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# $4,000 Budget for 4 Years - What Do You Do?
- URL: https://chrisenns.com/2011/11/4000-budget-for-4-years-what-do-you-do/
- Published: 2011-11-09T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-04-08T23:52:13.000Z
- Author: Chris Enns
- Tags: Uncategorized, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-04-08 17:47, #ichris

Hypothetical situation [1](#fn-19770:1) a friend is struggling with that could use some nerd advice.

## The Situation

You're employed at a job that allows you to, more or less, decide what pieces of technology you're going to use with the following limitations:

- You have a $4,000 budget
- The $4,000 has to last 4 years

### Assumptions

Disregarding all sorts of questions that this kind of question inevitably brings up (*What happens if your computer breaks down? What if there's a nuclear war?*), here's a few assumptions and limitations:

- It's a Mac environment. [2](#fn-19770:2)
- Cell phone device/contract also comes out of the budget. Cell phone is required.
- Mobility is important but not critical.(i.e. an iPad for mobility with a desktop computer is an option)
- The ability to do presentations with a projector (projector already in place)
- Let's just pretend that taxes and extra cell charges aren't included
- The office already has a printer, network, internet, etc.

### What I'd Recommend

- 11" MacBook Air ($1,199, 1.6GHz i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD)
- 22" Monitor to leave at the desk ($260?)
- iPhone 4S ($159 purchase price, 3 year data plan $50x36 months = $1,800)

You're at $3,418 so far and haven't picked up any extra software, mouse, bag, etc. The 11" MacBook Air, to me, gives you the best trade-off of a portable (i.e. iPad) while still having the full functionality of a computer. Plus the ability to hook it up to a projector or larger monitor if that's needed is nice. [3](#fn-19770:3)

It's a tough task to try to account for technology over 4 years. It's good to think about and have restrictions - but $4k over 4 years feels a bit unrealistic for a modern office worker.

### What Would You Recommend?

I've temporarily turned on comments below because I'd love to hear some discussion on what people would do.

Comments of "buy a Linux laptop with Windows 98" will be properly filed.

---

1. That is not at all hypothetical. [↩](#fnref-19770:1)
2. I'm really happy you enjoy Linux/Windows/etc. & that you can save money by buying something with poorer quality components and more viruses. But I don't really care. [↩](#fnref-19770:2)
3. [Keynote iOS](https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=6PFrOqNV4B8&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD%5FPARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fca%252Fapp%252Fkeynote%252Fid361285480%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30&ref=chrisenns.com) is nice but it's not there yet for the average user who still wants more than Apple's minimal vision for what presentations should look like. [↩](#fnref-19770:3)