I got caught up in some of marketing hoopla around Apple’s release of the “new” MacBookPro, since one of my co-workers is seriously looking at getting one and was talking to me about it at work yesterday.
Computers, tech and I go back all the way back to the old Commodore Vic 20 and their cassette tape drive operating system. Over the years I have owned desktops, luggables, laptops, tablets and smart phones. Usually, some of the higher end stuff, just because I am a bit of a geek.
I currently own a 2009 MacBook Pro, 2014 Asus Flip TP 300L Windows computer and a 2015 Toshiba II and 2012 Samsung 550 Chromebooks, along with Android and iPhones.
So I have a bit of experience with computers and the associated tech.
Sticker Shock
Needless to say, the new MacBookPro looked amazing and the Surface Pro has intrigued me for a couple of years. So I started looking around the web, doing comparisons between the newly released MacBookPro, Microsoft Surface Pro and some other Windows 10 based laptops.
Once I got to looking closer – I WENT INTO STICKER SHOCK!!!!
Holy Crap!!!
The price points for the new MacBookPro or Microsoft Surface Pro are crazy. Even other Windows machines are getting up there.
Those price points quickly quenched my need to look at getting a new computer!
Especially, when most of the base models of the computers I was looking were not all that much different than my current Asus Flip with i5, 8gb RAM, 512 gb drive, touchscreen, flip model. The screen resolution might be a little better on the newer models, but I probably wouldn’t really notice the difference.
Actually, for the way that I use a computer nowadays, I probably wouldn’t notice a big difference between what I already have and the newest and greatest offerings from Apple or Microsoft.
Stopping and Thinking
Sometimes, when we get all hot and bothered about the newest and greatest, we get that feeling that we need to just do it and most of us end up getting something that is way over what we really need – for how we actually use our computers/technology. After all it is better to have too much computer…just in case you might need it someday – right.
I guess I will just make due with what I have and be happy, until they stop working, instead of going out finding a reason to get something new and passing my old stuff to another family member.
Hey, who knows maybe I am stopping to think once in a while, versus just doing and then regretting what I did. As I have so often in the past, when I got caught up in the marketing hoopla and got a computer, that wasn’t what I needed or more honestly, more computer than what I needed and one that I got because I bought into the marketing claims there were being made at the time.
Looking Ahead
Well, I hope my co-worker finds what they are looking for, but that person (an avowed Apple lover), is even looking at something different – possibly a Windows laptop or last year’s MacBookPro model, due to the new and much higher price points.
I wonder at what point do the tech brands price themselves out of market for many people. Or do the new price points become a snobbery point and those who can will, to show that they can.
I know it is blasphemy that I no longer feel the need to have the newest and greatest things and actually, look at how I use my computers and technology versus, just seeing the neat new toys that I could have and easily have by, paying a bit each month on my credit card.
Time will tell how these high price points and marketing will turn computer shoppers into computer buyers, but I know that I will not be part of the buying crowd this time around.
Harold Being Harold 
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