I fully agree with this philosophy. I kept an eye on local classifieds and scored a brand new Google Pixel 8 for $300 just before the Pixel 9 dropped. I immediately flashed GrapheneOS on it and won’t be upgrading until it genuinely makes sense. With 7 years of guaranteed updates from Google that GrapheneOS taps into, I’m focused on getting the most out of this device.
The Linux and Open Source world often helps users save a lot of money by steering clear of the constant pressure to buy the latest tech, most of which people don’t really need.
I’m using an iPhone SE, of the first generation.
Actually the second one after display damage to the first one which I’ve used for four years. I was able to pick up the second one last year for a bargain. It works just fine, came from a surplus reseller in a-grade condition. I could transplant the healthier battery from my first on to it as its charge doesn’t last for an whole day.
Anyway, I do favor the Apple phones due to the long time they provide official updates to older devices. And the only reason to upgrade to a newer model might be the fact that the 1st generation of SE is effectively not officially supported and isn’t on the newest OS.
Currently the bottom end for support in iOS is the iPhone XR or the SE of the second generation. For iPadOS its 7th gen of devices.
Macs are really good devices, but past 15 years they’ve moved to hardware design which gets “obsolete” quite fast.
I switched away from Macs around 2013, when my 08 Mac Pro was getting a bit old. I gave that to my little brother and upgraded it with 32 gigs of ram and it’s still kinda good with older OSX or Linux. Got myself hackintosh-compatible hardware and built a hackintosh, which I kept upgrading for 4 years until Apple dropped NVidia support and I switched to Linux.
I really love this idea of building my own computer, just the way I like it with the components I want. And now with Arch linux with an OS that keeps on going with rolling updates. No OS reinstalls (unless I totally break my install). Now with a near-perfect case (for my use at least) I only need to upgrade a few components every 4-6 years. Less waste is always good.
It’s kinda the same with iPhones. I used them in the 3G-6 era. Wasn’t quite happy with them cause they had no file manager and lacked some other features that were on Android phones for years before Apple finally implemented them.
Currently I’m on Galaxy S10E, which is like 6-7 years old. Battery life is still quite decent with the original battery. I’m thinking of replacing the battery and holding on to this phone for another 2-4 years. All new phones are HUGE and ugly. My next phone needs to be on the smaller side and with user replaceable battery, which is going to be a thing in the EU in upcoming years. Finally some progress.
In my experience iPhones lasted about 5-6 years before needing a new battery. Mostly what matters is the manufacturer’s software support. Apple does have decent support, but so do many other phone makers like Asus and Samsung. And it’s always smart to not buy the cheapest possible phone. High mid-tier is usually a smart bet.
I’ve been an EOS person for a number of years now - can’t live without pacman and the whole purple world community. Have had it on iMacs and PCs but sad to say, I think EOS found a box that stopped it cold: a very old MacPro … early 2008 beast that still can rock with Arch and ArchBang, but not w/ Endeavouros. Oh well, it was one beautiful beast way back when.
Also sad to see no EOS is possible on the silicon Macs - M1 Mac Mini … putting up with FedoraAsahi obviously, and enjoying that, but still wishin’ and hopin’ and waiting too, for an EOS silicon to rock with. Gotta have hope…
You’re correct about the boosting and heating, but that 7800X3D also has a slab of silicon on top of the cores so that the rest of the die is of equal height to the v-cache. That also diminishes heat transfer. My old NH-U12A air cooler was barely getting hot on my 5800X3D while the CPU was running quite hot. Switched that out for a 13700K and it started heating up properly again, despite them having similar power draw during gaming workloads.
Personally I settled on my 14900KS. Why? Because I wanted top notch productivity performance, an i9, a KS and Intel’s last “Core i” CPU - though, the biggest reason is it was $200 cheaper than AMD’s 7950X. Lunatic pricing from AMD here, they’re not the only ones with 16 core CPUs anymore. I did not go for X3D as I barely game, and prefer having more raw productivity performance. As for the GPU I settled on the 7800 XT that I bought in favor of my 4090 because Linux & Wayland.
I don’t care about PC hardware anymore and what I have now is way more than I thought I’d ever have or need in my lifetime. I’ll use it until it breaks. All new releases seem like buggy disappointments and the tech enthusiast community is tiring to speak to sometimes… no, most of the time. They also seem to have tunnel visions and enjoy echo chambers, and their hardware is ‘the best’.
I’m way more interested in messing around with my brand new Arch installation.