Meandering Missive: Making up for lost time: NEW laptop!

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Making up for lost time: NEW laptop!

As sick as I was Dec. 22-24, and recovering from being sick on Dec. 25, I've sure made up for lost time since then! So much cool stuff has happened that I don't know where to start -- so I'll begin at the beginning! ;)

Mon., Dec. 26: computer shopping!

I wasn't keen on venturing out on Monday, since "The Day After Christmas" is notorious for crowds and hysteria, and I didn't want to be a part of it after being holed up for several days. However, I had no choice but to go to Best Buy , my fave eclectic electronics store, and fortunately less than 2 miles from my home. I went because I saw in their newspaper ad insert that they had lots of sales and rebates that one day! Among them was a Toshiba Satellite L25-S1192 laptop for $499! Well, it was $750 but with a $250 rebate. I'd no idea Toshiba makes dozens upon dozens of different laptop models, and a ton in the Satellite series alone! *chuckle* That's crazy! Apple makes a good number of different Macintosh models, but not ANYWHERE near many!

Speaking of Apple, despite being a loyal Mac user since the late 1980s and owner of several Macs, I guess I've become a semi-turncoat. I'm stuck with Mac OS 9.2 because this older G3 iMac can't comfortably upgrade to OSX, due to being slightly under the recommended processor speed and amount of memory and hard drive space. And since no new Mac software runs on anything lower than OSX, and more and more websites every month have functionality that doesn't work on OS 9.2 versions of Netscape or Internet Explorer, I'm feeling more and more like I'm marooned with a dinosaur.

And unfortunately, Macs are STILL much more expensive than their PC counterparts, be it laptop or desktop. The least expensive Mac iBook I could find was between $900 and $1,000! Why would I spend that when I can get a much more universally compatible PC laptop for half that price? When you're as poor as a churchmouse as I am, a $500 price difference is a HUGE deal! *blush* I'll always love the friendly Mac interface and everything about the way Macs work. I don't ever plan to get rid of this desktop either, but there are just too many incompatibilities between the world at large, and Macs. Even with OSX, there are still some companies that refuse to make software for it -- only for Windows!

When I can afford it, I definitely DO plan to buy a Mac that runs OSX. I don't know if it will be a desktop or a laptop, but I do want one. However, with my personal financial and job situations, that wouldn't happen for who knows when?! As it is, the compressor in my car's air conditioner has been making more than normal noise for the past few summers, but I've never had it fixed because it's so costly. IF the thing fails, I'll get it fixed and choke down the monstrous $800-$1200 repair bill. Until then, the A/C works great -- just a wee bit noisily! *chuckle* And yes, I MUST have A/C during the summer in my car. I've become quite heat-intolerant the last several years and hot cars are the worst. :( I'm also afraid of bugs getting in the car and distracting me, so I won't drive with the windows rolled down. I know too many people who've had it happen!

Anyway, in case anyone is geekily curious about my specific laptop, you have its number: L25-S1192. Oh, and it has an Intel Celeron M processor, if that matters. ;) As for me, I'd just call it a Toshiba Satellite L-series. The review in this link makes it sound like I got a bare bones laptop, but the truth of the matter is that I really can't afford ANY laptop, and probably won't any time in the near future, so I had to buy the most bargain-priced I could find, but which still allowed me to do what I wanted/needed. Plus I can always add memory to it, very simply and fairly reasonably. As it is, this Toshiba lap has MORE memory, a BIGGER hard drive, a FASTER processor and MORE multimedia capacity than my iMac G3, so it's far from bare bones to me!!

I also bought a Linksys wireless internet router at Best Buy for $70 (but only $40 after rebate), and of course Best Buy's extended 3-year service plan/warranty for $199, which includes not only unlimited repair work but also 1 free replacement laptop battery per year! I had an incident with the retractable lens of a digital camera I bought at Best Buy, and let me tell you, it's GREAT to have their extended service plan/warrantee. They took care of everything (a lot, as it turned out) and it cost me nothing! (Well, aside from the price of the initial plan, which was a good deal but I forgot how much it was).

I didn't do anything else on Monday, not even open the computer box, because I was too physically and emotionally tired from all the excitement! Not very in character for hyper me, eh? *grin* Well, just remember I'd just gotten over from a nasty virus and 3 days of fever! I also didn't do anything else because there were preparations to be made for a family party the next day (Tuesday). But it's 11 p.m. right now, so I won't write about that cool event until the morning. I also have to write about the not one but TWO cool events that took place on Wednesday, not to mention the complicated computer set-up adventures that finally took place TODAY! (Thanks, Mark! I couldn't have gotten all this laptop stuff going without you!) Ah, and don't worry Shari of L.V. -- I haven't forgotten about including a mini-confessional about my guilty side trip to Bath & Body Works for the half-yearly sale! ;D I promise that's on the way also!

Today I am feeling gleeful/accomplished!!

posted by ScaryShari @ 9:56 PM

3 Comments:

At 7:01 PM, Anonymous said…

Hi, I don't know if you remember me, but you relpied to my lj post about the 15 things that your name needs. I couldn't find another way to contact you. I thought I'd return the message, and no one ever randomly approaches me online anyways.
Happy new year,
brandnewpower54
At 9:42 PM, Shari said…

New laptop! Does it have a name?
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