New Laptop!

I used to have a laptop years ago. I think it cost me almost $2500. The motherboard died once under warranty, and then a second time, shortly after the 1 year warranty expired. I loved having a laptop so I could watch TV at the same and I mourned its loss for years. (I actually still have it, just in case it could magically be repaired.) The power button had gone too and I had to use a metal paper clip in its place to make the electrical connection on the board beneath to make it power on.

My office in this house isn’t near the TV either so when I have to work at night, updating my websites and blogs and working for clients, I am in the other room and not near Jeff. I’m sure misses me when I’m in the other room, but likes having full control of the TV remote!

I’ve been saving up my business income so I could buy a laptop so I could blog more, and do some work while I’m watching TV in the evenings. But I wanted something smaller and lighter, more portable, so it would be easier to carry around.

I decided I wanted a little netbook about 6 weeks ago. I settled on the new HP Mini 5101 that just came out a couple weeks back. 10.5″ screen, fully portable, light, but little. I’ve tried to find it available to order in Canada and just haven’t had any luck.

But that gave me time to think more about it, and fiddle with the netbooks in the stores whenever I could. I decided that I wanted to go a little more full-sized, but not too big, since I have a really nice desktop computer with a great big screen now.

Today, since it was 33°C, we decided to go to air conditioned stores in our air conditioned car. We went to Futureshop in New Glasgow and I must have spent an hour fiddling with all the models and sizes. The best salesman ever, Don, helped me out. He reminded me a little of my godfather Rudy S. He was really knowledgeable (and patient) and even took me to other places in the store to teach me about more recent developments in computer technology and explain how they worked.

I finally settled on this one. It is a 13.3″ HP Pavilion dv3. (see specs – http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10125650&catid=25313#MoreInfo) The 13.3″ screen is more than big enough, and it is a backlit LED display rather than the traditional LCD. Don explained the difference and turns out it will be easier on the battery life. It seems very sharp and bright.

My only complaint so far is the left shift key seems like it is one shift too left compared to what my fingers are used to – but true enough my other two keyboards and ergonomic and split so I just have to retrain my fingers.

It feels really good that all the annoying extra work I do online was able to allow me this luxury.

As much as I hate spending any extra money, I did stay true to the promise I made myself years ago – next time I buy a laptop – buy the extra warranty. It always feels like a rip-off, but if I had it last time, I would have had a laptop for longer. (Plus I have a long history of dead hard drives and mechanical failures). Hopefully Don got a good commission.

Now are you all ready for more regular blog posts? Can you keep up?