Do you get what you pay for?

This post was inspired entirely by a recent dilemma of mine. Namely, my birthday.

I'm notoriously difficult to buy for, so my nearest and dearest usually just shower me with pictures of the Queen, and everyone's happy. This year, it gave me several options:

1) Clear off my student overdraft
2) Buy a new guitar
3) Buy an SSD

So, what did I do?

Say hello to my little friend!

I'm sure several of my geekier readers will have repelled in disgust, but allow me to explain.

At the moment, I've got a beastly rig that can tame the mightiest of Korean military forces/aliens who bring snow with them, but my acoustic guitar for recording/playing just wasn't up to a high-performance level. I felt that the upgrade on my musical side was worth more to me than 128GB of really fast disk space.

I also realised the overdraft's interest-free, and lasts for 2 years, so I can let it sit there. Sod Natwest.

It got me thinking about the very subjective nature of upgrades, and purchases of any kind. Some would argue that with the money I had, I could have got another 5870 for Crossfire goodness, but I'd have said I didn't need it. Others again would have said that selling on my C0 i7 and buying a D0 chip would give me benefits untold, and I'd have said no. The SSD was the only option my rig had as a worthwhile upgrade, and yet, as I stood back, perusing websites and diddling blue women in Mass Effect, I realised I was doing fine. I'm never urgently swearing at my rig to start up (and if I ever need to wait long for anything, I'll grab a drink). I'm not in need of scratch disks for major recording or Photoshop use.

But I DID quite fancy a sexy guitar.

Even Sleepy here was swayed into the guitar-buying frenzy, despite being one of the biggest advocates of SSDs I know. We both know I'll be jumping on board at some point, but now just isn't the time.

The point I want to make clear, is that with this upgrade somewhere else, I genuinely feel an improvement. My acoustic playing skills are just that little bit better, which in itself isn't a major thing, but it's letting me sing much better while playing. That's the noticeable improvement. I don't feel frustrated with missing a fret, or juggling vocals in a funny rhythm. If I'd gone the other way, and bought an SSD, I'd have saved a grand total of 3 seconds of my life every time I started up my PC. Yes, I'd have had things occasionally feel snappier, and maybe some general speed boosts to installed programs (Team Fortress 2 would be STRAIGHT on there!), but I prioritised my spending differently.

It's a very subjective look at things, that means I can't judge WHEN the SSD is going to slot into place. I might fancy a new effects pedal, or a weekend away, or I might buy a shedload of booze and take up cocktail making again. There's always something that's going to come along, and I don't know what my decision will be until I get there.

Although, there's always the rest of that overdraft...