Why are you curious about this topic in particular? What’s in it for you? 👀

honestly I don’t feel like gadgets are a thing like they used to be. everything seems to be some variation on a smartphone thing nowadyas. Like I remember gadget sections in magazines and gadget shows and was excitied to see some doodad but now. meh.

Do you still chase peak gadget specs

Not since the last millineum when I was a teenager.

did something quieter win out

How quiet is money? Even when making a lot more of it than I do today, it still never made sense to me to be all the way out on the bleeding edge. I debated for ages before getting my first iPhone and only got two models in a row because I unfortunately broke the first one. I now use devices until they physically die or basically cannot run apps anymore (I have a iPad I got for free that fell into this category; it basically couldn’t even do video anymore which is most of how I used it).

Your post feels like it has a case of slopspeak 🤔

Might wanna get that checked out. If you are indeed a human who wrote those words yourself.

What’s this “still” you speak of?

Chasing the latest specs has never been useful to me. It’s for people with more money than sense.

Absolutely not - privacy, security, open-source stack and avoiding reliance on proprietary US and Chinese tech is where I’m at these days. I’ll happily sacrifice specs if can achieve those.

I also prefer to buy second-hand to lower costs and reduce e-waste.

priorities for me:

1. open-source (increases the likelihood of all the below) or steward-ownership
2. not eco-system locked
3. repairable and/ or has generic parts available
4. longevity reviews and good materials (steel, glass, etc.)
5. price

Back in the day I chased specs coz you noticed the difference, but i just wait for a few cycles now. Ive had my phone since 2020 and will wait until it dies until i upgrade

The upgrades based on specs are artificial money grabs based on impractical psychometric based consumer modelling and planned obsalescence.

As I get older, I’m increasingly prone to abandoning things entirely. This may be my last smartphone.

If the economy was good I would buy good but it’s bad so I buy as good as I can.

For consoles and phones, I’ve stopped caring about screen resolution past 1080p. I have an eye disability that makes it hard to tell the difference anyway. It’s why I haven’t been sold on a Switch 2, I just see it as a paygate

I built my previous computer in 2012 and used it until 2024. Building a new rig in 2024 was like watching the bridge collapse behind me. I don’t think I’m going to meaningfully upgrade my computer for two decades at this rate.

And for phones, all I look for are SD card slots and headphone jacks, so I’m already not getting the best out there. Good, I ain’t paying for that shit anyway.

Products are actually getting worse, more locked down, more enshittified.

Longevity > cutting edge technology

I don’t plan to buy a car built after 2022 ever.

It’s diminishing returns.

At a certain point there’s just no point in jamming in more hardware or making a device smaller.

Back in the day every year brought huge advancements and new features, but we really need to just chill on annual models by now. Let refreshes happen when there’s enough advancement to justify it. Especially for more expensive stuff like cars.

Currently there’s a shit ton of “last year(s) models” all over the country that were built and never sold. But every year a “new model” that’s slightly changed rolls out to justify a higher price.

They’d save a shit ton of money switching to a five year refresh, and all those “new old model” cars would still just be “new” and sell at the same price as one that just came off an assembly line.

But then automakers would lose that dwindling customerbase who buy new every year to have “newest”.

Anyways, the point of all that is I don’t stay up to date on changes. When I need something, I jump back in and virtually always end up picking something that already has a new model out. The premium for best/newest is just never a good idea.

We’re at the point we’re very few people ever get close to utilizing it anyways.

The older I got the more politics began to matter to me, culminating in:

1. Is it available second hand? If yes, buy. If no:
2. Is it available new and made in the EU? If yes or no and looking outside the EU:
3. Can I live with myself giving money to the producer in question, considering ecological and ethical aspects? If yes, buy. If no:
4. Do I, regardless of 3, need* it? If yes, buy. If no, abandon purchase.

Note that 4 is a filter that 1, 2 and 3 are always and continuously weighed against.

If the item passes 1 through 4, I tend to buy the best** that I can afford, in order to get the fullest experience, because YOLO.

*my needs are subject to change based on peer pressure, mental health, laziness, resolve, season and other things. In my society, with my skin color and assigned gender, I am privileged enough so that my needs rarely - if ever - pertain to survival.

**the definition of best depends on the item in question, on its function and my use case. If I’m looking for a lightbulb because I want to increase the perceived coziness in a room, I go for the dimmest and warmest light, while if I’m looking for a lightbulb because I need to see better when working, I go for the brightest and coolest light.