Am I alone......

[yorkrose26]

He talks a lot of figures without really saying much. Other than the fact he is a massive Apple fanboy and thinks a "really powerful mothership" desktop computer, is an Apple costing over 2 grand and has an i5 processor and a 2tb HDD. That's what he considers the be all and end all of computing.... Suggesting that really he knows bugger all, as that really isn't very powerful at all, especially when it is using unnecessary resources running a 5K screen.

I saw him on twitter answering a guy, and telling him that computers don't have fans much these days because they switched to SSD's, which isn't really the case. Some computers now use the M cpu's that don't consume as much power, so don't generate the same kind of heat.

Or when he was telling Katy P about how many billion operations a second an iPhone X can do. "but what does that mean for us?" asks Katy. "it just means it's faster" says Lee Hohbein. And then tells us how he likes to wind it back and explain things in simple terms :/ In other words he probably hasn't got a clue!

It is amazing how he is considered an expert, when I'm sure a day old foetus knows just as much about computing as him.

Best bit is when he tries to convince people that the tech support really is worth the supposed £200. But that really Apple tech is really easy to use (my aunt and uncle suggest otherwise, as they are always asking me questions) but while he is saying that, the presenters are always pointing out that they call him day and night asking for help. So much for it being intuitive!!

My rant didn't really address the OP's concerns, other than letting me get stuff off my chest

Come please, if one was to believe him, he has extensive experience, he worked as a Saturday Child at a computer store when he was 16 years old, thus of course he has a wide vast of knowledge. He (according to him and who I am I to say anything otherwise), helps companies and promotes them products around the world. He regales us with tales of which countries he has been 'lucky' enough to visit for work, or how many echos he has (why a single person really needs seven I have no idea, maybe a sexual fetish?).

Of course 'tech-support' is worth the money, I mean we all know that Apple products are the most difficult and complicated tablets in the world to use (or to put it another way that is the only way Q is going to make any money by selling the 'fruit').

No, but the real 'cherry' on the cake is today's TSV, they did exactly the same item last year and for exactly the same price. I mean the manafacturer has stopped manafacturing it, thus no support, the technology wasn't 'all that' last year when it first came out and yet you have Lee as ever 'singing its praises'. Though it was amusing to see as initially Q put last years TSV presentation on which was actually with his 'telly wife' and he was stating that (quelle surprise), he had bought one, yet when he was on with Jilly today, he stated that he had't used it for a while!
I am amazed (though not shocked), that Q really treat their customers with such discontent, that they are selling as TSV last years stock and not even at a lower price.

My rant is now over!

 

[Retrovertigo]

I'm not convinced that others are, that he is essentially a nice guy. He knowingly blags about items in the hope of selling stuff to viewers who probably don't know any better.

And any person who dares stand there and say "take away the £200 value of the tech support and this make the iPad just £190" is a world class twunt. That one thing means I'd never give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Julius]

No you're not alone. A lot of people find tech things quite confusing. I personally don't as I quite like technology - although I think much if it is quite superfluous.

Here I will explain how data works:

It's measured in bytes, megabytes and gigabytes. There are also terabyetes, zettabytes and others but these quantities are so large most people don't come across them. 1 byte = 1 character, so a four-letter word would be 4 bytes in size. A megabyte is one million characters or dots, and a gigabyte is 1024 megabytes.

This is why your mobile data allowance goes down more quickly when you watch a video on your phone using mobile data. Think how many dots there are in a still image? Lots of dots! Now imagine how many dots in a moving image that's changing all the time, and you can begin to see how the quantity of data used up is higher.

Another way of thinking about mobile data is imagining a two-page letter written on Basildon Bond. That would fit easily through your letterbox as it's thin and doesn't contain much information. Now think of putting an encyclopedia, a dictionary or a telephone directory through your letterbox. It might be harder to squeeze through as it contains more data / more information.

So to recap one gigabyte is about one thousand, thousand bytes.

Still find it hard to visualise? Well I just watched an 80s pop song video (8th Wonder's "I'm Not Scared" on my 'phone and it used about 10 megabytes of data. My personal mobile 'phone plan allows me 3GB of data per month so my pop video used next to nothing.

 

[Brissles]

THANK YOU Julius, you have explained more to me in the time its taken to read the above, than any info gleaned from Hopeless Holbein in all the years he's been with QVC. See ? it just takes a few seconds to inform the more numbnuts of us who are not techy minded !!

 

[Julius]

THANK YOU Julius, you have explained more to me in the time its taken to read the above, than any info gleaned from Hopeless Holbein in all the years he's been with QVC. See ? it just takes a few seconds to inform the more numbnuts of us who are not techy minded !!

You're not a numbnut at all. Mobile data is quite hard to visualise. So many younger people just don't get it, either, and end up being stung by their mobile providers for exceeding their allowance, when a little care would have avoided it. My friend Meesha does everything on mobile data (including watching TV series) even when she's at home and could be using her home broadband connection instead! Her mobile provider charges her about £80 extra per month and she just pays it!

 

[Julius]

Lee Hohbein seems forever to extol the virtues of Apple products. This makes me wonder if he's on commission from Apple.

Though I like Apple products my computers are Windows and my 'phone is Android. I do however have some Beats headphones - made by Apple and I have to say they are absolutely fantastic. I left them at work the other day and was really quite upset as I use them so much. They are extremely durable and don't seem to have the planned obsolescence that appears to be built into the Apple electronic products.

Almost one year ago I bought an HP mini laptop as I needed a small, light Windows laptop for travelling on city breaks etc. It came with 32GB of internal memory and at the time I didn't think this would be an issue as I would not imagine for one moment that HP would make a substandard product. Oh how wrong was I!!!

The 32GB internal memory is so small it barely supports the operating system (Windows 10) that the computer runs on, meaning I can't install any updates. Both Argos and HP have given me the runaround and I've just been too busy to take it any further. I cannot use it to update my satnav as it doesn't have any free memory. It crashes all the time and is frankly bloody awful.

What I find really shocking is that the same laptop is STILL ON SALE in Argos for the same price - and they are no longer allowing reviews to be submitted. I would imagine they've got a ton of these things to get rid of so they're just getting them out as soon as they can.

I used to be a big fan of HP however my opinion of them has really gone downhill.

Anyway the moral of the story is if you're buying an electronic device, be it a smartphone, tablet or laptop, make sure you check it's got enough memory to be reasonably future-proof for some time. This is particularly important with Iphones which cannot have their memory upgraded (well that's not strictly true, they can but it's ridiculously complicated and expensive).

If you're buying a 'phone with 8GB of memory for someone who takes loads of pics and downloads lots of tunes it ain't gonna be sufficient. I personally have a basic android (Alcatel U5) 'phone which comes with 8GB internal memory. I've beefed it up by adding a 32GB micro SD card.

Another thing is battery power. Does your phone / device have a fixed battery or is it removable? Removable is the way to go 'cos any lithium ion battery will lose its storage capacity, particularly when it's been recharged about 300 times. What good is a sleek-looking iphone if the battery won't hold a charge. Yes you can get power banks from Primark (for £6 - fantastic item) however in my view an android 'phone with a removable battery is best.

After all, you wouldn't buy a new car just because the battery has gone, would you?

 

[KimP]

I do like google assistant on my Android phone and use apps that to me are useful and save time. I use the phone as an alarm and when it goes off I also get a live traffic update on the screen on my route into work so I know straight away if I need to leave earlier or take another route. I do all the updates at home using home wifi. Your friend is bonkers Julius, as you say she could be using her home wifi and most probably not have to pay anything extra.

 

[Julius]

I do like google assistant on my Android phone and use apps that to me are useful and save time. I use the phone as an alarm and when it goes off I also get a live traffic update on the screen on my route into work so I know straight away if I need to leave earlier or take another route. I do all the updates at home using home wifi. Your friend is bonkers Julius, as you say she could be using her home wifi and most probably not have to pay anything extra.

Yes, you are right, Kim.

One thing that always worries me about QVC is how they extol the virtues of brands, making mention of how trusted x brand is and how long they've been around. I know from personal experience that just because one might trust a brand it doesn't mean that all their products are going to be good. Many companies are now cutting costs by producing devices with negligible internal memory and these devices are often rubbish. I'm surprised that the HP computer I'm typing this on now has lasted a year, or indeed how I've put up with the damn thing for one year.

 

[KimP]

I like HP but they have had duds. My phone is Samsung and I love it but a previous model they brought out had issues with some handsets catching fire! No brand is perfect. Back to QVC the SBC debacle with the eye serum pump dispenser that didn't work. Thousands sent out on a TSV but SBC took ownership of the cock up, which is what you want. Not presenters or brands trying to pretend nothing happened.

 

[Julius]

I like HP but they have had duds. My phone is Samsung and I love it but a previous model they brought out had issues with some handsets catching fire! No brand is perfect. Back to QVC the SBC debacle with the eye serum pump dispenser that didn't work. Thousands sent out on a TSV but SBC took ownership of the cock up, which is what you want. Not presenters or brands trying to pretend nothing happened.

Good old SBC and their pink-tinged fish collagen! I'm thinking of booking a Christmas stay at Grayshott Hall Spa where AY discovered SBC.

 

[KimP]

Sounds lovely. Go for it, what a Christmas treat to know you may be relaxing on a treatment table once used by Ms Young.

 

[Julius]

Sounds lovely. Go for it, what a Christmas treat to know you may be relaxing on a treatment table once used by Ms Young.

Lol what a funny thought! Imagine her there - in her shoulder pads and crimped perm! Hahaha!

 

[Retrovertigo]

On the subject of HP, in his own way, that Scottish lad (David?) is just as bad as Lee Hohbein. Coming out with stuff like "this will probably be much more powerful than your current laptop" when taking about a laptop with an i3 processor in it :/ You can't make blanket statements like that sonny jim.

What is worse, is that he is their head bloke for making sure the staff are up to date on all the latest products. I forget his actual job title. I know he is there to sell stuff, but some of his claims are outrageous.

But back to Hohbein.....how has it never occurred to him to change any Amazon Echo devices to respond to one of the lesser used names, like computer, or Amazon. It is bloody frustrating when he is constantly saying Alexa and triggering my devices. He's an idiot. Take a leaf out of the numerous YouTube channels that mute the word alexa as they review the products. Doesn't take a genius to figure out how to stop annoying viewers.

 

[dollydimple]

No you're not alone. A lot of people find tech things quite confusing. I personally don't as I quite like technology - although I think much if it is quite superfluous.

Here I will explain how data works:

It's measured in bytes, megabytes and gigabytes. There are also terabyetes, zettabytes and others but these quantities are so large most people don't come across them. 1 byte = 1 character, so a four-letter word would be 4 bytes in size. A megabyte is one million characters or dots, and a gigabyte is 1024 megabytes.

This is why your mobile data allowance goes down more quickly when you watch a video on your phone using mobile data. Think how many dots there are in a still image? Lots of dots! Now imagine how many dots in a moving image that's changing all the time, and you can begin to see how the quantity of data used up is higher.

Another way of thinking about mobile data is imagining a two-page letter written on Basildon Bond. That would fit easily through your letterbox as it's thin and doesn't contain much information. Now think of putting an encyclopedia, a dictionary or a telephone directory through your letterbox. It might be harder to squeeze through as it contains more data / more information.

So to recap one gigabyte is about one thousand, thousand bytes.

Still find it hard to visualise? Well I just watched an 80s pop song video (8th Wonder's "I'm Not Scared" on my 'phone and it used about 10 megabytes of data. My personal mobile 'phone plan allows me 3GB of data per month so my pop video used next to nothing.

Thank you for this explanation. I've never understood what all the different 'bytes' are. You've simplified it for me and now I think I 'get' it :clapping: :happy: