
Ask HN: Do you get tired of using your personal laptop sometimes? - smithmayowa
Do you guys also just get tired of using your personal laptop after x months and find your self just wanting to buy a different model or is it just me?
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brudgers
I do. Then I recognize that the feeling is symptomatic of just being tired of
computers in general and that a new laptop won't fix that. In some ways I
suspect it will make it worse because a new laptop comes with a sense of
obligation to spend more time at the computer even though spending time at the
computer is the root cause of my ennui.

To be more specific, I've recently had new computer fever for a laptop with
pen support because I imagine myself creating computer art. But the reality is
that if I give myself permission to make art, I'd rather be making physical
art not spending additional time sitting at the computer...and spend some
meaningful fraction of a thousand bucks toward doing so.

To put it another way, shopping for the props of an activity is more socially
acceptable than doing the activity. A large part of the social acceptability
is how efficient shopping for a new computer is relative to the tasks that a
person does on the computer. A few minutes ordering online versus days, weeks,
months and years writing a program. "I bought a new computer" is an excuse for
not using the one I have. I can spend my time setting the new computer up
instead of creating something and setting up the new computer is _arguably_
"meaningful progress" though in reality it's make-work.

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dirktheman
I'm still on my Retina Macbook Pro late 2012, so not really...

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cpach
Same story here, kind of. I still use and enjoy my Macbook Air from 2013. It
also beats all the Windows laptops I’ve been using at work during that time.

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uvw
I do get that urge sometime. I use Debian with gnome3. When I get that urge, I
go find a good looking theme. The new theme makes it feel like I have a
something different. This used to happen quite a lot when I was in my 20s and
early 30s. Not so much anymore. I guess I have many things that need to care
about other than my computer. I haven't changed my theme in two years, not
even the background.

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cJ0th
actually no. in the past it used to be exciting to set up a new laptop and
find out the subtle differences to the previous model. Now I am already
content if everything stays the same for many years (yes, I run debian).

