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Can anyone spot any flaws in this awesome Amazon deal?

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mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
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GagHalfrunt

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
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Puppies04 said:
Unless your country has gold to back up every unit of currency (which it doesn't) then you don't have "real money".
Click to expand...

The value of gold is as imaginary as the value of anything else on Earth. The same faith that says a dollar is worth X and a Euro is worth Y and the Yen is worth Z says gold is worth Q. Gold has very little value in the real world, it's only worth what the market says its worth because other people believe it's worth that. Just like every other currency or commodity. Once the trust goes away so does the value.
 
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Imp

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
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Got rid of my Kindle earlier this year. Sold my Blackberry Playbook years ago. Tablets + me = wasted money.
 
Valantar

Valantar

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2014
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Imp said:
Got rid of my Kindle earlier this year. Sold my Blackberry Playbook years ago. Tablets + me = wasted money.
Click to expand...
Kindles (not Kindle Fires) are not tablets, they're e-readers. Quite different animals.

Am I the only one spotting that the refurbished one is more expensive?

Might the cheap one be a previous model?
 
Imp

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
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Oh ya, forgot I was on the internet...

Portable electronic devices with rectangular profiles in the 7" to 10" screen size range and built-in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries capable of displaying electronic text and internet connectivity with basic internet browsing + me = wasted money.
 
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skyking

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
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other than it is another hobbled amazon specific product, it looks good to me.
 
S

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
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GagHalfrunt said:
The value of gold is as imaginary as the value of anything else on Earth. The same faith that says a dollar is worth X and a Euro is worth Y and the Yen is worth Z says gold is worth Q. Gold has very little value in the real world, it's only worth what the market says its worth because other people believe it's worth that. Just like every other currency or commodity. Once the trust goes away so does the value.
Click to expand...
Isn't gold pretty conductive and quite soft? I imagine there is some value in it for making something.
 
M

Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
2,108
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Valantar said:
Kindles (not Kindle Fires) are not tablets, they're e-readers. Quite different animals.
Click to expand...
And even Kindle Fires are barely tablets. OK, they are tablets, but severely hobled tablets that leave you at Amazon's mercy with respect to basic OS and other applications functionality. Early on, they seemed to generally have better specs than many of their "generic" competitors in the same price ranges, but as far as I've seen they've lost that edge*, while they still lock you with an iron grip into Amazon's ecosystem, such as it is. These days, comparable but less expensive generic Android tablets can do everything a Kindle Fire can do (thanks to Android apps that mimic the Kindle Fires' functionality - mostly with respect to reading Kindle-formatted ebooks) plus (a lot) more (without having to jump through all kinds of crazy hoops, which vitiates the point of going with an easy-to-use-out-of-the-box device in the first place...)
_________________
* Especially since they've cut way back on the warranty on the non-high-end models, so you have to buy an "extended warranty" to make up for it, adding another $12 or more to the price...
 
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GagHalfrunt

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
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smackababy said:
Isn't gold pretty conductive and quite soft? I imagine there is some value in it for making something.
Click to expand...

Silver and Copper are more conductive. While gold has some minor uses in manufacturing there's nothing that gold does where it can't be replaced with other more common metals. The only value gold really has is the belief that it's valuable.
 
M

Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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GagHalfrunt said:
While gold has some minor uses in manufacturing there's nothing that gold does where it can't be replaced with other more common metals. The only value gold really has is the belief that it's valuable.
Click to expand...
Gold doesn't oxidize, so it does have some practical use as a plating on connectors (among other things). (Not that the super-thin plating most less expensive connectors have is necessarily of great utility, but that's a different, if related, issue.)
 
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sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
100,379
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Mike64 said:
Gold doesn't oxidize, so it does have some practical use as a plating on connectors (among other things). (Not that the super-thin plating most less expensive connectors have is necessarily of great utility, but that's a different, if related, issue.)
Click to expand...
Well, it's not that it doesn't oxidise, rather the conductivity is not greatly impacted with oxidised gold.
 
GagHalfrunt

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,998
126
Mike64 said:
Gold doesn't oxidize, so it does have some practical use as a plating on connectors (among other things). (Not that the super-thin plating most less expensive connectors have is necessarily of great utility, but that's a different, if related, issue.)
Click to expand...

Silver is pretty similar, more conductive and easier to find/extract. There is nothing that gold does where it's necessary, it can be replaced by more common and cheaper metals in every application. And even if you do make a case that it's 1% better in certain things and therefore necessary in those things, those applications are few and far between. The supply of gold would far far far outstrip demand and what does that do to prices? <insert crash and burn sound here>

The price of gold is imaginary and purely based on faith that it's worth that much. Its real value is next to nothing. For usefulness in the real world almost any other metal is in greater demand and would command a higher price. So why is gold over $1000 an ounce while stainless steel is 50 cents a pound?
 
M

Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
2,108
101
91
sdifox said:
Well, it's not that it doesn't oxidise, rather the conductivity is not greatly impacted with oxidised gold.
Click to expand...
Ah, my mistake, I thought it literally didn't tarnish at all. But does it even oxidize to the same degree or anywhere near as quickly? (ETA: Or are gold oxides just relatively "shiny", unlike most other metals'?) I personally don't own any gold jewelry (or a watch...), but it seems to me from what I recall of my mother's, it never really "looked" tarnished (while silver needs almost constant polishing to look good...)

GagHalfrunt said:
Silver is pretty similar, more conductive and easier to find/extract.
Click to expand...
Not to mention that it tarnishes/oxidizes heavily if you just look at it, as the saying goes...
 
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