Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Purchases Made as Young Adult That You Regretted Later?

ZiggyPastorius

ZiggyPastorius

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
3,142
1
Berklee College of Music
So, today I bought an iPod touch because it is the last thing I wanted before college (which is a year and a half away). It was pretty arbitrary (I mean, I'd been wanting to for a while, but I didn't really have a logical reason for needing it). I already have an iPod classic 5G and my Macbook and stuff, and I feel pretty good, but pretty stupid at the same time.

That said, I'm not sorry I bought it, but I'm just curious...Can anyone remember any purchases you made when they were young adults that you really wanted to make, then really wish you didn't make because it had a big, probably negative, impact on your life?
 
I wish that I hadn't bought my 12" PowerBook when I was nineteen. I should have stuck with my 12" iBook G3.

I used to have a bad habit of buying things based on the expectation that I would get some money soon. I've gotten burned on that a couple of times, but only to the tune of a couple of hundred dollars--never nearly $2,000 like with the PowerBook. Now I wait for cash in my bank account before I buy.
 
This is a good question, for the now generation.

I came up somewhat hard, so have never really been impulsive.

There are a couple of purchases I could have made, but didn't, which would have me sitting on millions right now.

Oh well, such is life.

:D
 
iMac G5 7 days before Macs were announced as going Intel, I should have got a Mac Mini.
 
With my college bursaries and some savings, I've had a powerbook, two MacBook Pros, and now a Mac Pro (still have the newest MacBook Pro).

I'm glad I have them, but if I'd waited a day or so I would have had a superdrive PB instead of the Combo, I didn't really need to get the MBP instead of the PB, and didn't really need to upgrade the MBP.

I also started a business and bought a £1,800 or so die sublimation printer, which was supposed to be a joint venture but my friend pulled out and I bought it myself, the business didn't exactly take of and I've made about £100 back so far!
 
I have bought a good number of synthesizers and other music equipment that I was not to fond of, but I can't say I have really regretted any of it. I mean, at least I learned what I wanted to get out of this equipment, and can spot a junky interface from miles away, and after all I have always been able to resell it.


I guess if I really had to look for something I regret I would say my old dual PII Micron with Win 98, no SE on that. So the hardware was junk and the OS started erasing itself. Starting with the registry file. After that I had to do a step by step start up that would take 7 minutes, just so I could select "No" for the registry file. After that the OS no longer understood alphanumerics and I would have to enter in IP addresses for any web sites I went to, anything else just didn't work. Soon after that I just watched it roll down a hill. Yes, I did whip the drive many times to no avail. yuk, that thing was stupid.
 
Er, it was black and made of flexible rubber. And it didn't win me many friends. So yeah maybe I shouldn't have bought it as a young adult.
 
A truncheon??

smiff%20truncheon.jpg
 
Yeah, I regret purchasing a SECOND Compaq luggable.

I bought the second one awhile after I first started commuting to the country on weekends. My original luggable was so heavy to cart around, even just from my apartment to my car or my car to the kitchen door of my house. Even my doorman once said to me as he helped me shove my stuff into the elevator one night, "they call this portable... but that's a lot of bulls45t, no?" Yep. And yet I wanted to be able to use my computer on weekends.

So this friend of mine was selling his Compaq to put money towards a motorcycle. It had a hard drive card in it, and he wanted less than I had shelled out for mine with no card, so I figured ok, that's cool and I'll leave that one in the country and take what I want on floppy discs for the week...

But then along came the Macintosh.

Boom!

I was done forever with PCs, and both Compaqs became doorstops. I think I paid like two grand for one of them, and $1400 for the other. Insanity!
 
I really regret giving my girlfriend my 3G 15gb iPod and buying a 2G 6gb Mini. She never got the full usage out of the iPod and the Mini didn't really hold that much compared.
I made up for that years later by buying the biggest (at the time) iPod - 80gb!


Not really a regret, and this might sound depressing if you really think about it, but one Christmas my dad bought me some Serif software suite. He thought it was "like that photoshop you wanted", I think I installed it and used it for 15 minutes. Told him for ages I loved it and used it for all my school work (UK school, so we're talking 13, 14 years old). I can't get it across why but it was a really depressing situation.

And a Motorolla Rokr. Nice phone but I swapped mine for a Razr, which barely gets used now (had to go back to a Nokia 3310 since it's the only unlocked phone I have).

Editage: With the money from my 11th birthday I bought some Lego Technics hydraulic truck thing. Set me back £60 and it was really great but I had this one evening where I really regretted buying it. I kept telling myself I could have bought some games I wanted, and I told my mum that it felt as if my dad had pushed me to buy it :eek: damn I had such a strange mind back then. I even think I cried over it and wanted to swap it.
 
I know what you mean by having it not being used to its full Potential. I want nothing but the best for my family, but giving my dad an iPhone if he's only gonna use the SMS and Phone feature seems like a silly idea.
 
Two things, but not really...

I regret selling my TiBook 500 MHz for the 17" iMac G4 when it came out. I should've kept that TiBook! But that iMac went on to be a very useful computer for the next four years, so it's not bad at all.

My another regret was selling my iBook G3 900 MHz to get the then-just-released Mac mini G4. But alas, that Mac mini then went on to be very useful for the next 3 years (and counting).

Both times I regretted going desktop from a notebook, but it turned out not all bad.

Right now, I got a MacBook Pro, and it ain't going anywhere! Until I want a new laptop to swap it with that is :D
 
Yeh. Selling a Mac notebook at really low prices is such a blow. That's why I gave my perfectly working 4 year old Powerbook to my dad. who's putting it to good use. A considerable upgrade from a G4 iBook.
 
Well, let's see...

There was the necklace I bought my then girlfriend who proceeded to leave me the next day.
Oh, and then there was the ring I bought my later girlfriend who dumped me a week after.
Oh, and THEN there was the...

You get my point. (That I have bad judgment with women).

Of course, there was the Nissan 350z I got when I was 20. I did not regret that one until I got caught in a blizzard with it. Never will I own a rear-wheel drive vehicle again as long as I live in Chicago.
 
I regret getting a ipod nano, leather skin for it and a matching leather case for a 15"MPB and a griffin elevator, and the itunes gift card for the useless pile of sh*t of a (ex)boyfriend for his b-day. who despite having three times my income and the same expenditures got me a card for mine.
oh despite me having already gotten a case for the ipod I was promised for my b-day/graduation. If I knew that he would not have bought it I would have just saved the money and gotten it myself -instead of him getting his and keeping the money.


The other thing I regret getting a custom pair of silver handfasting goblets in anticipation of using them.
yeah - those are no good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back