Avoiding The Gear Lust Trap

Gear lust is a term to describe what you feel when you see something and say, “Wow, I want that”, but in reality have no real use for it. You want the whatever-it-is simply to have it.

With computers, computer accessories and tech stuff, it can be sometimes difficult to avoid the gear lust trap. It’s not because you don’t have common sense, but you may be fooled into thinking you do have a legitimate need for something, but in reality you don’t.

Here’s a few examples:

Digital Cameras

A digital camera with all the whiz-bang features in the world means nothing if certain features aren’t in check, so to speak.

On the high end (DSLR): If the provided lens with a full-body camera is crap, no amount of tech inside it will fix that – and you’ll have to spend even more cash to get a good lens the camera should have come with in the first place for the price.

On the lower end (point-and-shoot): If it doesn’t run on AA batteries and you don’t have a spare lithium ion proprietary battery (which doesn’t come provided by the way), when the battery is dead, you have no choice but to charge and wait before taking photos again. This is decidedly inconvenient and outright annoying.

With high-end, lens always rules over features.

With low-end, convenience rules over features.

End result: Don’t go by features alone to decide which digital cam you buy.

Processor Cores

The quad-core, which is one of the most expensive processors available to consumers, really won’t make that much of a difference compared to a higher-end dual. Sure, you’ll see benchmark tests that say yes, quads are better. But it’ll cost you $100 more just to buy it.

The only true need for a quad-core is for gamers and those who render HD-quality video. For video in particular, the rendering time for large files will be significantly quicker with a quad. But for everything else, you won’t really notice a difference. Microsoft Office will still run roughly the same speed as on a dual, as will AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, your web browser and so on.

Save yourself $100 and go with a dual. Just make sure it’s one of the higher-end duals, such as the Intel “Wolfdale”. You can check these out at www.newegg.com.

End result: Examine what you do with a computer first before decided whether to go with a dual or quad. Chances are you have no need for a quad whatsoever.

Where to put the extra $100 you saved? Buy a better monitor.

Speaking of which..

Monitors

The biggest gear lust trap people fall into with monitors is believing that a higher native resolution means a better picture and text that’s easier to read.

I can’t even describe in words how wrong this line of thinking is.

When the native resolution of a monitor increases, that means text gets smaller and more difficult to read.

The goal is to buy a bigger monitor with a lower resolution so you can read it better.

Most 22-inch monitors have a native resolution of 1680×1050.

Most 24-inch monitors have a native of 1920×1080.

Which is easier to read? The 22. The horizontal is 240 pixels less, meaning text will be larger and easier to read compared to the 24.

If you’re confused by that, go to a local electronics retailer and see for yourself. You will notice that text on the 1920 resolution on the 24-inchers is in fact smaller even though the monitor is physically larger.

The best bet is to buy a higher-end 22-inch for easier readability.

If you say, “Can’t I just decrease the resolution on the 24-inch to 1680×1050?”

Yes, you could do that. But you know that running an LCD not at it’s native resolution makes everything look “clouded”. Native is the way to go.

End result: Native resolution matters more than physical size, especially when there’s only a 2-inch difference.

Got a question about a particular tech item not mentioned here?

Feel free to ask by leaving a comment.