this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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I saw this post and wanted to ask the opposite. What are some items that really aren't worth paying the expensive version for? Preferably more extreme or unexpected examples.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I buy good brands from China for my professional tools, phones, laptops, and gadgets. The key is knowing which brands in China are good. Nothing else can compete in terms of value for money.

Motorbikes (for commuting). My midrange motorbike cost under 2k USD brand new, and it gets me to work at the same speed as an expensive one (Asian traffic, haha).

[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I would be careful with gadgets that have software on them like phones and laptops. God knows what kind of Chinese spyware they come with.

[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Actually, that's super exciting! I would have a fun time taking it apart, analyzing it, and publishing it. Would be great publicity, and would probably make me more money than the laptop/phone/whatever cost me.

That being said, the USA has the most established history of compromising cryptography and security. It's not so much that I trust China or don't trust the USA, it's that I don't trust any superpower, am fairly wary of nations in general, and in fact don't have much trust for organizations of anything over a handful of people.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And the rest of the world will say the same with respect to American spyware.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

As a foreign nation, why would you use a core piece of software on all your government computers? I'll never understand why Windows is used in any secure government installation, let alone non-American ones.