The Loop has a piece this afternoon espousing that the best approach to buying technology is to buy what you need when you need it. In general, I agree. But what such a strategy fails to consider is that need is not always pressing. I’ve been living with my 2008 MacBook for the last four months. It no longer meets my needs, and it’s a too anemic for what I do with a computer. It has served me well over the last four years, but it’s now time for an upgrade. I purchased an iMac two summers ago after they had been refreshed, and it is now my main machine. The MacBook will be replaced with a new laptop to supplement the iMac for when on the road or around the house. I’ve needed to upgrade the MacBook. But I haven’t bought a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro because they are about to be upgraded. Waiting hasn’t killed me. I just don’t do things on the MacBook, or I use headphones to avoid listening to the fan. I ignore antialiasing. But I wait, because I know that the refresh is coming, and I don’t want to miss it. When I buy at the beginning of a cycle, I know that there is nothing more that I could have to avoid the bogey man of buyer’s remorse. I bought what I need (or a little more) when it was brand new. Something better will come later, but for the entire time I have that product, I will know that I did all I could to guarantee that I had the best product for me from the time it was new. If your device breaks and you need a replacement, buy now. But if you are replacing a mostly functional device, wait. I’m happier for it.