If you dream it, it can happen. I dreamed of a new laptop and it arrived in a beautifully wrapped brown package the other day. Shiny, aluminum, expensive. Dreams cost money nowadays don't you know? In this case, dreams cost me close to a grand and a half and was probably fiscally irresponsible. The decision came down to: rent, laptop, travel money. The safe answer was rent. The responsible answer was travel money (2009 is shaping up to be a big wedding year). The only acceptable answer was laptop.
As Ameer pointed out to me, it's not like I'm one of those people who just lightly use their laptops. I'm on it all the time and I require speed, precision, and mouth watering goodies. The last laptop I purchased was five-ish years ago. Dinosaurs still ruled the Earth when my computer was cutting edge. I was tempted to go straight to the top of the line for maximum bang but really, I'm neither a professional graphic designer or video editor so that might have been overkill. I settled for a low end Macbook -- but juiced up the RAM and HDD -- and figured that anything faster than my driving would probably be a huge upgrade.
I also now have a video camera so we can totally hang out on Saturday nights video chatting or amusing ourselves with Photo Booth. And by "we" and "ourselves" I mean "me." Here's a short happy timeline of my computer use through the years.
Middle school - "Wow, that's an awesome green turtle, I can make it go right how?", Oregon Trail
High school - Word processing, lame AOL chat sessions with stupid made up names. King's Quest and Minotaur (amazing multi-player game)
College - Late nights in computer labs, the magic of email, building basic websites and image manipulation. Avoid Starcraft like the plague because I know it will be the death of me.
The year after college - I finally have my very own computer, I discover blogging and downloading music, I make plans to marry the Internet, I start saving for a ring. Install Starcraft and as predicted, it's the end of me.
2004 - My first laptop and my first Mac (twelve inch iBook), freedom rings and there is much rejoicing.
2006 - A new PC for me and the introduction of double (even triple) screens in my life. I'm like super productive. Super.
Now - New Macbook, to infinity and beyond.
