Unpopular opinion: remote work killed Austin's tech culture for good

I was at a coffee shop on South Congress last Thursday watching three startup founders stare at their laptops for 2 hours without saying a word to each other. Nobody talks shop in person anymore, every meeting is a Zoom link from someone's bedroom. Is it just me or did we trade real connections for cheaper rent?

2 comments

2 Comments

simonp761mo ago

Changed my mind after reading this - you're right, it's just laptop graveyards now.

allen.kai1mo ago

Did you ever find one of those old Dell XPS or Alienware laptops that was actually worth fixing up? I found a beat up ThinkPad T420 at a thrift store once, put an SSD in it and maxed out the RAM, and it ran fine for basic stuff until the screen hinge snapped. The problem with those old laptops is you can spend money on parts but the whole plastic case just turns brittle after a few years.