Desert Search for Techno Allah (or, Looking for a Laptop)
I’ve spent a good part of the last few days looking at laptops. I was going to wait ’til summer to get the best deal. However, my parents’ computer has started the death rattle (y’know, when the hard drive gets so loud you know it’s gotta be destroying important data). Since I was going to give them my desktop when I left anyways, I figure I’ll accelerate the process and buy a laptop now.
Ugh.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about getting a laptop. It’s just a pain in the ass to buy one.
I started out looking at the thin-and-light models (under 6 pounds, 14″ screen). My parents, who thought I should get something bigger, put my mom’s purse on the scale and found it weighed eight pounds. That’s when the mocking began.
So I’m now looking for something bigger, preferably with a 15.4″ wide screen. But I’m having trouble finding one with the features I want and very little extra stuff tacked on. Basically, I want the wide screen, a DVD burner, bluetooth, decent battery life, a 3-year warranty, and a magical genie that grants all my wishes. And the whole thing should weigh less than 7 pounds.
Is that too much to ask for?
February 18th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
:::evil grin::: get a 15″ powerbook. all of the above available, plus backlit keys.
February 18th, 2005 at 6:26 pm
For less than $2500 you should be able to get all that and more…but resist Kristine…don’t go the mac route…for the love of God don’t do it! :)
February 18th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Argh, I just knew someone would go and suggest an Apple! I’m such a sucker for the Powerbooks. It’s so hard to resist something so slick and well-designed and not-Microsoft…
But at least one of the schools I’m considering “requires” Windows for exams, and I hear it’s difficult to impossible to run the exam software in VirtualPC. Also, I want to play around with Linux on whatever laptop I get. (I warned y’all I was a big nerd…
And yeah, I know that OS X is based on BSD and all that… it’s just not the same if you don’t have to work for it.)
There’s a nice-looking new Acer out that I’ve been eyeing, but I’m finding it hard to justify spending over $2k on a top-of-the-line laptop. I’m not going to need all that power, so I feel dumb paying for it. It is one hell of a computer, though. And only 6.6 lbs.! (supposedly)
But no backlit keys… *sigh*
February 18th, 2005 at 8:40 pm
Hey — I work at a tech company and get a good employee discount that’s open to friends and family. If you want details, drop me a line. There’s a web site you can browse through.