Uncommon Cents

There’s no question: I need a new notebook. No, it’s not food or air (or even clothing, for that matter), but it’s pretty much a necessity for me and the way I live my life now. I could get by without one, but it would be the opposite of productive and fun, so I need to give in at some point unless I want to drastically change my lifestyle (and give up doing Uncommon Cents, which I surely don’t want to do). So given that I’ve acknowledged that a new notebook is in my future, I have multiple tasks to tackle: I must decide on a notebook, I need to decide which accessories I’ll need to get with it, I need to price it out, I need to budget for it, and finally, I need to purchase it.

First, there’s no question that whatever I get is going to run Mac OS X; while that doesn’t totally limit my choices, I would only consider a 15 inch MacBook Pro or a 13 inch MacBook. The 15 is somewhat faster and more expandable with its ExpressCard slot, has a larger screen and larger form factor and a more capable video subsystem. It’s also more expensive. For my needs, I don’t need the faster video and I prefer the smaller form factor so that points to a MacBook.

Secondly, while it’s clear I want a MacBook, it’s not clear which of the three models would be best. On review, the middle of the line model–which is identical to the top of the line except for color (white vs. black) and hard drive size, which I’ll address shortly.

I’d like this new ‘Book to last me as long as possible (just as this iBook has served me since 2004), so I’d like to get it set up to be all it could be; that would mean a 320 gigabyte hard drive and four gigabytes of RAM. At some point I’d want to get a case and an extended warranty for it, but we’ll put those on the back burner for now.

Now that I’ve decided on the notebook and accessories, I would best be served by pricing it out. I had a discussion previously on how much the MacBook cost; let’s just go with the $1099 refurbished price plus tax. The drive is about $200 and the RAM is about $100, so I’m looking at a little more than $1400.

The next part is the more difficult part: budgeting the $1400. It will take some time to get that much saved up. We’re talking $350 times four paychecks–about two months–which is considerable. The key is to wait those two months to actually have the money, rather than spending before it’s there, especially when we’ll be running right up against tax season.

It’s also possible the plan will change between now and two months from now. Perhaps new models will be released or I’ll discover there’s just some feature in a MacBook Pro I have to have. Emergencies may come up. Prices may drop (although I seriously doubt that). But just because something may happen to alter the plan doesn’t mean that it’s wise to not have a plan.

But remember: a plan is just a plan. It still requires discipline in order to follow it.

And of course, the last part: buying it!

In the end, there’s no question that for a significant purchase such as a new notebook computer, planning is essential. Doing your research and having the discipline to follow through is key to any type of financial issue, and doing so this time means that the computer will be mine without significant heartache later on.

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