Where have I been, you ask?
searching for a new computer...
man, its a mission!
I've been spending several hours a day reading notebook reviews watching ebay auctions, reading notebook reviews, trawling online computer stores, reading more reviews, searching user forums, reading reviews, browsing manufacturer websites, and yep, reading reviews.
turns out, I still havent found the exact computer I want. probably it doesnt exist.
It has to be not significantly bigger/ heavier than my last one - an IBM thinkpad T30. I want something with not less than 1Gb ram, 2GHz processor speed, reasonable battery life (or equivalent dual core), DVD writer, on XP, not Vista... for less than $1000US. If spending that much, I'd expect a good warranty, though I dont mind if its much cheaper and second hand.
The mouse is a big issue for me - I'm used to a ThinkPad with its little touch point mouse (the little eraser head thingy in the middle of the keyboard). I HATE those touchpad laptop mice, but if it was a very good one, i'd get used to it, on a computer that is in other ways the "right" one. I need a scrolling function too.
We found computers that really fitted all my specs, but many of the reviews commented on annoying mice, or low screen viewing angles (not good for watching DVDs with more than one person), or were new but without warranty, or had deplorable battery life, or on Vista... well, ALL of them had some problem.
In the end, I tried to bid on one that seemed "good enough", but something went funny with my eBay account, or something strange. I ended up bidding on another one, just to see if I could bid at all. Only I'm -so far- winning the bid. I might not in the end, so its a wait and see till 8pm tonight. If I get it, i'll be happy with it... i hope. Its an HP DV2500 variety, the main downfall is that its running Vista. what to do. Though I'm not 100% sure this is the computer I want, I'm afraid of not winning it - that would mean starting all over again!
Meanwhile, the computer stress - me not having one means I'm not online much; I dont get the support of the many forums I inhabit, Littletree cant watch videos; I dont get any mental 'downtime', and I'm spending all this stressy time searching for a new computer. I think I was online for 8 hours on thursday! Its having a detrimental effect on our family; we're all stressed and depressed.
Saturday, 18 August 2007
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So, what happened? Did you win your bid? LOL! It's daniedb from MDC, thanks for sharing your link with me!
ReplyDeleteI did not win the bid :( it went up to $1400 in the end (the RRP is $1600) but my budget is stopping at $1200
ReplyDeleteBUT Then I saw another one, almost the same; slightly different specs - a smaller hard disc but faster processor - and I WON THE BID! so, I should have a computer in my hot little hands next week :) inshallah, nothing more will go wrong with it ;)