Re:Floorp – a customisable Firefox fork from Japan
by gunalx on Monday October 02, 2023 @05:16AM
(#37735752)
Not to bash on manufactured goods from china, but in a lot of product segments there really are a large difference in quality even from the upper end of middle priced products. I think this in large amount is origin agnostic though, and some of the reason china has gotten a bad reputation is that they are in a greater way willing to sacrifice quality to hit a lower price, and a lot of brands not paying the manufacturer above the bare minimum. I have had good and bad product origin from both China, and of European/American origin.
Re:Floorp – a customisable Firefox fork from Japan
by developer93 on Monday October 02, 2023 @05:29AM
(#37735866)
Annecdata, but a Chinese guy in my language class said that China was is trying to compete against quality rather than price, so maybe both are true at different points.
Re:Floorp – a customisable Firefox fork from Japan
by Ylpertnodi on Monday October 02, 2023 @07:56AM
(#37737011)
I think, two pertinent questions I'd like to ask (that would somewhat 'change' my reaction to your post:
Are you American?
Do you live in America?
Re:Floorp – a customisable Firefox fork from Japan
by OmarAssadi on Monday October 02, 2023 @08:35AM
(#37737290)
Yeah, Palestinian-American; I was born in Israel with Israeli and American citizenship, but grew up mostly in Florida, did a government thing in high school that sent me to Moscow, stayed in Russia for university, and back in the U.S. now.
Re:Floorp – a customisable Firefox fork from Japan
by RunSet on Monday October 02, 2023 @05:29PM
(#37744672)
> It's sort of strange to me how many Americans seem to share the same sentiment when my experience has often been the total opposite.
> China has some of the best factories, supply chains, and collaboration in the world. And while yes, of course, loads of intentionally cheap, low-quality goods are churned out regularly, many Chinese companies also make really solid products, often even the best products until you reach a certain ultra-luxury price bracket that they simply aren't trying to compete in.
Rather like conservatives' reflexive dislike for California despite more registered Republicans living in California than any other state.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/registered-...
China has some of the best factories, supply chains, and collaboration in the world. And while yes, of course, loads of intentionally cheap, low-quality goods are churned out regularly, many Chinese companies also make really solid products, often even the best products until you reach a certain ultra-luxury price bracket that they simply aren't trying to compete in.
For example, sure, an LG/Samsung/Sony OLED will be way nicer in terms of picture quality than any Hisense on the market. But the cheapest OLED on BestBuy right now is a last-gen, clearance 46" LG that costs almost ~$700; if you want a 50"+ model, be prepared to spend $1,000 minimum. On the other hand, the 75" U6H I got for $600 was better than any comparable non-OLED offering by non-Chinese companies until you got into the $1,000-1,200+ price range.
Midea is another good example; sure, Bosch, Miele, and Zojirushi often have much nicer luxury products, but if you're a middle/working-class person who doesn't want to or can't spend $300+ on a rice cooker, it'll be hard to beat--unless you get lucky like me and find the one weird guy in your town who happened to be moving cities and selling off all his appliances, including some perfect-condition JDM Zojirushi with an inverter for $100 (and also happen to have a Japanese friend you can annoy to help you figure out what all the Kanji menus do).
Same can be said for handset manufacturers like Xiaomi, etc. And a lot of audio gear as well; $100-200 Russian Oktava microphones easily punch several hundred to several thousand dollars above their class, Chinese brands dominate the mid-range IEM market, and Chinese headphone brands like HiFiMan are difficult to beat in any price bracket -- first paycheck I got, I spent $1,600 on Sennheiser HD 800 S because I wanted the HD 800 as a kid, but realistically, $300 HiFiMan Sundaras will get you almost there for over a thousand less.
Personally, every "made in America" thing I've bought that wasn't manufactured before like 1990 either fell apart and/or was ridiculously expensive compared to things made elsewhere. My association of made in America is either:
A. Truly craftsman, low-volume, specialized products that have an inherently high price tag
B. More commonly, low-quality, over-priced junk that survives only because of nationalism or protectionism alone