However, you could have taken it one step further and said, “I don’t *need* to work at home. I could go get a job like everyone else.” You work at home because you *want* to work at home. In order to do that successfully, you *need* functioning equipment. A new motherboard or a $200 eBay PC will gain you another few years of productivity.

As you have pointed out multiple times, there is a difference between cheap and frugal. This particular post makes you look cheap, even though most of us understand the point you’re trying to make.

Even a computer that breaks down once a day can handle that without impacting his productivity. Like him, I see no “need” for an updated machine given the needs he has. The new computer isn’t going to help him write faster, or better, or help his coding.

If you have existing equipment (in Trent’s case, a laptop and a desktop) that fulfils the functions you need, there is no reason to buy replacement equipment and it is in fact a waste of money.It’s not good stewardship of your money to replace perfectly good equipment that meets your needs just because something that might work a little better is available.

I think the point Trent was trying to make is that it’s easy for us to justify to ourselves that something we really want has magically become a “need”. He was simply using the computer as an example, and he was also saying it’s acceptable to spend money on wants, but to be aware of the fact that they ARE wants, not to try to falsely justify them as needs.

There’s a phrase I’ve seen floating around the ‘net that sums up Trent’s current approach to his computer situation: “Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without.”

I’ve watched my MIL buy new things (clothes, stuff for the house, groceries b/c she can’t remember if she has that item stashed in her overflowing pantry) because she “needs” them then listen to my FIL complain about how he’ll have to work until he’s dead to find fault with someone making do with what they already have.

I can honestly say that my preference for Macs developed solely as a result of the lack of problems, and fantastic customer service, nothing else. I have never met a person who used a PC for 11 years straight without need of upgrade for the new CS suites, or a single problem whatsoever. We have had to replace our PCs on an average of 3 years each, due to breakdowns, and general failure of parts.

Most people prefer the Mac, if they have one, for the ease of use of I-Movie. My students love photo-booth. But those are toys, and I would never spend more for toys. The PC advantage is a wider range of games and programs available everywhere, for less. The biggest disadvantage is viruses.

Not the Mac. You need software that runs on the OS that was introduced in 2001, but even that won’t run unless you have a Mac that runs the Intel processors that were introduced in 2006. So you either sell the Mac or throw them away – hardly frugal.

@Trent
I wish you could tell us exactly what it is that makes applications “function much better on Macs.” The programs are the same, presumably? Macs are built the same as PCs using exactly the same components. If a PC motherboard fails you can replace it for under $40 and your time. An Apple motherboard will cost you upwards of $100 if you want one for Macs made in the last ten years. It goes on and on – I’m about to sell my computer for a new one, but I’ll keep the monitor, and judging from Craigslist I should get $500 for the old one which is four years of use and it cost me $800. You’ll get on-site service in the first year – no need to go to the Apple Store.

I think that spending around $1500 on an Apple desktop or laptop is crazy compared to spending $500 each on roughly the same thing from Dell.

That said, I use a 15 dollar cell phone with my T-Mobile plan (I find on-the-go web access to be a substitute for poor planning), and have no GPS (a map is 5 bucks). And people seem oblivious to the cost of cell phones-the disappearance of working pay phones on the street, replaced with cancer clusters, and a whole generation that will stagnate at the parallel play phase. But I digress.

I love your site and all that you have taught me thru it, but i think this post is perhaps not as well written or not thought thru thoroughly. You seem to have too much thrown into it to make it clear.

I can see that replacing a computer that is not working well with a Mac vs. a PC is an issue of want/need. But NOT replacing a computer that is not working well (when it is a major source of income for you) is not want/need.

My husband needs his complicated Droid phone. He has to be available to his work 24/7 and able to do certain things even when we are away (like at church). To not have that available will cost his company $$$. Yes, he wanted that phone and it is a fun new toy for him, but he needed it as well. The old phone was a constant source of frustration for him as it did not do what he needed it to do.

Fortunately for us, i neither want or need a similar phone. We DO need cell phones, however, as we have not had a land line for many years. The phones were costing us too much at one point and my husband set up free stuff via computer that his work contacts can use as the first (and major) line to reach him so that we could reduce the cell phone plan, but doing without them is not possible for us.

Strictly speaking, any phone (cell or landline) is a want (not food/clothes/shelter), but it doesn’t really work that way in our current culture.

The picture you painted here is very black and white: Needs = food, clothing, shelter. Wants = everything else. And, for a family with a strain on their income (recent job loss, new family member, etc.), getting to this black and white place is necessary to survive. For the rest of us, it is a good thing to keep in mind. However, living in a “survivalist” mode is stressful in & of itself.

I completely agree with keeping in mind needs vs. wants. But this post seems to mix that issue and this isn’t your best or clearest post.

I do still hope you get the upgrade you “want”, Trent. You can push the example to an extreme and say that you don’t “need” a home computer when a library one would give you access to internet just as well.

You have the savings, it’s essential to your job, it is conscious spending and will make your life easier which are good enough reasons to part with your money.