That assessment sounds right. I think we just need to stay vigilant as consumers. We have defeasible reason to trust Apple right now. But we’ve seen, especially recently, what happens when we let corporations take advantage of that hard earned trust for short term gain.
SkepticalButOpenMinded
joined 2 years ago
Yeah there’s more intellectual diversity on the democratic side. When I meet a right winger, it feels like I know what 90% of their opinions are going to be. Whereas Dems have everyone from pro-corporate neo-liberals to European style lefties.
That said, I doubt there’s “not many things that more than half of Democrats agree on.” Abortion rights, Trump being guilty, taxing the rich, universal healthcare, climate change, protecting voting rights, etc. enjoy overwhelming agreement. As in 70-90%.
There’s disagreement too of course: defunding the police, trans rights, reparations… but even these have 60-70%+ support amongst Dems.
I honestly can’t think of any other topic that Democrats disagree with each other as strongly about.
I think people who were frustrated with him completely misunderstand. The alternative to Joe Manchin isn’t a more normal Dem. It’s no Dem at all. He was a bonus vote, who helped keep control of the senate, allowing Dems to set the legislative agenda and approve judicial appointments.
And frankly, the alternative isn’t even a normal Republican. West Virginia is one of the reddest states in the country with a partisan lean of R+35.5! Joe Manchin will likely be replaced with a super right wing ideologue. Dems had no right to expect more from Manchin.
I agree. It was an anti-Trump vote, not a pro-Biden vote.
I think that decision makes sense.
What you said got me worried, so I looked into the claim that it is "tracking all your behavior for advertising purposes and whatever else Apple decides". That's a convincing concern, and you've changed my mind on this. I don't see any evidence that they're doing anything close to this level of tracking — the main thing they seem to track is your Mac App Store usage — but they may have the potential to do so in the enshittified future. That gives me pause.
I agree with that. I think there are cheaper laptops, where you can spend less to get less. Not everyone needs a metal body and all day battery life.
I didn’t claim that Apple is doing anything to be “generous”. That seems like it’s moving the goal posts. Say, are other PC manufacturers doing things out of generosity? Which ones?
Even the M2 and M3 Macs are a good value if you want the things they’re good at. For just a few hundred more, no other machine has the thermal management or battery life. Very few have the same build quality or displays. If you’re using it for real professional work, even just hours of typing and reading, paying a few extra hundred over the course of years for these features is hardly a “scam”.
You didn’t elaborate on your “spyware” claim. Was that a lie? And now you claim it’s “known” that Apple limits hardware and software. Can you elaborate?
That’s too simplistic. For example, the entry level M1 MacBook Air is hands down one of the best value laptops. It’s very hard to find anything nearly as good for the price.
On the high end, yeah you can save $250-400 buying a similarly specced HP Envy or Acer Swift or something. These are totally respectable with more ports, but they have 2/3rd the battery life, worse displays, and tons of bloatware. Does that make them “not a scam”?
(I’m actually not sure what “spyware” you’re referring to, especially compared to Windows and Chromebooks.)
This is an incredible map!
That’s of Democrats, not the nation as a whole. I can’t think of any other policy issue that has split the party so thoroughly. The split is deeper than in the past, which is potentially good for Palestinians, but bad for Biden, no matter what policy he chooses.
I mean, almost half the members of his own party disagree with him, not the nation as a whole. If this doesn’t go away, it is not good news.
The old adage come to mind that, “The left fall in love, and the right fall in line.” The right will more reliably vote for “their guy”, but I’ve seen so many losses on the left because of disenchantment.
Yeah it doesn’t make sense to always wait, but I also disagree with people who say “there’s always something around the corner, so may as well buy immediately, even mid-cycle.” The middle ground for minimizing FOMO is: buy immediately after a new release.