Well, BUGGER! and Dream Machine Laptops
The washing machine delivery guys showed up, but I have no washing machine. How can this be? Well, like most of the house, my unhandy gandfather jerry-rigged an outlet pipe or whatever it is called, the thing that should take the unwanted water from the washer and deposit it somewhere other than all over the floor, and the delivery guys who were to install my shiny, happy new washer took one look and refused to mess with it. Fucking yay.
The good news is that the current washer may not be broken. It may have just slipped away from the jerry-rigged out-go pipe thing. The bad news is that I'm going to have to get Roto-Rooter in to look at it. I'm so happy. The thing is literally held together with twine, a bent coathanger, two metal grip-ring-things and spit. Supposedly there should be a U-bend, as in what hangs under your average sink. No U-bend here, of course. It should also drain outside without backing up, and close inspection reveals a sixty-year-old gnarled-up rubber pipe going through the wall and into the ground. Yippee! It should also be draining through the wall at about 30 inches, and it's higher than that, and below the hole it is protruding through is a brick exterior wall. Apparently this is the least of our troubles, as having a higher-than-normal drainpipe height is okay if it actually drains.
On the plus side, Mr Woozle got his new digs today. Only took me four hours to cobble it together. I am so handy. I suspect it was supposed to be a two-person job, with neither person having fingernails of any description to worry about. My manicure survived. Mr Woozle is a bit stupid when it comes to adjusting to change, I think. He's scared of the ramps and tubes. He can be so bright (for a ferret) in other ways. So he's living on the bottom level and fussing because his favourite beds and hammocks and food and water aren't down there with the poo pan and him. He'll clue in. Surely it is better than the cage he had, which was a fourth--or, maybe, a third--the size.
Also, my new VCR/DVD player works. Well, the DVD side does. That was the primary concern. Haven't busted out the VHS tapes yet. I figure that if one side is go, the other probably functions as well. I even set my clock, because I'm that damn smart. I defy the stereotype of the blonde female who has a blinking 12:00 on her VCR. It's even set for Daylight Savings because I can read the instructions and stuff.
On to the reader poll portion of the post.
1. I found a site called UBid.com that appears to offer 50% or more savings on high-end electronics. Anyone use this before?
2. I'm looking at a number of different laptops. I have to keep what I get for at least 5-6 years, so it has to go with the inevitable changes in technology. Currently I have a 30-40G harddrive, 256 RAM and a slow-as-hell processor. I forget its specs, but it's slow. Also, it's an off-brand you've never heard of, Phoenix Technologies. It runs Win98SE, and could handle WinXP. If the LCD screen was still functional and if the RAM could be upgraded, I'd probably hold on to it longer. But I'm using a CRT screen left over from my Macintosh days (it's at least 15 years old) and I can't add more memory because some genius made the laptop with non-upgradeable slots inside.
Candidate 1 (let's call him "John"):
Toshiba's Satellite series (P105-S6024) may not be as crazy with features as their Qosmio line, but still has plenty to offer most mainstream multimedia users. The large, 17-inch widescreen display is perfect for watching DVDs or playing games, and Windows XP Media Center Edition gives you a versatile interface for interacting with your music, video, and television media. The ExpressMedia DVD player allows for DVD playback even when the rest of the computer isn't on, saving battery life and making the P105-S6024 an easy-to-use standalone DVD player, too.
* 1.60 Ghz Intel Core Duo processor
* 100GB hard drive, 1GB RAM (4GB max)
* Dual-layer DVD/CD burner
* Connectivity: 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire, 1 S-Video, 1 PCMCIA, mult-format memory card reader
* Integrated Wi-Fi
* Windows XP Media Center Edition
* ExpressMedia DVD, for boot-less media playback.
Prices I've found for "John" range from about $900 to almost $1800.
Candidate 2 (hereafter known as "Paul"):
The Sony VAIO VGN-AR290 is a media monster. The 17-inch widescreen LCD is perfect for gaming or watching Blu-Ray disc movies in high definition. Dual hard drives totaling 200GB of storage can contain hours of recorded TV shows (captured with the included TV tuner), ready to be displayed on your HDTV via the notebook's HDMI output.
* 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
* 17-inch LCD display
* 200GB hard drive, 1GB RAM
* Dual-layer DVD+/-RW burner, Memory Stick reader, one HDMI output, Blu-Ray compatible
* NVidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics card
* Wi-Fi enabled
* Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; ready to run Windows Vista (not included)
* Integrated TV Tuner
"Paul" is fairly pricey, but ready for WinVista in the future and likely not to need upgrading any time soon. Prices range from $1500 to almost $3000 (gulp!), which is more than $1000 more than I really want to pay. I'll do it if it will keep me from having to think about buying computers for at least five years, though. I just don't wanna.
Candidate 3 (this is "George"):
The Sony VGN-AR190 is the most advanced notebook you can get your hands on without the use of a time machine. It's massively expensive, around $3,500, but that's what happens when a manufacturer crams every possible feature into a computer. It has the requisite 17-inch screen neccesary for true luxury, it has Windows XP Media Center Edition and a TV Tuner, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless, a stunning 200GB Hard Drive (!) and 1GB installed RAM. Perhaps most amazingly, however, is the Blu-Ray disc burner, which can store between 25 and 50GB of high-definiton video or data on a single disc. This computer is so ridiculously stuffed full of features, it seems to defy reality. If you're serious about your multimedia entertainment, this is the holy grail.
* 17-inch display
* 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo T2500 processor
* 200GB hard drive, 1GB RAM
* Blu-Ray DVD burner
* TV tuner
* Nvidia GeForce Go 7600GT video card
* Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
* Windows XP Media Center 2005
They claim "George" is about $3500, but I've found him priced at $1700 or so. I may be able to do even better if I set my sights on hunting down a bargain.
What you should know: I do a lot of high-end graphics work for grad school. This includes using software like Maya 3-D modelling. I am not big on games, but I do need to be able to run some of the more popular ones, as I share my major with the Game Development majors and am thus forced to take classes that require me to use high-end MMORPG-style games (things like human-centered design and the like are super-intensively interested in stuff like Second Life et al, and I'm pretty much cluefree). I do want to try Sims 2, but am not champing at the bit to do so, and I'm too busy at present to get invested in a time-intensive new computer game. I need to make and burn multimedia DVDs for presentations. I need to run up to 6 memory-intensive programs at the same time when upgrading web sites or doing class projects. I handle enormous (1G+) files and need a lot of scratch file space. I do not know if I'll have to use all of these demanding applications AFTER I get my degree, but I definitely have to do it now, and if I end up going back to doing consulting work to supplement my income, a study machine is vital. Don't care about watching TV on the laptop, but probably will if I can.
I'm deliberately overestimating my needs somewhat so I won't have to worry about falling behind tech-wise for a couple of years.
Another big issue is available USB ports. Currently my devices fight over two slots. I could fill up five easily. Four is the minimum to avoid constant aggravation associated with making one device mad in order to use another.
You'll also note that I haven't put any tablet PCs on the list (they'd be "Ringo" and "Pete," obviously, if I had). I haven't found any that have superlative features AND the convertible display screen feature, and I'm not convinced I'd use the tablet feature enough to skimp on other things. Two of my professors swear by theirs, but they teach and I currently do not. I had to buy a tablet for one of my classes and I rarely use it. Supposedly I need a special new stylus as the default one sucks butt, and I haven't messed with that yet. Gettng a tablet-based unit when I rarely use the tablet I have seems stupid.
Also, as much as I loved my Macs, I have thousands of dollars of WIN software and whereas I can pay for a machine that I won't need to fret over for a while, I can't re-buy all the necessary software; I've already misplaced my Photoshop CDs, and am panicking about having to rebuy THAT.
I don't mess about with movies online, but I do deejay and so I download music files, convert LPs and cassettes to MP3s, edit, equalize and trim up MP3s and other sound files and store thousands of files. I burn mix-CDs for my show. Obviously this takes a lot of space and a top-notch CD reader/burner. Good external speakers on my future laptop are a plus, though I tend to listen via headphones even though I live alone (I'm a creature of habit).
I also take a LOT of photos, and store them on my computer, but that's primarily a storage issue that can be handled by a decent-sized harddrive.
The weight of the laptop is not a big concern. I think these choices average out at eight pounds, which isn't light, but is better than the fifteen pound bricks I've seen. They have to be sturdy travellers, but they don't need to be feather-light. Bigger screens are important, though, as I have multiple graphics apps running at once, and a bigger visual area to work with is definitely helpful.
Advice welcomed. Don't be afraid to suggest good but cheaper units if you know of any. I hear good things about Lenovo machines. Or, ask yourself this: if you could buy ANY laptop at all, but you had to keep it for at least the next 6 years without being able to upgrade, which would it be? What's your ultimate dream machine?
3. I had a third question, but am so frustrated thinking about computers that I forgot what it was. So, never mind. :) I think I was going to ask where I could find cheap DVDs of Absolutely Fabulous. Cheap DVDs in general would be good. Cheap Britcom DVDs are even better! My taste is weird, though: I'd rather watch Le Chien Andalou, After Hours, Nico: Icon or Absolute Warhola than Adam Sandler movies, Titanic, 2 Fast 2 Furious or 24: The First Season. Guess which DVDs are easiest to find? There are few mass market films I feel the urge to rewatch over and over. Now I can RENT crappy film DVDs to watch, though, or borrow them from the library. It was time to join the new millennium. The library and Blockbuster and Hollywood Video no longer have many (if any) VHS tapes to rent.
I hate to repeat the word "cheap" over and over, but, really, I hate shopping. Been there, done that, am in the process of fixing my crappy credit and settling debts. This time next year, I will have NO debt. None. Credit card companies are sniffing around me like flies on poo and won't leave me alone, y'all. I rip up 2-3 offers every week. I use the fake credit cards as bookmarks. They can bite my butt with their 18% interest / annual fees bullcrap. I'm all into not spending "what I ain't got" these days, and not spending MUCH of what I do have unless I have to. I don't want to eat Fancy Feast and ramen when I retire.