People seem to remember or hear what they want. My wife is upset with me because I made a comment about her thoughts on purchasing a new computer.
Her computer which lasted about 3 or 4 years died, more specifically, the graphics card or motherboard died. The cost of that computer was about 400, but it had an i3 which was not too bad for her needs. The graphics was not great, but she does not do anything that requires intensive graphics. She browses the internet, does banking, and does facebook. There are a few other things, but that is about the extent of her computer usage.
I made the comment about why buy something the is super expensive for what your needs are. If she does, she does. However, she thinks she will be fussed at me. Maybe, but I cannot say for sure. She also made the comment that I have always had the best of the best. Oh how quickly she forgets things.
This next little bit is going to be about me and the timeline of events for computer purchases. This goes back about 17 years so some of what I am saying is guesswork.
When I first started consulting, I bought a medium low quality laptop that coast about 600 and lasted about 2 years. Bought another medium low quality, laptop that was around 550 and it too lasted about 2 years. Then I stopped traveling for about 5 years. During that time I did not buy any laptops. i did not need one. I relied upon desktops. I upgrade my desktop every two to three years. Sometimes it is a major overhaul, but most of the time it is replacing parts that are very outdated. All of my upgrades/overhauls always used components that were medium low quality. For example the medium to upper end graphics cards that were costing 200-500 5-10 years ago I would avoid and buy the graphics cards that cost 50-100. It was what I could afford. In fact until last year (2015) I always followed the same pattern, but occasionally I would buy something that was more medium quality. Last year I bought a new almost top of the line CPU and graphics card and 8GB of medium quality ram. The motherboard I would consider medium quality and was about 2 years old. The monitors, hard drive, case and DVD player were about 3 to 4 years old and all of these were about medium maybe medium high quality. I did buy pretty decent keyboard, headset, and mouse. However, that was the first time in my life I decided to spend more.
When I started traveling again in 2009, I bought a laptop that was about 1200. I have had to repair it once, replaced a fan, bought a power supply, and replaced the motherboard. That was about 300 total in parts. So if you average it out, that is 1500 for 7 years and that is about 200 per year. I expect to get another 2 to 3 years out of the laptop. That will make it about 150 per year. I did buy a more expensive laptop this year, about 2400 and I expect it to last me for at least 7 to 8 years if not longer.
I use some pretty graphic intensive programs, so the need for a little higher end quality laptop is needed, but I can tell you that if I were not traveling I would not buy a laptop. They do not have the same power as a desktop. I base things on cost per year. If I do not get somewhere between 100 to 250 per year on my electronic purchases, then I consider it a bad purchase. The one thing I failed to mention is that all of these are used for business. So as a self-employed person, these are business deductions.
I went on this path to explain a little about my thought process and to show that we quickly forget all those other times and only remember the ones we want because it fits with our thoughts of how things happened. It was not meant as a way to justify my purchases.
When I got done, I thought how do people remember Christ and God and all the deeds they did for us. Do people remember what they want because it fits inline with their thoughts. Such as God will love me as I am or He will not love me at all. If that person is going to Heaven then I do not want to go. People, wake up and remember that Christ is your Lord and Savior and God is Ruler and Controller of all.