(I am a noob. I have many misconceptions. I am willing to listen however, so please be kind)
I wonder if:
- a mini PC might be a good thing to lug around (instead of a laptop)
- nice also because it is much cheaper than a laptop (due to different design constraints)
- but whom to trust? Beelink and Minisforum come up in HackerNews discussions, but I have trust issues
My question: which (mini) PC manufacturers are kind, reliable, trustworthy?
My trust issues are:
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I find it difficult to believe that I am buying anything of quality whether or not I am not paying a lot (briefly I had a period of hope where I thought that perhaps paying more in general would be a good thing as far as quality is concerned, and that hypothesis did not hold up)
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I find it difficult to believe that most products created in China/Asia-more-generally are built with kindness in mind (kindness for the worker, kindness for the consumer, kindness for everything in between): e.g. see the plethora of absolute shit that floods Amazon, Temu, etc.)
The second point, on China, deserves clarification:
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I only mention China specifically because computer hardware in general is designed and produced there, and when mini PCs are concerned, most manufacturers are based in China: e.g. Beelink and Minisforum
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it is not an issue of worker skill or product quality: I know I can get excellent goods that are worth far more than what they actually sell for (e.g. Chi-fi earbuds!), and that almost everything is made in Asia
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I work for a company that produces goods in China, and “we” ““make”” (I make nothing) good stuff! Part of our edge comes from comes from the fact that my company’s owner is Chinese and puts in a lot of care into working with factories that are kind (to their workers: clothing manufacturers are often shit to women and pay them less, because misogyny is a thing everywhere) — they wouldn’t have to put in this care if it wasn’t a problem to begin with
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my trust issue is ultimately due to: I think most persons working in the production chain for most goods that western consumers consume are unhappy, regardless of where they live (e.g. from the people who do the final delivery to our doorstep, to the people who initially mine the raw materials)
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most of this anger is well-justified: e.g. my government and companies operating out of my country are in general, callous, but especially when it comes to Asians and Africans; some of this anger is due to how convenient it is for local leaders to make the “other” a problem, as a distraction
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anyway, getting distracted, but my point is that: if a product I buy is being made by unhappy people, then I am going to be cursed for using it: it will be full of toxic chemicals they had to endure while making it, it will be full of their spite they have for me not paying enough for their hard work, etc. the list goes ever on
(Sorry for this insanity.)
Came here to dunk on the idea of any positive correlation between kindness and trustworthiness, found a bunch of “holistic” non-sense mixed with good intentions. That said …
I prefer blunt people and trustworthy results. End-of-the-day, I don’t care about intentions and goodwill outside of direct, inter-personal interactions. Considering intentions first over results as a cultural value is a concept I don’t often even encounter, but good on you.
I can live with quite a few otherwise substandard things in my life where I know they came from a place of love, but that brakes down versus strangers rather quickly, and corporations? I would sooner slash their tires for shits-n-giggles, or send my first-born off to be raised by sketchy fae creatures, than ever trust their intentions. In my country, they(corporations) are, by law and definition, the worst sorts of “people”. They ARE the real inhuman other our grandparents warned us about, made manifest.
All that said, good on you for being so eager to trust and abide. I hope it works out for you.
I don’t think we are too different in how we approach the world. I think kindness is correlated with trustworthiness because my definition of kindness is:
If we are buying goods from factories where people are treated unkindly, then there’s a higher probability that the goods we purchase will be poisoned. Many different definitions of poison exist. All are work in this context.
I would call your #2 accomodating … I think of kindness as more proactive and unsolicited.
As for #1, if I don’t care enough to lie to make you happy, then I’m definitely going to come across as un-kind(which I would prefer, as people exploit kindness, but…). For an example, it costs me nothing to use someone’s pro-nouns when I can remember them, no matter how batshit I may think a specific identity is(ie: “superstraights”?).
Okay, who am I kidding? “Superstraights” are right at the bottom of list, next to Nazis, when it comes to “people whose bullshit I will humor and not call out”, but I can’t be bothered with a better example at the moment.