My old laptop, a Compaq Presario M2000, finally retired. I remember I bought that one impulsively. Picture this. On that day, I didn't plan on buying a laptop. As a mall hobby, I'd go to my favorite stores and window shop. Just look. Browse through. Well, buy sometimes. I'd rather do that than walk with Mama up and down the aisles of a store then watch her as she chooses one thing after the other, mentally debating whether that color or this color, that size or this will match those at home. Take my word on this. Based on experience, it takes her an hour, two at the most, to do that. Well, as for me, I was having my own mental debate while going about the gadget-selling booths set up at Glorietta's activity center. To buy or not to buy a laptop. Do I need it? Of course yes. Your desktop's already broken. Why laptop, not another desktop? Well, so I can easily bring it anywhere I want to. Can I afford it? As of the moment, definitely not. But then there's installment. Zero interest. So let's say 50,000 (so far, that's the cheapest one available) by 12... this much per month... okay, I can afford it but with a few sacrifices. Questions, answers, questions, answers as I walk away from that place to finally meet with Mama. To make this getting-long introduction short, I bought it. Mama's the culprit. The B.I. "Baka wala na yan pagbalik mo." (It may not be available anymore.) Fine.
Being the big ignoramus that I am on laptop maintenance, after five years, that laptop followed in after Mama's footsteps of being slow. I forgot why I decided to buy a new one. Maybe I just thought to myself that it's "slow beyond repair." Haha. I thought I'd buy a new one, but this time, I'd really take good care of it. So I'm off to the same journey of laptop shopping, but unlike before, I really thought long and hard about what I really, really, really want in a laptop. Reasonable affordable price, the size, the weight, the brand, the speed (oh, the speed!), and the color. My best friend, Erika; my cousin, Hannah; my officemate, Chiko; and my boss, EJ, helped me with my choices. Erika recently bought a Macbook Pro, so that was her choice for me, but I couldn't afford it. Wrong tense. Can't. I can't afford it. Hannah's a sucker for Dell. She said almost everyone she knows uses Dell. Chiko and Boss EJ, well, what they're after is the processor. An Intel Core 2 Duo at the least. And just last month...
... it's mine. A purple Dell Inspiron 14 (Intel Core 2 Duo T6600) which I was able to buy a couple thousand less than its original price since Dell laptops were on sale at Electroworld at that time. The sparkly blue flower sticker is a personal touch as I really was planning to blurplize* my laptop. Doesn't it scream out my name?
The keyboard area, I like the fact that it's black since I will be able to hide another inevitable soon-to-be fact that its going to be dirty. The keys are soft and do not have the "loose" feeling. The silicon protection was bought separately for only Php 150.
The touchpad is okay. It is just a little sensitive sometimes. Left and right buttons are soft and easy to press.
The size, 14.1 inches, and weight, 5 pounds, are okay. The black sleeve was also bought separately. Almost Php 1,000. I chose that sleeve so I wouldn't have to remove my laptop from the sleeve every time I choose to use it. I bought a separate laptop bag, though, that was on sale which costs around Php 1,500.
And check out my wallpaper. Mama chose that one: a far-stretching purple field. I love it... not just the wallpaper and how it matches my laptop but the look of the place itself. I wonder where that is. I want to go there and take pictures.
Well, what can I say? It's far better than my Compaq. I love Windows 7. It's so organized and user-friendly, not as user-friendly as Windows XP, but it's better. I noticed its similarity to Mac, how your preferred programs can be arranged in a row on your desktop, how you can tag your files for easy access... you name it. I can only speak for Windows 7.
If you want to read more on this kind of laptop, check this out. Hope you find it helpful.
And alas, a shiny new toy and a brand-new blog. How lovely.
MiCHoLLe
* blurple (adjective) - anything that has the color blue and purple, coined by yours truly as they are my favorite colors
