How to Save Enormous Sums of Money When Buying a Used Notebook

About the cost-benefit ratio

Google introduced the Pixelbook yesterday. Great device from a technical view. I’d buy it if I had enough money that money would be my least problem. But since that’s not the case and even if I had a lot of money, I didn’t want to throw it out of the window, I bought a used notebook on eBay.

The notebook, which I have always used, so when I wanted to be mobile, or when I wanted to do things at home on another place than my desk, I have been using for more than 4 years. My desktop PC is another 2 to 3 years older. And the only reason why something new has to come is that my laptop is starting to freak out. I could live with the not quite matching colors of the display, but the suddenly hanging picture is a nerve-wracking one.

Then why am I not buying the Pixelbook or a MacBook, but a used laptop? Because Pixelbook or MacBook simply wouldn’t give me the extra benefit that a device would bring for a fraction of the price. I’m mainly on the Internet and compile my apps from time to time, but this has already been done on my old devices, which were also in the lower price range. You just don’t need the latest and greatest devices with Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM and 500 GB SSD. Even if you need a gaming device, there are different price levels.

Of course, it may take 5 seconds longer to boot up the computer, but what are those 5 seconds compared to all the other time you spend on useless stuff like watching YouTube videos or tweeting? If I want to save time, I have to start somewhere else.

And what I can do with the 1000€, which I can save when buying a cheaper machine: I can buy a lot of books, running shoes, chocolate or I can just save them, that I also have something in thirsty times.

We often forget to pay attention to this price-performance ratio when purchasing technical innovations, be it mobile phones or laptops. Rather, we seem to care that the products make us “cool” or we become more respected when people notice that we have the latest iPhone or Pixel. But wouldn’t it be smarter to make yourself more popular in other ways? By using our money to help other people who don’t have it as good as we do?

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