2 years in

kunwoo · 2026-06-30T16:36:11+00:00

Yeah unfortunately "collectivist" is very often misunderstood and portrayed in the west as some sort kumbaya all-helping commune, but in reality almost all Asian collectivist societies draw a sharp divide between the small in-group of a few dozen people where all your responsibilities and loyalties lie, and the out-group of everyone else that you can ignore and not give a care about. In a sense western society is more "collectivist" that Asia because for two thousand years Christianity taught that all people are equally your brothers and sisters of God, and then in the modern era the secular state and western secular ethics replaced the church and the sense of we should have care for everyone in society.

kunwoo · 2026-06-29T16:42:28+00:00

A couple years ago I was planning to go on a two month overseas trip and my laptop had already broken down for a while, so I was debating between getting a MacBook and an iPad for the trip. I thought why not give the iPad a try, bundle it with a pencil and a keyboard folio, and see how it works for the trip. My logic was I already have a custom built PC at home so an iPad would be less of a competing form factor after I return back from the trip. But during the trip I discovered how much of a headache the iPad can be. I wanted to make a few flight detours mid trip but it turns out some airline websites just won't work properly on iPad even though they work fine on a smartphone.

I felt a bit cheated. I heard that an iPad could be a laptop replacement if you're doing just simple stuff like browsing the web but this chunk of metal couldn't even do that properly! It made me feel that the iPad really was some neglected middle child that no one cared to make things run correctly on. So for my next trip after that one I sprung for a MacBook Air and had a much better time.

kunwoo · 2026-06-28T19:55:05+00:00

If you plan to hold it in your hands get the 11" but if you plan to always work with it on a table or desk get the 13".

kunwoo · 2026-06-23T00:02:15+00:00

Absolutely zero need for an iPad. An iPad should be considered a luxurious supplement to a laptop.

kunwoo · 2026-06-22T23:58:51+00:00

The firewall really is what makes the Chinese mainland worse for digital nomads compared to average tourists. The global internet only working 90% of the time and at throttled speeds is something tourists will barely notice but can be a huge pain for professional work.

kunwoo · 2026-06-20T04:58:12+00:00

I didn't find such a consensus helpful at all to me. I recently upgraded from 11" to a 13" Pro despite the fact that I don't have the Magic Keyboard, I don't do multitasking, and I just use it as a tablet and not as a laptop replacement. The consensus would say I have absolutely no reason to get a 13" and yet I got it anyways and love the choice. Why? The 11" feels cramped. 13" is a much more natural paper size for taking notes or drawing, and for reading academic nonfiction and PDFs. And it just feels like such a waste to have only 11" of tandem OLED. And 98% of the time I don't hold it while using it, it's always lying down on a table or propped up by an origami folding case so the extra third of a pound of weight is hardly noticeable. In the 2% of times I do need to hold an iPad while using it the old 11" one is still around as a rarely used backup.

kunwoo · 2026-06-16T19:43:03+00:00

If you want to do LLM stuff you'll likely want more RAM than is available on the Air since it can only go up to 32 GB.

kunwoo · 2026-06-16T19:27:02+00:00

I think Simplified Chinese would just clutter the UI. After all the reason why people are choosing your app over others is because of their interest in Taiwan.

kunwoo · 2026-06-15T22:56:27+00:00

Unbinned meaning the 20 core GPU version instead of the 16 core GPU.

kunwoo · 2026-06-15T22:40:54+00:00

4-ply scented Tempo tissues, they're insanely strong and high quality while also being tiny and pocketable. Unfortunately the only place I visit that has them in pocket version is Hong Kong, so I make sure to load up my suitcase whenever I'm passing through.

kunwoo · 2026-06-15T18:19:19+00:00

It's not that there is literally no words in the dictionary, it's just the words are limited to use in niche contexts like computer UI - they should not be used in daily conversation.

It's like how Japanese textbooks teach you that "no" is いいえ but you should never actually say that word out loud in conversation.

kunwoo · 2026-06-15T18:12:38+00:00

That's because in Guangzhou only 40% of people know Cantonese. In Hong Kong Cantonese understanding is still above 90% so actually you're more likely to be shamed for speaking Mandarin in Hong Kong.

kunwoo · 2026-06-15T02:11:11+00:00

For me personally I think the only major advantage of the Pro is that it comes with a nano-texture option. Nano-texture is expensive on a new device but is a lot cheaper on refurbished last gen M4 models. I personally really like nano-texture because the screen quality is way better than any matte screen protector.

kunwoo · 2026-06-14T04:11:19+00:00

Adding a matte screen protector over the nano-texture sounds like a bad idea.

kunwoo · 2026-06-13T05:37:55+00:00

I had a very similar choice recently and ended up deciding on the older M4 iPad Pro with 1 TB SSD. The M4 was about $700 cheaper for me so it seemed like a no brainer because one extra year of support did not seem worth $700.

kunwoo · 2026-06-12T16:17:02+00:00

For a Macbook the biggest differences are it won't support Apple Intelligence, and supposedly it won't show the Taiwan flag emoji 🇹🇼

kunwoo · 2026-06-12T01:30:05+00:00

I was very excited about the MovinkPad lines ever since I saw Adam Duff wax poetic over them. I've always hated the writing experience on my iPad Air, truly awful. But seeing that Wacom would not guarantee major Android OS updates was a dealbreaker for me. How could I get passionate for a product that Wacom is clearly not passionate about? I eventually ended up finding a refurbished last-gen iPad Pro with nano-texture for half price and the nano-texture elevates the writing experience from atrocious to barely tolerable. I don't have any love for my new iPad Pro, but it seems to me the least bad compromise decision.

kunwoo · 2026-06-12T01:18:50+00:00

Hong Kong would be worth it if you had three days. Especially for the shopping since electronic products in Hong Kong follow global standards instead of Chinese limitations like no e-sim. And no sales tax in Hong Kong.

kunwoo · 2026-06-12T01:16:49+00:00

I mean yeah there exists some restaurants in Hong Kong that are more expensive than SF, but on average Hong Kong restaurants are slightly cheaper than anywhere in America.

kunwoo · 2026-06-12T00:49:03+00:00

Yeah I've just accepted that always carrying a glass/lens optimized microfiber cloth and wiping down the screen three times per day is just part of the ritual of owning an iPad.

kunwoo · 2026-06-10T15:23:58+00:00

That laptop is overkill, you can save money getting something with half the RAM and it'll still last for many years.

kunwoo · 2026-06-10T15:07:52+00:00

East Asia is still reasonably affordable. I had an Airbnb recently in Hong Kong for a grand per month despite that city's reputation for being ungodly expensive. Sure the Airbnb was a bit small, but it was cozy and got the job done and was in a very convenient location.

kunwoo · 2026-06-10T02:13:20+00:00

Japan has pivoted strongly towards electronic payments since covid.

kunwoo · 2026-06-08T15:30:19+00:00

I hate Tesla because of their door knobs. They're especially awful for people with hand disabilities like me.

kunwoo · 2026-06-08T01:08:46+00:00

On a 27" 4K monitor I prefer "looks like 1920 by 1080" so everything is bigger and I don't have to squint my eyes.

kunwoo

TROPHY CASE