My Conversion

Several weeks ago I began the arduous process of looking for a new computer; as my two year old Averatec 4250 has now crossed the threshold from functioning device to slowly dying albatross. Though using a bargain laptop for the previous two years hasn't been too bad, I decided that at this juncture in my life, I should spoil myself. And besides, when one is borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for school this fall, what difference does it mean if I spend an extra $200 on a laptop. After reading through many reviews, recommendations and spec charts of the available notebooks, I have formulated several observations.

1) you basically get what you pay for in laptops, the only decision you really have to make is whether you want to spend $600, $900, $1100, $1500, or $2000. Since it is foolish to go with either of the extremes, you are looking at a range of between $900-1500; and within that range there are literally 85,000,000 different laptops on the market, as evidenced by a simple trip to Best Buy and Circuit City
2) You can eliminate half of all laptops from the selection process because they are so ugly. It is sort of like looking at cars, there are some brands you seriously look at, such as Honda or Audi. There are some brands such as Ford that you will glance at, but not take seriously. Then there are the Kia and Pontiac dealerships, which you only glance at from the freeway and think to yourself: "My gosh, look at those monstrosities!"

At the end of the day, I decided on the MAC Powerbook with the Intel processor. After reading reviews online, speaking with friends whose opinion I valued, and mostly relying on my vain prerequisite of getting the coolest looking notebook available, I went with a MAC. I even harangued Syracuse Universitie's head I.T. woman over the phone for half an hour making sure that the school will support the MAC functionality. Apparantly every law student in America takes all of their tests on their own laptop via an application called Exam Soft, a Windows program. She assured me that Syracuse will allow the MACs. For once I can be the kid in class who ever so casually pulls out a nice laptop from by book bag, placing it on my desk with an air of superiority as I cast shameful looks at the kid next to me who struggles with his 8lb, two year old Compaq laptop that runs so hot his wrists turn red, which in turn causes the fan to run constantly which sounds like he has a miniature leaf blower on his desk. In other words, my past two years dealing with the Averatec. Now that I have a MAC, the only thing left is to grow a goatee and to begin to edit crappy DIY graphic art crap.