Hey,
It’s Pete Matheson with a new issue of Experiments in Progress.
There's a specific pain in buying tech at full price… watching the same thing drop 40% three months later.
If you're the kind of buyer who wants great gear without setting money on fire, this one's for you. Today: the four categories where buying used, refurbished, or last year's model wins every time.
The Tech You Should Buy Used, Refurbished, or Never New
So here's my list:
📺 TVs: buy last year's flagship
TVs depreciate faster than almost anything else you own.
I've got a Samsung S95C. A couple of years ago it was Samsung's flagship OLED, launching at around £2,399. Today you can find it used for roughly £1,000. And here's the thing… the picture quality is still genuinely fantastic.
If you want a genuinely great TV, buy last year's flagship, not this year's mid-range.
📱 Android Phones: wait three months
Never buy an Android phone the week it launches. That's the most expensive it will ever be.
Wait a few months and the price comes to you:
Pixel phones almost always get discounted within a few months of launch
Samsung loves to bundle stuff in… cases, storage upgrades, accessories, trade-in credit
Case in point… I'm reviewing the brand-new Z Fold 8 further down this email. It's brilliant. It's also £1,699. Give it three months and that number starts looking very different.
So if you want a new Android, wait for a few months.
🔊 Home Theatre: buy separates, second hand
You can build a genuinely brilliant home cinema setup for a fraction of the "new" cost, if you buy separates second hand.
I'm talking AV receivers, speakers, subwoofers… bought individually, used, from people upgrading their own gear.
Here's why it works so well:
Speakers barely age. There's no software to rot. A great pair from five years ago is still a great pair
AV receivers from a couple of years back still handle 4K passthrough and Dolby Atmos just fine
Subwoofers are basically indestructible
🚗 Cars: never buy new
A new car loses a huge chunk of its value the second you drive it off the forecourt. A one or two year old car with low miles is the sweet spot, basically new, minus the depreciation cliff.
🏷️ New, Used, or Never New?
Category | The play |
|---|---|
TVs | Last year's flagship, bought used |
Android phones | Wait ~3 months for the discount |
Home theatre | Used separates, not a new soundbar |
Cars | Never new… 1–2 years old is the sweet spot |
Where's buying used saved you the most money?
📱 Enjoying this newsletter? Share it with a friend who’s as obsessed with tech as you are:
I went and reviewed the brand-new Samsung Z Fold 8 for seven straight days. Foldables have quietly stopped being a gimmick, and this is the first one in a while that genuinely changed how I use my phone day to day.
How the foldable screen and interface actually hold up during real, everyday tasks
Whether the dual-screen setup is a genuine productivity win
Whether the foldable form factor actually fits your routine (and who it really isn't for)
The Z Fold 8 camera test: where it impresses and where it quietly compromises
Whether it's the phone for you if you live in productivity vs media consumption
The honest strengths and trade-offs after a full week of daily use
and more…
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