impulse buy, retail therapy, or just m'job ma'am?

[jawnbc]

Months ago my tI Powerbook started getting snarky with me. Since I've had it, the temperature has made in-lap with shorts on, uh, inadvisable. Plus, when I dared defied Edda Perfetto (my grade 10 typing teacher) and actually rested my hands on the handrests, my optical drive would whinge and whine. And the tI frame meant my wireless range was cut in half, when compared to using an old iBook with the same WiFi transmitter (Airport or SMC), in the same olde position that wored tickety-boo pre-PowerBook. I chalked these up to idiosynchrosies.

Hello, my name is Stoopid, help I may you? Then more stuff. Bad stuff. The odd screen flash evolved into backlight dimming (shut computer, wait, open computer, ok for a while) and then no backlight without the powerplug plugged in. Call me wenchy, but I think a laptop should work when its battery has enough juice in it. I felt like Bette Davis in Dark Victory, but without the dirty hands. And then this week one of the hinges between the monitor and computer snapped--when it happened, I couldn't tell you. Good thing I ordered the replacement laptop on Tuesday, eh?

Since August I've been trying to sort out what to order and when--my post-doctoral salary doesn't cover my realtime life expenses, the cost of a computer was gonna be a pain regardless. I wanted power, but didn't wanted huge, and I missed having a good strong wireless capability. Ideally a DVD burner would've been kewl--I have hours and hours of edited digital video on those wee cassettes that I'd love to be able to view on a DVD player. Hard drive ain't too important, since I've got both a 30GB iPod and a 120GB FireWire external hard drive. I finally narrowed it down to two choices:

-Powerbook 1gHz 12" with Super Drive $2300 (Canuck bucks)
-iBook 933mHz 14" with Combo Drive $1648

While the L2 cache is a bit slower on the iBook, the difference of $600 bucks for a smaller screen and a DVD burner, made me investigate other ideas--like an external DVD writer. So I ordered the iBook, and it will arrive Monday. And since I had a $30.00 discount voucher from renewing my mac.com, I treated myself to the Belkin Voice Recorder for iPod, which I'll use for future interviews I do.

For the DVD burner, I wanted one that: burned DVD-R at least @ 4x, that supported all DVD formats (+ - ROM, RAM), and that had USB2.0--if it supported both USB2.0 and FireWire, well woo hoo. Oh, and compatible with my Mac and querrelle's PC. I stumbled across Tiger Direct's website, where I found the Freecom FX-50 pretty much met all my needs. For just under $300.00, including tax and shipping.

So I spent less than I anticipated doing originally, got a bit more bang for my buck, and hopefully this pig piece o' shite PowerlessBook will survive long enough to transfer everything to the new iBook.

Anyone wanna schlurp on my winkie?

Comments

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

You know, I have an almost-three-year old TiBook that I bought during the keynote when they were announced, and it's still going fine.

I drag it back and forth to work every day, and on every trip. My paint is not peeling in any big way, my hinges haven't broken, and my display is still readable, if growing dimmer with age. The non-replaceable backlight annoys me, but can't be helped.

The worst problem is that the DVD-ROM drive is sometimes too feeble to spin up a disc, and ejects it a minute later. A good whack fixes that.

Of course, I have an unusual ability to extend the lifespan of consumer electronics. My first component stereo system from college (16 years ago) is in my office, and continues to work wonderfully. Amp, CD player, and speakers have all been under my screwdriver for repairs... not that even a Sony service rep could tell.

Still, it'd be nice to get decent AirPort reception, just once.