The Gadget Budget

As I have been pondering buying a netbook, my gadget budget became the subject of discussion amongst my friends. And contrary to popular believe, I don't think that I'm super-spendy when it comes to gadgets. As proof, I offer up a list of gadgets purchased so far this year:

1. Etymotic hf2 headphones (required for riding the train to work every day)
2. Wii (hey, George Bush dropped an IRS check into my lap. I'm not made of stone, people!)
3. Western Digital 750Gb external hard drive
4. 2x2Gb Memory Stick Pro Duo (for the India trip)

To me, that doesn't look so bad. But for the sake of argument, let's take a look at last year:

1. iPhone
2. Airport Extreme (Gigabit)
3. Apple TV
4. Cables: HDMI, Wii component, 2x component
5. 24" iMac (Late 2006 model)
6. Western Digital 500Gb external hard drive
7. Mac OS X Leopard, iWork '08, and iLife '08

So, that looks quite a bit worse. I'm on a 2-year cycle for buying a new computer, and my guess is that it's now the same for my cell phone as well.

The big thing that I'm not including in these lists, however, are software purchases -- not just computer software, but video games, movies, music, etc. I don't think I could make a list of media purchased off the top of my head, but my guess is that more of my money is going there than towards gadgets.

But does this justify me purchasing a netbook? On that front, I'm still wavering.

-Andy.