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Comment by insaneirish | Hacker News Reader

> How is something that is twice as expensive as the competition not a luxury device?

You can buy a version of <insert product here> from Walmart at 1/2 price of a "normal" retailer. Does that mean every "normal" retailer is actually a luxury goods dealer?

Is my diner a luxury restaurant because a burger costs twice as much as McDonald's?

Stop the silliness.

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All I'm learning from comments like this is that there are a lot of people who are very resistant to the idea that they buy luxury goods.

When I buy a Rick Owens coat for $3k, sure it's a luxury good. It protects from the elements just the same, I know that I overpay only because it looks nice. But when I pay the same for the device I need for my work and use for 12 hours a day, it’s not luxury — it's just common sense. I've tried working with Windows and Linux, and I know that I'm paying not only for specs, but because the sum of all the qualities will result in a much better experience — which will allow me to work (and earn money) faster and with less headache.

$1000 for a laptop that will last 10 years seems crazy to call a luxury, when we have Alienware/apple laptops that go for 2k to 5k+ and demographics that buys them yearly.

I bought a 300 euro ThinkPad that's going on 9 years now. It was my only computer for the entire time until about a week ago, when I bought another 300 euro ThinkPad. I also didn't have a smartphone, only a basic dumbphone for a large portion of that time.

So for me, yes, MacBook Airs, like the lovely M1 I'm writing this on (I love my job!) are luxury goods.

Just because Ferraris cost half a million doesn't mean a 50k BMW isn't luxury.

If we're doing car metaphors, you're calling sub 20k cars luxuries.

> $1000 for a laptop that will last 10 years

That's for the 8GB model (which is already too low unless you use your Mac for the same use cases as you would use an iPad), 16GB is $200 extra.

> You can buy a version of <insert product here> from Walmart at 1/2 price of a "normal" retailer. Does that mean every "normal" retailer is actually a luxury goods dealer?

What percent of that retailer's products does that comparison apply to?

If it's more than half then yeah that's probably a luxury goods dealer.

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