Hello! I can appreciate your concern, but I can assure you I'm not the sort of person to spend money I don't have. Not that my finances are anyone else's business, but I am very good at saving, even on a low wage, as I only spend money on truly essential items. I came from a low-income family, so I appreciate the value of things. I also research and think about big purchases for a long time before making them. I don't have a credit card or loans, so only spend money that I already have that is set aside for certain things.
Buy Nothing (and other secondhand options) is great for saving money, but one of the main reasons I love it so much is that it allows me to get rid of things responsibly, and also save things from landfill. I also get to know my local community. As an ecologist sustainability is pretty important to me, so I try to make responsible choices. I'm all for using what you have or repurposing things.
That said, my computer has really been struggling recently, and it's not just the keyboard. One of the main programs I'm using to collect data at the moment barely runs, and is so very slow and laggy it's difficult to get accurate measurements. It's been repaired twice already, and is still having problems. I also may need to return it to the university soon.
I have been expecting to need a new laptop around this time for the entirety of my PhD, so have been slowly setting aside money, just in case. Even so, I still struggle to make big purchases and I wasn't sure about upgrades, hence my asking for advice here based on my specific needs. I wasn't prepared to replace my current computer until the keyboard issue was fixed, and now it is.
If I do go ahead with this I've decided that the cheapest base model should be adequate, and will be a huge step up from what I've been using. I use this computer for almost every waking hour of the day, I don't want to have to waste time fighting with it whenever I need to get something done.
Also, I'm not the kind of person to obsess over small "defects", nor am I someone who will actively look for them. I see that there are a lot of people like this on these forums, but that's not me, soon worry there.
Thanks again for your thoughts, but there's no need for you to worry about my finances.
Buy Nothing (and other secondhand options) is great for saving money, but one of the main reasons I love it so much is that it allows me to get rid of things responsibly, and also save things from landfill. I also get to know my local community. As an ecologist sustainability is pretty important to me, so I try to make responsible choices. I'm all for using what you have or repurposing things.
That said, my computer has really been struggling recently, and it's not just the keyboard. One of the main programs I'm using to collect data at the moment barely runs, and is so very slow and laggy it's difficult to get accurate measurements. It's been repaired twice already, and is still having problems. I also may need to return it to the university soon.
I have been expecting to need a new laptop around this time for the entirety of my PhD, so have been slowly setting aside money, just in case. Even so, I still struggle to make big purchases and I wasn't sure about upgrades, hence my asking for advice here based on my specific needs. I wasn't prepared to replace my current computer until the keyboard issue was fixed, and now it is.
If I do go ahead with this I've decided that the cheapest base model should be adequate, and will be a huge step up from what I've been using. I use this computer for almost every waking hour of the day, I don't want to have to waste time fighting with it whenever I need to get something done.
Also, I'm not the kind of person to obsess over small "defects", nor am I someone who will actively look for them. I see that there are a lot of people like this on these forums, but that's not me, soon worry there.
Thanks again for your thoughts, but there's no need for you to worry about my finances.
Last edited:
