When do you considered a person to be tech-savvy?

[kyrax12]

If a person managed to build a computer, would he/she be considered tech-savvy in your eyes?

I am talking about the average person by the way.

 

[shortylickens]

WHEN did they build their computer?

1993?

Or 2013?

 

[kyrax12]

WHEN did they build their computer?

1993?

Or 2013?

2014

 

[Printer Bandit]

building computers gets no respect from me. dime a dozen.

 

[kyrax12]

building computers gets no respect from me. dime a dozen.

My parents, and I am sure a lot of people like them don't know how to install USB drivers. 0.0

I am guessing they are in the bottom of the tech pool in your views. D:

 

[Albatross]

When he can write an OS from scratch,everything else is computer illiterate.

 

[kyrax12]

When he can write an OS from scratch,everything else is computer illiterate.

0.0000000000001% of the Earth population?

 

[Albatross]

0.0000000000001% of the Earth population?

Also no keyboard,must use a magnetic needle.:sneaky:

 

[Printer Bandit]

build chronovision from scratch, and i would be impressed.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Building a computer is easy, but as I've learned from my last core i7 build, building a computer that actually is stable, is not cut and dry. I'd say the early 2000's were easier as hardware was not as fussy. Ram etc.. basically worked if it fits. Now you have to check compatibility lists and all that crap and DOA/flaky hardware is all too common and it's rare a brand new build "just works", whether there's faulty hardware somewhere and you have to play the "buy a new one and try it" game or perhaps some kind of incompatibility or known issue etc... Having to cross reference compatibility lists can be tedius as the product IDs they use may not be searchable on whatever retailer you use as they may not use the same product IDs so trying to find a motherboard and ram that is certified compatible, at a single retailer, can be tedious.

I've been fighting with my build for over a year now figuring out why I have so many random issues. I had solved the worse of it by changing the video card, which is something I just took a guess at, and bought another. But now I have random lockups. It makes it worse when the problems are not reproducible but instead, only happen randomly a few times per month. Random lockups are the worst too as they don't generate any kind of logs.

Someone who can figure out problems like this off the top of their head would be what I'd consider tech savvy. But simply building a computer that can boot, that's fairly standard and easy to do. The average person thinks it's really complicated but if you were to show them I'm sure it would be easy to teach someone how to do it.

What surprises me though is the amount of tech/IT people who are tech savvy in their field but don't know even basic programming. I worked in a few IT shops and I was usually the only person that knew basic coding. Was actually frustrating as that created an environment where custom code or even open source software was not allowed, making life harder in certain situations.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Also no keyboard,must use a magnetic needle.:sneaky:

Would that be considered computer knitting, as opposed to computer programming?

See a guy with an open hard drive, wearing one of those eye lenses the monopoly guy has, touching the platter with a needle. "What's you doing?" "Oh I'm just knitting a new operating system, I just started, I'm still at the boot sector". "Nice, it's looking good so far"

 

[mnewsham]

building computers gets no respect from me. dime a dozen.

eh, if you can build it, get it to POST, install an OS and have it all work without any major hiccups I would consider you at least somewhat tech-savvy. I might not trust you with my own personal computers, but I would assume you could handle any of the more basic tasks (reinstalling OS, installing drivers, basic virus knowledge, etc) without any difficulty.

 

[Meghan54]

Building a computer is easy, but as I've learned from my last core i7 build, building a computer that actually is stable, is not cut and dry. I'd say the early 2000's were easier as hardware was not as fussy. Ram etc.. basically worked if it fits. Now you have to check compatibility lists and all that crap and DOA/flaky hardware is all too common and it's rare a brand new build "just works", whether there's faulty hardware somewhere and you have to play the "buy a new one and try it" game or perhaps some kind of incompatibility or known issue etc... Having to cross reference compatibility lists can be tedius as the product IDs they use may not be searchable on whatever retailer you use as they may not use the same product IDs so trying to find a motherboard and ram that is certified compatible, at a single retailer, can be tedious.

Actually, I'm of the belief that it's gotten easier and easier as time has passed to build a computer. Gone are the days of having to set DIP switches on the motherboard with every manufacturer doing something completely different. Parts are much more tolerant of being slapped in here and there with almost any other maker's parts.

Honestly, if you don't try to buy the absolute cheapest pieces of junk for parts, have yet to encounter any assembly problems on boot or operating. The RAM choice these days seems fairly inconsequential....Corsair, AData, Kingston, GSkill, Micron.....doesn't seem to matter. Have dropped in darned near any of it on Intel and AMD boards from the last decade....all worked.

Video cards shouldn't be an issue at all. Power supplies may be "touchy", but only in relation to Haswell and its deep sleep issues. Outside bottom rung ps's, haven't seen problems yet.

Hard drives, outside the 3TB "barrier", are a dime a dozen and all work. And that includes SSD's.

The problems I've seen people having is getting settings in the BIOS set correctly, more problematic with the more expensive boards with their wealth of settings...far more settings than you saw in the early 1990's, which could create problems for the uninitiated or unskilled.

Outside that issue, assembling a computer today is a snap. I put one together coming home from MicroCenter....wife drove, I sat in the back seat and built it. When we arrived home, it was ready to be booted and OS loaded, which it did without problems at all. Was ready for delivery the next morning, although it was a bit of a drag doing all the OS updates that night.



Now, to me, tech savvy is more than just putting together the jigsaw puzzle of a desktop, something you can teach a 12 year old to do in one sitting. It's more understanding the tech itself. What's the difference between the various USB standards? What's Thunderbolt?

If one can understand the tech around and intelligently talk about it, not how it was made, but pros and cons of using this or that, one can be considered tech savvy.

 

[Rakehellion]

If a person managed to build a computer, would he/she be considered tech-savvy in your eyes?

I am talking about the average person by the way.

When they know enough to know what they don't know.

 

[deerslayer]

I don't really consider building a computer that difficult. I only know one or two other tech savvy people. I'm pretty sure everyone else in my zip code is techtarded.

 

[Meghan54]

Here's an example of non-tech savvy.....

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2368873

 

[lxskllr]

Building a computer is definitely "savvy" amongst the normals, but I consider that the baseline of thinking someone might know what's going on, and not particularly savvy. What works in the builder's favor, is typically builders are into other things, and they keep up with the state of technology. It's evidence of being savvy, but not proof.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

It goes beyond 'just doing something'. For instance, if someone replies to a concern regarding something technical and they back it up with proper reasoning then maybe I'd consider them savvy in something technical. For instance, knowing that one needs an operating system on a PC the assembled isn't enough. Knowing which OS to use and why reflects a deeper thinking. Windows for the common man, Unix/Linux for the tinkerer, and OS X for those that got their friends to assemble the PC.

 

[mikeymikec]

There are various levels of tech-savvy'ness.

One of the lowest levels IMO involves being able to accurately describe what they did and what resulted. Also, not using a random "techie" word to describe something when they don't know it's the right word.

 

[rudeguy]

I would never use the term "tech savvy".

Me and the IT guys remind each other every day that we are morons. Just ask the one whose screen was flipped sideways for 2 days because they couldn't figure out how to fix it.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Building a computer is easy, but as I've learned from my last core i7 build, building a computer that actually is stable, is not cut and dry. I'd say the early 2000's were easier as hardware was not as fussy.

Disagree. The early 2000s had really fussy hardware, mainly due to companies like VIA being the main AMD chipset producer. VIA chipsets and Creative sound cards, anyone?

Tech savvy doesn't imply that someone is the next Bill Gates. IMO, it means you just have a pretty decent level of knowledge of things like the internet, various devices, and trends in the industry. That may sound like a lightweight definition to some of you, but you guys are out of touch with just how clueless the average person is with technology.

 

[luv2liv]

when they can pull 13gb of photos and vids out of my aunt's iphone without installing itunes/icloud and not having access to wifi/internet.

i gave up and told her to get a better phone. im not gonna pull my hairs out for this one

 

[rudeguy]

when they can pull 13gb of photos and vids out of my aunt's iphone without installing itunes/icloud and not having access to wifi/internet.

i gave up and told her to get a better phone. im not gonna pull my hairs out for this one

Windows should see it as a removable drive.

I've ripped thousands of pics and vids from iphones.

 

[gorcorps]

when they can pull 13gb of photos and vids out of my aunt's iphone without installing itunes/icloud and not having access to wifi/internet.

i gave up and told her to get a better phone. im not gonna pull my hairs out for this one

Unless something in Apple-land has changed in the past 2 years since I had an iphone, you dun goofed boy

The photo folder is the one thing on iphones that's as easily viewable as a flash drive for this very reason. I plugged in my iphone into my computer and I could copy/paste anything I want directly from the DCIM folder. If it's just pictures and videos she took that you need to transfer, it's as simple as if they were on a flash drive. Music and purchased movies are a different ballgame and require itunes.

 

[jaedaliu]

Windows should see it as a removable drive.

I've ripped thousands of pics and vids from iphones.

Pretty sure windows won't be able to see anything if there's a passcode lock on the device.

Well, I think that's how it works on my wife's non-upgraded 4s.