Years ago, when I was single, I always bought the best stuff I could afford and was proud of owning that stuff. But then, years later, after I got married, I started clearing out my old files, and could not believe the prices I had paid for hardware:

* $400 for a caddy-tray SCSI CD-ROM drive (2x!).
* $140 for a 16-bit ISA SCSI card for that drive.
* $350 for a 320MB IDE drive (that’s MB, not GB!).
* $400 for a bleeding-edge overclocked video card (that was surpassed less than six months later by cards costing a third less).

The list goes on and on. In many cases, the astonishing prices had only been paid a year or two earlier.

The lesson I drew from this? Buy the cheapest equipment that meets your minimum requirements today because in a year or two, you’ll be able to buy today’s computer-of-your-dreams for half as much.

Ever since I adopted that philosophy, I haven’t had cause to regret it.

In general I have less regret going to the cheaper side of the fence with tech products than with other products because newer/faster/cheaper tech is always around the corner.

I do think there are inflection points in the tech world that will cause me to wander over to the more expensive side of the fence. New faster interface for example.

But maybe “what you really want” is more “what you really need” in your article. Some of us know what we really need, but try and get by with the cheaper product. All of us really want the most expensive product don’t we? But money gets in the way.

I tried to get by with a Chinese knock-off iPod dock because Apple’s ipod docks are so expensive for what you get. But all I got was a $10 scratched up dock that doesn’t do video. And getting a dock that works will cost me $60 now.

I’ll never buy the highest-end processor or video card, for example, because it’s almost always a waste of money for the slight performance increase it gives over the much cheaper model a rung or two down the performance ladder, and no matter which one you buy, you’re going to want to upgrade it in a couple of years, anyway.

I’m not suggesting buying the most expensive or high end item, though. There’s something of a line between “buying what you really want” and the sort of “keep up with the Joneses, no matter what the cost” kind of spending. I own a Nikon D300 because that’s what was a perfect fit for me. Buying a D3x would have been silly. That’s one example.

But I say don’t spend too much on tech that will be outdated within a year. That includes some of examples you mentioned at the end of the article such as a video card, cellphone or even an hdtv.

What does “outdated” mean, though? I agree that buying something that’s *useless* in a year is not a good idea. But there are lots of users of older tech (eg, original iPhone, older Blackberries, Nikon D70), who are still quite happy and find their devices perfectly usable. Different people will perceive things differently. (This, though, from the guy who just pre-ordered a Nikon D300s, even though I know the D400 is likely out next year. But then, I really need a second camera body for some of the stuff I do. *sigh*)

I’ll never buy the highest-end processor or video card, for example, because it’s almost always a waste of money for the slight performance increase it gives over the much cheaper model a rung or two down the performance ladder, and no matter which one you buy, you’re going to want to upgrade it in a couple of years, anyway.

I do try to live by this way of thinking as much as I can for things that I expect to last a long time, though.

But I say don’t spend too much on tech that will be outdated within a year. That includes some of examples you mentioned at the end of the article such as a video card, cellphone or even an hdtv.

Different story with a speaker, a tripod or a bicycle. Those products have a much longer “shelf life.”

But then again, how many of us see ourselves in articles like that until it’s too late?