21-01-25 Monday Covid-19 Day 317 I - New Chromebook

So, I bought myself a new chromebook this morning. I'd been agonising over it for days, wondering whether it was necessary, or whether I should be spending that much on a new pc (in the broadest sense of the term) when my existing chromebook was absolutely fine. 

I had decided that an Asus C434 was a suitable replacement for my perfectly serviceable Asus C302. The C434 is about the same size as the C302, but has a bigger display, due to smaller bezels. And it seems to be better-regarded than the newer C436 as well, which was a surprise. I did notice that one particular configuration had an eighth generation M3 chip where the C302 has a sixth generation version, but the C434 has 8gb of RAM. For a chromebook, that is pretty much future-proof, I reckon. 

I was looking at a couple of deals on eBay, and I was considering spending just over £500 on the model I wanted, but I was finding it hard to justify the expense. I do like my C302, and I've had it for over two years. I did see one deal listed at £525 or best offer, and I was considering putting in an offer below £500, i.e., £499. "Don't be silly", said TW, "buy it new and then you'll have a guarantee and a warranty and all that palaver".

Then I woke up this morning and the seller was offering £50 off, i.e., I could get it for £475. That was a fair saving over the £537 which was the nearest offer I was interested in, and it brought it under the £500 mark, which made me more relaxed. But it added another consideration to the decision whether to buy it or not, because I had to consider how I would feel if I missed out on this deal. Like, if I continued to want this particular model, would I be kicking myself in three or four months' time, thinking back to that time I could have got a new chromebook with those specs for under £500? 

And so, I bought it. It's coming on Wednesday. Looking at new laptops and weighing up the pros and cons of buying them, and deciding which one to buy, is almost more fun than actually making the purchase. Paying that much gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach, even though I'm expecting this new device to last at least three years and I reckon if I break that down into a monthly cost, it'd be easily justifiable. Now I just need to make sure that I get as much use out of it as I can, so that I can rest easy over this purchase. Maybe I'll provide an update in a week or two as to whether it was worth it. 

TTFN.