Know the perfect time to upgrade your gadgets
When is the best time for upgrading your gadgets? While it is easy enough to replace a gadget that has been broken, lost or stolen, abandoning an older functional device in favor of a new one can be such a tough decision. After all, you wouldn't want to incur hefty credit card bills for something that is not much different from your old gadget, right?
So, how do you know when it is for you to say goodbye to your old gadgets? Here are some general guidelines that you may find useful when upgrading your gadgets.
Upgrading your laptop. If you use your laptop for work on a daily basis, replacing it every three years may be a good idea since you have most likely achieved the most mileage from your investment by then. However, since computers are built on mature technologies, holding on to it for a few years more may be a wiser idea. So, whenever you are tempted to buy a new laptop [3], why don't you consider upgrading your laptop's hard drive and memory first to extend its productive life by a couple of years more? Try this and see if it works for you.
Upgrading your smartphone. The decision on when to upgrade your smartphone may lie on how often you use it. If you really don't use it that much, except to check your emails when you are on the move, send text messages or make some calls, you can probably hold on to it for about three years or more. After all, there really haven't been any significant improvements in smartphone technology in recent years.
However, if you heavily depend on your smartphone, upgrading it every 12 to 20 months may be a wise idea, especially if you are on a two-year contract with your wireless service provider. In such cases, you should consider making an upgrade as soon as you are eligible for a full subsidy and sell your older smartphone on eBay to offset the cost of your new gadget.
Upgrading your tablet. To be quite honest about it, you should not consider upgrading your tablet too often since the technology remained pretty much the same ever since the launch of the first iPad [4]. Plus, if you already have a laptop and a smartphone, you really wouldn't be using your tablet quite often.
Upgrading your gadgets can be a tough decision so you may need to remember that if your gadgets are not broken, lost or stolen, it may not be the best time to upgrade them just yet.