Yeah, I bought a Chromecast, and I’m not sure why

I was in Best Buy. I was looking for something to replace my potentially explosive Chromebook. My colleagues Ed Bott and Larry Seltzer both claim that there are good, cheap, ultrabookish PCs out now. I didn't find one. For the record, I still miss my Chromebook.

Anyway, there I was in Best Buy and there it was: the Chromecast. Thirty-five bucks.

You need to understand that I don’t need what the Chromecast offers. I have an Apple TV (and an XBox 360 and a PS3 — and a Mac mini) hooked up to my sixty-inch HDTV. I regularly surf the Web and write articles on the big screen using the Mac mini (with Windows 8 on it, natch’).

I don’t need the Chromecast to blast a Chrome window on a TV screen. I don’t even know if my dual HDMI switchers have a spare port. I also have a Roku hooked up to a 24-inch HDTV in the garage.

Like I said, I don’t need the Chromecast.

Okay, back in October, I might have liked to have had a Chromecast. My wife and I were away at a Florida lodge and while she was attending workshops, I was napping and watching Netflix on my then before-the-bad-news Chromebook. The hotel TV had an HDMI hookup and I idly thought a Chromecast might be fun to watch Netflix on the room’s TV.

But that was two months ago and I don’t have any intention of vacationing again soon. This was my first in something like eight years.

Sure, a case could be made for the fact that I write about these trinkets for you folks, and so buying one makes sense so I can report on it for you. And there is some truth in that. But still, I don’t need the thing.

I’m not normally subject to impulse buying urges. I don’t like shopping and I avoid stores. Besides, Amazon can bring me anything I want, overnight, so there’s no need to even have shopping impulses.

It was $35. It called out to me. I bought one.

Stay tuned. Maybe I’ll even find a use for it.

I blame sjvn. For the record, I'm not cutting the cord until I can figure out how to get Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire without the rest of cable TV. No way I'm missing my Nucky.