Today I was trying to bring some order to my digital photographs, and a favorite photograph from Freya’s puppyhood surfaced.
Then it came to me. I am so swift sometimes. That laptop – this laptop that I’m typing on right now – was brand new when Freya was a baby. She is five years old now. Computer years are like dog years, so they are both like… what? 35?
So obviously the laptop (but definitely not Freya!) should be replaced. Technology change time!
All right, extremely lame attempt at justification, I know. I’ve actually considered replacing this laptop several times over the last year, but it keeps coming down to the fact that I don’t really need to replace it.
It’s not really a question of money, although I don’t want to spend a lot of money on nonessential items until after Axel has finished his championship (arguably also a nonessential item, but that’s another argument and another blog post). It’s not a question of this laptop being on its last legs, either. The hard drive is pitifully small, but with frequent CD/DVD archiving and a supply of flash drives, it hasn’t been intolerably inconvenient yet. It’s a bit sluggish compared to newer models, but I can still run Photoshop and InDesign at the same time without melting down. It’s not very good with Flash games, but neither am I.
As much as I would like a speedy new laptop with a gigantic hard drive, the thought of getting everything set up again exactly as I want it is also a little disturbing. It probably took a good half of those five years to get everything set up exactly as I like it. It wouldn’t be that painful, I suppose: all of the commercial software on here not only has a proper license, but I actually know where the original media is (that’s a huge thing for me) and on this go-around I even managed to keep most of the freeware and shareware installers somewhat organized on a flash drive.
So I guess I’m actually considering the change. My shallow side demands some color matching, so I want a red computer, as close as possible in color to my red Motorola KRZR, red Motorola H700 headset, red Nikon Coolpix and red (red-cased, actually) BlackBerry 8330 Curve. I think that limits me to a Dell or Sony.
I have some travel plans at the end of the month, in addition to ongoing Axel expenses for at least another 6 weeks, so this might not happen this month. Or it might. I’ll let you all know!
I love the caption on your photo! I’m gonna have to slip on my peer pressure here though and say, “MacBook!” 🙂
You know, that is going to probably be the next technology upgrade issue… I actually also have a G4 iBook, same situation – it’s in good shape, still works for most of what I want it to do, but a bit sluggish and dated when compared to the new stuff. The newest, most whiz-bang incarnation of a Mac laptop would definitely be a welcome update!