Shiny new toys.

If you're reading this article, you've probably fallen into the upgrade trap at some point in your life. Speedy new computer parts, bigger, faster, sleeker than the ones you own. And you want them. It could be a new laser mouse, with all the bells and whistles, or the latest processor or even a smaller, better digital camera. You see the Intel commercial for their latest, fastest processor, with a happy family having a good time around the computer. Your computer isn't that fast, and your family doesn't look like the one in the commercial. Maybe a faster processor will make things easier, and add a touch of family fun? Whatever the hook is, we've all been there.

For a computer 'enthusiast' like myself, it's worse. Call us gamers, geeks, PC builders, customizers or whatever the latest term is, we're the guys that build Mom, Dad and the whole families computers from mysterious boxed parts that we get from secret warehouses. At least thats what my Mom thinks, she really doesn't have the slightest idea or concern, it's all a mystery to her. The upgrade trap is bad for us enthusiasts, we get magazines showing the latest hot videocards, lists of CPU benchmarks, sound comparisons on the latest speaker standards. We 'geeks' are bombarded with a mountain of advertising on whats new and cool, and why we've "GOT TO HAVE IT" is pushed down our throats daily. For years I've been a victim, and I think I've finally broken free of it.

A little over a year ago I had all the shiny new toys on and inside my computer. $500 graphics card, latest CPU, killer sound, ultra fast Hard drive with a ton of memory. Over the years every new component was a 'must have', until finally, I reached the peak. Blazing fast, I felt like king of the geeks. Now, according to every trade magazine and commercial I see, my equipment is outdated, slow, something out of the Messazoic era when lumbering beasts walked the Earth. New, faster video cards are on the market, cutting edge processors - even my mouse is supposedly outdated! But is it really? Do I really need this new stuff?

For the past few years I would have said yes, but recently my attitude has started to change. The kicker for me was Doom3. For months I was wondering if my 'aging' hardware would handle this technological marvel of a game. After I first installed Doom3, fired it up, I was hugely dissappointed by how poor the game ran. Certainly my hardware wasnt that old? With a little research I discovered that the game shipped with setting to make it run poorely on my ATI video card... it seems Id software, the makers of the Doom seires, and nVidia, a video card manufacturer they had advertising deals with, might have been trying to sell new video cards by making some people think ATI video cards couldn't handle the game. It took changing 5 settings in a Doom file and suddenly the game was playing in all its full glory, without a single slow frame. Hmmm, maybe my hardware isnt so outdated after all.

I've taken a closer look at those benchmarks for new hardware, showing how the new stuff beats my system hands down. And I wonder if I really need Quake3 to run an extra 25% faster, after all, it runs jst fine maxed out on my system. What would I gain? I started to think that my system was still pretty current, and these shiny new toys every hardware vendor in the world was trying to convince me to buy was just that - toys. Things I dont really need, might be nice to play with for awhile, but eventually to be discarded for the next new thing.

The nail in the coffin was sealed a few days ago. I've had my eye on the new Logitech MX1000 lasermouse. This mouse is cutting edge wireless, the first ever laser mouse (which makes it more precise, better in every way!). Every review I'd seen had been through the roof - people were raving about this new mouse. So I bought one. And I was hugely dissappointed. None of the reviews mention the mouse is as heavy as a brick and incredibly bulky, they only discuss its cutting edge technology that were supposed to get excited about. Truth is, the mouse feels like pushing a lead brick around, even on the best mousing surfaces! For me thats unacceptable. My wife has the mouse now, a gift from her husband. Shes obviously much more macho than me, able to push around 100lbs of mouse.

So I'm out of the trap. I like my system, it can handle anything I want to do. It plays all the latest games just fine, edits movies and creates content at a fantastic speed. I dont need another shiny new toy for now, even if it has some cool new feature that I might die without.

Although, I bet a bigger monitor might be nice...