Do the math and you can jusify the faster machine. Your computer may take
1.5 seconds to open a program. The new hot models can open that program in
1.1 seconds, saving you 0.4 seconds every time. Three times a day you save
1.2 seconds, times about 350 days in a typical years. For only a few hundred dollars more, you can save an extra seven seconds a year. That is time you can spend with your family instead of waiting for a computer. It is not about the money, we're talking major quality of life issues here.
I agree. At the time you usually do not believe the tool is bad, but will do specific job well. For some tools I buy the best I can find and these tools are the ones I heavily rely on. Last month I spent $185 on Starrett measuring tools--that's a lot of money compared to buying the equivalent Stanley tools at about $24. Maybe I'll be more likely to take care of expensive tools than throw-away tools. But if you think about it, have there been times in the middle of a project and an important tool broke? Recalling those times makes me buy the best I can find, and if I can't afford it I'll wait or not buy it at all.
I know you have been around long enough for this. I think tools--at least the better ones--have been getting better and are more affordable. The price you pay for a shop of better tools today is less, in terms of what your paycheck will buy, than it was 30 years ago. The 12v Dewalt drill I bought in June of 1993 cost $159 which is about what I would pay for a BETTER grandson of that 12 volt drill today over 11 years later. My craftsman wood lathe cost about $300 in 1973 and the same one (probably off the same tooling but better components) was selling at Home Depot for $300 before it went on closeout this year for $199!!! My large bench drill press cost $135.15 (Taiwanese, of course) in December of 1978. The same thing would cost about the same today (and also Taiwanese or Chinese, of course). I have a Milwaukee 3 v screwdriver that cost about $100 in the latter 80's and is selling for about the same price today--in fact, I think I might be able to get the 2 speed model for about that price or maybe a hair more today.
Tools may not be dropping like the computers, but they are sure a good value today. Twenty or 30 years ago I would not have given the Porter Cables or Milwaukees a second look, because they were out of my price range. That is not true today and not even true for people my kid's age.
I think you've pin pointed it... Also, put that together with the "Instant Gratification" generation, and you have the demand for inexpensive and cheap tools. (I do think there is a difference)
Yes. The powered tools have dropped. IIRC, I paid about $20 for a single speed non-reversing, ungrounded, aluminum cased drill back around '56 or '57. It was a wonder then, but a POS, and dangerous, by today's standards.
An equivalent drill today might run $25-35, but will add a variable speed reversing feature, and quite possibly a hand operated chuck, with grounding and a plastic case. That plastic case may not sound like much, but the first time you drill into a live wire in a wall, you'll appreciate it.
There is a lot of complaining going on about cheap tools these days. That's generally easily corrected. Avoid the cheap tools. As you note, today's costly tools are much cheaper than the costly tools of 30 or so years ago, and are generally better engineered. And today's costly tools, checked for inflation, don't appear to cost quite so much after all.
Given time, even the cheesy stuff improves. I can remember my first view of a Jet tool, a couple decades or so ago. There is almost no comparison with today's Jet tools in terms of quality. The same is true of Grizzly and a couple of others. Today's tools are far better than those from 20 years ago. Part of that is simple development. Part is a learning process on the part of the distributors who deal with the actual overseas factories. Part of it is a learning process at those factories. And, so far, most of it is a benefit to the tool user.
Charlie Self "Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good." H. L. Mencken
That actually happened years ago. The DEC Alpha was a 64-bit processor and had a 64-bit OS, Windows NT. Right now you can buy 64-bit machines off the shelf at Best Buy and install 64-bit Linux on them (or you could download the Windows Beta, but it's time-bombed for a year and still has a lot of 32 bit code).
Not likely--that's really more of a programming issue and unless you have a truly vast quantity of them (like Library of Congress vast) 32 vs 64 bit isn't going to make much difference.
I remember when there wasn't 80 gig of magnetic or electronic storage on the entire planet. I remember when a 1 gig shop filled a couple of floors of a large building.
My new laptop outperforms supercomputers that cost tens of millions of dollars 20 years ago.
Moore's Law at work. Eventually they'll start hitting hard limits and the pace of performance improvement will slow or stop. Right now development is in the rapid-growth phase of the curve, kind of like aerospace was between around 1920 to 1970, during which time they went from wooden biplanes to footprints on the Moon, and even figured out one way to build a starship. Since 1970 flight performance hasn't changed a great deal. Stealth and so on are new, but they are peripheral to flight performance.
The PC router - 890 series - I just bought cost a bit under $200. It's replacing a 28 yr old Craftsman that cost $50+ with single speed, smaller motor, rougher adjustment, and a tendency to go out of adjustment. That $50 has to be in the neighborhood of $150 today.
Probably quite a bit more. Isn't invested money generally supposed to double every ten years or better? 28 years ago almost means that it would have quadrupled. $50 x 2 x 2 x 2 = $400.00.
From the point of view of investment, yes, but I what I was referring to was the value of the dollar: I'm guessing that $50 28 yrs ago would be roughly equivalent to $150 now. And if our deficits keep going the way they are, it will be $1,000 in 3-4 years....
Ha! You sound like you're just about my era. 1989, the hard drive in my first computer was an 80 megger and it cost me $800.00. First time I upgraded my ram, I went from one megabyte onboard to 4 megs. Cost me $500.00.
Soon as I find a way to send all my four year old defunct hardware back
10-15 years, I'm gonna retire on the profit that I would have sold it for. Of course, that hardware will include a note to invest in that stupid new computer company called Microsoft. :)
You're probably close. And the changes in technology, whether in manufacturing or in the item itself, tend to show up everwhere. My first new car was a '57 Chevy convertible, 283 V8 with the Duntov package (3/4 race cam, 11 or 11.5 compression ratio, dual 4 barrels, no suspension changes). It was a rocket in a straight line, deadly in curves and didn't stop for shit. But it cost under 3 grand.
Of course, I was making about 55 bucks a week when I traded a '50 Studebaker on the Chevy.
A car with similar speed today would probably cost 20 grand, maybe 25, but additional features would include excellent handling, much (much, much, much) better brakes and tires, and interior padding and belts and other features that would give driver and passengers at least a chance of surviving a low to medium speed crash, and some hope of making it out of a really bad mess. The '57 Chevy interior was a killer all by itself. But, jeez, I loved that car!
Charlie Self "Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good." H. L. Mencken
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