Mar 08
12
Gadget Lust
Posted by Stephen12
Tags: computer, priorities
So I bought a new computer. I meant to say, I bought a new hard drive. Not a new computer. I was tempted to buy a new computer. Oh, so tempted. I stopped by at the computer store on my way home from work today to buy a hard drive to replace the one that died over the weekend. They were on sale: 500GB for $99. The plan was simple: go in, buy the drive, leave.
But they had so much more on sale. A 19″ LCD monitor for $109. Debbie’s old CRT monitor was on its way out. For months it had been going fuzzy every now and then. A new monitor wouldn’t go amiss–she’d need one soon enough, and you couldn’t beat the price. So a monitor joined the hard drive on the counter. I continued to look around.There were motherboards, CPUs, memory sticks, power supplies, video cards on sale, in short, everything needed to build a new computer. I made a mental tally of the basic components for a reasonably high-performance machine, and realized that all the expensive parts were on sale for up to 50% off! And that the new machine would be three generations ahead of the computer I currently have! I’d be silly not to buy! Besides, the total would only be about $1,200. What a deal!
I had come in to spend under a hundred dollars on a hard drive. How had the bill suddenly grown to well over a thousand? Was my old computer really so bad? I thought about it for a moment, and decided that the only time I had to actually wait for the computer was when it was writing a DVD. A fast new computer wouldn’t change that. Of course there’s the matter of video games, which would definitely justify a new computer. But last time I played was six months ago. Not very often, I’m afraid. I just don’t get the time.
So I sighed, paid for my drive and monitor, and left, slumped after the high of seriously (albeit briefly) considering a new PC. Some days it’s hard to be a techie.
