The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XL

[Sarin]

Question for CFC: suppose…
…you were in a country with very high inflation (third in the world at about 50% and risking becoming runaway/hyper);
…that absolute necessities such as foodstuffs and drinking water were covered for the time being, but any surplus would be fast devalued;
…that saving in foreign currency was a utopia because of draconian currency controls designed to hurt the poor and/or the working and benefit the rich and/or the speculating;
…that, local congress having been effectively muzzled with the excuse of coronavirus restrictions, i.e. congress running on virtual sessions and legislators being not allowed to speak or even be counted as present, therefore, until at least December 2021 there would be no institutional chance of changing things and it's already expected that imports will dry up because the country's simply running out of foreign currency and anyway flights are stopped except for party/government-approved flights;
…that you couldn't just make like a tree, rematerialise in Canada and become Synsensa's roommate, because of various impediments that shall not be mentioned for the sake of brevity.

On what would you spend the aforementioned fast-devalued surplus, other than the acquisition of a new laptop to replace the aging, failing one?

Laptop is a good option. In general, non-perishable imported goods are good for preserving the value in face of inflation.

 

[Samson]

Question for CFC: suppose…
…you were in a country with very high inflation (third in the world at about 50% and risking becoming runaway/hyper);
…that absolute necessities such as foodstuffs and drinking water were covered for the time being, but any surplus would be fast devalued;
…that saving in foreign currency was a utopia because of draconian currency controls designed to hurt the poor and/or the working and benefit the rich and/or the speculating;
…that, local congress having been effectively muzzled with the excuse of coronavirus restrictions, i.e. congress running on virtual sessions and legislators being not allowed to speak or even be counted as present, therefore, until at least December 2021 there would be no institutional chance of changing things and it's already expected that imports will dry up because the country's simply running out of foreign currency and anyway flights are stopped except for party/government-approved flights;
…that you couldn't just make like a tree, rematerialise in Canada and become Synsensa's roommate, because of various impediments that shall not be mentioned for the sake of brevity.

On what would you spend the aforementioned fast-devalued surplus, other than the acquisition of a new laptop to replace the aging, failing one?

Cryptocurrency? I would not generally recommend it as a store of value, but it may work for you.

 

[The_J]

What about traditional values like gold, diamonds and cigarettes ^^?

 

[H4run]

gold obliviously, it's pretty much at the long run always be an anti-inflation or devalued proof commodity.

 

[Cutlass]

Leaving the country's not an option. What to spend money on?

Either things that you are able to use for a number of years, like the laptop. Or things that are readily sellable under better conditions, like gold.

 

[Kyriakos]

I really need to buy a new computer. Something with a small tower, like the one I currently have. Can one upgrade just the ram and the gfx card? (this is what is creating the bottleneck)

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I really need to buy a new computer. Something with a small tower, like the one I currently have. Can one upgrade just the ram and the gfx card? (this is what is creating the bottleneck)

As long as it compatible with your current hardware and there's enough room for it. You might get better answers asking over in the computer forum.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I really need to buy a new computer. Something with a small tower, like the one I currently have. Can one upgrade just the ram and the gfx card? (this is what is creating the bottleneck)

Maybe, if the new items are compatible with the motherboard and other components.

 

[Synobun]

IIRC, Kyr's rig is certifiably ancient and he's still stuck playing things like EU2. I have doubts any sort of modern GPU will be compatible with his mobo.

 

[Kyriakos]

That's Eu3.
It's a dual core at 3,5 Ghz with 3 GB Ram. The gfx card is non-existent, which creates the bottleneck.

 

[Synobun]

Depending on how much money you have, it would probably not be much more expensive to just get a new entry-level computer. You'll need to at least double the RAM, probably a new CPU, possibly a new motherboard, and then an outright new GPU (unless your new CPU comes with on-board graphics). At a certain age, upgrading hardware is almost as expensive or more expensive than getting an entirely new rig of entry-level parts.

A lot of entry-level desktops don't come with RAM less than 8 GB now, for example, unless you're going for ultra low tier hardware.

 

[Kyriakos]

That would be my guess as well. Though I doubt I will buy a new computer if I can find a used one which is a lot cheaper - although up to now I never bought a used computer.
Depends on how much a new one would cost. If it goes above 400 euros it isn't a good option atm.
Visited the site of the main retailer here and it seems I could get a new pc for less than 400, so I will have a look. Do any mini-tower pcs actually have decent graphics cards? (I just need the card to be relatively good, I don't need it to run every latest MMO faster than anything else...)

 

[Synobun]

You have a mini-ITX tower, right?

You'll want a small form factor GPU. They can't get too great without paying a pretty penny; they usually hover around 2 GB VRAM, which is passable and entry level today (and of course much better than no GPU at all...). You'd be able to run newer Paradox and Civ games on low settings so long as your CPU's decent.

If you're buying used, you can probably get a desktop with something like a GeForce GT 1030 without going over 400 euros, although I'm not sure what the PC market is like in Greece.

If it's refurbished by a retailer, they (in Canada, at least) usually offer a warranty to guarantee performance for a while.

 

[H4run]

That would be my guess as well. Though I doubt I will buy a new computer if I can find a used one which is a lot cheaper - although up to now I never bought a used computer.

I bought already like 2 used laptop for my office from local online shop and it works awesome, because buying new laptop with the set price that they gave me was too slow and frustrating especially if the initial OS is windows 10 (when it's initially installed, some store sell new laptop without OS), while the new dual-core laptop may look shiny but just try open a few program and everything already move as if it's in slow motion or under a water.

Compared that to the 2 used laptop I bought, it runs like a Ferrari and unbelievably much more cheaper. It has core i 5 or 3 from older generation with 4-8 giga byte ram, sometime accompany with 128 or 256 SSD hard-disk depend on the price, and the strange thing is, they has lots of copy of these products (it's not sold by the end-user but by a store), I don't know how did they got the product, is it refurbish or they get an auction from some office for an insanely cheap price? But they get some serious amount of stock of the same second hand product and sometime it even available with different color.

There's only a store guarantee, couples of month, but it work fine till now, what I check before I bought the laptop is the total sales and the total review and its rate, I also make sure to check the one star complain, if everything work pretty well with only a minor complain like a scratch or other minor defect I just bought it if it's cheap and has a good spec. I was planning to buy one before the crisis happened for my family, but now I just focus my money on lifting up my online business and to survive.

 

[Kyriakos]

I will look into second hand, because the new ones which cost less than 400 euros have only 4 GB ram and usually some ridiculous gfx card.
I don't want a laptop, though. I want a tabletop with a small tower.

 

[Takhisis]

Either things that you are able to use for a number of years, like the laptop. Or things that are readily sellable under better conditions, like gold.

Yes, I'll have to go for the durable things. I don't want to speculate on gold and such because the government is simply clamping down on any privately-owned wealth such as foreign currency.
I've already gotten myself a huuuge-capacity USB drive so maybe my baby could use some extra gygabyte or two of RAM.

 

[H4run]

I will look into second hand, because the new ones which cost less than 400 euros have only 4 GB ram and usually some ridiculous gfx card.
I don't want a laptop, though. I want a tabletop with a small tower.

Let me show you the sample of the price and the spec that I can reach easily.

A 344.21 Euro laptop (sold 60, reviewed 30, rating 4.9)

Microprocessor : AMD Ryzen 3 3200U (2.6 GHz base frequency, up to 3.5 GHz burst frequency, 5 MB cache, 2 cores)
Memory, standard : 8GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM
Video graphics : AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics
Hard drive : 1 TB 5400 rpm SATA
Display : 14" diagonal HD SVA BrightView WLED-backlit (1366 x 768)
Keyboard : Full-size island-style

A 270.08 Euro laptop (sold 83, reviewed 43, rating 4.6)

Toshiba Tecra Z50A

Corei5 4310u ( 2.6 GHz ) Haswell
RAM 8GB DDR3L
Harddisk 500GB
VGA INTEL HD 4400
VGA GT730 Nvidia 1GB DDR3
Full HD 1920x1080
WEBCAM
HDMI
Keyboard Backlit ( Keyboard Nyala )
Wi-Fi
Screen Led 15.6 inch Wide

A 166 Euro Laptop (sold 1101, 491 reviewd, 4.8 rating)

INTEL CORE i5 3320M 2.60GHz UP TO 3.3GH
- RAM 8GB DDR3
- VGA INTEL HD 4000
- 2 PORT USB 3.0

 

[Birdjaguar]

The monitor is a big part of enjoying using your computer. Higher resolution is better even if you get a smaller screen.

 

[Takhisis]

In general, non-perishable imported goods are good for preserving the value in face of inflation.

Yes… so far we've settled on durable goods, some imported and some produced here, but with 50% year-on-year inflation (which will skyrocket because the misgovernment cannot tell the difference between money and wealth and has a) broken down the cycle of payments by banning everybody from going to the workplace (the first quarter trimester of quarantine saw a 20% fall in economic activity, since then there's been a further entire trimester) and b) decided to just print money and double (or more, but there's very little reliable information) the amount of money in circulation. The equation of huge, accelerated contraction + doubled money in circulation means that even 50% inflation is an optimist's pipe dream.

Since gold, jewels and foreign currency are very hard to obtain, our list is
-various minor home improvements
-the aforementioned laptop
-2GBs of RAM for Tak's baby computer to accompany the upcoming upgrade to Linux Mint 19!
-a LOOONG LAN cable (15-20 metres) to no longer depend on the vagaries of Wi-Fi for things such as teaching over the Internet, possible work interviews, and why not some decent online gaming. Because Her Professorship a.k.a. my smother having to teach 60 idiots live with a patchy wifi was a nightmare until I managed to get a long LAN cable to supply her with a stable connection and now I want the same.

More suggestions?
Other than videogames, which with 4 GB of RAM I totally intend on acquiring.

The monitor is a big part of enjoying using your computer. Higher resolution is better even if you get a smaller screen.

Ah, yes, a couple of years ago I had to buy a new screen because the old one started blacking out at random. A week or two ago we finally found somebody who had the know-how to repair the old one which we'd never thrown away, so we have a spare monitor.

 

[Synobun]

Get a bidet.