Not being into phones myself I had no idea that people were flinging this sort of money at the stupid things, but when I did some looking into phones yesterday, it boggled my mind that there are phones apparently selling in New Zealand for NZ$3799.
Are people really paying that much for phones? Are they stark raving mad?
A person who was able to make good second hand selections on Trade Me could buy an entire collection of technologies for that amount of money.
To see how this might play out, I went imaginary shopping online. What did I buy?:
Firstly a laptop - I like 17" Dell Laptops - $599
Then a PC - I like old HP Z240 PC's - this one is just $200 - yes I would do some upgrades to it, but I'm sure there will be plenty of $ remaining from my imaginary $3799 budget to cover those as well.
The PC would also need a screen to go with it - I like 32" screens - OK, for this item I'll splash out and go with a brand new LG monitor because they are nice, and that would cost $445. So far I'm up to $599 + $200 + $445 = $1244.
I'd like a tablet as well - my pick is a 12" Samsung - $699 brand new
And I might as well buy a phone even though I seldom use them - If I was buying one for real I'd prefer a Brax 3 privacy phone, but for the purposes of this blog I'll just go with the first half decent refurbished phone I see - $169
So now I've spent $599 + $200 + $445 + $699 + $169 = $2112.
I'm doing an imaginary tech spending spree here, and still have $1687 to spend. Those purchases will cost about an extra $100 in freight, so I'll need to keep at least that much in reserve, and next I'd like some better drives for the PC.
First a new 500Gb Samsung SSD drive for doing a fresh install of a Linux Mint operating system - $96
Then a big 4TB Samsung SSD drive for storing all my data - $689 - those drives are fairly expensive and I could easily find something cheaper, but even after buying one, I'm still rolling in cash at this point, and still have $699 left to spend so don't really need to look for drive bargains.
I'd also get a stylish keyboard and mouse for the PC, along with a WD 4TB external drive ($229) for my backups. That lot will cost about $400 all up, leaving me with $300 to spend on extras like a foot massager.
So for the price of that one total rip off phone I could have a nice laptop, PC, monitor, tablet, phone, and a backup drive with leftover change.
Yeah, that is pretty much what I actually do have, and honestly, I think if anyone spends $3800 on a phone they are a complete tool.
Speaking of tools, if you are still looking for something to spend some of that leftover money on, I recommend a Stanley Fatmax 20oz hammer because I think they have a nicer grip than any other hammers.
