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SHIFT: Is gadget lust causing you to buy before it's time?
One of my coworkers is celebrating a birthday this weekend. Not a birthday for a living person, but rather a birthday for his 100-year-old house. Granted, there are a few problems like small closet space and a basement that could stand for some updating, but the house is still livable and is in great condition for something that old. Can that be said about consumer electronics? I recently got rid of my seven-year-old Handspring, the PDA knockoff of the Palm Pilot developed back in 2000. It wasn't because I ran out and purchased a new one, but simply because I haven't needed to use it in six months.
When millions flocked to the Apple store to buy the iPhone, I wondered, "Are their old cell phones really that bad?" I'll let someone else open that can of worms, but it brings up the question of where do you draw the line between outdated and useless? There are five key questions to ask yourself when you need to decide if it's time to replace a gadget or piece of gear. Follow the link to check them out.
I don't mind a scratch or two, and a simple ding isn't cause for replacing a piece of my tech inventory, but when the insides are hanging out and duct tape won't fix it, it's time for replacement. Such was the case when my precious third-generation iPod finally called it quits after one too many drops on the floor thanks to headphone wires that were too short. The cost of repair was slightly less than going out and buying a new MP3 player. In that case, it was easier to simply replace the device, especially when the next two questions were also answered.
For me, the iPhone looks like a really great product, I would really like to have one to show off, but when I really sat down and thought about it, my current cell phone does everything I need it to do. It makes calls, I can take pictures, and I can even get the latest weather updates for the area I'm visiting. If I'm on the road, there's a good chance I've got my laptop with me, and answering e-mail and checking websites can be done much more easily on a notebook than with a handheld. Those considerations, plus the fact that my city isn't in AT&T's primary service area, were enough to turn the cold shower on my iPhone lust.
Today, my laptop runs circles around that Dell as far as speed goes, but I've been able to keep the desktop in use by upgrading components. A new hard drive or two for more storage, a new DVD drive for burning discs, and even a graphics card to play HD content are enough to keep this computer active long after others would have pitched it in the garbage. These kinds of upgrades can be done for a few hundred dollars when compared to the potential thousands that might need to be spent for a computer system that screams.
By no means is this meant to be a strict method in making a purchase. My sister, the lawyer, would tell me there are all sorts of loopholes in my methods. I try to adhere to these rules whenever I purchase a new gadget; be it an HDTV or digital SLR camera, and so far they have worked in my favor. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many methods people use in determining when it is time to upgrade. I want to know your rules. Use the comments section below to share the methods you use in determining when it is time to upgrade. I might even refer to some of them when iPhone 2.0 is released.
By trsim at 1:17 AM ON 07/20/07
i really appreciate your article here. It really does serve as a good reminder, especially in such a consumeristic society as America.
One thing I would add would probably be more relevant to software than hardware of any kind, but another question could be, "Can you get it for free?" (legally, of course) My college had a laptop program where each student got a laptop while they were in school. When you graduated , you got the laptop for free (dependent on if you actually had the laptop for a full 3 years). When you left the school though, they had to remove a lot of licensed software, one of them being McAfee Virus Scan. I wasn't much of a fan of McAfee anyway, but I knew I needed a new virus scanner. I checked on Download.com and found AVG anti-virus for free. It's not the professional version (which you would have to pay money for), but for what I need it works just fine. Same with spyware sweepers. I'm sure there are some good programs out there that you could pay for. But Spybot Search & Destroy does a great job for free.
By mjalkut at 6:38 PM ON 07/23/07
Nice article. Very reasonable. A note of caution in our Madison Ave. culture of bate and switch. Too often we are lured by the glamour and hype without reading the fine print about whether the thing can live up to its promises, for instance "cellphone internet" (yes even iPhone can't produce the web browsing capability we have grown accustomed to).
I agree with your shopping strategy except for one issue. Folks that are a day or two ahead of their time, like scifi.com geeks, aren't really enamored by the glitz and sex appeal of the new stuff. They have literally been waiting for decades for reality to catch up with dreams. These are the people who, 20 years ago, were duct-taping headphone jacks to memory cards to hack together primitive portable music players, years before Steve Jobs would ooh and awh the world with his ground breaking, "patented" invention. Each time a new bleeding edge product or upgrade is introduced, these pioneer types only run to the store to purchase the one remaining part needed to finally finish their decade-old projects and inventions. But each time they are met with the same nagging frustration. The path from dream to reality is always barricaded by Moore's Law and the inability of nanotechnology to conquer an ever exploding thirst for smaller space and faster time. Of course these limits will always be the elusive carrot in front of our horse as the meaningfulness of space and time sinks in, and our lifestyles are increasingly impeded by them.
It would be nice if it were only about glitz and glamour and the present state of the arts. Unfortunately, authentically "modern" life will always remain the pastime of dreamers.
By mjalkut at 6:39 PM ON 07/23/07
Nice article. Very reasonable. A note of caution in our Madison Ave. culture of bate and switch. Too often we are lured by the glamour and hype without reading the fine print about whether the thing can live up to its promises, for instance "cellphone internet" (yes even iPhone can't produce the web browsing capability we have grown accustomed to).
I agree with your shopping strategy except for one issue. Folks that are a day or two ahead of their time, like scifi.com geeks, aren't really enamored by the glitz and sex appeal of the new stuff. They have literally been waiting for decades for reality to catch up with dreams. These are the people who, 20 years ago, were duct-taping headphone jacks to memory cards to hack together primitive portable music players, years before Steve Jobs would ooh and awh the world with his ground breaking, "patented" invention. Each time a new bleeding edge product or upgrade is introduced, these pioneer types only run to the store to purchase the one remaining part needed to finally finish their decade-old projects and inventions. But each time they are met with the same nagging frustration. The path from dream to reality is always barricaded by Moore's Law and the inability of nanotechnology to conquer an ever exploding thirst for smaller space and faster time. Of course these limits will always be the elusive carrot in front of our horse as the meaningfulness of space and time sinks in, and our lifestyles are increasingly impeded by them.
It would be nice if it were only about glitz and glamour and the present state of the arts. Unfortunately, authentically "modern" life will always remain the pastime of dreamers.
Mike Jalkut
By ancientjill at 9:26 AM ON 07/27/07
Thanks for the reminder; we all could use a friendly slap of reality when pushing our noses to the shop window. Would have liked to see a link to sites that will recycle the old hardware, should we need to. The illustration of the full garbage bin makes me weep for the planet.
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ancientjill:
Thanks for the reminder; we all could use a friendly slap of reality when pushing our noses to the shop window. Wo...More »