A New Addition To Our Family: Chloe

Posted by Chris on Feb 17, 2010 in Blog, Featured, Technology | 2 comments

About a month and half ago, my laptop started falling apart.  I had been having battery issues and my attemps to fix it where null and void.  On top of that the screen started to come off the hinge.  It was the battery and charger that did it in.  I tried purchasing brand new parts but to no avail, it just wouldn’t work out and became more of a dekstop than laptop.  It was one of those “Make sure you hold it jus right or the power will go out” type of scenarios.  I know it was time to purchase a new laptop and to a geek that is a long process.

The average person can walk into a store or look online for a laptop and not bat at eye at what they are getting besides what the salesperson will tell them.  But a geek must methodically poke and pry around until they find that perfect fit.  Why?  Because our computes are an extension of us.  Geeks (like myself) usually carry their laptops around everywhere they go, and I do mean everywhere.  We must find the right model, with the right specs, with the right design to compliment our lives.  The average restaurant goer can pick a (insert average tasting wine here) to go along with their meal but only a sommelier can pick a (insert excellent tasting wine here) that will match perfectly.

My quest brought me to look at two models:  An Apple Macbook or a Dell laptop.  My previous computer was a Dell and after having it for five years I was pretty pleased at how it held up.  But the Apple brand had been slowly creeping in my mind, prompting me to make “the switch”.  I’ll save you the long draw out process but basically I speced out both models side by side for a price comparison.  The Dell was the winner price wise, but that Mac OS kept on calling my name.  Luickly I had a backup computer, a Dell Mini 10 that I had been using while I was making my decision.  Low and behold I turned it on one morning and got a “Operating System Can Not Be Found” message on the DOS screen.  Shrug.  I wasn’t too upset because I still had the recovery disk so it wouldn’t take to much effort to reformat everything and start all over again but I just knew it was another sign that I need to get my primary laptop soon.

I took a trip to Best Buy to calm my nerves (yes geeks go to electronic stores when they are stressed.  It’s better than spending $10 on a coffee from Crackbucks Starbuck).  While I was there, I locked eyes with a laptop that I saw before, an HP.  I wasn’t to crazy about HP but I hadn’t used one in years so I didn’t even know what they were capable now of.  Best Buy also has a Apple station…..WOE IS ME?!?!?!  Now what  to do?  Buy a Mac now, Buy a HP now, or save a little money and buy a Dell online but wait forever for it to be shipped.

The outcome:  I got an HP Pavilion. Pearl cream cover with silver designs and a pearl cream finish on the inside with a chrome finish for the mousepad and sides.  Intel i3 Core/2.3 Ghz, 4GB Ram, 320 GB HD, Webcam, Wireless N, 5-1 Media Bay, CD/DVD-Rom w/ burner, etc.  Before you bash me for not picking the Mac, let me explain.  Macs are cool and there OS is very good.  But the price was too high.  With the same specs side by side, I paid extremely less for the HP.  And don’t even start with the Mac OS > Win OS.  Windows 7 is a great OS and runs just as well as OSX.

I have a habit of naming all of my gagdets with womans names.  For example, my external hard drives are named Wendy, Maria, and Nikki.  My Dell was named Jasmine.  I thought long and hard and decided to name the HP: Chloe.  I’m still mesmerized by the cream finish and went with a C name.  I’m in love with my new laptop and having been getting used to her for a couple of days.  Getting the feel of things, installing new programs, testing out her limits.  She and I will become good friends for the next four or fives years.  So I’d like to welcome a new edition to the family: Chloe.

*Images from CBS Interactive