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Tech shopping tips

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zridling:


It takes a lot of research to make a tech purchase with conviction. Sam Grobart reduced a lot of hard-earned and complex wisdom to seven rules of thumb in the New York Times. I was pretty impressed with this list because I think his advice is sound and he was able to reduce it to short rules of thumb. His seven rules are a trade off, as most tech advice is. When buying hi tech...

-- Pay for RAM, not speed. The speed of the computer chip does not matter; the attention-span or RAM memory does matter.
-- Pay for messaging, not minutes. On your phone, your texting is more expensive than your voice time.
-- Pay for components, not cables. Buy the best components, and the cheapest cables.
-- Pay for speed, not channels. For cable internet, with enough speed you can watch TV channels on the internet for free.
-- Pay for screen size, not refresh rate. On TV screens, bigger size makes a difference while refresh rate does not.

What tips do you have for tech shopping?

40hz:
Just four:

1) Do not buy anything remotely close to serial number 0001 of anything.

2) Almost every category of technology has a "sweet spot" in its price/performance ratio. It's usually found one or two model numbers below a manufacturer's "top of line" component or device. That's where 90% of the real bargains will be found.

3) Since software development lags behind hardware advances by at least a year, having "last year's model" does not automatically mean lower performance. About 2/3 of all software is still written to work optimally on legacy 32-bit hardware and architectures.

4) The family of a friend when I was in college owned a huge Christmas tree farm. My friend told me that whenever you bought something for a farm, you bought it with one of two philosophies in mind:

     a) it's easy to fix

              -or-

     b) it's going to last.

Not a bad way to approach buying any technology.  :Thmbsup:

steeladept:
I like your additions 40hz.  My one exception is 4b.  In technology, Never, Ever, Ever, buy something just because it will last.  All that means is it will reach obsolesence long before it loses its utility.  For technology, I strongly suggest 4a only. 

Experience has taught me - sure, you might have to replace something that breaks several times that one long lasting one will be cheaper in the long run.  However, technology moves so fast that if it is ease to fix you can a) fix it quickly, b) often can fix it cheaply, and c) fix it with a superior product featureset.  How many of you still have and use your old zip drives?  They sure do last, but no one reall uses them anymore, and can you even find drivers for them in Vista/Win7? 

Renegade:
<cynicism mode="slightly">
For 4a, I believe "fix" really means "replace" in most circumstances. Got an iPod? Battery die? Oh... Just replace the iPod... :)

Regarding 4b, does "last" mean more than 6 months, or as long as the warranty + 1 day?
</cynicism>

Edvard:
1) Do not buy anything remotely close to serial number 0001 of anything.
-40hz (May 20, 2011, 07:05 PM)
--- End quote ---

Unless the make and model is "Fender Stratocaster" *drool*
(says the guy whose great-uncle received #0003 from his good friend Leo who said, "try it out, tell me what you think"; sold in 1970 for $1000) :wallbash:

Regarding 4a: I'm a solid trigger finger with the soldering gun; If I can't fix it, it was broke when it left the factory. :Thmbsup:

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