To the thread, Buy or Not to Buy?
I am looking at whether I should buy a new laptop. Perhaps the question is worth visiting as you wonder what will drive people like me to upgrade? Anyway, I need you advice.
I have a P133 Dell lap top. The HDD is 1.4G, 40M DRAM, 56K modem, 6x CD, etc. It's a pretty good machine. The hard drive is near capacity. I mostly use it to write and browse the internet.
So, I'd like to get a faster machine. PII 300 with 128M DRAM, great graphics, 4 or 6 G hard drive, 40x CD or maybe a DVD which seems to have a built in floppy so you don't have to change out devices. The machine is just raging fast, but do I need it? Cost is about $3000.
I'm thinking I'd like to get a good dictation software. I'd like to start fresh again on Win 98. I think some internet applications would run better such as multi media downloads, audio and video conferencing. Perhaps this is an illusion? For $3000, I do a lot.
If I get a new machine, what do I do with the old one? What is the market for used laptops? How much do you think it's worth? Does the software you leave on it give extra value? How do you find a buyer? Do I stand to loose everything waiting a year? If a P133 seems slow now, it'll be really out dated in a year. Maybe resale today is worth so much more now and will help pay for the new machine.
I feel that Intel is slowing down the roll out of new processors to maintain some price. What will be the portable high end in 6 months? That's the fear. I buy a new machine and either pay too much, (perhaps 20% less if I wait 3 months), or PII 300 will be replaced with PII 450 in 6 months? A question that has plagued PC buyers for all time.
But, I wonder if we will see revolutionary change. There's no PIII in the works for 99. Seems like memory could speed up, but when? Who needs a larger hard drive? Graphics and sound are probably good enough on this new machine for the next 2 or 3 years? Maybe the microphone interface could be better? I understand the microphone attachment standard on a laptop damages the sound input compared to the desk top.
Am I right in thinking now is a time to buy? How do I convince my wife?
Regards,
Mark |
