I purged "stuff" (technical term) at home over the December holiday break: clothes; books; kitchen gear; papers; kids (well, one went back to college).
I avoided my trouble spot until there was a critical mass of positive momentum … my tech.
When I finally tackled it, most went easy. Nine mini USB cables when I need two? Sorted. 40gb ATA hard drives? Destroyed. Several sub 1A wall warts? Purged.
Gizmos, be they five-year old laptops or unused-for-years old phones or tablets collecting a real layer of dust, they posed more angst. "But I could do x with it," I would tell myself.
Starting a new tech job means I will get new tech. So I'm purging my old kit. I'm down to my Google nexus 5 phone and my kindle and an external battery pack. Flying from Detroit to San José without my usual tools proved more of a challenge than I wanted to acknowledge.
I WANT a real keyboard. I WANT a decent screen size. I WANT ample storage. I WANT good battery life.
By 'want' I, of course, mean NEED.
If I had my pick now I would probably go with a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (dual-boot with ubuntu) and a Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
UPDATE: My new work laptop is a ThinkPad T430. My cell phone will only be useful for phone calls and light email duty.