(I’m trying to adjust my shopping habits for quality, long-lasting goods from reputable brands. This isn’t some hailcorporate thing)
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There are tons of great quality brands. Until capitalism kills them and they become the same as the rest.
The most memorable example of this for me was a long time ago. I was newly married and very poor. I was just starting to build my tool collection in the apartment.
I needed a circular saw to repair some craigslist furniture. So I carefully went around to the hardware stores looking at the prices. They were all more than I was willing to spend.
Then in Walmart one day I took a look at what they offered. It was pretty much an exact replica of the top of the line model at 1/4 of the price. The box was a bit dusty and next to another saw with the same name and UPC. It was obviously a newer box of the same item. It was the cheapest looking thing I could imagine. Completely different from the older one. It looked like a great way to lose some fingers and toes.
I grabbed the solid looking one and walked happily out of the store. It’s had a lot of use since then, and it’s still working flawlessly. I am still the proud owner of all my fingers and toes.
When the MBA’s take over, the company is sucked dry.
Take me over next, MBAs
This is the truth.
I will never always trust a brand, there are some brands that have good trust, but I’ve seen too many brands screw people over for money.
I will say currently, Darn Tough Socks, Keen Shoes, EVGA, Milwaukee Tools, if you are in the cinema / live production world Teradek, and Yamaha.
Nah you can’t trust Keen anymore as of like 7 years ago. They switched to much cheaper shoe materials on their presidio walking shoe that was super popular, but the price didn’t drop at all. At the same time, they started inserting huge globs of rubber in the heel of their hiking shoes so you are forced to use their brand of insert that has a hole to fit said bump.
I’ll be honest, just recently bought new shoes from them haven’t gotten a chance to wear them in yet, the previous pair was pre-covid. But they look and feel exactly like my old pair did when I bought them, so maybe their work line hasn’t suffered yet.
And this is why I’ll never be loyal to a brand, as long as they’re good I’ll keep buying their product, when it’s not good I’ll stop.
Hottest take on this site: Apple.
I use my 2011 MacBook Pro to manage my 80k photos. My phone is six years old. My iPad Pro is five? (Edit: I lied, it’s a 2017 model) Years old.
I don’t use their desktops, I use Linux for my servers and windows for playing games. But my Apple shit for casual use has all lasted me an insane amount of time.
My 13 year old MacBook Pro still gets through 1.75 playthroughs of Beetlejuice on max brightness! Full disclaimer, I originally bought it for games and used Windows 7 always plugged in, and only now it has an SSD and OSX and the battery has 30 cycles. BUT STILL
Lucky for you, but the truth is, Apple isn’t that great or reliable. Here is a list of all the MacBook recalls, and it’s a list from 2021. Battery issues of possibly catching fire, screens cracking, logic board failures, etc…
Here is another list that is from 2023 of different Apple devices.
Apple Watch Series 6 – Black Screen Issue iPhone 12 and 12 Pro – No Sound Issues iPhone 11 – Touch Issues AirPods Pro – Sound Issues iPad Air 3rd gen – Blank Screen Issue Smart Battery Case – Charging Issues iPhone 6s and 6s Plus – No Power Issues 15-inch MacBook Pro – Battery Overheating/Fire Risk MacBook lineup – Keyboard Issues 13-inch MacBook Pro – Display Backlight Issues Apple Three-Prong AC Wall Plug Adapter – Electrical Shock Risk iPhone X – Touch Issues iPhone 7 – No Service Issues iPhone 6 Plus – Multi-touch and Display Flickering Issues Apple European AC Wall Plug – Electrical Shock Risk Beats Pill XL – Overheating and Fire Risk Apple 5W European USB Power Adapter – Overheating Risk Apple Ultracompact USB Power Adapter – Electrical Shock Risk
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And you had anything beyond saying it to back it up.
Hardware I’ve already proven, you, well… You made something up and hoped for the best.
Software, as we are talking more about macOS at the beginning, it’s a joke that you are claiming macOS has more and various software than Windows. There is a reason even Apple uses Windows and not macOS.
Security, again, you made a quick claim and nothing to back it up. But here is a list of iOS exploits just from 2022-2023.
User friendliness: this reeks of desperation. And has been proven in the past to be wrong, but keep trolling. I’ll keep laughing 🤣
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Debate is over? You come here, attempt very poor attempt of a flood of BS, and call that a debate? 🤡
Bonus points for linking to the well known and debunked “claim” that macs are cheaper over the long term than Windows. Wow, that sad attempt took me back (and I knew you’d use it). I can see you never looked into that claim. It claims that Windows needed AV, a $100+ a year, but macOS some mhow doesn’t, even though macOS malware was on the rise even then. Combined with how they claimed half the enterprise security suites somehow weren’t needed for macOS showed it wasn’t a serious attempt (a lot like your messages).
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It wasn’t a debate not because I wanted a thesis, it’s because all you wanted was to troll. Your entire comment was “lol, trust me bro. Here’s a well known lie to back me up”. And you were terrible at it. Go back to Reddit.
Hottest take on this site: Apple.
That’s because there’s such a huge and biased fan base, and they drown out the actual objective opinions.
I’m going to name a few as I do a lot of different hobbies.
For tools (hand\power) Milwaukee brand is hard to beat, and for hand tools I’m a fan of Husky generally. Underrated.
For Music equipment: Boss and Roland are always a safe bet and worth at least comparing to whatever you are looking at. (amps, pedals, drum machines, synths… etc)
For inflatable water craft (rafts, kayaks, fishing boats): Sea Eagle is the shit.
For computer components (motherboards, video cards, etc): ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI. (ASRock is an honorable mention) I’ve built PC’s for over 30 years now. Thousands of systems. I stand by this.
For computer accessories (hard drive docks, adapters, misc) Startech makes great stuff for the price and all kinds of useful equipment.
For 3D Printers - I love Ender’s due to the amount of easy upgrades\hacks\upgradability to turn a $200 3d printer into a printer that can rival anything out there for it’s type. And a lot of the parts you can just print with the printer you bought. You can do this with many brands but I found Ender to be very accessible with a lot of ready made parts on the web you can get started with immediately. Not to mention upgrading the motherboard\step motors and what not. It’s a great hobby if you like to tinker.
Cars (vehicles): I’ve owned many brands at this point in my life. From high end Volkswagen sports cars (2008 Rabbit modded out) to low end beater 96 Ford Escort, Dodge Dakota pickups and Chevy SUVs. And at this point in my life, with all the money spent, accidents, long road trips and broken parts, I’ll never buy anything besides a Honda or Toyota. They are the best value out there. Period.
Seconding Startech - I bought a DP to DVI-D adapter for my MacBook Pro and while it worked flawlessly with my PC, macOS was only showing me 1280x800 resolution instead of the monitor’s full 2560x1600 resolution. I found that under Windows on Bootcamp it fully worked on the same hardware so it was clearly a macOS thing.
Emailed their support about it and within a day, got a guy who immediately gave me very technical and specific advice and suggestions, clearly very experienced. We weren’t able to solve it (chalked it up to a weird macOS limitation and work gave me a different adapter that worked) but he was still incredibly helpful, and I’ll have confidence in buying from them in the future that their support should be excellent.
Didn’t Asus start enshittifying recently? Thought I saw some chatter about that on here 😢
They have had some sus stuff very recently yes… disappointing.
Brother printers. I have 78k pages printed on my 15 year old color laser printer from them, and it’s still going strong. They still sell OEM toner and even replacement parts for it, although the only part that ever needed to be replaced so far was the drum.
A brother laser printer was the best decision of my college career. I only wish I’d have bought it sooner
At this point none. Trademark law has been rendered null and void when a holding company can own 3/4 of the brands on the market. Go pick up a power tool off the rack at Lowe’s or Home Depot and tell me where it was made. When Stanley Black & Decker source different tools for the same brand from different anonymous manufacturers…
I’m at the point where I’m going to suggest to you learn how to work wood and metal with hand tools.
Most of the shit is made in China now, including Craftsman, Snap-on, and other traditional American tool manufacturing brands. Wera and Wiha are made in Germany, and worth the extra money if you expect your tools to last a lifetime.
Wera and Wiha are both great but Craftsan and Snap-On still machine and manufacture tools in the US
They haven’t had their primary manufacturing in the USA for like a decade. They’re just recently starting to move their manufacturing back to the USA.
Craftsman, maybe, but I can drive 45 minutes from where I’m sitting right now and see the same Snap-On factory that was there 20 years ago and I sure as hell ain’t in China
Or buy Festool.
My dream shop setup is Festool for corded and Hilti for cordless
Deuter backpacks.
In many years of backpacking I never met someone who had trouble or regrets with a deuter bag.
I broke one of the steel rods in mine after years of heavy use and clearly by my own fault and way out of any manufacturer responsibility and they just replaced it for free. I just asked if there is any way to get spare parts and they were like “Here you go, have a good trip.”
Besides that, you have put in serious effort or serious stupidity (in my case) to break them at all. Especially normally easily breakable parts like clasps and zippers, are super sturdy.
I’ll start my own thread with OXO for their kitchen goods. After a decade of dealing with subpar containers and utensils, I’ve slowly started to rebuild my set with OXO stuff and habe yet to be disappointed by anything of theirs.
Seconded with Knipex hand tools. They’re far pricier than the competition you’ll find on the store shelves, but the quality and engineering is better than anything else you can reasonably find (barring boutique toolmakers).
I’ve used my Knipex 5” cobra pliers more than anything else in the toolbox, except maybe a torx set. Solid tools.
They’re great. As a line cook, I used to EDC a pair of the 4" minis in my pocket for taking off burner nozzles for cleaning. By the end of my year there, everyone else I worked with had bought a pair because they were so much better than dealing with the garbage Hart brand pliers the restaurant supplied.
YKK zips. On anything I’ve ever owned, they don’t break. And I find that more durable clothing brands will use YKK zips.
