I’m one big broke person. Subscribe to my Patreon if you want to change that, as me getting a good job is impossible and also laughable considering current circumstances I’m facing as a first year student.
I’ve never had the latest and greatest hardware. At all I started out with a hackintoshed PC, then an HP Pavillion laptop, then a 2006 MacBook (Not a Pro model), then after many hardware updates finally jumped to an M1. All hardware upgrades had at least a few things in common:
- Horrible hardware performance
- Lack of software support
- Horrible hardware utilization
- Broken hardware
After I switched to my M1 MacBook Pro, I never felt the need to upgrade, despite absolutely choking my system every time I turn Bitwig Studio on, and despite complaining that the latest operating system update significantly tanks the performance of my projects which utilize so much CPU power.
Even then – I stand on one thing: You don’t need latest, until you exhausted your current.
Let’s set the scene: You have an iPhone 13 Pro like I do, and it starts lagging. Do you:
- Reset the phone or wipe some apps to free up resources likely taken by Background App Refreshing
- Use the apps that lag your phone less and start looking for alternatives or ways to tone your screen time down
- Or get a new phone.
If you pick option 3, Congratulations. You’re a consumerist idiot who never felt what it’s like to have no choice.
That’s what I’m against – My projects generously tank my M1 Pro laptop to the point where exporting a song I made takes slightly less than if I were to record it in real time. And yet I don’t cry or beg for a new laptop, I ask for money. Money which will go towards software that’s more optimized than what I used, which is what lead me to use Bitwig Studio in general, and what my current Patreon subs are funding. Thank you!
Let’s move away from Production. I have had a few cases where I needed Cycles in Blender to render out something I made. In the past, I would’ve gulped up my complaints and use Software Rendering, but now that I have an M1 Pro I can do Hardware Rendering on my laptop.
The point I’m trying to make is that I’d also rather people buy one piece of hardware that satisfies every need and not buy a whole bunch of stuff that make no sense.
With this logic you could also argue that the iPad I bought was a terrible investment, because I can get, for instance, a HP Notebook with a pencil. But HPs can’t run the software I run, and the whole point of my arguments is to buy One piece of hardware that covers all the needs you want in that one piece of hardware.
A laptop can cover desktop needs while in a comfortably portable fashion, a tablet can cover practical tasks and document keeping, but get what you absolutely need.
Don’t be afraid to get used, or cheaper, just don’t hoard for no reason or replace it needlessly. You’re doing yourself a disservice larger than anything I’ve seen, and that’s an understatement.
I’m a big proponent of hardware recycling. Many of the things I have on my desk are old stuff that I replaced with new when the old became unreliable and outdone. I used a mouse older than some of you reading this article, and that’s an understatement of how old it goes.
This doesn’t mean you should look for old tech to buy? it means that I’m using what I had simply because it works for what I need. It’s also why I proposed the idea of my uncle transferring my dead grandpa’s car in my name, since it’s not being driven, but most of my family disagrees with that idea because that car is absurdly unsafe to drive. Whatever.
I like new tech, and I’m also fine with using old tech as long as it’s usable today. but I also don’t think that getting the latest is the best thing you can do right now.
To compel you, there’s a lot of reasons, like:
- Cheaper than new
- Most new hardware gets underutilized
- Your needs can be satisfied with less. Less is more in some cases
To end this, I’ll just say that if you’re getting new hardware, be sure you need the punch it packs, otherwise go low until you need the punch. And if the software you use pairs badly, avoid getting it. Don’t make up problems and offer yourself solutions to your own detriment as well. It’s not worth the trouble.