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Main Area and Open Discussion => Living Room => Topic started by: kyrathaba on July 14, 2015, 10:26 AM
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So, recently I purchased my stepson a serviceable refurbished Win7 machine. And while shopping, naturally I find a unit or two that I sure wouldn't mind having:
Intel Quad Core 3.4GHz i7-4770 32GB 1TB SSD + 2 x 3TB 7200rpm RAID 1 HDD Windows 7 Professional...
Thing is, my current setup (Win 7 Ultimate, 6 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD with a 2.8 GHz cpu) is more than adequate for my simple needs: a bit of programming, web browsing, proofreading for pay, emailing.
So I've learned over the years to resist these urges and usually in 2-4 weeks they pass. How do you deal with them?
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Maybe I've grown cynical with age, but eventually you realize that there will always be something better and faster with more memory and disk space.
(It also helps to get married, or have kids, or a high maintenance girlfriend or boyfriend, or Harley)
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I find in general if I can dismiss the urge quickly, it will go away.
But if i start thinking about it more and more and "analyzing" whether i should buy something -- the "analysis" eventually turns into my brain coming up with some poorly rationalized justification of why i should buy it and why it's really not such a large amount of money to spend. Sooner or later it's almost as if i have to buy it just to stop thinking about it!
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Yeah, I think I'm doing the same sort of justification, mouser. The PC I've got is functioning just fine, and more than ample for my needs. But, I make a few hundred extra bucks a month proofreading, and I think to myself, "Go ahead. Treat yourself. You deserve it..."
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Maybe I've grown cynical with age, but eventually you realize that there will always be something better and faster with more memory and disk space.
(It also helps to get married, or have kids, or a high maintenance girlfriend or boyfriend, or Harley)
-exjoburger
lol at this answer. so true.
I struggle with this also. The way I handle it is by researching obsessively the equipment I'm eyeing, and if i can put together an actual project that I will do something with, then I start buying the stuff. It took me 3 years before i started my server project.
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if i start thinking about it more and more and "analyzing" whether i should buy something -- the "analysis" eventually turns into my brain coming up with some poorly rationalized justification of why i should buy it and why it's really not such a large amount of money to spend. Sooner or later it's almost as if i have to buy it just to stop thinking about it!
-mouser
a friend of mine says:
- if you want something long enough, then you *need* it...
I was looking at laptops lately and was sorely tempted by a beautiful little Dell (XPS13) -
the fact I couldnt really afford it helped; also the fact you can get it a few hundred dollars cheaper in the States helped turn me against the idea.
I get this problem more with cameras. What always helps there, is reading the serious in-depth reviews: there's always a list of cons that makes it easy to think - no, I dont need this until it's better. (I'm holding out until there's a large sensor compact with at least 10x zoom - which looks like it'll take another few years.)
With laptops or desktops, I'd love silence :)
but beyond that I dont really care what's under the hood so long as it does what I need without struggling.
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I avoid to buy a faster PC since I realized that many slownesses are not due to the PC itself. It's useless buying a faster PC when certain slownesses depends on slow Internet servers, slow software, antivirus bugs and activity, and so on.
It's like buying a Ferrari and using it on roads full of potholes...
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I don't resist. ;D
I have made it so that it's easy when I get the urge to switch, however. I have two decently good cases that I just switch between as I upgrade.
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I generally don't get a temptation to buy more powerful stuff unless there's some aspect of my current gear that I'm very unhappy with. Would I like a faster CPU or more RAM or larger storage? Sure! But what I have is doing me just fine for now. But sometimes I run into issues with things that aren't working to my satisfaction.
For example, for the past couple of years, my GPU has been causing me grief. The GPU itself is pretty good and can handle just about every game I've tried on it at 1080p with the highest settings without issue. And it can almost do the same at 2K (2560x1440). But it has only a single fan, which is of poor quality. It already failed once and got replaced, and the replacement started to show similar signs of failure/wearing out after only a few months.
So every once in a while I wonder if I should buy another GPU. But for the most part, I'm still satisfied with what I have.
Even when I am actively wanting/hoping to upgrade to something more powerful, I don't buy it until I can afford it. My definition of being able to afford something is having the money budgeted and set aside specifically for that thing. It's not whether I can afford payments buying it on credit. It's not whether I have enough money in the bank (and potentially forgetting about big payment X coming up next month the money was supposed to be used on).
So for me, it comes down to having a need/use for it, then saving up the money for it. And once I'm at that point, I don't have any reservations about buying it.
Buying something you can't afford is a big no-no. Buying something you can afford but don't need (or have a use for) can be an issue, depending on the circumstances. But IMO, if you need or have a use for something, and you can afford it, go for it!
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Instead of giving in to the temptation to buy the 4.0GHz 32GB-RAM powerhouse, I settled for an incremental improvement: upgraded RAM from 6 to 8 GB, and moved the OS to a 120 GB SSD.
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Instead of giving in to the temptation to buy the 4.0GHz 32GB-RAM powerhouse, I settled for an incremental improvement: upgraded RAM from 6 to 8 GB, and moved the OS to a 120 GB SSD.
-kyrathaba
Speaking of SSD I am waiting for the promised "price plummet" with the 3D stacked memory technology or whatever they call it. Give me 1 TB for $50 or give me a 500GB USB 3 stick for $25. I am tapping my foot until they deliver. :)
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^ Yep, that is gonna be sweet.
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I just look at my bank account the day after payday... no resistance required. :( :P
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I just look at my bank account the day after payday... no resistance required. :( :P
-Edvard
But how do you resist on the day of payday? :P
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I just look at my bank account the day after payday... no resistance required. :( :P
-Edvard
But how do you resist on the day of payday? :P
-Deozaan
A dollar down and the chase is on. :)
I just hope none of the new ones act like that ancient word processor in Naked Lunch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102511/)
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thank you for the idea to go and buy a more powerful PC, kyrathaba :Thmbsup:
I have been hesitating for a very long time, not knowing what I needed the most, a new smart phone, a new television, or a new PC - the money merely is to just one item. You just made me make up my mind!
And then again; I waited this long, maybe I can wait a little longer?
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thank you for the idea to go and buy a more powerful PC, kyrathaba :Thmbsup:
I have been hesitating for a very long time, not knowing what I needed the most, a new smart phone, a new television, or a new PC - the money merely is to just one item. You just made me make up my mind!
And then again; I waited this long, maybe I can wait a little longer?
-Curt
I think what I would like to get is an 8 core BluRay reader/wrtier machine with 64 GB ram and a bunch of SSDs. Windows 7 x64 SP1 preloaded, but custom. No bloat/trial/crap ware or AVs installed. 4kHD with super high performance GPU and monitors. Then I would hook it up to a gigabit internet and figure out what to do with it later. :)
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mad money: (noun) Money saved by a woman against the time when she wants to make an impulsive or therapeutic purchase.
It is not your nest egg (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nestegg.asp), float (reserve cash required to keep you from sinking), or cushion (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liquiditycushion.asp) (aka safety net or rainy day fund)
After paying all your obligated expenses, and whatever you need to towards your nest egg and/or cushion, and factoring in your normal required amount of pocket cash, you deposit a small amount of whatever is leftover into this mad money fund each week or month, for use when you want to buy that stuff you have been resisting, for when you can resist no more, or when you have an absolute emotional need to buy something for yourself to maintain your sanity.
If and when you purchase anything with this money, you do it for the sake of your own emotional and/or psychological well being, without any shame, guilt, or regret involved. It's ok to spend it frivolously. This money is usually never used to pay normal bills.
Traditionally, this is the cash your mom and/or grandmother probably kept hidden in a coffee can, that your dad and/or grandfather never knew about, made up from the cash leftover after doing the weekly grocery shopping (which is why they were fanatics about coupons), that she would occasionally use to buy herself nice things (new shoes, pretty dress, trip to a salon to have her hair done, etc.), anything she knew your dad/grandfather would say no to, but felt she needed for the sake of her own happiness.
If there was nothing in the coffee can, she knew she would have to wait till there was, before she could splurge on herself, again.
Currently, whatever I have in the way of donation credits is my mad money fund. Since it does take a little while to cash them out and make them available to spend on whatever, this in itself is kind of a deterrent not to spend them unless I really have to, to preserve my sanity. Since I don't currently have enough credits to spend on a shiny new more powerful pc, it makes frivolously buying one, very easy to resist.
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So, recently I purchased my stepson a serviceable refurbished Win7 machine. And while shopping, naturally I find a unit or two that I sure wouldn't mind having:
Intel Quad Core 3.4GHz i7-4770 32GB 1TB SSD + 2 x 3TB 7200rpm RAID 1 HDD Windows 7 Professional...
Thing is, my current setup (Win 7 Ultimate, 6 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD with a 2.8 GHz cpu) is more than adequate for my simple needs: a bit of programming, web browsing, proofreading for pay, emailing.
So I've learned over the years to resist these urges and usually in 2-4 weeks they pass. How do you deal with them?
-kyrathaba
I don't resist the urge...my bank balance (or lack-thereof) does that for me. ;D
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I don't resist the urge...my bank balance (or lack-thereof) does that for me.
-Stephen66515
That's why they used to send unsolicited credit cards in the mail. ;)
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I don't do any high-end video-gaming, so I really don't need a potent graphics card or fastest CPU available. However, I do notice that the 3.0 GHz i5 computer I use at work loads my portable apps launcher noticeably quicker than the 2.41 GHz J2900 chip and 8 Gb of Ram on my home machine. Right now, I've got two systems linked on a home network -- a 2.41 GHz machine on 8Gb Ram, and a 2.8 GHz machine on 6Gb Ram, both running Windows 10. No need to change, based upon my needs.
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..., not knowing what I needed the most, a new smart phone, a new television, or a new PC ...-Curt
^ demanding "friends" made me make a middle of the road choice and buy a new cell phone, not "smart", but talk & sms only! I was hoping this would make me able to have a new television before the world cup in team handball begins in December.
A new computer will apparently have to wait :(
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Easy! I look at my wallet and my bank account and begin to laugh!
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I don't do any high-end video-gaming, so I really don't need a potent graphics card or fastest CPU available.
... both running Windows 10. No need to change, based upon my needs.
-kyrathaba
I am fortunate enough to have a "coupon" for a new computer for my recent Birthday! (Wheezing "I'm an ooold birdy. I had Denver the last Dinosaur's Father for a pet!")
But based on some of you gang's comments, I first said, "well, so I lost my D Drive, but before we go all gung ho, I'd first like to take it to a good comp guy (better than Staples or Best Buy) to see if it's just a loose cable, and then next, just do some hardware tests, because if the main line motherboards and stuff are fine, I'm dying to try out dual booting into Win 10 which is what I designed this machine for - the future. And then even if not, salvage the existing C drive and make it the new backup data drive to save work cross copying everything everywhere on a new machine.)
(And it makes me want THREE HD's in a new system if possible / sensible, with some kind of better mirror system going! The system I had *almost worked* except I got sloppy!)
I also remarked that in my long term plan designed a decade ago, it is now known as Win 10, and we're just too new on the cusp to know where any of it shakes out, and if there's any gremlins lurking that will show up quasi soon that are game changers.
The only performance problems I have tend to be browsers getting sloppy and chewing up cpu and/or memory, and some HD type failures and struggles that I just want a competent check-out on. (Well, a slowly creaking OS, I guess.) But User side, I mean, it's not like the old days you just wailed at the aging state of the tech at the time - I still essentially have nearly all I need on this system I built with a buddy a decade ago.
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I can't spend any more money for a while because I'm saving for my girl friend's 18th birthday present.
Yeah, I'm 81 years old--gotta problem with that? ;)
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I can't spend any more money for a while because I'm saving for my girl friend's 18th birthday present.
Yeah, I'm 81 years old--gotta problem with that? ;)
-jadinolf
;D
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I can't spend any more money for a while because I'm saving for my girl friend's 18th birthday present.
Yeah, I'm 81 years old--gotta problem with that? ;)
-jadinolf
Is it the 18th present or the 18th birthday?
But like they say, if you have your health that's the important thing. Especially with an 18 year old girlfriend. ;)
Oh and quit braggin;. :)
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I finally splurged on a new PC. A brand spankin-refurbished Intel Core 2 Duo machine with 4 gigs RAM, 1TB hard drive and a Radeon HD6450 video card; all from Walmart.com for under 200 bucks! (well, it was an overtime paycheck, so we bought 3 of them)
Oh, she was a beaut... I say "was" because out of the 3 machines we got, mine was the one that went toes-up (I returned it and ordered a replacement as soon as I figured out it was actually broken, and not a fault of the OS). To be expected, it being a refurb and all, but it IS an upgrade from what I had. So... NO I didn't resist the temptation, but I DID upgrade to what I could afford.
:Thmbsup:
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I just purchased another new PC. What? I don't have problems. >.>
I liked my inspiron 7000, so I'm giving it to my daughter, and getting an XPS 13.
Like I said...
I don't resist. ;D
-wraith808
:huh:;D
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I can resist buying for me (especially since I used termination pay to pick up an HP 17" with an i7 and 16gb of memory a few years ago), however my daughter's laptop (admittedly a really-cheap Lenovo from a few years ago) now has a broken screen hinge, and my wife has decided that her current laptop (Toshiba 17" screen with an AMD A6) is too big and heavy. I'm looking at various options, hopefully the same unit will work for both of them. I wish someone local had the Lenovo Flex 2 15 that I could actually see, since it has a 1920x1080 display and all the others I'm looking at are 1366x768. I want roughly i5 performance, but my daughter might trade some performance for a touchscreen. Tough choices, but I am going to make them choose so I'm off the hook. :P
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the Lenovo Flex 2 15 that I could actually see
-x16wda
Well, then thoroughly check out the mouse/track-pad as my Lenovo (y580) has a really crappy one, when pressing one of the 'buttons' the mouse moves because you're touching the touch-pad...
The Full-HD screen is quite good though.
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the Lenovo Flex 2 15 that I could actually see
-x16wda
Well, then thoroughly check out the mouse/track-pad as my Lenovo (y580) has a really crappy one, when pressing one of the 'buttons' the mouse moves because you're touching the touch-pad...
The Full-HD screen is quite good though.
-Ath
Combining touch pad surface and buttons is the bane of my laptop experience. Macs do it decently, but overall I think it's a bad idea done largely in the name of aesthetics. Is it "convenient" to be able to "click anywhere"? Maybe, slightly, but I think it's more *useful* to know exactly where you can click *and not have any chance of moving the cursor*. Not to mention operations like click-and-drag, etc. Clearly the touchpad-as-button paradigm is not the end-all-be-all...
- Oshyan
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Macs do it decently,
-JavaJones
Bite your tongue! I had a macbook pro for years, and that touchpad was the bane of my existence!
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Macs do it decently,
-JavaJones
Bite your tongue! I had a macbook pro for years, and that touchpad was the bane of my existence!
-wraith808
Eep! Well, in my limited experience they do a better job than most PC laptops, but yes not perfect. The whole idea is just lame though IMO. Macs did it for aesthetics, I'm nearly sure of it (they can argue the one-button vs. two thing all day, but Macs now support right-click, so I thumb my nose at that argument), and like sheep the PC manufacturers followed.
- Oshyan