# Ten Tech Gadgets to Put off Purchasing



## Belguy (May 24, 2010)

From the Globe and Mail, here is a slide show of ten tech gadgets that you might consider purchasing later: 

http://blog.laptopmag.com/10-gadgets-youd-be-a-fool-to-buy-right-now?slide=1


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Looks more like a random blog than the Globe and Mail?

It's also outdated. The new MacBook Pros have been out for like a month. I bought the old one on clearance tax free instead of paying $500 more just for USB 3.0 and slightly better processor, also comes with a free upgrade to the next OS. The future Windows stuff sounds great, but it takes awhile for new things to get established when you can get what Apple has been fine tuning for years already. I'd much rather buy a new or like new iPhone 4s off a classifieds site now than wait to take a 3 year contract for the next one


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Yeah, this seems to be advice to "wait to buy because a newer, better model is coming out soon." But for those of us who try to stay behind the cutting edge of technology, last year's model is still likely to be a significant improvement over whatever we're using now, and unless you actually need any of the newest features you can save a lot of money and still be very happy with somewhat outdated technology.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

All of them!

Anything you buy today will just be made obsolete in 6 months anyway. Stay off the hamster wheel - like the man from ING Direct says: "_Save your money"_.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

the-royal-mail said:


> Anything you buy today will just be made obsolete in 6 months anyway.


Really? I've use my MacBook for well over 6 years now, it is still very capable. I use it to both advance my career, it is used directly for work, and for personal entertainment.

Technology certainly has a place in our modern lives.


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## Belguy (May 24, 2010)

I purchased a smart phone for my niece last October as a Christmas gift. When I gave it to her, she was upset because it was an older October model and she had her heart set on a brand new, just released December model.:stupid::upset::frown-new::grumpy:

Since then, she has purchased another new phone--one of the latest new models!! She seems to need the latest new model every few months!

It makes my head explode!!


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

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.


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## Dopplegangerr (Sep 3, 2011)

I have a 8 year old second hand laptop that does fine for everything I need. I am waiting till it completely dies before I buy something else and I have a old, half broken normal cell phone, its a sony erikson that must be 5 years old, no new smart phone for me. 
Some people call me cheap, I prefer the word most people use on this forum; Frugal..


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

I still surf from a Microsoft WebTV. It's 16 years old, my goal is to outlive it. Web apps work great. Brb, checking into my living room.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

I would totally agree with Samson, I would be lost without my iphone. If you have a use for it, technology can be a wonderful thing. Combining Dropbox with the iPhone means that all my documents are immediately available to me. I spend the equivalent of 2 days per week in my car driving around so with the VOIP voicemails and faxes coming directly to my email, I have an office away from the office. 

Yes it does cost, but it doesn't cost what an admin person at the office would cost or keep me nailed down to one location. In fact using the dropbox web interface, my office is wherever both me and a computer are. 

The disadvantage to this is loss of personal time off. People want to talk to you when they want to talk to you. It's getting to the point that there are times when I cannot answer my volume of calls. A while back I shut the phone off for 4 hours during a job interview process and ended up with 56 voicemails. Returning those calls becomes totally overwhelming.

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?


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Berubeland said:


> 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.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

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


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

Yea, not on the new MBP, they aren't using standard hard drives http://www.cultofmac.com/173421/new-macbook-pros-ssd-storage-can-be-upgraded-at-home/

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


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

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.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

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.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

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.


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## praire_guy (Sep 8, 2011)

andrewf said:


> 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.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

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.


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

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.


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## Cruiser (May 27, 2012)

crazyjackcsa said:


> 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.


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