Is it smart to buy the newest electronic devices?

[papa_squat]

My husband and I are experiencing some growing pains in the electronics department. Our desktop computer is about 7 years old and in need of either rebuilding or replacing entirely, but it still runs well. We we've had some bad luck this month with both my laptop (6 years old) and my Kindle (1 1/2 old, simple black & white Kindle with keyboard). The laptop's hard drive final bit the dust, and shortly after that my Kindle fell onto the tile floor face down, breaking the screen, just six months outside of my warrantee. The good news is I bought my first iPhone a few months back and I've been able to web surf and use my Kindle app on that, but the backlighting and small screen is beginning to bug my eyes when I read at night.

We're not big on the fancy electronic devices compared to other couples our age (28 and 32), but we have plenty of savings to update our electronics without having to stress about the cost. Since DH needs something decent to suppport his engineering software and computer games, we have plans to get a pretty powerful Dell desktop (~$2,000-2,500) to suit those needs. Since the laptop and e-reader are mostly used by me (though DH likes to check something on a laptop every now and then), I'm trying to put together some ideas on what to do to replace those.

Several of my friends have laptops and e-readers, so I polled them for their input about what devices would be the smartest performance with AND price-wise to buy, and whether I should look for a separate laptop and e-reader or a device that meets the demands of both. Big surprise, I got an overwheelming response to get the Kindle Fire HD, the iPad 2 or BOTH.

I honestly don't get it. I'm a professional writer and I occasionally need to work at home, so I need something for word processing. I use my e-reader for travel and to read in the evenings before going to bed. Both the Kindle and iPad are tablets, so I'm either dealing with a touch-screen keyboard or I pay extra for a flimsy keboard case, and both are LCD backlit screens which are shown to disturb sleep patterns if viewed before bedtime. Plus both options are among the most expensive! Not to mention why on earth would I want both?

I've told a few friends that I'm just considering getting a cheap HP or Dell laptop and buying my same Kindle keyboard from either Amazon or used from Ebay (I have a case with a reading light in it, so I shouldn't have to buy another that way). My friends stare at me as if I have two heads.

My friends know that we're not big spenders, but still some of them have argued that tablet technolgy is the wave of the future, so it's smarter for us to buy these devices since they won't be obsolete as quickly, and tech services and updates should be more reliable. I can see this as a good point, but does anyone really think laptops and plain e-readers are going to disapear anytime soon?

So here's my question to the community: is it smart for us to buy cheap or obsolete electronics that meet our current needs, or should be buy the newest electronics that may meet our needs better in the future?

Also if anyone want to throw in their two cents about their favorite devices, that might help give me some directions to look in when I check Consumer Reports .

[nick__45]

A 700 dollars laptop will be more than fast for most engineering application. Anything faster would best be used on work computer and let the company pays for it. You broke 2 devices so just replace those two and get some protection to prevent future mishaps. I am assuming the Kindle is about 150-200 dollars so your total electronic spending should be 1000 dollars or less.

If you have an iPhone then you are ahead of most people in electronics spending. But it is better to spend what you earn and find ways to earn more than to needlessly save and be left behind in the information age. That does not mean buying a computer costing over 2k dollars. I saw an Asus gaming laptop with 12 Gig of RAM for 1200 dollars 3 months ago. Most engineers don't get something like that at work unless they deal with modeling and simulation, and I am not talking about Matlab or Mathematica either.

A 700 dollars laptop would fit me fine and I am a very heavy user but don't play games, which should be played in a console. I got a 500 dollars laptop and a 260 dollars PS3 last year and an iPad this year. I haven't touched my laptop since I bought the iPad until last week and web browsing sure is sweet with a computer. But I do use computers at work so my iPad is better when I am home due to portability. What I need is a keyboard but I use a Otterbox case so no keyboard and typing this was a pain.

[MonkeyMama]

Forget about the future. Electronics become obsolete so quickly. This is a reason to just focus on your current needs.

There is a lot to be said for avoiding uni-taskers (like e-readers). BUT, I could not imagine reading on a LCD screen. So I love my e-reader. {I did read one book on a LCD tablet, and it was painful}.

I think being a little more "harsh screen sensitive" I am partial to having a e-reader and a netbook. They are compact and all that, but are much easier on the eyes (netbook has a much bigger screen than a tablet). & also, I think tablets would be of concern as far as easy breakage. (Seems like all the time someone is telling me they dropped/broke their tablet?) As long as they are around, I will utilize these over tablets.

Is there any particular reason you want a laptop over a netbook?

I am sure a cheapie $700 laptop is probably going to be eons better than the "ancient" 6yo laptop you are going to replace.

My spouse does a lot of computer-heavy work and so we invest in powerful desktops for that (keep them as long as we can). I think for us, it's hard to spend the big bucks on things that are easily lost or broken. & probably an element that most the rest are just "toys," so won't be spending the big bucks on "toys."

Should you buy the latest and greatest, just depends on the particular item. As a rule, probably not, but if there are new features that are worth the price of going newer, then go for it. I've gone both ways with electronics. It just depends.

[BuckyBadger]

I'm a fan of having a dedicated eReader with an eInk screen and "something else."

We sit around a lot and fool around on the internet while watching tv or sitting on the porch. So for our "something else" we've always had small cheap laptops. The nice thing about those is we can use them as actual laptops if we need to, or take them in our carry-on luggage easily, but we mostly use them for internet.

As a gift I just got the Nexus 7" tablet and I like it a lot. It's really pretty and does most of what we do with the laptops. But I still prefer to read on my Nook.

So I would replace your eReader with another eInk eReader and then get a cheap netbook/laptop or the Nexus tablet. It's only $199 and I think it's a great device. I'm not into the Apple thing, and for the money I think the Nexus is a better device.

[phantom]

I think that as long as you type a lot, you're going to want a laptop. Since you have a smart phone for light games and portable web browsing and would prefer a device with eInk for reading, I don't think there's hole in your electronics collection that you would want to fill with a tablet. So, I'd just get a new laptop and a new e-reader.

If your husband has been getting by with a 7 year old computer up to this point, I think a sub-$1000 desktop should still be an upgrade for him. Unless he has completely replaced everything, including the motherboard over the years, there's no way he needs to spend over $2000 to get something that is slightly better than what he has. But, definitely check the minimum system requirements of the programs he uses the most to be sure.

I don't think laptops and desktops are going to be completely replaced by tablets anytime soon. There are plenty of writers like you who are more productive with full computers and programers like me who can say the same. Sure, more and more games will be coming out for mobile devices and more web sites will be tailored to for the mobile experience, but that doesn't mean the old stuff is going to completely disappear anytime soon. Besides, trying to keep up with the latest technology trends all the time is a great way to end up with a Betamax player.

[JoeP]

So if a 7 year old desktop is considered ancient, what is my 11 year old machine called? Prehistoric? Stone-age?

As far as upgrading your desktop is concerned, you can put together a very powerful machine for around $800. Here is one I will be putting together. It supports overclocking, so I can squeeze out more performance when it starts to feel slow years down the road. While I will use the on-chip graphics, I can always add a discrete graphics card as my usage changes.

You can also get very good ones on craigslist. A nearby college has students turn over equipment very quickly due to the hardware needed for engineering and design, and some of it is quite good for the price.

[dontgopoor]

So here's my question to the community: is it smart for us to buy cheap or obsolete electronics that meet our current needs, or should be buy the newest electronics that may meet our needs better in the future?.

You seem to understand your needs so the decision should be easy. Your husband does not need a $5k computer - you can buy a very powerful desktop, custom made, with a all the latest specs, from several companies for less than $2k and my guess is that your husband can do with a $1k to $1.5k model (excluding monitor) that will have plenty of power, etc. Plus most of the custom made computers can be upgraded in the future.

If you can afford it, there are several good tablets that just came out in the $200 to $300 range. You can find older Kindles on Criagslist and Ebay for less than $100. I chose to buy a new tablet and I use it a lot.

[auron]

My opinion, you should never pay more than $1200 for a gaming computer. If you pay $2500 for your computer, your hardware is significantly ahead of the software and that extra money will be wasted until the software catches up. By that time, you could buy that same computer for ~$1200.

Coming from a fellow engineer, unless your DH are doing computational fluid dynamics or FEA analysis of 3D systems, you will never need a $2500 computer for work. If you do need it, the company should be providing it.

[papa_squat]

Thanks for the great advice, everyone!

I agree that $2K+ seems a bit unreasonable for a desktop these days, but that was because DH does CAD modeling, so that would be the desktop plus the CAD software (plus strong enough graphics card and everything to support 3D modeling). His computer at work is plenty good for the work he does, but he's been considering doing contract work from home (and he also does some 3D mapworking for a local mountainbikng group to map new trails being built around our state). I was in support of the software since he's considering bringing in extra income with it, but since he's still on the fence about doing the contract work, I'll remind him that it may not be a smart investment unless he actually decides to pursue the contract work. If he's talking about doing it five years from now, maybe he can wait until it's time to buy the next computer .

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who likes a plain e-ink ereader! I really is easier on my eyes. I guess I'm not as weird as I thought considering a laptop over a tablet, too. I think for now I'll stick to my original plan.

[UnknownXV]

Well, my world is technology. I love it. However, this said, I see a flaw in the market for consumers. Every piece of electronic hardware you buy loses value. Fast. Probably faster than a new car does.

So I would say it's not really worth it to buy the newest gizmos. Buy for what you need, or just a bit more than it. From what I am hearing, you don't need much power at all. A decent $600 laptop will work for you absolutely fine. If you just use word programs and browser the web with a movie or two, you really don't need much power for that.

This said, in the case of your husband, since he likes video games it's different. I would advise against buying a pre-assembled computer from Dell for him, as you will pay a hefty premium for the name and service... especially for a gaming computer.

If you want, I could give you some pointers on how to assemble your own computer. It's actually very simple nowadays. Just follow the instructions and watch a video or two on youtube (there are a lot of guides on it) and you'll be fine.

You can save a ton of money doing this. If your husband bought individual parts and assembled them himself, $2,500 would get him an absolute beast computer. He'll be able to play any game I know of on the highest settings while getting a constant 60 fps, no sweat.

[surveyspencer]

I couldn't agree more: used is the way to go.

The laptop I'm typing on right now is a tricked out HP that I got on Ebay used for $500 (retails for $1500). The baby was barely used when I got it and has been working great for over a year.

Other people's risk aversion is your gain...

[Nika]

Every piece of electronic hardware you buy loses value.

So does every piece of clothing, shoes, furniture, appliances, kitchen utensils... pretty much all the consumer goods.

Don't see what makes electronic so much different. If you enjoy it and can afford it, why not buy it new? Same way you buy new refrigirator or a washing machine. Do those appreciate in value after you bought them? So I think same criteria applies here.