairability.

If my friends ask me which phone to buy, I always tell them. "Make sure you can easily replace the battery yourself!".

I read on The Verge that Fairphone is finally available in the US. You can replace every single part. It's running on Murena, an OS stripped of every privacy violating Google junk. Their last phone was really good too.

 

[InvalidError]

If my friends ask me which phone to buy, I always tell them. "Make sure you can easily replace the battery yourself!".

A few states and countries have hopped aboard the "right to repair" bandwagon and have mandated or are about to mandate that phones must have user-serviceable batteries. We should be seeing more models where you may only need to mess with a few screws instead of glued-shut screen to swap batteries.

 

[InvalidError]

The piece overreaches in extrapolating this small voluntary sample size to "consumers" at large.

"Consumers are determined to purchase gadgets they NEED."

When you actually need something or at least convinced yourself that you do, not buying is usually not a viable option.

 

[DavidLejdar]

... I read on The Verge that Fairphone is finally available in the US. You can replace every single part. It's running on Murena, an OS stripped of every privacy violating Google junk. Their last phone was really good too.

No, thanks. I paid about 25% of that price for a phone with almost the same technical specs, and I am barely online with it. Which isn't to say that Murena may not have a noble cause, and in the EU the law seems to be more strict regarding data collection. But from that price difference, i.e. a RX 6700 XT can be paid for.

Somewhat an individual matter of course. Some others may easily pay $599 for a phone, to then complain in almost every second comment about newish GPUs not costing $100 at the most. Or some may afford the best of everything. But in my case, I spend more time looking at a big screen than on a small screen - so paying for a phone almost as much as what e.g. the best CPUs cost (which barely get busy running an emulator for smartphone apps), not a feasible option for me.

 

[TJ Hooker]

If people have decided that a purchase is needed, then choosing to not to delay that purchase actually makes perfect sense in an inflationary environment. Inflation means it'll only get more expensive in thr future, so you may as well buy it sooner rather than later, as long as you have the cash to do so.

 

[TJ Hooker]

No, thanks. I paid about 25% of that price for a phone with almost the same technical specs, and I am barely online with it. Which isn't to say that Murena may not have a noble cause, and in the EU the law seems to be more strict regarding data collection. But from that price difference, i.e. a RX 6700 XT can be paid for.

Somewhat an individual matter of course. Some others may easily pay $599 for a phone, to then complain in almost every second comment about newish GPUs not costing $100 at the most. Or some may afford the best of everything. But in my case, I spend more time looking at a big screen than on a small screen - so paying for a phone almost as much as what e.g. the best CPUs cost (which barely get busy running an emulator for smartphone apps), not a feasible option for me.

Unfortunately this seems to be a recurring theme with these types of 'open' phones. Old, slow hardware and/or expensive. I wonder if it's just a matter of economies of scale, or if part of it is that mainstream phone hardware prices are somewhat subsidized by the appstores and/or data collection present on them.

Probably the best, cheap way to get a degoogled android is, somewhat ironically, to buy a used/refurbished Google Pixel phone and flash grapheneos or calyxos.

Edit: But the above doesn't get you the reparability/modularity of the fairphone.

Edit2: The fairphone is also advertised as being environmentally friendly, so there's likely a cost to that as well.

 

[RichardtST]

I stopped upgrading my phone years ago.

They can pretty much do all the same things. The only difference is repairability.

If my friends ask me which phone to buy, I always tell them. "Make sure you can easily replace the battery yourself!".

I read on The Verge that Fairphone is finally available in the US. You can replace every single part. It's running on Murena, an OS stripped of every privacy violating Google junk. Their last phone was really good too.

I am still looking for one with a PHYSICAL OFF SWITCH on the side that completely disconnects the battery. I want to be able to make sure it is absolutely dead when I want it to be. But of course that's why there aren't any. There are no off switches because they want to be always on. How else can they spy on you 24 hours a day?

 

[InvalidError]

I am still looking for one with a PHYSICAL OFF SWITCH on the side that completely disconnects the battery.

I'd rather just be able to physically remove the battery. Having a physical switch on something you stuff in pockets or elsewhere where a finger-friendly switch could easily get randomly switched could be quite annoying. Make the battery so you can put it on backwards (contacts go into the plastic housing instead of the phone's battery contacts) and you can still store your battery inside the phone for protection, convenience and space saving.

 

[GenericUser]

Unless the difference literally comes down to being able to afford rent for the month, or have food on the table, people are still going to be buying gadgets and toys in droves no matter what the economy looks like. "I've got to have it!"

And even for the ones that are struggling to pay the bills, those of them with poor financial skills or impulse control will still buy the latest toy even if it puts them behind on rent for the month.

 

[bigdragon]

I'm still planning to buy tech gadgets. The inflationary market adds pressure to do so sooner rather than later. However, the higher costs do force me to wait for deals or lower the specifications I'm willing to accept. If those deals don't come, then plans just stay as plans and never materialize into purchases.

I get the impression that the number of people willing to spend on tech is going to nosedive right after back to school wraps up. Everyone I know is cutting back now primarily because living expenses have jumped too much. That and some tech manufacturers have had major blunders causing brand damage recently (Asus and MSI in particular).

 

[bit_user]

If people have decided that a purchase is needed, then choosing to not to delay that purchase actually makes perfect sense in an inflationary environment. Inflation means it'll only get more expensive in thr future, so you may as well buy it sooner rather than later, as long as you have the cash to do so.

But, as interest rates are also rising, there's an incentive to delay, depending on when you think you'll be able to finish paying for the purchase.

As a matter of fact, credit card interest rates are typically much higher than the current annual inflation rate of ~6%. That makes delaying a wise choice, if you don't have the cash and can afford to wait.

 

[bit_user]

I am still looking for one with a PHYSICAL OFF SWITCH on the side that completely disconnects the battery. I want to be able to make sure it is absolutely dead when I want it to be. But of course that's why there aren't any. There are no off switches because they want to be always on. How else can they spy on you 24 hours a day?

Most likely, your paranoia is misplaced.

The thing about a phone not being off when it claims to be is that the battery should drain at a similar rate as when it's on and not running any apps. If you don't notice significant battery drain, then I'd assume it really is off.

 

[InvalidError]

But, as interest rates are also rising, there's an incentive to delay, depending on when you think you'll be able to finish paying for the purchase.

Not really: you buy your necessary gadget when you think you need them and delay buying other "less necessary" stuff (like clothing as mentioned in the survey) to compensate.

It is called prioritizing expenses. Stuff you (think you) need take precedence over stuff that would be nice to have.