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izacustoday at 7:15 PM3 repliesview on HN

After growing up in eastern Europe it's still wild to see young Americans stupidly demand less choice and more monopolies in their market.

Like seriously, having laptop choice is causing you crippling issues? Is other people having a laptop to choose based on preference causing you distress when you go to Apple store?


Replies

lurking_swetoday at 7:51 PM

I don’t think you fully understood their argument.

The problem is not that other manufacturers offer choices – the problem is that for a typical consumer it’s IMPOSSIBLE to really understand which computer in the lineup is appropriate for their needs. It seems most of them are focused on B2B sales.

Of course, if you are a gamer or a nerd like myself, you don’t mind spending a week finding the perfect computer. But that’s an exception.

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cleaningtoday at 8:47 PM

After growing up in the USSR but living in the US, the young Americans are correct. The number of choices are an illusion, most paths lead you down the same shit. People don't have the time or energy to dig deep into every option for every purchase.

giantrobottoday at 9:25 PM

The issue isn't choices but meaningless choices. Most PC manufactures have tons of SKUs that are functionally identical but offered in different sales channels.

A dozen SKUs to describe the same hardware isn't real choice. It's the illusion of choice so a sales rep can offer a "deal" the buyer can't meaningfully compare to other SKUs. They're all machines out of an ODM's catalog with the "manufacture" logo pasted on.