Avoid Tech Porn
Lots of trendy tech blogs focus more on tech rumors, leaked photos, and speculation than they do on hands-on testing. Such ‘tech porn’ sites are really part of an extended hype machine that is mostly controlled by the companies releasing the products.
It’s a good idea to look at these sites with a lot of skepticism--especially if you’re trying to use the things you pick up from them as the basis of your buying decision. On highly anticipated products, you should make sure to read at least one negative review from a publication with a critical viewpoint. Even if you don’t agree with it (or don’t want to agree with it), it will help balance your perceptions.
There’s nothing wrong with tech porn sites, unless you are prone to getting easily revved up about new products, then going into debt buying them.
Buy Products, Not Lifestyles
The people in the TV commercials and in the ads are not like you. They’re not even real. They’re designed to play upon our aspirations and desires, then associate the answers to those longings with a product. After you buy the product, you’ll still be you, but $300 poorer.
Watch Tear-Down, Break-It, Blend-It Videos
During the launch of Apple’s iPad, I myself began to get swept up in the excitement, and to imagine owning one of the devices. It was a response to the mystique and cool factor that seemed to enshroud the product. Apple can create this aura like no one else. The trick is to get rid of the mystique, the aura of preciousness, that surrounds the device before you buy it.
I found that nothing does this better than watching the product being taken apart, dropped, broken, or blended. In one video, PCWorld’s Tim Moynihan did a marvelous job of both lampooning Apple’s marketing and demonstrating that the iPad looks a lot like other tech products on the inside. I was pretty much cured after I watched it. The ever-popular “Does It Blend” videos also tend to remove a product’s holy glow.
Don’t Buy on Launch Day
Many people have profited by waiting a while before buying a hot new gadget. Buying on launch day can put you into that cycle of lust, anticipation, and regret that I described at the beginning. But there’s a far more pragmatic reason for waiting.
Some new products launch with bugs or defects that get fixed only later. If it’s a software defect, chances are the problem can be fixed in the weeks after the launch. If it's a hardware defect, it may be a few months before a new and improved version of the product arrives in stores.
Taking a wait-and-see approach gives you the chance to buy a more mature product, often for less money than you would have spent on launch day. Buying later also means the hype will have died down, giving you a better chance of making a decision with a clear head.
Make a List of Features
If you are buying a product because of the tasks it can do for you, you may still have to decide between a cooler (and more expensive) gadget and one that’s less blingy but also less pricey. It’s a good idea to make a written list of the tasks you need the product to perform, and and another list with the specs you feel the product needs to handle those tasks.
If the less-expensive product has the specs (size, memory, screen type, and so on) that you need, choosing it might be worth the savings. When considering the more expensive product, remember that its real functionality becomes the most important thing after the appeal of its design and brand begin to fade.
Focus on Price per Feature
Gadgets have a careful mix of specifications that are based on the use scenarios that the manufacturer has in mind for the target market. The manufacturer's use case might or might not match the way you will use the product. When choosing between competing products with different feature sets, try to assign dollar values to each feature, then decide which device will give you the most bang for the buck.
Love the One You’re With
Take a good look at the device you already have before rushing out to buy the new version. Does it do most of the things the new version does, but maybe just a little slower? Do you really need the new features offered by the new version of the device, or is it the look-and-feel, the cool design, and the newness that are attracting you?
Try some new tricks on your old device. Install new software. Buy new accessories, such as headphones. Change the screen environment. Hack it. You may even find some new features that you didn’t know were there.
If you’re successful you’ll have saved yourself a chunk of change and saved one more gadget from the landfill.
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