End User perspective "continued"

[oldSock]

Right before we start,

Thank you for clicking on the post.

That said please note my writing may contain triggers and stuff you may not like.

If this is the case please click away now.

 

Other then that lets get started.

 

So here we are in 2020 coming to a close and the market is flooded with suggestions of new products and

overviews, reviews and opinions.

 

Now to be clear, i am a user of technology. i use it for my job, i use it for entertainment and i use it for communication. 

I don't care about the newest GPU CPU or what brand it is. For me it is cost-effective hardware that can give me the 

most for my money spend.

 

Now as a starter-up i was confined to the second hand market but as the older hardware are nearing end of production

there is a few good deals to be had as "new" hardware.

 

My Problem is information saturation and how trustworthy all this information can be. A while back i ran into a situation 

that theoretically should not exist and yet it did. Once i started digging around i realized that not a lot of information 

was available to the customer when it comes to durability and returns. More importantly some resellers didn't deal

with the situation correctly or effectively.

 

However many resellers DO handle the situation really well and honestly it is very nice to see how much care they DO

put into helping the customer.

 

So as an end user, what would be a reasonable expectation?

 

Can we expect more from the reviewers side of things?

Example "follow up, real world testing and other real world situations?

How would it effect the reviewer's bottom line?

 

We have to understand that content creation is very demanding. The content produced is normally what is most viewed. 

So i ask again are we "the end user" to blame? Because we are on the internet doing the research clicking the content

and generating the statistics.

 

Should we as "end users" perhaps consider what it is that we are looking for first. Then do searches so that the content

creators can see "statistically" that we want this type of content?

 

All in all, I have to also ask; what is it that we as end users must demand from the companies producing end user goods?

More transparency when it comes to factory faults? Should we perhaps ask for a trade in program? Must customer

protection laws be looked at and sharpened up? Who takes responsibility for what? 

 

This can continue with other questions like the right to repair act, independent environmental impact studies on this 

what is now known as "e-waste"

 

All and all the consumer has to start to seriously consider who it is that they trust for information, what manufacturer

"tick/mark" most of the boxes when it comes to reliability, responsibility and so on. 

 

So the summery here is, We as customers must really start to show active interests in not only what we buy but how all

aspects of that product is handled. Why? Because how these aspects are handled directly/indirectly effect us on many

levels.

 

So if you wish to post any suggestion what you would like to see as a customer/consumer please do so i think it will

make for a interesting read. 

 

Thank you for reading

be safe. :)

[NineEyeRon]

-deleted-

[Letgomyleghoe]

25 minutes ago, oldSock said:

Can we expect more from the reviewers side of things?

no you cant expect more from someone who may not even directly make money for the review, they do what they can and we should be grateful for what they do.

25 minutes ago, oldSock said:

Should we as "end users" perhaps consider what it is that we are looking for first. Then do searches so that the content

creators can see "statistically" that we want this type of content?

 

All in all, I have to also ask; what is it that we as end users must demand from the companies producing end user goods?

More transparency when it comes to factory faults? Should we perhaps ask for a trade in program? Must customer

protection laws be looked at and sharpened up? Who takes responsibility for what? 

yes and no, its you as the consumers responsibility to educate yourself on what youre buying, if you want a trade in program go find a company that offers it (goodluck finding one for pc hardware though) you cant force a company to add a trade in program, we should expect a reasonable amount of transparency but again its your job to make sure the companys not shady and follows good ethics

[oldSock]

4 minutes ago, Letgomyleghoe said:

no you cant expect more from someone who may not even directly make money for the review, they do what they can and we should be grateful for what they do.

yes and no, its you as the consumers responsibility to educate yourself on what youre buying, if you want a trade in program go find a company that offers it (goodluck finding one for pc hardware though) you cant force a company to add a trade in program, we should expect a reasonable amount of transparency but again its your job to make sure the companys not shady and follows good ethics

Trade in programs don't exist but if we do have it, it means the old hardware can be disposed of properly and is why it might be a good thing. That said i found that renting computer hardware is much better because i just renew the contract when it expires. That means i get access to new hardware and don't have to carry the maintenance or upgrade cost. I found this to be the way to go. However I do still own a backup system. This allow me to push my data to it before i have to return anything. It is not the best solution but a working one. Computer Leasing may not be for everyone but when i had the service it wasn't bad. However that said it did lead me into a situation where i had to buy second hand systems to keep going as i couldn't afford the contract renewal at that time. This should also be considered before committing.

[oldSock]

24 minutes ago, NineEyeRon said:

You are overthinking it.

 

I do agree there needs to be a push for better environmental impact thought, can’t go against that.

Yes i do tent to overthink something i will not deny this one bit LOL

[Letgomyleghoe]

1 minute ago, oldSock said:

Trade in programs don't exist but if we do have it, it means the old hardware can be disposed of properly

the only reason why trade in systems exist, is because people will buy the products you trade in, people wont buy pc products that have been previously used the same way they would a phone or car, reselling is the only reason why companies do a trade in program, not for disposal.

 

4 minutes ago, oldSock said:

That said i found that renting computer hardware is much better because i just renew the contract when it expires.

through what company?

[oldSock]

2 minutes ago, Letgomyleghoe said:

the only reason why trade in systems exist, is because people will buy the products you trade in, people wont buy pc products that have been previously used the same way they would a phone or car, reselling is the only reason why companies do a trade in program, not for disposal.

 

through what company?

That is kind of my point. See a lot of hardware does have valuable components that can be re-used/recycled. I don't know if you ever saw how people strip gold from old computer CPUs as but one example so it might be something worth looking at as a fabricator maybe. I wouldn't know, chances are it is not cost effective or perhaps it is. 

 

As for what company? Simply but i live in a country with very few of these business and i am not sure they will appreciate "me" as "i tend to trigger some readers" to post their name here. I don't believe they will appreciate it. But a simple google search with location enabled will probably point you to a few suggestions that you can look at if you really are interested. Fact is it is exactly what I did a few years ago. If i may offer a tip "read the fine print" and assess the risk you are taking first. Also make sure you can install your own hard drives and that you can remove them upon end of contract. That is really important. 

[Letgomyleghoe]

1 minute ago, oldSock said:

That is kind of my point. See a lot of hardware does have valuable components that can be re-used/recycled. I don't know if you ever saw how people strip gold from old computer CPUs as but one example so it might be something worth looking at as a fabricator maybe. I wouldn't know, chances are it is not cost effective or perhaps it is. 

you wouldnt be able to give a discount big enough to call it a "trade in" by just recycling the parts

 

2 minutes ago, oldSock said:

As for what company? Simply but i live in a country with very few of these business and i am not sure they will appreciate "me" as "i tend to trigger some readers" to post their name here. I don't believe they will appreciate it. But a simple google search with location enabled will probably point you to a few suggestions that you can look at if you really are interested. Fact is it is exactly what I did a few years ago. If i may offer a tip "read the fine print" and assess the risk you are taking first. Also make sure you can install your own hard drives and that you can remove them upon end of contract. That is really important. 

yup, and thats why i wont rent hardware, i'll probably pay the price it would cost to buy it outright in the longrun, anddd i cant upgrade it

[oldSock]

1 minute ago, Letgomyleghoe said:

you wouldnt be able to give a discount big enough to call it a "trade in" by just recycling the parts

 

yup, and thats why i wont rent hardware, i'll probably pay the price it would cost to buy it outright in the longrun, anddd i cant upgrade it

In all fairness it is situational. It comes down to "do i need temp equipment for x amount of time" so that "x work can be done". Once done with it all i can simply return the hardware and move on to the next project. So it really is "work flow orientated and time sensitive" It is also about a rented space and what you do with everything once done. Storage also cost money and insurance cost and so on and so on. So really it is about what needs to be done.

 

But  yes owning is better then renting. However again it is situational for me.

[oldSock]

One thing that is worth adding to "owning vs renting" On the business side of things,if you as a business move around a lot to do work in different areas and have to be there short term. It is worth it to consider the following.

 

Facility rent "office, storage, parking space"

Insurance "of office/equipment and alarm system/security"

 

Duration of the contract "can you find someone that will rent equipment on short term for example" This has been a problem in the past. 

 

Then factor in "cost to pack-up, long term storage/insurance on storage VS rent and return" Then I personally found rent and return being the

better solution. That said again it is situational and what works for me may not work for everyone else.

 

It all comes down to the situation.

[unsorted]

15 hours ago, oldSock said:

Can we expect more from the reviewers side of things?

Only if you want to be disappointed.

 

The lone voices....those people who just buy something WITH THEIR OWN MONEY and express disappointment or joy in the item are small potatoes compared to the masses out there whose main interest is not biting the hand that feeds them, viewership, getting free stuff from companies, etc.

 

In many ways, it's simply no different to the magazine and newspaper & TV world of yesteryear. Self-interest trumps all. Instead of being less important than ever to do your own research in today's peer-to-peer connected world, today it's more important than ever.

 

Long-term reliability data is not on anyone's radar either. Not just because it's more work, but because there's always something new to replace your old stuff with.

 

We live in an era of peak waste, where consumables like Lithium-Ion batteries are made extremely difficult for the average user to remove (phones, laptops, etc), as opposed to being easily swappable in the past. We live in an era where we are expected to dispose of items rather than use them long-term.

 

Etc, etc. Everything from light bulbs to batteries to SSDs are designed to die beyond the warranty so the replacement market exists for it. 'Mandatory' software updates slowing older devices to a crawl is all part of that too.

 

I'm convinced that there are also a lot of suppressed technologies out there that can give us so much more, but it's currently not in the Powers-That-Shouldn't-Be's interest to offer it up to the masses. The amount of 'unfortunate' deaths around free energy being one of many examples...

 

....but that might be going off on a tangent.