Discussion A typical conversation with Average Joe

[igor_kavinski]

Average Joe: I need a cheap laptop with great speed and responsiveness. I mostly just want to browse websites and watch movies but sometimes I might do something intensive, like Microsoft Office.

Me: Well, you could go with a Ryzen 5300U laptop. You won't find a cheap and powerful laptop like that with an Intel CPU.

Average Joe: Ryzen? What's that?

Me: It's a great CPU from AMD with 8 virtual cores.

Average Joe: AMD? Never heard of them.

Me: They are almost as old as Intel. They used to have budget crap several years before but now they are at the top.

Average Joe: At the top??? Better than Intel??? How is that possible???

Me: Oh, just mismanagement at the upper level at Intel.

Average Joe: Hmm...so what's the cheapest Intel laptop like? Will it serve my needs?

Me: Intel has Core i3-1115G4 in roughly the same price. But only 4 virtual cores and slower graphics. Games will run slower.

Average Joe: I don't really play games. I think Core i3-1115G4 should be enough for me. Thanks!

 

[mikeymikec]

Admittedly hardly any of my customers are interested in gaming, but when talking about a CPU I always lead with that browsing will be faster with more cores. It's the thing that everyone does, so no-one can say, "I don't really do that".

The other common misconception my customers suffer from is "my needs are basic so I can buy the cheapest". I explain how most shops are ready for that notion and will happily sell you the cheapest device that they have tonnes of stock of because they know you'll be back in the shop in the next 2-4 years wanting something faster. I also explain that the current bottom of the barrel can be worse than what was available over ten years ago.

 

[igor_kavinski]

What I hate the most is when people do the exact opposite of my technical recommendation. That happens more often than not. One of the most infamous is when a guy I knew bought the Geforce 2 MX 200 over the Geforce 2 MX 400. I was like, how could you do that??? 64-bits vs. 128-bits memory width. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

His response: It's an ASUS and their 64-bits is faster than some cheap 128-bits Geforce 2 MX 400.

I was angry at him for days!