Ten Tech Gadgets to Put off Purchasing

[mode3sour]

The new business landscaping is completely changing with the 24/7 expectation, I got an email today chiding me for not getting back in touch with them. It's Sunday afternoon. I must be old but I remember when business hours were 9-5 Monday to Friday and it was pretty rude to try to do business Friday afternoon as people sneak out of the office. Other people will ring all my telephones. Is it awful that there are times when I don't want to speak to anyone?

Not sure the technology is to blame or the changing culture. Americans and Japanese are very hard charging etc but not all places work like this even though they also have cell phone tech. You can set your phone to silent at night, otherwise I would be woken up by cc'd or auto generated emails from other time zones too much. It's quite an adjustment to remember not to do business on Friday afternoon OR lunchtime in Europe. Forget Sunday, it would be sacrilege to even wash your own car. Americans argue they waste time and lose profits, but I think you're far more efficient after a good break.

I couldn't care less that the new MacBook is 2.8GHz vs 2.6GHz, but I did want a SSD drive. It's too expensive to justify now, but in a year or 2 I will probably just buy a better SSD for a fraction of the cost and install it myself. The latest and greatest hype is all marketing.

[andrewf]

Provided the device you buy is designed for user-installed hard drives.

[ddkay]

Yea, not on the new MBP, they aren't using standard hard drives http://www.cultofmac.com/173421/new-...raded-at-home/

There's no SATA controller between the NAND, it's on PCI-E.

[mode3sour]

The new MBP is based on the air, I don't know why people are so surprised that a laptop that thin would use much fewer and special smaller parts.... I specifically bought the old MBP on clearance, which I spent 2 minutes googling to ensure it does indeed have normal screws and access to the battery and you guessed it a standard HDD... Looks like it would take me a grand total of 5 minutes to swap the HDD for a SSD

There are kids out there who actually specialize and make a business of repairing iPhones, iPods, and probably new MPBs, by collecting a few specialized parts and tools. It is doable, but it's much easier on the larger MBP because they still use ordinary laptop parts. A friend tells me he swapped the battery in his iPhone, which looks like more effort than I'd bother with myself.

[Spudd]

I would totally try and swap out the battery in my iPhone once it dies, assuming I was still happy with the phone in general. A new iPhone is like $600, so if I can save my old one from being a brick by swapping the battery, that seems totally worth it. I find it very evil of Apple to have non-replaceable batteries in these things.

[mode3sour]

So far I've owned several laptops and a myriad of cell phones and I don't remember ever bothering to replace the batteries on any of them. Considering you only swap the battery once in say 4 or 5 years, do you really need a plastic door or is 4 screws too many? I think I've seen more people with broken/lost plastic battery doors than dead batteries.



Mine actually has normal screws, so I guess I could actually swap my iPhone battery with tools have at home today as well. Those security screws are annoying though.

[praire_guy]

Spoiled brat, sounds like. I think giving a niece a smartphone is a bit much as a gift, but I grew up with modest means.

TRM, if you didn't buy a computer, we would not be able to enjoy your delightful commentary. Computers are not obsolete after 6 months. Only the gullible and the vain think that.

A computer will always be able to do what you bought it to do. My Mac pro is 5 years old, and just as capable as the day I bought it.

[andrewf]

Yes. Some components deteriorate (battery) or fail eventually (hdd), but the hardware can last a long time. For web browsing and basic applications, desktops from ten years ago would still be more than adequate.

[crazyjackcsa]

Thing is, you can't wait forever. There's always something new, something better or the same thing cheaper coming over the horizon. I'd argue you would be best served picking your spot and just being happy with what you have.

[Cruiser]

Thing is, you can't wait forever. There's always something new, something better or the same thing cheaper coming over the horizon. I'd argue you would be best served picking your spot and just being happy with what you have.

I used to replace my laptop every 2-3 years. My current one is 2.5yrs old, and quite frankly, I have no desire to upgrade. There haven't been any evolutions in technology, and it works well to surf the web. However, 5 years ago...you would have to upgrade as newer websites etc. wouldn't work anymore. It seems that we are moving to a steady state.