Fannish hive mind advice needed
I have a very very terrible first world problem.
My main computer is the 2006 MacBook, and it's pretty due for replacement. It works, but it's slow, the hinge is broken so it only stays open at particular angles, the CD/DVD drive won't eject unless you hold the laptop at a particular angle... it's time.
My only real requirement in a laptop is a) that it's a Mac, and b) that it has at least 160GB hard drive space (my current HD size, very full), but ideally a bit more. Everything else is negotiable.
It was a no-brainer for me to buy a new MacBook to replace my old MacBook, because it gave me everything I wanted at the lowest end of the Mac price range. I was just waiting for the next hardware update before I bought. Aaaaand.... instead of being updated, it's been discontinued. Thank you so much, Apple.
Even though it's what I wanted a week ago, I balk at paying full price for a discontinued model that hasn't been updated for more than a year. If I could get a discontinued model with a solid discount, that would be great, but shopping around, it seems unlikely. And having bought second hand and been burned, I'd definitely rather buy new.
Nearly every other option costs more or has some kind of compromise in it, so I'm going in circles about what to do.
These are the options I've come up with:
1. Suck it up and get a MacBook second hand. Save money. Even if it's older, it'll still do me for a few years. Assume it will last long enough to get my money's worth (my bad second hand buying experiences were all PC ones). It's not a very exciting option but it solves the problem.
2. Get the top of the line MacBook Air with 256GB hard drive. Was just updated. Costs lots more than I planned to pay, but it'll be a kick ass machine and I'll love it. (Paying to upgrade the hard drive in other Air models isn't really worth it.)
3. Get the bottom of the line MacBook Pro with 256GB hard drive. Costs a bit more than I planned to pay, but otherwise ticks all the boxes. Honestly, this is the obvious option, but the problem is I HATE the black and silver look of the Pros. Just hate it. And I've often said to people, you buy a Mac because of how it makes you feel. The MacBook Pro won't make me feel right.
4. I really want an iPad, but I can't afford both an iPad and a new laptop. But maybe I could buy the iPad now instead of a new laptop, and try to hang on with the old MacBook until there's a new design of the Mac Pros (rumoured, but nothing I'd stake fifty bucks on, let alone the cost of an iPad or laptop). And if I was doing much of my online reading on the iPad, maybe the MacBook would last longer?? This ultimately costs more than the high end Air, because I'll still need a new laptop eventually, but hey, in the meantime I'll have an iPad! And sooner or later I would buy one anyway. The big risk here is that I buy the iPad and a month later the MacBook dies, and I have to buy a new laptop anyway.
5. Reduce my hard drive requirements so that I can buy a cheaper Air with 128GB space. Nearly all my video is already on external drives; this would mean shifting photos and music to external drives/cloud, which gives me a lot of angst. I also find it really compromises the convenience of a laptop when you're always lugging around a hard drive with it from room to room, or having to get up and go fetch it when you want to access something.
Here's how I use my current tech set up:
* Macbook: 90% for web and email. Occasional Office. The big dependency is iTunes and iPhoto - the bulk of my hard drive space is used up by music and photos, and I'll always need to manage those. No other must-have apps that don't also have an iPad equivalent. 99% used at home, between bed and desk and couch and verandah, occasionally taken out for the day or taken on vacation. Portable is a requirement, but ultraportable or ultra light isn't. I don't connect peripherals other than hard drives, iPhone and the Kindle. Most of my time online is spent reading - fic, blogs, articles. I don't read books on the laptop because frankly, I already spend too much time on it, and it's bad for my back. So an option where I use the laptop less is actually a good option.
* Kindle: I read about a couple of hours a week on it. What I love about it is the Kindle store (instant book buying! wherever you are!) and the ability to send first chapters to it from the web. However, it's not the device itself I enjoy using; I use it because I don't have a better option for what I want to read, and I'd chuck it in a second for a more user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing book-reading experience. I do like that it's light, because I have RSI, and holding up something heavier is unappealing. If I got an iPad, I would expect to use the Kindle much less, although with a question mark on the weight of the iPad. I also don't read anything but Kindle store books and first chapters on the Kindle, because everything else is too much hassle of plugging in and copying over and stuff. So another plus of dumping the Kindle for an iPad is that I could read more on the iPad and less on the laptop.
*iPhone: I don't read on it (too small for my comfort), but otherwise half my life is in there. The key point about the iPhone is that it's always with me and I have a good data plan, and can tether other devices to it for internet access wherever I want.
* Cloud: don't use it much right now, but theoretically not opposed to shifting a lot of storage to the cloud. Bandwidth is not a consideration, but lock-in and monthly costs are. I'd rather pay once and be done with it than pay monthly until kingdom come.
* External hard drives: I have heaps, and they're pretty cheap if I need another one.
People, I'm sure for a normal person this wouldn't be rocket science, but I cannot make up my frigging mind! Advice and perspectives needed! What do you use? How does it work for you?
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).
My main computer is the 2006 MacBook, and it's pretty due for replacement. It works, but it's slow, the hinge is broken so it only stays open at particular angles, the CD/DVD drive won't eject unless you hold the laptop at a particular angle... it's time.
My only real requirement in a laptop is a) that it's a Mac, and b) that it has at least 160GB hard drive space (my current HD size, very full), but ideally a bit more. Everything else is negotiable.
It was a no-brainer for me to buy a new MacBook to replace my old MacBook, because it gave me everything I wanted at the lowest end of the Mac price range. I was just waiting for the next hardware update before I bought. Aaaaand.... instead of being updated, it's been discontinued. Thank you so much, Apple.
Even though it's what I wanted a week ago, I balk at paying full price for a discontinued model that hasn't been updated for more than a year. If I could get a discontinued model with a solid discount, that would be great, but shopping around, it seems unlikely. And having bought second hand and been burned, I'd definitely rather buy new.
Nearly every other option costs more or has some kind of compromise in it, so I'm going in circles about what to do.
These are the options I've come up with:
1. Suck it up and get a MacBook second hand. Save money. Even if it's older, it'll still do me for a few years. Assume it will last long enough to get my money's worth (my bad second hand buying experiences were all PC ones). It's not a very exciting option but it solves the problem.
2. Get the top of the line MacBook Air with 256GB hard drive. Was just updated. Costs lots more than I planned to pay, but it'll be a kick ass machine and I'll love it. (Paying to upgrade the hard drive in other Air models isn't really worth it.)
3. Get the bottom of the line MacBook Pro with 256GB hard drive. Costs a bit more than I planned to pay, but otherwise ticks all the boxes. Honestly, this is the obvious option, but the problem is I HATE the black and silver look of the Pros. Just hate it. And I've often said to people, you buy a Mac because of how it makes you feel. The MacBook Pro won't make me feel right.
4. I really want an iPad, but I can't afford both an iPad and a new laptop. But maybe I could buy the iPad now instead of a new laptop, and try to hang on with the old MacBook until there's a new design of the Mac Pros (rumoured, but nothing I'd stake fifty bucks on, let alone the cost of an iPad or laptop). And if I was doing much of my online reading on the iPad, maybe the MacBook would last longer?? This ultimately costs more than the high end Air, because I'll still need a new laptop eventually, but hey, in the meantime I'll have an iPad! And sooner or later I would buy one anyway. The big risk here is that I buy the iPad and a month later the MacBook dies, and I have to buy a new laptop anyway.
5. Reduce my hard drive requirements so that I can buy a cheaper Air with 128GB space. Nearly all my video is already on external drives; this would mean shifting photos and music to external drives/cloud, which gives me a lot of angst. I also find it really compromises the convenience of a laptop when you're always lugging around a hard drive with it from room to room, or having to get up and go fetch it when you want to access something.
Here's how I use my current tech set up:
* Macbook: 90% for web and email. Occasional Office. The big dependency is iTunes and iPhoto - the bulk of my hard drive space is used up by music and photos, and I'll always need to manage those. No other must-have apps that don't also have an iPad equivalent. 99% used at home, between bed and desk and couch and verandah, occasionally taken out for the day or taken on vacation. Portable is a requirement, but ultraportable or ultra light isn't. I don't connect peripherals other than hard drives, iPhone and the Kindle. Most of my time online is spent reading - fic, blogs, articles. I don't read books on the laptop because frankly, I already spend too much time on it, and it's bad for my back. So an option where I use the laptop less is actually a good option.
* Kindle: I read about a couple of hours a week on it. What I love about it is the Kindle store (instant book buying! wherever you are!) and the ability to send first chapters to it from the web. However, it's not the device itself I enjoy using; I use it because I don't have a better option for what I want to read, and I'd chuck it in a second for a more user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing book-reading experience. I do like that it's light, because I have RSI, and holding up something heavier is unappealing. If I got an iPad, I would expect to use the Kindle much less, although with a question mark on the weight of the iPad. I also don't read anything but Kindle store books and first chapters on the Kindle, because everything else is too much hassle of plugging in and copying over and stuff. So another plus of dumping the Kindle for an iPad is that I could read more on the iPad and less on the laptop.
*iPhone: I don't read on it (too small for my comfort), but otherwise half my life is in there. The key point about the iPhone is that it's always with me and I have a good data plan, and can tether other devices to it for internet access wherever I want.
* Cloud: don't use it much right now, but theoretically not opposed to shifting a lot of storage to the cloud. Bandwidth is not a consideration, but lock-in and monthly costs are. I'd rather pay once and be done with it than pay monthly until kingdom come.
* External hard drives: I have heaps, and they're pretty cheap if I need another one.
People, I'm sure for a normal person this wouldn't be rocket science, but I cannot make up my frigging mind! Advice and perspectives needed! What do you use? How does it work for you?
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).