When is "Good Enough" actually good enough?
How To..., Online Shopping — By Dave on August 26, 2009 9:00 am
For as much as we all love to go out and buy the biggest and the best, or stand in line for hours waiting to get our hands on the next big thing, sometimes getting just what we need is actually the best possible option. But when is it OK to settle for just enough rather than overspending for that next shiny new toy?
Wired.com has a pretty fascinating article regarding this exact phenomena. In general, and especially today, the American public would take a larger savings on a product than overspending on extra bells and whistles. In fact, more often than not it is the bargain brands or the middle-of-the-road products that are the hottest sellers.
With the exception of Apple products, technology is no different. You are certianly more than welcome to go out and spend $1,500 on a laptop that you plan to use for nothing more than web surfing, e-mail and maybe downloading the occasional song or photos from your family. In fact, if you’d like to do that, we’d really appreciate that you click on of the nice ads on the right side of this page and start shopping. But there’s no reason to do it (unless you want to send us money, in which case, I’ll be happy to set you up with a PayPal account to drop some cash into…)
If you’re just looking to get yourself a new gadget, there’s rarely any justifiable reason to buy something state-of-the-art. Technology, in general, is obsolete within 2-3 years of production; is it really worth it to spend an extra 20% now just to have to spend it again three years down the road? This is a lesson I learned the hard way when I bought my first computer system for college – I bought everything state-of-the-art and spent nearly $4,000 on a system that was completely obsolete and rebuilt before my graduation day four years later. In the end, I probably could have spent less than 1/3 of the original price if I’d just cut corners on a couple of unimportant parts and then rebuilt as needed through the years.
With some technology, you can actually save yourself money in the long run by spending more today. Today’s desktop computers are one area where spending a little extra on higher end parts will usually give you a longer lifespan on your system, as well as an easier transition if you decide to make changes down the line. But items like laptops, camcorders and cameras, portable music devices… things like this are ever-changing and always getting more and more complex.
Ultimately, you have to decide if a little more productivity in the beginning of your ownership is worth the major uptick in price, or if you can take a few less options and save the money now. You know, so you’ll have it in the bank when you’re ready to buy the next big thing.
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