TBH, the main appeal of Linus's channel is vicarious living.

[minervx]

People like to watch videos of $2000-5000 rigs as fantasy porn, moreso than informative or practical consumer recommendations.  It's vicarious living, watching someone else enjoy luxuries and feeling like we are experiencing it ourself.  To quote Luke, "our most watched video is the review of the GTX 1080 even though most people can't afford a GTX 1080".

 

I'm willing to bet that at least the majority of people who watch those videos have a computer that's crap or dated, possibly running on integrated graphics.  Deprived people think about corvettes and lamborghinis - not toyotas.  Cake - not bread.  Straight hood mentality.

[Guest]

My Toyota has a 1st gen Celeron in it.

[xtasemusic]

I want whats in their actual most popular videos.

 

[Evolution.]

I like to watch expensive cars that I can't afford but when I have money to spend i spend it reasonably on a car i can afford. and cmon I know damn well im not about to drop 6Gs on a pc that gonna be outdated in a few years

[samcool55]

Well few things.

It's nice to know what's out there.

People are allowed to dream, it's perfectly possible people that watch video's of threadripper and 1080ti's are like "i want that" and decide to work for it. which is a good thing.

 

People with decent rigs would be able to properly enjoy games because they have a capable rig to run the game the proper peripherals to utilize the rig properly and the money to actually buy the game.

And the i7 is a really populair cpu and it's not exactly cheap so i think many people have a decent rig.

 

Also, these days it's cheap to get a decent quad-core with 8gb ram, only a proper gpu is today an issue due to all the mining craze.

 

A rig that's capable of running AAA games quite well costs easily less than 1k. Look at scrapyard wars, 980ti's in SLI, i5's, i7's, SSD's, good PSU's, for a bit over 1k, it's insane.

 

If you keep in mind games these days with all the BS can easily cost over 100 dollars, decent systems are relatively cheap actually.

[Tiwaz]

if hardware and gaming is your main/only hobby you can afford a lot if you are willing to work for it. I saved up several years of money (e.g. christmas, pocket money) when i was still going to school and never went to any discos or proms and wasted a lot of money there and in the end i could afford a half decent system for all games

[Evolution.]

1 minute ago, samcool55 said:

Well few things.

It's nice to know what's out there.

People are allowed to dream, it's perfectly possible people that watch video's of threadripper and 1080ti's are like "i want that" and decide to work for it. which is a good thing.

 

People with decent rigs would be able to properly enjoy games because they have a capable rig to run the game the proper peripherals to utilize the rig properly and the money to actually buy the game.

And the i7 is a really populair cpu and it's not exactly cheap so i think many people have a decent rig.

 

Also, these days it's cheap to get a decent quad-core with 8gb ram, only a proper gpu is today an issue due to all the mining craze.

 

A rig that's capable of running AAA games quite well costs easily less than 1k. Look at scrapyard wars, 980ti's in SLI, i5's, i7's, SSD's, good PSU's, for a bit over 1k, it's insane.

 

If you keep in mind games these days with all the BS can easily cost over 100 dollars, decent systems are relatively cheap actually.

i dont agree on 1k being cheap but you can build a fully capable older system for less than $350

[samcool55]

Just now, VenomZ_ said:

i dont agree on 1k being cheap but you can build a fully capable older system for less than $350

1k isn't cheap, but the value for money if you go 2nd hand can be insane. Older hardware, especially high-end, drop in value a lot very quickly and can be picked up for a good price just a few years later.

 

You can indeed build a capable system for 350 bucks if the 2nd hand market is decent. Where i live for example the 2nd hand market isn't great and quite expensive but it's still better than new.

[minervx]

i didn't mean to comment on people's consumption choices.

 

i only stated that Linus's channel is more of a cooking channel than a tech review channel

[Guest]

1 minute ago, minervx said:

i didn't mean to comment on people's consumption choices.

 

i only stated that Linus's channel is more of a cooking channel than a tech review channel

I like my GPUs baked but with a little solder to spice things up every now and then.

[samcool55]

2 minutes ago, minervx said:

i didn't mean to comment on people's consumption choices.

 

i only stated that Linus's channel is more of a cooking channel than a tech review channel

Well yea it's LTT, it's similar to top gear, they do nice things with cars but if you would want to buy one you don't go to top gear for advice.

LTT is exactly the same, nice things with tech but if you want to be informed properly and make an important tech-related decision, LTT is rarely the best decision to go for if you want advice (forum is a different thing of course)

[Nicnac]

its mostly the entertainment part for me. I like the gang and the crazy projects like that super high airflow video recently.

[LogicalDrm]

This is no-brainer. But vocal minority hates current style of content.

[Eaglerino]

I spend all day looking at technology I can afford, I don't want to watch more YouTube videos on what I already have and use. The fun is what I'll never have, like 4884 gamers and half a CPU

[Zodiark1593]

I liked that Voodoo SLI video...

[Beef Boss]

I would never say my hardware is crap, but it's not the newest and best. I watch his videos for an informational standpoint and Id never live the way he does. 

[IAmAndre]

You can say the same for pretty much any review channel. I mean many people can't afford the latest iPhones too, or the a MacBook, and this is valid for any industry. However, as many people pointed, it's good to know what's out there so you can make wiser purchase decisions.

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, IAmAndre said:

You can say the same for pretty much any review channel. I mean many people can't afford the latest iPhones too, or the a MacBook, and this is valid for any industry. However, as many people pointed, it's good to know what's out there so you can make wiser purchase decisions.

Not proper review channels. A proper review will have a lot of solid facts and research in it, not just showing off expensive hardware. 

For example I didn't sit and read about Samsung's ISOCELL camera sensor because I wanted to see expensive hardware, nor do I think the reviewer brought it up because he wanted to show it off and make the readers drool over it.

 

But that's the problem with many "reviews" these days. They are as deep as the kiddy pool. A lot of reviews are basically just commercials these days. A big portion of them just reads what's in the reviewer guide. 

[IAmAndre]

18 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Not proper review channels. A proper review will have a lot of solid facts and research in it, not just showing off expensive hardware. 

For example I didn't sit and read about Samsung's ISOCELL camera sensor because I wanted to see expensive hardware, nor do I think the reviewer brought it up because he wanted to show it off and make the readers drool over it.

 

But that's the problem with many "reviews" these days. They are as deep as the kiddy pool. A lot of reviews are basically just commercials these days. A big portion of them just reads what's in the reviewer guide. 

We're talking about LTT reviews. Their reviews are particularly comprehensive regardless of what they're reviewing, plus they don't review only high end products.

[minervx]

i never said this was a bad thing.

 

its not unlike channels that have pokemon/ygo/mtg booster box openings.

[AshleyAshes]

10 hours ago, minervx said:

People like to watch videos of $2000-5000 rigs as fantasy porn, moreso than informative or practical consumer recommendations.  It's vicarious living, watching someone else enjoy luxuries and feeling like we are experiencing it ourself.  To quote Luke, "our most watched video is the review of the GTX 1080 even though most people can't afford a GTX 1080".

 

I'm willing to bet that at least the majority of people who watch those videos have a computer that's crap or dated, possibly running on integrated graphics.  Deprived people think about corvettes and lamborghinis - not toyotas.  Cake - not bread.  Straight hood mentality.

I mostly watch for the 'Odd Ball' builds.  I find any high end build boring and generally don't watch them at all.  I mean, throw a bunch of money at a build and build it?  Anyone can do that.

 

Now, build a freakin' Voodoo 2 SLI machine?  Now I'm paying attention.

There's been a 'Old multi socket server build' teased in a tour and I'm equally looking forward to seeing that.

Test multiple cycles of GPUs for performance shifts?  Neat, I'm watching.
Odd peripherals?  Neat, I wanna see.

 

I also enjoy Scrapyard Wars for the same reasons.  It's interesting to see them focus on budget and negotiations rather than throwing the company credit card at NCIX and Amazon.

 

I do however watch the new hardware REVIEWS purely for information skills but the high end SYSTEM builds I usually skip.

[IKnight]

14 hours ago, Tiwaz said:

if hardware and gaming is your main/only hobby you can afford a lot if you are willing to work for it. I saved up several years of money (e.g. christmas, pocket money) when i was still going to school and never went to any discos or proms and wasted a lot of money there and in the end i could afford a half decent system for all games

On the flip side, you missed all those experiences you probably won't have a chance to re-do. COmputers can always be bought, but not moments. Just my 2 cents. 

 

Going back on topic, most people that watch LTT are probably teenagers in high school/college so it's not really a wonder they can't afford a 1080. 

[Tiwaz]

3 minutes ago, IKnight said:

On the flip side, you missed all those experiences you probably won't have a chance to re-do. COmputers can always be bought, but not moments. Just my 2 cents. 

 

Going back on topic, most people that watch LTT are probably teenagers in high school/college so it's not really a wonder they can't afford a 1080. 

you got a point there

[minervx]

by the time most people can afford a 1080, they have kids, a married lifestyle and/or other hobbies/obligations that take up more of their time.