{"id":56,"date":"2026-06-30T15:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/?p=56"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:04:58","slug":"the-best-tech-purchases-in-2026-arent-new-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/?p=56","title":{"rendered":"The best tech purchases in 2026 aren’t new anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Apple\u2019s price increase announcement comes as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. We\u2019ve seen Samsung and Motorola charge more for their smartphones, and it was only a matter of time before the laws of financial gravity caught up to our friends in Cupertino \u2014 no matter how many chips they stockpiled before the shortages hit. MacBook Airs and Mac Minis have quietly been among the best deals in tech, but computer prices are going up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, smartphone and PC markets aren\u2019t the only ones being hit. Microsoft recently increased Xbox prices \u2014 again. And it\u2019s one of the few times I can remember the price of six-year-old tech increasing so dramatically within the same generation. PlayStations aren\u2019t exactly easy on the wallet, making gaming expensive. Thankfully, it\u2019s not all doom and gloom, and rising costs have caused me to take a hard look at my current tech setup. As it turns out, we left a lot on the table with previous generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You really don\u2019t need to spend $1,300 on a smartphone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve spent plenty of column inches over the last few years singing the praises of midrange smartphones. It wasn\u2019t that<\/em> long ago that any phone under $500 was a disaster, with a cheap plastic build, awful LCD screen, and pathetic software support (if any). That\u2019s completely changed. Even a $200 phone like the Galaxy A17 has a respectable OLED display, a capable chipset, and six years of promised One UI support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it\u2019s not midrange phones I want to focus on to help get us all through the current pricing crisis. Older flagships are the sweet spot. Phone manufacturers did us a rare solid by extending software support on devices over the last several years. It\u2019s turned the pre-owned phone market on its head. As people upgrade, a flood of gently used, affordable devices with premium features becomes available for purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a fantastic phone. It has a gorgeous display, a premium build, and an S Pen with Bluetooth functionality. It\u2019s not exactly cheap pre-owned at around $550, but it\u2019ll get five more years of software support, and you won\u2019t feel like you\u2019re compromising. The Galaxy S25+ is also a great choice for Samsung fans, with an excellent screen and thin frame for around $500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of prime choices for Pixel buyers as well, and I still love the Pixel 8 Pro. Its Super Actua display still looks amazing, and you\u2019ll enjoy decent battery life and performance with a premium look and feel \u2014 all for around $350. It\u2019ll vary depending on how much you\u2019re willing to spend, but it\u2019s clear you don\u2019t need to shell out $1,500 to Samsung or Motorola to have a decent smartphone that’ll last until this crisis subsides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft and Sony are forcing us to look at the last gen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s absolutely outrageous to spend the kind of money Microsoft and Sony are looking to charge for the current-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles. I understand component pricing is out of hand due to the current AI boom, but that doesn\u2019t mean I have to participate. I can\u2019t tell you how many fantastic games I missed out on in the last generation, and my backlog of unplayed titles would account for years’ worth of playtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d absolutely look into picking up a cheap PlayStation 4 off of eBay. It has plenty of excellent console exclusives that you can pick up cheap, and it\u2019s physical media \u2014 something that doesn\u2019t feel like it will be around much longer. You can also pick up a PS Plus subscription, giving you access to a bunch of titles for one price. The games still look good, and the replayability is there. Fun isn\u2019t always tied to graphics, and the PS4 had a bunch of memorable titles. Decent working PS4s can be had for as little as $130 if you shop around, giving you a great chance to keep gaming without spending $700 or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picking up an Xbox One gives you similar benefits, with Xbox Game Pass unlocking plenty of titles with a subscription. Microsoft gets the nod for backward compatibility, as you can throw in most Xbox 360 discs to play. Servers are still running, and you can get hours of enjoyment from titles you never got a chance to play when the consoles were new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen a bunch of videos recently of people modding their Sony PSPs and Vitas to give them new life in 2026. They are really fun consoles to use with great hardware and screens. If you can add some custom software to get extra use out of them, I\u2019m all for it. I haven\u2019t modded my PSP and Vita just yet, but it\u2019s a project I plan to chronicle here on the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t need to spend a ton to get a functional PC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PC building feels like a build-your-own adventure right now. Sure, DDR5 RAM prices are out of control. I built my wife\u2019s new PC in September 2025 and managed to get 32GB of DDR5 RAM in dual-channel for around $105. When I upgraded my PC in November, the price was closer to $500. Instead, I went with a slightly upgraded system with DDR4 memory. It\u2019s not ideal, but paired with an Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU, I get fantastic frames on high settings in most games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, you don\u2019t need to spend that much to get a solid gaming rig. DDR4 RAM prices may still be reasonable, but supported chipsets are becoming more expensive as a result. Bundles are definitely your friend right now, even for older hardware. I\u2019m also seeing plenty of videos online of people taking even 10-year-old machines and making them usable again with RTX 1080 GPUs. I\u2019m not saying you have to do anything that extreme, but they are excellent examples that you don\u2019t need the latest and greatest to play certain current-gen titles with decent frame rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For productivity needs alone, eBay is your friend. I recently picked up a cheap, new-old-stock ThinkPad T14 Gen 2. It does everything I need, with solid battery life, a phenomenal keyboard (I\u2019m writing this on it right now), and snappy performance. I dual-boot Windows for a few programs I need, but it really comes alive when I switch to Linux. I spent around $350, and I can easily get a few years of use out of this machine, and there are plenty of examples just like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fun to get a little creative<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No one loves the current situation, except for companies like Micron and AMD. However, it\u2019s also a bit freeing to feel disqualified from buying the latest and greatest tech. There\u2019s nothing wrong with hitting the pause button and looking side to side to get the most out of what is around us. I know I\u2019m guilty of constantly jumping to the next generation of devices, long before I\u2019ve tapped the full potential of what I have. If we get anything from this current period in the marketplace, hopefully, we can learn to make better use of the tech we spend good money on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple\u2019s price increase announcement comes as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. We\u2019ve seen Samsung and Motorola charge more for their smartphones, and it was only a matter of time before the laws of financial gravity caught up to our friends in Cupertino \u2014 no matter how many chips they stockpiled before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Xbox-Controller-with-Lenovo-ThinkPad-sitting-on-desk-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Xbox-Controller-with-Lenovo-ThinkPad-sitting-on-desk-600x600.png","author_info":{"display_name":"stevealicioust","author_link":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61,"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/61"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevealicioustech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}