The privilege of spending extra on "nice things" is almost purely in the realm of the well-to-do. This is the rationale Rich White People™ use when buying L.L. Bean backpacks (LIFETIME WARRANTY GUYS) that end up piled in attics and covered in dust from neglect. Also, a downside of 'nice stuff' is you have to lug it everywhere. If you lead even a moderately itinerant lifestyle, this totally blows. Don't listen to some guy on the internet telling you your stuff sucks, just buy what you damn well please and what you think will do the job. Your tools don't make you great, your skills do.
You don't have to be well-to-do to afford something a little better than the absolute cheapest possible sh*t every now and again. What this article is really about is electing to allocate more money to important items if possible, rather than being pennywise and pound foolish.
Sounds like you're a "frugal" person who got offended at this (correct) message.
>Also, a downside of 'nice stuff' is you have to lug it everywhere.
What on earth are you talking about? If you buy a cheap generic $200 17" laptop you'll have to lug it around just as much as a nice MBP. The difference is; you'll have to replace the cheapy about 10 times in the lifetime of my MBP.
>I can throw out or resell a 400$ laptop with some ease; not so easy with a more expensive model.
I disagree here. If you pay $400 for it what is your resale value after a year? I wouldn't even pay $50 for a year old $400 laptop since it's nearing end of life. A good MBP, however could be sold three years later for half value or a little less. This is not a bad option for people who want the quality but can't afford a new one (and unless something big changes in the line it's not always so compelling to get the newest model anyway).
>I can't invest too much on a bed as I can't lug it around with my bedouin lifestyle.
Sounds sensible.
>I can imagine that is the case for quite a few people.
I can't imagine this being a very high % of people.
>It's great that you have stability of location but that isn't true for us all.
For me the key is to be sensible with money. If you're getting the cheapest thing because you've actually thought it out and it doesn't make sense to go for the long term (e.g. because there wont be one) then fair enough. Most of the people I know who go cheap do it because they're too intellectually lazy to work out that they're actually spending more in the long term (and conversations confirm this, I'm not being cynical).
It's hard to find a buyer for an expensive laptop. Furthermore, you can find people who buy Pentium 4 laptops for more than 50$ if the battery is working properly. Point being, a one-year old 400$ laptop selling for 200-300$ is not utterly unheard of, especially if you have kept good care of it. I understand that it may be different in other parts of the world. The additional liquidity of a cheaper asset shouldn't be underestimated.
I do think that we "computer people" are far more mobile than someone in more traditional fields; it's part and parcel of online / startup life. I used to shuttle between Montreal, Tokyo and Singapore all the time, and for a time I expected I would wind up in Singapore. Instead, I ended up in Tokyo. Who could have known? Thank God I didn't drop 2gs on a bed. (I wound up buying one on Craigslist for about $450)
I do agree with you for the most part about the disgusting low quality crap that people buy to save a dollar. However, I do feel the need to express why some people may come to different value propositions.
> It's hard to find a buyer for an expensive laptop.
Not to mention selling stuff is a pain in the ass. I'm a programmer, not a professional craigslist haggler. Buying things "because I can sell them later" has always burned me in the end.
You're experience is totally different to mine here in Europe. I don't know anyone who would even consider buying a cheap windows laptop online. You might be able to sell it to a family member or friend directly but that's it. Used macs, however, are an active market.
> Sounds like you're a "frugal" person who got offended at this (correct) message.
Sweet ad hominem attack, bro.
> The difference is; you'll have to replace the cheapy about 10 times in the lifetime of my MBP.
And when that sweet MBP gets stolen or you spill tea all over it rendering it useless, you have to spend a ton more to get it back/working again.
People keep saying "I never have to think about it again!!!" but the opposite happens: you turn into a little gollum thinking about and protecting your stuff whenever it's in danger. Again, I'm not advocating one or the other, just be aware that expensive stuff has downsides and making fun of people who choose not to have that is a shitty move.
I protect my laptop whether it's a $3k top-of-the-line MBP of a $200 Aldi special. The valuable part of my laptop is what's stored on it, not the eq itself which I have insured against theft.
