Environmental Waste
So my speakers finally decided to give in to age today after lasting nearly 6 years. This has made me think about a lot of the devices I have and their age in comparison to how much I paid for them and it’s kind of scary how much money I’ve probably wasted on buying things I didn’t need but felt some innate desire to have.
Here’s a nice little list of my current tech gadgetry that I have and the cost of buying them (Rough estimate) and how long I’ve had them and if they’re still in use.
| Device | Initial Cost | Date Bought | Date Obsoleted/Broken | Year on Year Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 | ~£140 | March 2007 | September 2010 | £46 | |
| MSI 650i Motherboard | £90 | March 2007 | September 2010 | £30 | |
| Geforce 8600 GT | £90 | March 2007 | September 2009 | £45 | |
| ATI Radeon HD 4870 | £90 | September 2009 | September 2010 | £90 | |
| Misc. RAM | £100 | March 2007 | September 2010 | £33 | |
| Alesis IO|14 Firewire Soundcard | £150 | May 2007 | N/A | N/A | |
| Buffalo 1TB Ext. HDD | £60 | September 2011 | N/A | N/A | |
| 2011 21.5″ iMac | £869 | May 2011 | N/A | N/A | |
| 2010 13″ MacBook Pro | £849 | April 2010 | September 2011 | £849(!) | |
| Intel Core i7 930 | £230 | September 2010 | N/A | N/A | |
| Misc. RAM | £100 | September 2010 | N/A | N/A | |
| Misc. Hard Drives | £150 | September 2010 | N/A | N/A | |
| Samsung B24something 24″ Monitor | £150 | September 2010 | January 2011 | £150 | |
| Dell U23110H 23″ Monitor | £250 | January 2011 | N/A | N/A | |
| Creative Gigaworks T40 Speakers | £80 | March 2006 | 17/01/2012 | £13.3333333 | |
| HTC Hero | ~£500 (part of contract) | January 2010 | January 2012 | £250 | |
| Apple iPhone 4S | ~£500 (part of contract + £100 Initial Outlay) | January 2012 | N/A | N/A | |
| 2011 MacBook Air 13″ | £969 | September 2011 | N/A | N/A | |
| Corsair PSU | £60 | September 2010 | N/A | N/A | |
| Antec PSU | £60 | March 2007 | September 2010 | £20 | |
| Creative MP3 Player | £160 | September 2007 | January 2008 | £160 | |
| SanDisk Sansa FUSE MP3 Player | £70 | September 2008 | January 2010 | £23.33 | |
| Apple iPod Classic 80GB | £190 | March 2007 | September 2007 (Deceased) | £190 | |
| Philips Somethingorother MP3 Player | £150 | December 2006 | March 2007 (Deceased) | £150 | |
| Creative Zen Micro MP3 Player | £50 | January 2006 | December 2006 (Lost on Bus) | £50 | |
| Laney VC30 Guitar Amplifier | £500 | April 2007 | N/A | N/A | |
| Misc. Guitar Pedals | ~£500 | April 2007 | As of 17/01/2012 I still have 4 | Value of pedals now – £200 so £300 lost. | |
| G-Echo Practice Amplifier | ~£99 | September 2008 | N/A | N/A | |
This table is understandably pretty scary and I can see plenty of places where I’ve wasted money. I think I am going to try and be more conscious of what I buy and try and not buy things I don’t need anymore. The change curve leading to now shows that I’ve been spending more and more money on electronics and I would really rather not.
