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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

Who in Silicon Valley uses actual computers and not something in the cloud? Do any start ups use actual hardware that you'd get at some place like MicroCenter? Don't they just get handed shiny new Apple hardware (something from HP/Dell if they're on a budget) to interface with the cloud?

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Youre not wrong.

I have a pc with 24GB 3090 card capable of running LLMs locally, but our electricity costs make API calls much more reasonable.

Even gaming -- streaming geforce now is cheaper than ammortizing cost of power + hardware over time

For my personal use, I'll take the hit in cost for the additional control that owning the hardware gives me. Even less restrictive things like blocking sideloading are unacceptable to me.

Cost break down please

I think many of the employees have gaming rigs at home and would buy parts there.

You'd be surprised by how many "tech" people have no clue on about how to build a rig, nor have any willingness to learn.

The store has lots of other tech enthusiast stuff, like a huge selection of 3D printers.

And a full aisle of electronics / hobbyist gear, including decent soldering stations, fluke gear, tons of components, and a good smattering of SparkFun and Adafruit's catalog.

They have great small business machines and more importantly, everything you need without waiting for amazon. Their in-house prebuilt brand PowerSpec have great prices for the hardware and work nicely whether you go for a gaming version or office build.

silicon valley-ite here: we have normal gaming machines and linux boxen too …

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