BUY APPLE’S HARDWARE Apple’s phones, tablets and PCs are the best-designed and best-made computers on the market. They are also the easiest to learn to use and the most durable. And if you’re kind to them, they’ll carry a far higher resale value than rival devices.

I say this after having tried just about every competitor to Apple’s machines. Some non-Apple phones and tablets are nearly as nice as the iPhone and iPad (Google’s Nexus line is quite good), but I haven’t found any that beat it, and none that are as pleasurable to use.

But the best thing about Apple’s hardware is that it maximizes your ability to be promiscuous with software. Apple’s App Store is home to more programs than any other app marketplace. What’s more, the most innovative start-up firms often create apps for Apple’s platform before they bother with Android. Since software is the soul of a machine, the source of all our devices’ advancing powers, you’re best off getting the gadgets that can run the widest range of software. (A note for the sticklers: Yes, Apple restricts the ways you can tinker with the deeper parts of your mobile devices. But if you’re a tinkerer, you don’t need to read a column to decide what to buy.)

Image Google Street View cameras have been all over, including a beach in the Florida Panhandle. Credit... Colin Hackley/Visit Florida, via Associated Press

USE GOOGLE’S SERVICES My phone and tablet carry Apple’s logo, but almost everything I do with them is routed through the search company’s servers. There’s Google’s Gmail app for email, Google’s Calendar to manage your day, Google Maps to tell you where to go, Chrome to browse the Web and even the otherwise useless Google Plus social network to back up your photos.

Throwing your data at Google is a good idea for two reasons: First, the company is incredibly good at managing it; it lets you have access to stuff on pretty much any device, anywhere in the world, all the time. Its services almost never go down, its data is extremely accurate (see Maps), and, barring intrusion by the N.S.A., Google offers solid security (like two-factor authentication).

I also love the handy tricks Google adds as it learns more and more about me (yes, I’m aware I sound like a P.O.W. praising my jailers — but count my blinks, it’s true). For instance, its Google Now feature, available as part of the Google Search app on the iPhone, can automatically predict what you are doing next and show you relevant information like traffic directions and boarding passes just when you need them. It even enhances your photos, making your pretty face even prettier.