Are you spending enough on your computer? Not everyone, but a growing and large group of people are spending a lot of time on a computer daily. These people are not just playing around and wasting time playing Farmville. These people are making their income using a computer. Among my circle of friends, it is more common than not that they are personally paying for the computer that earns their paycheck.
Your typical laptop will cost $2,000-ish — and in most cases far less. I can’t imagine that anyone who a) uses a computer all day b) for work c) that they pay for d) makes less than $2,000 per year e) using that computer. I heavily suspect this is true. I would venture to guess that most people make at least five times that much in return; and most likely, they make a considerably larger return.
Why is it that people willingly pay $6,000 per year for a car that doesn’t earn a penny? Yes, it might get you to work, but it doesn’t earn your paycheck. They same people cringe and wince when spending a third of the amount of money on a device that pays the bills daily.
I am often found singing the praises of dual monitors and large monitor in regards to productivity boosts for the cost. If you buy on the cheap, you can pick up a second monitor for $300-ish. Would you pay a one-time fee of $300 to be 5-10% more productive? Why wouldn’t you?
I feel the same way about new and upgraded hardware/software. If a new laptop would give you a 10% boost in your daily production, what is the value of that boost? My guess is that it wouldn’t be hard to calculate. In a 10-hour work-day, you would save an hour… 50+ hours in a year saved. What is the value of a week in your life?
Don’t overspend and ruin any meaningful ROI, but spend what it takes to get a measurable improvement. From my observation, people tend to spend too much on a laptop upfront, hold onto it too long, and not buy purposeful upgrades.
My suggestion is to buy good enough versus top-of-the-line laptop; and compliment your purchase additional RAM, an SSD or a large monitor. When I purchased an SSD for my laptop, booting Photoshop dropped from 45 seconds to 7 seconds. That is a measurable difference with an RIO that can easily be calculated.
I don’t hold onto my laptops for very long. I typically buy a new one every 18-24 months with a hardware upgrade in the middle. Computers get faster and cheaper every year; use this fact in your planning.
In short, spend enough.