Minimalist Replacements

Sometimes, it can't be helped. Items that you need wear out or break at inopportune times. This week, my desktop PC died. It had managed to survive a lightning strike about a year ago. But, finally, the power supply stopped working. Now, I do have my work laptop, but it really isn't mine. So, if I still want to continue writing and researching, I would need some sort of replacement device. But, I will be damned if I am going to put out $700 to $1,000 for a new laptop. So what is the solution? Well, I decided to go with the Acer Chromebook C7. I bought one brand new for $200. So far, it has worked out fairly well. I can use Google Docs/Drive to create/edit documents. (I wish the Sheet application worked offline, but that functionality isn't far off). I have been able to find plenty of apps available to keep me busy.



No, it cannot run programs like Photoshop or Microsoft Office, but those are really money holes anyway. Shauna still has a traditional Windows 8 (don't get me started on Windows 8) laptop. She has her photo editing software and the capability to download traditional software, if needed. I suspect that I may need a different laptop to perform Business Intelligence tasks one day, but usually my vendor would provide that anyway.

So $200 compared to $700 does seem to fit in with my minimalist mindset. So, we will see how this experiment goes. I really like the fact that the OS will self update as needed, so I won't need to worry about getting the latest overpriced OS when Microsoft is looking for more revenue.

One thing that I thought was funny. I showed a co-worker my Chromebook and she said that she could not wait until her current laptop died.

Another co-worker thought it would be a perfect first computer for his 7 year old son. I would agree. It does have a Linux OS under the hood, so it really can do more than it is configuration is setup for.


On another front, we spent more money to reduce cost. We acquired a ROKU HD for $53 dollars and cancelled our cable and telephone service. So, all we have now (from AT&T) is high speed internet. Obviously, the cable companies are really feeling the pinch. They offered 3 free months of cable. But, we declined. We just are not watching standard broadcast TV anymore. In fact, as I write this, I am listening to Pandora on my Roku/TV. Shauna and I have found plenty of free entertainment and some subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime that are very portable. So, overall, we have saved about $100/month by making this cut. This is but another step in reducing our monthly expenses to the absolute minimum, without sacrificing quality of life.



In a future post, I will talk about reducing food costs dramatically.

Until next time ...