Right now I have some cash but also there is a semiconductor shortage. There are decision more complex than just 'replace'. I have an gaming laptop with a 1070 gfx card that has unstable USB 3 and crashes sometimes - I like to blame the worthless Intel integrated graphics.
If I could solidly make up my mind between "get another laptop" or "get a really awesome desktop" I might pull the trigger on either one. As it is, "repair" for the laptop would be replacing the motherboard which may or may not solve the problem.
Similarly I have 3 TVs in the house, two of which were gifts, one of which has a burned out power supply I could probably fix for about $30. The two working ones are just fine, but I'd like a modern 4K TV with OLED and high dynamic range. Of course, to really take advantage of the 4K I'd need to get a bigger TV and then move furniture around to find a place to put it. Maybe the place would get more glare from the window and efface the benefits of HDR. I really should try to replace the power supply on the Visio because it is value engineered. It's pretty thick so it has room for internal speakers better than some sound bars. It has just two HDMI ports but they've survived for years -- Sony, Samsung and similar brands will put 6 HDMI ports on a premium TV or home theater receiver that are not properly electrically shielded and it's open secret that they have so many of them because they burn out. I hate what Samsung is doing in the "smart TV" space.
So these feelings of resentment cause me to not buy things.
In photography the gear I want is often not available at all. (I want a stereo lens for my camera, they are all sold out with no availability date. I am wondering if there is a patent war on these too.)
I discovered after six months of heavy use of my old printer that the ink starts to fade in six months. I ordered a printer with pigment-based ink but it is still on the boat from Asia.
I think my telephoto lens is a bit unreliable, there are some nice new lenses for Sony cameras that are meant for sports photography, hypothetically I want one, but it's hard for me to make up my mind...
1. Can I easily upgrade it (new hard drive, more memory, change the battery, install another operating system)?
2. Is the cost of repairing/upgrading the device commensurate with the amount of use I'm going to get out of it post repair/upgrade?
3. Do I really need to keep it going or buy a replacement?