Should I Spend $1150 on a Digital Piano?

Alright, this post is just to sort out my thoughts. Lately I have been contemplating to get a digital piano to replace my 8 year old keyboard. Unlike those shopping spree impulses that will just bug me for a night and I will forget about it the next day, I have been thinking about this for 2 weeks.

I have been using a Casio Keyboard CTK-5000 for leisure playing. It was bought for less than $300 (RRP $499) at an IT Show more than 8 years ago. My current keyboard has 5 sets of keys which are unweighted, and there's no pedal for expression. It is also big, black and bulky.

The digital piano that captivated me is Casio Privia PX 1000. Released in 2019 and priced at $1150 (RRP $1399), it comes with 7 sets of weighted keys, sitting bench, tripedal unit system and other accessories. In contrast to my keyboard, it is known to be the world's slimmest digital piano, so it's much easier to carry around that you can even bring it out by carrying it like a backpack, and is definitely aesthetically pleasing. It can also connect to the Chordana Play app, connect to Bluetooth and play music from your phone with it's built in speaker.

Of course, given the premium price tag and the advancement of technology over the past 8 years, there are still many other useful features. To be frank, the reason I'm choosing PX-1000  over other more affordable digital piano was its slim, stylish, and minimalist design. It is so beautiful that I feel I wouldn't be as satisfied if I were to opt for another cheaper model. I'm also not considering getting a typical classical/acoustic piano because it's taking up too much space, super heavy, and the maintenance is a pain.

Thus my argument below is just a guidance for me to decide if I should buy this digital piano.

I will first list down all the reasons why I want to get it and  then I will go through the list again and try to rebuttal my own points in green

1. I don't have any debt and I can afford it [ It is still 3.8 x more expensive than your fully functioning keyboard, and the price will probably drop over the next few years, if you use $1150 to top up CPF SA, it will compound to $3065 at 4% in 25 years, still think it's good for value? ]
   
   
   
2. With 7 sets of keys I can play more pieces [ But there are still many other pieces you can learn with just 5 sets of keys ]
   
   
   
3. The keys are weighted so it feels more like playing a real piano [ Did that ever bother you? No, let's move on ]
   
   
   
4. With the pedals I can add in more expressions in the playing [ Maybe you should try working on expressing the pieces well with just both hands first, something which you still have a long way to work on ]
   
   
   
5. It is so portable that I can bring it out and it has the option to work on AA batteries so I can play it anywhere [ I can guarantee that you will not bring it anywhere out of your house to play for  another 8 years, the only time when you will carry it out is when your family moves house, and even with that you are capable of carrying your keyboard to your new house ]
   
   
   
6. It is so beautiful. The model in white is so elegant and it will be a perfect match to my room's deco [ You never thought of your keyboard as 'ugly' for the past 8 years and no one goes to your room to judge your taste ]
   
   
   
7. I can remove the soundbar (that I got for free) and use the piano as a blue tooth speaker to play music. This will free up more space in my room. [ Then where do you plan to keep the keyboard and the soundbar? So, in order to free up some space in a part of your room, you are going take up more space in other parts of the room/house?? ]
   
   
   
8. As per Kon Mari's philosophy, it's something that sparkle joy, and it's something that adds value to my life as per the minimalism's values. [ Your parents didn't kick you out of the house when you stop 'sparkling joy' to them. There are many ways to kick start minimalism and buying a piano isn't one of them] 

I guess I'm doing a pretty good job at shooting myself down. Somehow penning down those points and forming clear rebuttals calm me down and give me a clearer perspective. 

Before writing this post I was still thinking about what bothered me the most: the cost. It's obvious that this was never a necessity and it's just a 'want' to be fulfilled. And when it comes to 'wants' we always discuss delayed gratifications. I even thought about waiting for a couple more years for the price to go lower as delayed gratification. 

However, after writing the post, I noticed that it's not just about delayed gratification. It's always easy to see something through rose-tinted lenses and imagine how much better/ easier/ happier your life will be if you were to use that product. That's what marketing is for. But once I penned down my thoughts, and writing down really helps, I began to see how unnecessary this is and how my life isn't any lesser without it. In fact, it's not just about the cost anymore. 

It's more about realising the difference between the reality and the picture you painted for yourself. I was really thinking about how convenient it is to bringing it out and play it outside without considering the probability of me actually doing it. I never do busking, so why would I even bring it out for? I also just thought of how nice it would be if my room has a stylish keyboard, without sparing a thought on what am I going to do with the current keyboard. Selling it or disposing it is likely to be out of the question because of low resale price and sentiments (hey, I'm a human after all) and functionality (throwing useful things in trash is completely irresponsible) I am just adding more stuff into my house at the end of day, and making useful stuff redundant.

I understand that this post is not #relatable to most people, so if you have spent time to follow my train of thoughts I would like to thank you for reading this post. Cheers!