Ten Things Not To Buy In 2014

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I was totally going along with this list of ten things not to buy in 2014 until I got to number seven. :(

7.) There’s little reason to buy a desktop or laptop computer anymore. Tablets perform the same functions — playing music, sharing photos, Web surfing — that most consumers use PCs for and they’re made to use while on the go. They can also be a lot cheaper. For instance, Apple’s iMac’s start at $1,299 and MacBook laptops start at $999 while iPads start at $299.
 
So number 7 should simply say "Apple computers" and then go on to indicate that anything else is both cost effective and useful? :D

/hides behind asbestos shield
 
Meh. I agree. The average consumer has no need for a full blown PC these days when 90% of their time is spent on the internet.
 
The need for this service still exists, but consumers can get it for a lot cheaper. Rather than paying $70 to $300 for a new GPS device, drivers can use map apps to get around. They’re available on most smartphones or free to download.

Most free mapping apps are only useful when you have data coverage. I've been in a few areas where coverage ranged between spotty and non-existent. Depending upon where you are/what trip you're planning, this could be an issue.

Separately, many new cars come with built-in navigation systems: 49% of 2013 model-year vehicles have a standard navigation system (in at least one of their styles), up from 33% of 2010 models, according to Edmunds.com.

So don't buy a dedicated GPS nav, but you should totally pay extra for the navigation system. That's great logic.
 
That's great logic.

This is one of those "don't do [insert arbitrary thing] this year" articles.
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I was totally going along with this list of ten things not to buy in 2014 until I got to number seven. :(
7.) There’s little reason to buy a desktop or laptop computer anymore. Tablets perform the same functions — playing music, sharing photos, Web surfing — that most consumers use PCs for and they’re made to use while on the go. They can also be a lot cheaper. For instance, Apple’s iMac’s start at $1,299 and MacBook laptops start at $999 while iPads start at $299.
LOL, Apple...

That $299 iPad is a Mini that has a 7.9" display and 16GB of storage...

Toshiba Satellite 15.6" Laptop = $249.99, has a 15.6" screen and 500GB of storage :D.
 
I stopped at #1. I am boycotting the stupid slideshow "top ten" "worst ten" or any fucking website at all that uses the slide show presentation. How fucking hard is it to just put your shit in one list and let me scroll down?
 
Yeah, don't buy Cable TV, so you can explain, over and over again to the rest of your family how to properly use the Roku/FireTV/Xbox/Plex/Etc rather than just choosing a channel. Also, it's kinda difficult to stream some content without having a cable subscription of some sort now. Land Lines are pretty darned nice to have if your cell signal is iffy indoors...also, a full sized phone is much more comfortable for a long conversation. I could go on, but these "Hey, I'm not going to use these 10 things so you shouldn't either" lists are useless.
 
1-9 had (albeit flawed) logic for why not to make the purchase and (arguably) reasonable alternatives.

Then there's #10 (digital cameras). There's no actual logic given or alternatives for why you shouldn't purchase a digital camera. There's some validity to the identity crisis argument, and while it makes for a more difficult decision for the consumer, you can't really consider the abundance of options a bad thing.
 
Fail.

You pay more for miniturization. That is why ultrabooks often are quite expensive.

A better comparison is to look at other similar spec'ed 8" tablets.
Except the point was saying:
7.) There’s little reason to buy a desktop or laptop computer anymore. Tablets perform the same functions — playing music, sharing photos, Web surfing — that most consumers use PCs for and they’re made to use while on the go.
So comparing a laptop to a tablet is appropriate in this case since the author is arguing the purchasing decision between either a laptop or tablet.
 
Really dumb list.

1. Drop Cable TV? Might work for some people, but not everyone has the ability to put up an antenna, or lives where they can get over the air broadcast.

2. Landline? Dropped years ago for service from the cable company, may drop it for internet phone server if the price goes up again.

3. GPS? Why would I buy a new porable GPS when I already have one, one on my phone, and a 3rd one built into my car? The reason sales are down is due to market saturation.

4. Market saturation again. My DVD player works fine, and there's nothing new I need in newer players.

5. Don't worry, governments across the country are working hard to shut down the alternatives, since the people don't pay the same taxes as hotels.

6. Finally something I agree with, however most people will still sign expensing contracts so they can get that cheap phone deal, and end up paying much more in the long run.

7. Tablets are media consumtion devices, if you need to get any real work done you need a PC. You can buy laptops as low as $299 that are much more useful than a $299 iPad.

8. Extra leg room on plains. Haven't flown anywhere in almost 5 years. Between the TSA and the cramped, over crowded flights, it's not worth it. I'll stick to traveling to places I can get to by train or car.

9. News Flash, most cash-back cards work just the same as points cards, they just let you convert your points into cash.

10. Point & Shoot cameras sales are down because people don't care about the lousy picture quality they get with thier phones, and the phone's camera is good enough since all they do is take "selfies"
Not everyone wants to carry around a $1, 000 DSLR. A good compromise is the current travel zoom point & shoots. Long zoom (16x+), good low light performance for indoors, 1080P video, and real optical image stabiblization. Huge improvement over even the best phone camera.
 
#1: I have no choice if i want to watch thing. internet is too slow.
#2: high speed internet to slow for VOIP and cell service is spotty. I need a land line
#3: I agree that these work without cell reception and that is a plus, I do miss having GPS built into my car. It saved us on multiple occasions.
#4: Still need these because I can't stream anything
#5:no comment
#6: screw big service providers. I'll stick with Net10 cheaper prices for the same service
#7: I still need them and still prefer a full laptop over a tablet any day.
#8: i don't fly enough to care
#9: with no annual fees, i don't see why this is bad. I'm spending money anyway, might as well get some freebies. my points are for more than just travel and can be used as cash for anything.
#10: Still prefer carrying my now aged Lumix because it works way better than any phone and eve nat 3mp, i can still take better pictures with more options.
 
Most free mapping apps are only useful when you have data coverage. I've been in a few areas where coverage ranged between spotty and non-existent. Depending upon where you are/what trip you're planning, this could be an issue.

So don't buy a dedicated GPS nav, but you should totally pay extra for the navigation system. That's great logic.

Mostly for city use. When driving out in the middle of no-where, with little/no service, you really want the dedicated GPS available. If you have no need or desire to travel outside the city much, no real need for a dedicated GPS.

I have several. One for car, one on my phone, and one for hunting. Two are dedicated GPS devices.
 
I've been telling people for a while to get a tablet or Chromebook if all you are going to do is surf the web and email. These days the "average user" is a 75 year old baby boomer who still can't figure out how to change the time on his VCR.

Those Tosh laptops are absolute plastic pieces of shit, and I am holding back when I say that. I wouldn't buy one for $100.
 
"There’s little reason to buy a desktop or laptop computer anymore. Tablets perform the same functions — playing music, sharing photos, Web surfing — that most consumers use PCs for and they’re made to use while on the go"

TYPICAL assessment of a know-nothing journalist.

Computer are only to play games and browse the web, what do you need a desktop of laptop for then???
:rolleyes:
 
Then there's #10 (digital cameras). There's no actual logic given or alternatives for why you shouldn't purchase a digital camera. There's some validity to the identity crisis argument, and while it makes for a more difficult decision for the consumer, you can't really consider the abundance of options a bad thing.

Using your phone as your camera, is like using your iPad as a computer replacement. May work if your needs are very limited.
 
AnnaMarie with dumb-ass-itis is a moron. It probably took her 30 days to type that article on a tablet.
 
Meh. I agree. The average consumer has no need for a full blown PC these days when 90% of their time is spent on the internet.

It's a bit more complicated than that. For one the author compared only two Apple products and there a number of laptops that can be had for $300 these days. Microsoft was running a sale for an 11.6" Asus touchscreen laptop for $200 and these kinds of sales pop up all of the time. Of course you can get much cheaper tablets than the non-retina iPad Mini, even x86 Windows ones. But I do agree with the overall sentiment that for casual computing a tablet is all that most people need. But there are times when even these people will want or need a keyboard or larger display or to run a desktop application. As a sole computing device, a tablet could be limiting at times even for the most casual of users.
 
"There’s little reason to buy a desktop or laptop computer anymore. Tablets perform the same functions — playing music, sharing photos, Web surfing — that most consumers use PCs for and they’re made to use while on the go"

TYPICAL assessment of a know-nothing journalist.

Computer are only to play games and browse the web, what do you need a desktop of laptop for then???
:rolleyes:

BTW, I find smart phones and tablets pretty much useless for any real productive computing tasks. Answering emails. PITA! Touch screen KB is worthless. Need a real keyboard. Whoops, not a portable, pocket size fun device anymore.
Voice recognition text entry? GIMMICK! Will screw up anything more complex than "I love you" no matter how clear your diction is.
Smart phone=TOY. Tablet=TOY unless you add peripherals so you can have the functionality of a desktop or laptop.
Fact is in many cases they support these devices, but if you have to have those, laptop anyone??
 
I stopped at #1. I am boycotting the stupid slideshow "top ten" "worst ten" or any fucking website at all that uses the slide show presentation. How fucking hard is it to just put your shit in one list and let me scroll down?

Yeah this...anything that's got a title that has some number of something in it usually means clicking through a bunch of individual pages with one item each on them that makes more ad revenue for a site. Bleah!
 
Yeah, don't buy Cable TV, so you can explain, over and over again to the rest of your family how to properly use the Roku/FireTV/Xbox/Plex/Etc rather than just choosing a channel. Also, it's kinda difficult to stream some content without having a cable subscription of some sort now. Land Lines are pretty darned nice to have if your cell signal is iffy indoors...also, a full sized phone is much more comfortable for a long conversation. I could go on, but these "Hey, I'm not going to use these 10 things so you shouldn't either" lists are useless.

Hahaha, yea I tried that once.... Then I re-subscribed back to my channels and cancelled netflix
 
I stopped at #1. I am boycotting the stupid slideshow "top ten" "worst ten" or any fucking website at all that uses the slide show presentation. How fucking hard is it to just put your shit in one list and let me scroll down?

So they make you load their page 10 times, for ad loads.
 
1) Did it this year (and so far I am pretty happy about it)
2) Haven't had a land line in over 10 years
3) Never owned one
4) I have blu-ray players attached to all my tvs, but it will be a long time before I need something new.
5) If my family can do it, we prefer VRBO. It really depends on the destination.
6) Seriously considering doing this
7) We have 2 tablets, 2 desktop PCs, and 1 laptop. The tablets are great media consumers, but the PCs and laptop are needed to get work done or play high-end games.
8) I stay in economy.
9) I always have credit cards with cash-back, though it isn't the only option for redeeming rewards.
10) I use my cell phone mainly, but I do plan on using a digital camera on my summer vacation.
 
Fail.

You pay more for miniturization. That is why ultrabooks often are quite expensive.

A better comparison is to look at other similar spec'ed 8" tablets.

No it would not. Tablets other than the Dell Venue Pro (which by the way can be had for much less than any iPad) CANNOT replace a laptop or desktop computer and that was the original point of the idiot pariotting that nonsense.

Sure a tablet will do what a computer will do right up to the point it doesn't and they you have a major problem. Tablets are not going to replace desktop or laptop any time soon.
 
Using your phone as your camera, is like using your iPad as a computer replacement. May work if your needs are very limited.

My issue is that while you could make that (flawed) argument, the article doesn't do that. It just kind of meanders around, not really coming to any sort of conclusion on the matter.
 
"Of course, ditching desktop PCs isn’t for everyone: Graphic designers and traders, for instance, who require large screens will find it hard to part with traditional computers. "

It's really pathetic that these are the only two usage scenarios that came to mind for the author.
How about engineers and CAD software? Try that on a phone or tablet. It's not just screen size either, you need real power. Of course engineers wouldn't be reading any articles from that site.
 
Overall, this was an exceedingly shallow article, I thought. She should have entitled it:

Ten things I won't be buying this year because I have no need for them

I could think of exceptions to everything on her list except for the Apple products....:D

DVD/BluRay--funny thing about that is that my Sony BDP-s5100 does a much better job with Netflix streaming than my computer because the Sony network supports NetFlix' SuperHD streaming, which includes 5.1 sound, and my ISP doesn't (just the plain "HD" which is nowhere near as good, and is only stereo.)

Desktops: The only people who don't need them are people who have never needed them.

GPS: Yeah, who needs a $70 gps in the car when you can pay $1200 a year for a cell phone with a wireless service package so you can use the "map apps"...;) What a bargain.

Land-line phone: Yea, who wants a digital land line connection like I have for $20 a month that includes unlimited minutes long distance 24/7, you know, in case the old much-more-expensive wireless phone gets swiped, runs out of juice, breaks, etc.?

Hotel rooms: Yea, sure--so if you can't find a convenient house to rent for a night, you might find a park bench with some bushes nearby (for bathroom breaks.)

Phone contracts: Sure--because people will always pay $700 for a new phone as opposed to $0-$99 for the same phone and a contract. That's why contracts are so popular--it is because no one wants them.

The rest of the items are just silly and space filler...

I could add a couple to her list that I won't be buying in 2014:

Wireless Internet Phone service: With a dumb cell phone phone my bills are a *lot* lower and I can still *gasp* make calls to the police, fire department, information, and my favorite contacts, when the need/desire is present. I use the Internet at home where it costs me pennies on the dollar comparatively and where my down & up speeds are ~50Mb/ps! And did I mention I have no monthly data cap?

Face book page: Never! (Although my wife has one--ugh!)
 
Overall, this was an exceedingly shallow article, I thought. She should have entitled it:

Ten things I won't be buying this year because I have no need for them


Just another example of what journalism has devolved into. Opinion writing. Not factual expositions of events, products, etc.

Mainstream journalism is nothing but leftist propaganda. Tech writers (very loosely applied) comes from this school. Why should we expect different?
 
Another list with PCs and Laptops on it, another 'death of the desktop' discussion.

I always feel that these 'lists' and the arguments against desktops are misguided and erroneous by omission of fact. Current hardware while superior to older generation technology, is not fully utilized by much of the industry, programs rarely require top of the line specs, often allowing individuals to run a maximum settings with 3 year old equipment. The exception is those running multi-display setups and professionals, pretty much the only way to push a PC.

They are looking at the market history and seeing activity decline in sales, and directly equating it to product life cycle, declaring that the desktop is in decline. The omission is in the pace of change, I remember the days when a computer was quickly surpassed in power, games (which drives market sales, professionals are a small portion of sales) required latest hardware to run or you'd have severe frame rate problems and difficulty running programs. This has not existed for almost 5 years now, if you run games on medium graphics settings old PC's have little trouble running them.

Office use is even worse (or better for the business owner) in that 8-10 year old hardware is more than sufficient to run the majority of day to day office and clerical tasks.

This is why sales have declined, not because of tablets, but because the market has matured and until the next evolution of product/software, hardware sales will continue to stagnate.
 
I stopped at #1. I am boycotting the stupid slideshow "top ten" "worst ten" or any fucking website at all that uses the slide show presentation. How fucking hard is it to just put your shit in one list and let me scroll down?

Amen brother. I am so tired of those damn slideshows.
 
Typical story I'd expect from the mainstream technologically retarded media outlet. Not going to put much effort into how dumb the story is because that's exactly what they want.

How about a new list.

Ten Things Not to Watch:

#? MarketWatch
 
1. How is Grandma supposed to watch her shows, when online services don't provide them...Does Netflix/Hulu provide those shows the day they air?

2. Haven't had a house phone for three or four years now.

3. With my experience of working at Fry's they break more often than they work, and my phone does a great job of being a guide...most of the time.

4. Why would I need these devices, when my computer has been able to play DVD's since 1999, and any console from last Gen, and current (besides the 360, and the Wii U) can handle Blu-Ray?

5. Hotel rooms are a technology?

6. Unless you are an idiot and buy the latest and greatest for that week, why dump your grandfathered unlimited data plan, I'm quite happy with a phone for two years, and then get a new phone, if it's a significant upgrade.

7 well that's just dumb, I like playing games, especially PC games...So fat chance of that ever happening, and PC gaming is responsible for the evolution of the hardware that consoles are using, so yeah, that's not happening.

8 Or you could get a Premium Economy seat, for a little more, but less than $100, and have all the room you want.

9 But those air miles will pay for a trans Atlantic ticket, or a good chunk of it?

10 What a f@#king idiot, the amount of dumb asses I see trying to take pictures at a motorsport event with a 12MP 3-5x zoom lens on their phone or tablet, and getting nothing but sky, or blur dumbfounds me. Get a proper camera, or at least a bridge camera, and learn how to use it, you aren't going to beat a bridge camera that can get a 16+ MP photo, with a 50x zoom, and a crap load of settings, and that isn't even as good as a proper DSLR but it's a good start.

Overall, I think most of the top 10 list, is pile of shit, or five years too late.
 
"Of course, ditching desktop PCs isn’t for everyone: Graphic designers and traders, for instance, who require large screens will find it hard to part with traditional computers. "

It's really pathetic that these are the only two usage scenarios that came to mind for the author.
How about engineers and CAD software? Try that on a phone or tablet. It's not just screen size either, you need real power. Of course engineers wouldn't be reading any articles from that site.

I did, and I feel dumber for it.
 
Yeah, don't buy Cable TV, so you can explain, over and over again to the rest of your family how to properly use the Roku/FireTV/Xbox/Plex/Etc rather than just choosing a channel. Also, it's kinda difficult to stream some content without having a cable subscription of some sort now. Land Lines are pretty darned nice to have if your cell signal is iffy indoors...also, a full sized phone is much more comfortable for a long conversation. I could go on, but these "Hey, I'm not going to use these 10 things so you shouldn't either" lists are useless.

+1 on the cable.
 
1: I don't watch TV. It's a waste of time. I'd rather read a book of play a video game.
2: Not going away for me any time soon. Analog phone works when the power's out. VOIP doesn't, and cell phones are useless for me.
3: Don't need it. Never have. I have some pretty impressive navigational abilities without the need for technological aids.
4: I already have a good quality Blu-Ray player. I don't need to buy a new one, but if it broke I'd get another one. Streaming movies sucks, and I don't have to pay a subscription to watch anything in my library.
5: Not applicable to me.
6: Not applicable to me.
7: I don't buy PC's either because I build my own. I don't need a laptop for anything so I've never bought one. Tablets and mobile devices are useless to me.
8: Not applicable to me.
9: Not applicable to me.
10: Also not applicable to me, but if I needed a camera I'd buy a camera, not a phone.
 
There’s little reason to buy a desktop or laptop computer anymore. Tablets perform the same functions
Yeah no... if your tablet performs the same functions of what you had a computer for then you should have bought 1 computer in your life and that's it, outdated computer will still perform the same functions... ok maybe not watch HD video. If anything little reason to buy a desktop or laptop (whoops I just did :D) is because the one you bought 2 years ago is still more than powerful enough to take anything that's thrown at it.

#10: Like all of these, maybe true for the "average person" in which case that vertical bar video you took with your smart phone is the apex of your photographic needs, but others like to actually have GOOD pictures when they go do things, or have a more rugged device because they're taking movies as they're skiing down a mountain not sitting in a drive thru (go Pro)
 
What people do not understand is that these top ten lists are some of the most asinine things in the world because they were meant for purely click-bait purposes. I would like to see someone use a tablet to type up an article or term paper or anything beyond the 144 character tweets. I can't stand people who keep poo'ing on laptops and desktops when they were not meant to compete against tablets.
 
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