>> I seem to have gone back to my old habit of buying the
year-before-last's model when it's a lot less expensive.
> Yep, the sweet spot for value is right behind the leading wave, bleeding
> edge or whatever. I picked up a LX5 for my wife for xmas.
I'm kinda funny in that for some things I like to be ahead of the knife,
but for other things, I'm perfectly happy with day-old bread. (how is that
for scrambling metaphors?)
Cell phones? I'm pretty happy as long as the feature set is what I'm
looking for. I usually get a new one every two years and get not the very
best, but the very good.
Televisions? Hah, I've never bought a new television in my life. Always
been given cast-offs.
Computers? Buy a decent one when you do get one and run it into the ground.
Cars? Buy two or three years old and run it for another 100,000 miles.
There is a tremendous savings if the model you buy has just been replaced
by a newer model.
Digital cameras? I've bought two of them new and one used. Proceeded to
watch them depreciate in value faster than a roll of toilet paper. However,
in the case of the A1, the A2 had JUST come out so I had saved a lot of
money there and the E-1 was a factory refurb also purchased at a discount.
The DMC-L1 came free with a lens.
The funny thing about buying any of this stuff is that it's only "brand
new" and "best" until the next one comes out weeks or months later. So,
your time with the "new/shiny" is very short. You can buy last week's
model, which was the "must have" item for a song now that the latest "must
have" has obsoleted last week's "must have".
Unless the advancement is revolutionary, you really don't see much
significant and meaningful advancement from one model to the next. Two
generations of advancements do make a difference, though.
I've got a Generation 1 iPAD. Just a couple of years ago it was THE must
have item. It's not even supported by Apple anymore.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
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