WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.520 As tech enthusiasts and gamers, are we not all sick and tired of being punching bags? 00:00:05.520 --> 00:00:13.760 Yeah! Yeah! I mean, not only does it feel like truly innovative new gadgets are few and far between these 00:00:13.760 --> 00:00:19.320 days, but the prices for them have gone from expensive to ridiculous faster than a cod 00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:25.240 lobby turns racist. And the worst part, the worst part is the reason for it. 00:00:25.240 --> 00:00:30.200 These chips that are supposed to be affordable aren't because they're being hoarded by a 00:00:30.200 --> 00:00:35.880 bunch of jackasses for the sole purpose of creating the giant slop creature that's trying 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:40.600 to take our jobs. Is there any good news? 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:47.200 Yes, there is a lot of bad stuff happening right now, but a part of the problem is the 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:53.280 way that RageBait generates more clicks, incentivizing negative news to spread, and so I think it's 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:59.240 more important than ever to take a step back and appreciate some of the positive things 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:03.800 happening in tech, because there's actually a lot more happening than most of us probably 00:01:03.800 --> 00:01:09.280 realize. For starters, some really smart creators have demonstrated how unsustainable the current 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:16.040 AI bubble is, which gives me real hope that while AI in some form is clearly here to stay, 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:22.720 this dystopian tech bro infinite money glitch dumpster fire isn't. 00:01:22.960 --> 00:01:26.080 There are even upsides to some of the things that get us down. 00:01:26.080 --> 00:01:31.880 No one likes waiting longer for a new console or a GPU, but everyone likes it when developers 00:01:31.880 --> 00:01:38.360 optimize their new games for those older systems, especially when the broader economy is suffering. 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:44.280 And while Microsoft seems determined to make Windows 11 as crappy as possible, in the background, 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:49.200 the year of the Linux desktop is quickly turning from a meme into a reality. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:52.360 Just like I'm turning this segue into our sponsor. 00:01:52.360 --> 00:01:57.200 You know, it's easy to get lost in the recent headlines and overlook just how much cheaper 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:02.160 consumer technology has actually become compared to just about any other time in my life. 00:02:02.160 --> 00:02:06.040 I mean, it's tempting for us to think, well, of course there'll be a new chip next year 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:10.920 that's better in every way and also less expensive, but my recent factory tours over 00:02:10.920 --> 00:02:16.960 in Asia really opened my eyes to the incredible talent, not to mention the R&D expense that 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:23.560 goes into making everything from tiny SSDs to giant TVs as affordable as possible for 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:27.080 us. I mean, look at this glue robot, for instance. 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:33.800 They built this for the express purpose of saving just a few pennies per TV. 00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:38.960 That doesn't sound like much, but it's this kind of obsessive optimization that has enabled 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:46.000 flat screen TVs to completely defy inflation for decades now in spite of ever rising materials 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:53.080 and labor costs. So when people ask me, how do you keep your joy and enthusiasm for tech? 00:02:53.080 --> 00:03:01.360 That's the first thing I think of. Even more broadly, as the price of food, fuel, and housing has skyrocketed relative to earnings, 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:06.800 consumer tech items like VR headsets, cell phones, game consoles, cameras, and gaming 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:12.920 PCs have continually leveled up in their capabilities while staying within or at least 00:03:12.920 --> 00:03:16.320 pretty close to their traditional price bands. 00:03:16.320 --> 00:03:22.280 And that's even after the insane pricing surges that we've seen in GPUs and, more recently, 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:27.800 the RAM apocalypse. Look, I'm not going to tell you everything is as affordable as I'd like it to be, or 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:33.800 as it should be, I literally just wrote a video about how awful the RAM situation is. 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:38.880 But I do think part of the path to greener mental pastures is reminding ourselves that 00:03:38.880 --> 00:03:43.960 a dollar buys a lot more tech today than it ever has. 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:50.280 Today, you can build an $800 gaming PC with a 12 Gigabyte GPU that will handle high-end 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:58.640 1080p and even 1440p gaming, and that includes a free copy of Battlefield f***ing 6. 00:03:58.640 --> 00:04:05.200 In 1993, that would have gotten you, let's see, not even this PC that was so mind-bogglingly 00:04:05.200 --> 00:04:08.720 affordable that the LA Times wrote an article about it. 00:04:08.720 --> 00:04:12.760 Obviously, I understand that that is not an apples-to-apples comparison. 00:04:12.760 --> 00:04:16.160 Back then, an entire family would have shared that one computer. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:20.840 But the modern world demands everyone have access to their own device to function now. 00:04:20.840 --> 00:04:26.360 But hey, if you're only after basic functionality, the price floor goes even lower. 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:32.240 Chromebooks. They might not be the sexiest thing, but they are regularly available at prices that would 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:38.600 allow a family of five to each have their own device for what is still less than that 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:43.440 1993 PC. And that's even ignoring inflation. 00:04:43.440 --> 00:04:47.080 Of course, not everyone wants a Chromebook. 00:04:47.080 --> 00:04:50.960 So what about the enthusiast here? Same thing. 00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:56.240 Here's an ultimate 4K gaming build that we did 11 years ago. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.920 By basically every single measure, modern buyers have it better. 00:05:02.880 --> 00:05:07.400 Without putting any work or research into this, I can just click on magnificent AMD gaming 00:05:07.400 --> 00:05:13.520 slash streaming PC on the front page of PC Partpaker and get a machine that's over $1,000 00:05:13.520 --> 00:05:16.800 less and is better in every conceivable way. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:22.160 Sometimes I think we get a little loss in the sauce when it comes to performance expectations. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.820 There are absolutely poorly optimized titles, looking at you, Cities Skylines, too. 00:05:27.820 --> 00:05:33.740 But in general, I think we have to come to accept that 8 million pixels is a lot. 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:38.980 It was hard to drive then, and it's hard to drive now, especially as gamers' expectations 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:47.300 for lighting and visual fidelity continue to grow. The PC gaming industry has smacked us around a little, but it's by and large been pretty 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:50.380 good to us. And we're not just talking about the hardware. 00:05:50.380 --> 00:05:54.260 I picked up a copy of an older double A game the other day so that my daughter and I could 00:05:54.260 --> 00:05:57.420 play it together. It was under $5. 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:04.020 Truly. Glory B to Gay Ben, who half-blessed us with his winter sale bounty, and okay, not everyone 00:06:04.020 --> 00:06:08.180 wants to play a 17-year-old strategy game, but how about this? 00:06:08.180 --> 00:06:14.700 I also just picked up Expedition 33, the literal game of the year, for just over $40. 00:06:14.700 --> 00:06:20.300 I mean, when I was a kid, I paid $50 for Pilot Wings, which would barely even qualify as a 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:29.460 Mario Party minigame these days. And I get that this might come across a little bit back in my day, but I do generally stand 00:06:29.460 --> 00:06:35.220 behind my belief that gaming is, pound for pound, the best value entertainment that you 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:41.420 can buy. Five out of six of the Game of the Year nominees this year can be had for less than 50 US dollars, 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:47.140 and each of them will last you many hours. And that's something we should take a moment to appreciate. 00:06:47.140 --> 00:06:50.340 Do it. Drop a little note to your favorite indie game developer. 00:06:50.340 --> 00:06:54.580 I'm sure it's going to brighten their day. I picked Radical Fish. 00:06:54.580 --> 00:07:00.260 So mathematically, then, there's a pretty easy case that we shouldn't be mad at the 00:07:00.260 --> 00:07:05.500 talented people who create the products and experiences that we love so much, and yet 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:08.500 we are mad. We're super mad. 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:17.020 So why is that? Well, that's going to be a deep one-to-one pack because it is both kind of hard to justify, 00:07:17.020 --> 00:07:22.700 as we've demonstrated already, and yet still also completely understandable. 00:07:22.700 --> 00:07:27.740 Let's talk about that. I don't know about you, but my housing costs have gone from less than 20% of my monthly 00:07:27.740 --> 00:07:30.860 expenses to above 40%. 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:36.900 So sure, yeah, my Xbox controller might cost the same as it did 18 years ago, but the share 00:07:36.900 --> 00:07:42.940 of my disposable income that I can allocate to it is being chipped away on all sides. 00:07:42.940 --> 00:07:47.100 And I recognize that I am one of the lucky ones. I didn't go into major debt for school. 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:50.940 My parents gave me a deal in my first car, and I stayed healthy enough that I've never 00:07:50.940 --> 00:07:54.460 missed more than a couple of days of work for an hockey injury here or there. 00:07:54.460 --> 00:08:00.020 When you feel like things have gotten harder, it's not your imagination, and it sure as 00:08:00.020 --> 00:08:09.660 hell isn't your avocado toast. You are right to be tired of hearing, um, actually, it's not more expensive if you account 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:15.060 for inflation. Yes, inflation is part of the equation. 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:19.860 But it doesn't tell the whole story, and it can also be a bulls*** way to justify the 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:26.340 rising cost of everything and normalize corporate greed that directly affects wages. 00:08:26.340 --> 00:08:32.140 A better measure of affordability over time is consumer buying power, which has fallen 00:08:32.140 --> 00:08:39.220 behind inflation for decades. Couple that with corporate consolidation and the new threat of AI. 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:45.660 No wonder people are at their breaking points, but I do want to make sure that we're not 00:08:45.660 --> 00:08:50.740 muddling our passion for technology and our anger about the state of the world. 00:08:50.740 --> 00:08:58.620 Let's look at the affordability of tech a different way. By tracking it relative to wage growth, which is broadly considered a more representative 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:08.380 measure than just raw inflation. According to Fred from 1995 to 2024, there was just over a 40% increase in real median 00:09:08.380 --> 00:09:16.180 personal income. That means that if we compare the $300 launch price of the PS1 to the current price of the 00:09:16.180 --> 00:09:21.260 PS5, we're actually tracking pretty damn close. 00:09:21.260 --> 00:09:25.460 Not with inflation, but with real world wage increases. 00:09:25.460 --> 00:09:30.540 Yes, I know that the base PS5 doesn't come with the Blu-ray drive, free cloud saves, 00:09:30.540 --> 00:09:38.020 or even online play. But neither did the PS1, and it's not hard to find similar examples where the tech industry 00:09:38.020 --> 00:09:43.460 has come through for us, delivering more value over time rather than less. 00:09:43.460 --> 00:09:47.740 It's also not that hard to find areas where we've been let down though. 00:09:47.740 --> 00:09:52.580 Hard. Gotcha Mechanics and in-game gambling have created financial incentives for developers 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:56.540 to prey on people with addictive personalities, which is something I fell victim to. 00:09:56.540 --> 00:10:01.140 I actually opened up about it on WAN Show. It really sucks. 00:10:01.140 --> 00:10:07.700 With that said, I might just be the biggest PS1 fanboy this side of Pluto, and even I 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:12.740 will literally slap anyone who says that it provides a better overall experience for 00:10:12.740 --> 00:10:16.500 most people than a PS5. It was incredible. 00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:19.740 It was influential. It was my personal favorite. 00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:25.420 But let's be honest, the PS5 library has way more games that people want to play today. 00:10:25.420 --> 00:10:31.660 And while few of them are PS5 titles in the traditional exclusive sense, that's great. 00:10:31.660 --> 00:10:34.700 Better access to games is what we were fighting for. 00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:40.300 Right? Not everything's going our way, but hey, it's good to celebrate wins, right? 00:10:40.300 --> 00:10:46.900 And cross-platform compatibility was a huge one for both consumer choice and for affordability. 00:10:46.900 --> 00:10:55.860 Same goes for things like removable media. Do you remember when saving your game meant buying a proprietary 128 kilobyte memory card 00:10:55.860 --> 00:11:03.460 for almost $20? Now I can just pull the SD card out of my Switch and throw it into my laptop. 00:11:03.940 --> 00:11:07.540 This move towards industry standards affects more than just gaming. 00:11:07.540 --> 00:11:14.180 The introduction of USB-C, LTT cables coming soon by the way, was a watershed moment. 00:11:14.180 --> 00:11:19.980 I mean, many of you will remember that not that long ago, every single device you owned 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:24.940 had a proprietary charger and a proprietary cable so that the manufacturer could milk 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:32.340 you for accessories profit. These days, you can pack a single power brick into your LTT backpack and that'll work with 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:36.020 your ASUS laptop, your Valve Steam Deck, your Apple iPhone, your Nintendo Switch, your 00:11:36.020 --> 00:11:39.500 Ugreen Power Bank, your Sennheiser headphones, and your Sony camera. 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:43.060 Wow, that all fits in there. Huh. 00:11:43.060 --> 00:11:51.620 Nice. lttstore.com. But, while I meme on it, obviously, often, it's also important for me to point out that 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:56.260 you don't need to buy this or any of the stuff that goes in it. 00:11:56.260 --> 00:12:01.300 Yeah, or any of the shiny gadgets that we show off on this channel. 00:12:01.300 --> 00:12:05.740 This is going to rub some people the wrong way, but I think a big part of why we're 00:12:05.740 --> 00:12:11.140 so angry right now is the unrealistic standards that social media creates. 00:12:11.140 --> 00:12:14.900 When Linus grew up, there were cell phones that cost $2,000. 00:12:14.900 --> 00:12:20.140 It's just that his parents didn't have it. But it didn't bother them because no one we knew had them. 00:12:20.140 --> 00:12:24.220 But now, when I go to a creator convention, there are literally people who gave me funny 00:12:24.220 --> 00:12:28.940 looks because I didn't have an iPhone at the time to tap and exchange information. 00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:34.020 I mean, even on channels that aren't constantly telling us that we need the latest and greatest. 00:12:34.020 --> 00:12:38.180 Here are a few recent LTTs about deal hunting and getting the most out of what you already 00:12:38.180 --> 00:12:44.900 have. It can be hard to unsee the performance of a 5090 on a tandem OLED display, and I get 00:12:44.900 --> 00:12:49.860 why that can be frustrating. But does that mean that we shouldn't cover them? 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:55.380 LTT has always covered cutting-edge technologies, knowing that it's a dream for most people 00:12:55.380 --> 00:13:00.700 today. But thanks to the magic of rich people buying two of them, they're just going to become 00:13:00.700 --> 00:13:07.300 more accessible over time, either as the technology matures, or more directly on the second-hand 00:13:07.300 --> 00:13:12.060 market. I think another issue is the way that some media frame this conversation, telling you 00:13:12.060 --> 00:13:18.620 to be angry that a video card exists, but it was never targeted at the 99%. 00:13:18.620 --> 00:13:21.820 I don't have a 5090. Should I feel bad about my PC? 00:13:21.820 --> 00:13:27.060 F*** no. I'm running a B580, and yeah, maybe I can't run the latest games with all the bells and 00:13:27.060 --> 00:13:31.340 whistles at 4K, but I don't need that to enjoy myself, do I? 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:39.020 And frankly, neither do you. Even if you're still running a second-gen i5 and NVIDIA GTX 1030, there is a wild world 00:13:39.020 --> 00:13:45.380 of older, emulated games that can be enjoyed on even modest hardware, often for free. 00:13:45.380 --> 00:13:52.740 We've said it before, but it's worth saying again. The point of this video, guys, is not to minimize the very real frustration that you and your 00:13:52.740 --> 00:14:02.420 family and friends might be facing right now. It is valid to be mad, maybe even cynical and jaded, but just because it's valid, does 00:14:02.420 --> 00:14:10.060 that necessarily mean it's helpful? Like, I could be pissed that Halo Infinite will never get a split-screen co-op mode, and 00:14:10.060 --> 00:14:16.260 I am a little, but I could also be excited for the coming surge of co-op-centric games 00:14:16.260 --> 00:14:23.300 that look freaking awesome. I could be mad that the PlayStation 6 is likely going to be delayed, not to mention 00:14:23.300 --> 00:14:30.300 more expensive because of the RAMpocalypse, and I am, but okay, bright side, I can also 00:14:30.300 --> 00:14:35.500 be happy that in these trying times, Rockstar is going to be forced to optimize GTA 6 for 00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:42.700 the hardware that gamers already own. I could also be disappointed that the Steam Machine isn't a cutting-edge FPS monster, 00:14:42.700 --> 00:14:48.900 but maybe it was time for someone with the influence of Valve to normalize just enjoying 00:14:48.900 --> 00:14:54.980 PC games rather than hyperfixating on graphical fidelity, while also low-key ending the Windows 00:14:54.980 --> 00:15:01.060 gaming monopoly. The point is that tech is supposed to help you, it's supposed to make your life better, 00:15:01.060 --> 00:15:05.700 it's not supposed to dictate your mood, and if you're already working on an angry comment 00:15:05.700 --> 00:15:12.300 about this video, I offer you this, a reminder that your mental health doesn't need to be 00:15:12.300 --> 00:15:16.340 shaped by tech bros who don't give a f*** out to you. 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:21.220 Staying mad doesn't mean that you're being effective in the resistance, it just means 00:15:21.220 --> 00:15:27.060 that you are unhappy, which is a real downer, like, I don't even feel like doing this segue 00:15:27.060 --> 00:15:32.620 to our sponsor. If you guys enjoyed this video, we'd love to hear a few things that you're excited for 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:37.220 or grateful for in the tech space, or even in the world, we could all use a little positivity 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:41.940 these days, and if you want more positivity, go hug a loved one. 00:15:42.020 --> 00:15:45.580 Make a walk while listening to your favorite album of all time, or maybe go watch the video 00:15:45.580 --> 00:15:48.980 that I got to make with my son recently about him choosing a Kindle.