I was thinking about this today. I try to research products and save up before buying something, so I invest in quality (also trying to buy responsibly due to environment), but sometimes I buy something expensive and then half a year later realize I didn’t use it as much as I had hoped to… but feel bad about donating / recycling the thing so soon since I paid a lot of money for it.
Another example is shaving razors. I’d like to buy a proper, metal one with a replaceable blade, but then I’m thinking how much nicer it is to just dispose of it once I am done (no need to clean it or sharpen it).
Any thoughts, experiences, comments are appreciate it. Really interested about what people think about this topic!
I find this to be a catch-22 situation. If I buy cheap and then find it to be very useful (but inferior because it was cheap) then I would feel bad about replacing it with a quality item and wasting the cheap one (even if I donate it) because I feel strongly about minimizing waste and promoting the use of throw away products. Then again, if I buy expensive and the item sits around I have wasted needless money that frankly I don’t have.
Right now I have just downsized from a two bedroom apartment to a one bedroom due to skyrocketing rent. I have to shrink my WFH desk space and am considering transitioning from my 32" widescreen monitor to just my laptop screen and a 15.6" portable monitor that can be packed away. The portable monitor would also become my main monitor for my gaming PC. This may or may not work out as being practical for my use case. I could get a no-name cheap portable monitor for about $100 but the brightness and colors may not be that great and response times for gaming poor. Or I could spend $400 on one with higher refresh rate, better colors and likely better stand options but if it doesn’t work out I’ve likely lost a lot of money even if I resell it. On top of that I’ve now contributed to consumerism and pollution twice which goes against my ethos.
I think a third option of buying-used needs to be a consideration. Personally, I dislike buying used for most things (especially tech). I generally get burnt by finding out the item was being sold because of some unreported defect and that bugs me as I like to keep my stuff pristine.
No real answer for you there, just an acknowledgement that the struggle is real.
Hey, no answer required, this is exactly what I wanted: Discussion. Thanks for writing out your thoughts!
I know exactly what you mean and I agree, it is a catch-22 situation very often. I’m still really struggling with this topic and that’s why I wanted to see different point of views and this thread has been successfull in that regard.
If you want an stranger’s experiences: Working on laptop / small screen alone sucks long term. I’ve found that having one really good screen at home and laptop alone for when I need to take work somewhere to be the best option. You’ll have a spot at home with a great monitor, which also works for gaming and you don’t need to worry about taking a lot of stuff with you when you need to go work somewhere.
For gaming I’ve actually been thinking about steamdeck! I tried out Nintendo Switch (was initially sceptical) but the amount I spent playing on the couch tells that it really worked for me - even though the screen is small. But yeah I also have a PC and afraid that one would be redundant in the end.
Agree on the used electronics. I only buy those from recycling centers here which repair, clean them and give you a 6 month warranty.
Hope you are comfortable in your new home and hope you can find the best option that fits you.
I’m also balancing the hope to become (with my wife) a digital nomad in the future, a one bag digital nomad if at all possible (I like a challenge). In that case a laptop and portable monitor are really the only good option so I’m tempted to go that route now just to get used to it. Of course there is no guarantee DNing will happen and I’d just be making my current life potentially difficult for no reason.
Ah, the challenges of balancing simple living, minimalism, and frugality. You can normally get two out of the three in any decision but rarely all of them. Another interesting topic for discussion perhaps?
you know what? I pondered about this too. I asked myself: what tech could probably suffice one day to live like a digital nomad. I ended up with some sort of ar/vr headset, a regular tablet that can run regular pc software and a smartwatch. Like someyhing with a RISC-V chip.