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Black Friday is here. And with Christmas ante portas the final countdown with the toughest end-bosses in IT support begins: The own parents, partners or children with their new or old digital devices.

The fundaments are laid in the upcoming days and weeks when stuff with more or less technical debts¹ is bought. Basically at the moment of your purchase it’s already junk and an environmental mess. One example, representative for many others:

German distributor Medion is currently selling its Akoya E15308 notebook with just 4 GB RAM, glued permanently and not expandable. The integrated AMD Radeon Vega shares this RAM and actually works satisfactorily in combination with a dual channel mode. Unfortunately the RAM on this notebook is soldered in single channel mode. This means some complex websites with simultaneous videomeeting session might bring the maximum usable 2 threads and low memory to the limits. I don’t even want to think about an Office App or even a game running in the background. And better don’t want to start off with Windows 10 in S-Mode. These limitations are quite obvious to every techie, except Heise² where the 15.6" IPS display is highlighted as “untypical in its class”. The unacceptable FullHD resolution below 150 dpi, with individual pixels already visible, is not mentioned at all.

Please do not buy IT junk, better spend your precious time with your loved ones.

You can also give presents that make this time together happen. Better Microphones or Cams for instance. But even more better a walk with your grandparents outside. Or how about reading a book personally instead of buying an audio book? This would even work remotely. If you prefer something with close contact: A relaxing massage of the neck at home, in warmth and candlelight instead of just buying a scarf. Or something for nerds again: Switching from Windows to Linux on a shared afternoon with a coffee flat rate and homemade pastry?

Get more inspiration at “Zeit statt Zeugs”.

Stay healthy,
Tomas Jakobs