Hypothetical Scenario:
You have a four-year old white Macbook. The CD drive burnt out two years ago, you’ve dropped it a handful of times and it goes “Crrrachhhhsmackashh” every time you open it, and the hard drive died six months ago, but was replaced for $50.
Now imagine:
You are at a football game on a Friday night. A friend of yours casually states the following…
Hey, I’m quitting my job at Apple in 7 days. If you’ve been thinking about getting a new computer or anything, I can hook ya up and get you a 25% discount before I quit. Need anything?
Dilemma:
What do you say?
If you haven’t caught on, this situation isn’t hypothetical at all, but very much the quandary Girl Ninja and I are currently in. I’m gonna lay out the facts as I see ’em…
Facts:
- We each need (and by need I mean really enjoy having) our own laptops.
- In our house, we have two four-year old white Macbooks, a first generation iPad, a relatively new Mac Mini, and two iPhones. Needless to say, we like Apple products.
- We will buy a new Apple laptop when one of ours passes away.
- My laptop could literally spontaneously combust at any moment, it’s that beat up.
- Girl Ninja’s laptop probably has at least another 12 months left in it.
- The iPad is cool but, in my mind, not a laptop replacer.
- Apple products never go on sale. Like Ever. So this 25% discount is SUPER appealing.
- We can afford the laptop.
- We want a new laptop.
- We definitely don’t need a new laptop.
- We would not be looking to buy a new laptop right now if there wasn’t a 25% discount offered.
- We could sell one of our current laptops for a few hundred dollars on Craigslist to help mitigate the cost of a new laptop.
- The thought of replacing our current laptops, while they are both still “mostly” functional, makes us feel like we are stereotypical “American Consumers”.
And thus ends our dilemma. Although Girl Ninja and I have an idea of what we will do, we’d like to hear your two cents on the situation before we share. We would totally appreciate your opinions as to why we should or should not get the new laptop (maybe you have insights we haven’t considered). To buy, or not to buy. That is the question dilemma.
Have you ever passed up a deal and regretted it later? Ever taken advantage of a deal and realized it was a waste? I feel like no matter which route we go, we will always wonder if we made the right decision.
p.s. Don’t turn this in to a Mac vs PC fight.
