PoetPhilosopher
Veteran Member
Hi everyone, I'm thinking about buying a new computer for the purpose of programming and graphics programming and I wanted to share my thoughts. It's a $2000 mini PC that has great machine learning capabilities, 32GB RAM, and a moderate graphics chip, called the NVIDIA Orin. It sounds amazing, right?
Well, there's a catch. I did some research and I found out that the hardware inside this machine is not worth $2000. In fact, it's probably worth around $1200 or less. The processor and the graphics chip are not really better than the ones you can find in a $1000-$1200 desktop PC. The only thing that makes this machine special is its small size and its good compatibility with machine learning applications.
I also learned that the company that makes this machine has increased the price of their previous model from $700 to $1500 without any explanation. That seems very unfair to me and I don't want to support such a practice.
So why do I still want this machine? Well, there are two reasons:
1. It's very compact and it would fit perfectly on my desk. I also like the fact that it works well with the software that I want to use.
2. I have an older, lesser version of this machine and it served me well for a long time. I feel like I have a connection with this product line and I trust its quality for that reason.
But I'm still not sure if it's worth spending $2000 on this machine. That's a lot of money and I could buy a much faster desktop tower PC with that amount or less. What do you think? Should I buy it or not?
My main concerns are that I do not want to support greed (a greedy company), and I want to be absolutely sure before spending $2000 on such a product. It's $2000 for a creative, niche device that is barely larger than my hand.
I still think that if I bought the PC, it might eventually "pay for itself", but I might still be shuffling bills around for awhile in order to balance my finances to support such a purchase.
If I took the $2000, and built a workstation instead, I think I could actually do better, but I'm not sure I want to put that much time and thought into preparing, building, and configuring a system. It's kind of easy to invest a portion of your life into building that "perfect" PC if you're not careful.
By the way, you can suggest other alternatives in this thread, but I'm not sure I'm even looking for many other alternatives much right now, I'm still stuck on the question of "Should I get the Orin?" and until I answer that for myself, it's like I can't move on and look at other products and better deals.
And I've been pondering this question for 11-12 days. I didn't want to make a thread on it, but once you've thought about something for 11-12 days without making a decision for yourself, maybe it is time to ask other perspectives.
Also, since there's a moral aspect to this question, and it's not completely a tech question in and of itself, I'm extending this thread for anyone to answer. You don't even have to be a tech expert. I feel being a tech expert isn't required for someone to understand something they want, but the company that's selling it is charging a large premium for no apparent reason (other than maybe greed). That's mainly what this thread is about.
I have also heard that the company selling the product has turned a very, very, very large profit from this product.
Well, there's a catch. I did some research and I found out that the hardware inside this machine is not worth $2000. In fact, it's probably worth around $1200 or less. The processor and the graphics chip are not really better than the ones you can find in a $1000-$1200 desktop PC. The only thing that makes this machine special is its small size and its good compatibility with machine learning applications.
I also learned that the company that makes this machine has increased the price of their previous model from $700 to $1500 without any explanation. That seems very unfair to me and I don't want to support such a practice.
So why do I still want this machine? Well, there are two reasons:
1. It's very compact and it would fit perfectly on my desk. I also like the fact that it works well with the software that I want to use.
2. I have an older, lesser version of this machine and it served me well for a long time. I feel like I have a connection with this product line and I trust its quality for that reason.
But I'm still not sure if it's worth spending $2000 on this machine. That's a lot of money and I could buy a much faster desktop tower PC with that amount or less. What do you think? Should I buy it or not?
My main concerns are that I do not want to support greed (a greedy company), and I want to be absolutely sure before spending $2000 on such a product. It's $2000 for a creative, niche device that is barely larger than my hand.
I still think that if I bought the PC, it might eventually "pay for itself", but I might still be shuffling bills around for awhile in order to balance my finances to support such a purchase.
If I took the $2000, and built a workstation instead, I think I could actually do better, but I'm not sure I want to put that much time and thought into preparing, building, and configuring a system. It's kind of easy to invest a portion of your life into building that "perfect" PC if you're not careful.
By the way, you can suggest other alternatives in this thread, but I'm not sure I'm even looking for many other alternatives much right now, I'm still stuck on the question of "Should I get the Orin?" and until I answer that for myself, it's like I can't move on and look at other products and better deals.
And I've been pondering this question for 11-12 days. I didn't want to make a thread on it, but once you've thought about something for 11-12 days without making a decision for yourself, maybe it is time to ask other perspectives.
Also, since there's a moral aspect to this question, and it's not completely a tech question in and of itself, I'm extending this thread for anyone to answer. You don't even have to be a tech expert. I feel being a tech expert isn't required for someone to understand something they want, but the company that's selling it is charging a large premium for no apparent reason (other than maybe greed). That's mainly what this thread is about.
I have also heard that the company selling the product has turned a very, very, very large profit from this product.