Once you learn how much your computer can do
The most useful thing my computer can do is run applications. Some applications work better in Unixoid OSes (e.g. pretty much all programming environments), some applications work better in Windows (e.g. Photoshop, games), and for some it doesn't really matter (e.g. browsers).
Mostly agree with your point (I don't really recommend linux for most people, despite having happily used archlinux for years), but minor nit in that photoshop is primarily made for os x, I think. At least all of the designers I know use macs (slightly confounded by working for a SaaS startup).
What can I purchase with $100 that will be the best thing I can buy to make my life better?
I've decided to budget some regular money to improving my life each month. I'd like to start with low hanging fruit for obvious reasons - but when I sat down to think of improvements, I found myself thinking of the same old things I'd already been planning to do anyway... and I'd like out of that rut.
Constraints/more info:
Background:
This is a question I recently posed to my local Less Wrong group and we came up with a few good ideas, so I thought I'd share the discussion with the wider community and see what we can come up with. I'll add the list we came up with later on in the comments...
It'd be great to have a repository of low-hanging fruit for things that can be solved with (relatively affordable) amounts of money. I'd personally like to go through the list - look at candidates that sound like they'd be really useful to me and then make a prioritised list of what to work on first.