The Valiant III has landed. Welcome home.
New York City was utterly disappointing today. Most of the time it thundered and rained like there was no tomorrow, like Zeus was throwing a hissy fit. The bottom of my jeans got completely soaked and, since I was such a genius for wearing flip-flops, my feet were muddy and constantly assaulted with gravel and soggy cigarette ash.
The purpose of the trip was relatively simple: visit the Sony Plaza on Madison Avenue to test out some of the new laptop prototypes then compare and contrast them to the Apple Macbook; make a list, some sort of vendiagram, whatever, then make a decision, whip out the credit cards, and weep. Well, maybe not so much the last part seeing as purchasing a new laptop should bring joy into my life, much like adopting little Cambodian children does for North American parents.
Now I'm not one of those spoiled kids who just get bored of my toys and then have the relentless urge to buy new ones - my old laptop has really taken a beating in the years I've had him. Also, he's quite large (18 inch screen) and weighs about the same as Mt. Fuji. As you can imagine, it's quite the hassle to lug around. My parents and I have decided that it is only best to get a smaller sized notebook that I can bring to class at University and use at my leisure. The only issue left now, was one of preference and taste.
In the end, the choice was clear cut and rather unsurprising; I am a loyal Sony girl, I have to admit. Playstation I and II, desktops, my cellphone, television set, the laptop. Even my first Walkman (wow that was a long time ago) was of the Sony brand. I don't do it on purpose to be honest and in fact, hadn't really noticed my blatant devotion to Sony until today, whilst mentally categorizing all the crap that I own. I attempted, last week, to shift over to the Mac but that battle was pathetically futile. I have apparently sold my soul to Microsoft. And I don't really regret it to be honest.
So, without further ado, welcome, The Valiant III, my third (hence the roman numeral) laptop (seriously, I go through laptops faster than Wilson does wives). He's a tiny, squat thing, around a 14 inch screen, 4 pounds, rather cute, but oh-so vicious - it's got the fastest processor Sony has developed as of date and it utilizes spyware programs like they're steroids to tear trojans and ads into pieces as if they were constructed of freaking swiss cheese. Holy fish sticks, guys, this thing is super sexy. He (I'm so convinced that laptops and their owners are paired in opposing sexes. Shut up) has a glossy dove white overcoat, like one of those badass French trench coats from The Matrix and blinding silver metallic lettering for the "VAIO" logo and he flaunts it like some sort of big Mafia street-gang tattoo. In short, he's more than impressive. I have even given him his own LJ tag.
There are many names that my laptop has had in the past, though The Valiant certainly has a long story behind it. Asides from sounding like some corny Michael Crichton movie meets Power Rangers in 3D, The Valiant has surprisingly deeper (okay, maybe not so much deep, like life-changingly deep but maybe just cooler) connotations. Sure, it vaguely resembles a name assigned to some bumbling Gundam but in actuality, it does have a legitimate reference: The Valiant was named after the spaceship in Doctor Who. Specifically, the U.N.I.T controlled airborne aircraft carrier similar to Cloudbase in Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons series. It was created by the Master (I love John Simm. /end shameless fangirl pimping) and first appeared in the episode "The Sound of Drums", then again in "Poison Sky" (which was on last night. Just so you know). It saves the planet.
Other names he has been called include: Lancelot (isn't that just hilarious? How fitting for my current state of mind), Argo, Bellerophon (this is more my desktop), Phaethon (whose hard drive, coincidentally enough, actually burned itself out in a burst of steam and fury. This was my IBM, rest in peace), and Bo.
...Yes, Bo.
The first three were the most popular because they were the most unique. Though Valiant has usually rendered scrunched up noses and baffled frowns, curiously enough, it is the one that sticks to memory the best out of all of them, much to the surprise of all (Plus, it gives you an excuse to go around saying "Valiant" all the time without sounding like some sort of medieval dork). So eventually, that was what stayed. I personally think he wears the title rather well, the stubborn, egocentric little thing. He's a real head turner, I'll give you that.
The purpose of the trip was relatively simple: visit the Sony Plaza on Madison Avenue to test out some of the new laptop prototypes then compare and contrast them to the Apple Macbook; make a list, some sort of vendiagram, whatever, then make a decision, whip out the credit cards, and weep. Well, maybe not so much the last part seeing as purchasing a new laptop should bring joy into my life, much like adopting little Cambodian children does for North American parents.
Now I'm not one of those spoiled kids who just get bored of my toys and then have the relentless urge to buy new ones - my old laptop has really taken a beating in the years I've had him. Also, he's quite large (18 inch screen) and weighs about the same as Mt. Fuji. As you can imagine, it's quite the hassle to lug around. My parents and I have decided that it is only best to get a smaller sized notebook that I can bring to class at University and use at my leisure. The only issue left now, was one of preference and taste.
In the end, the choice was clear cut and rather unsurprising; I am a loyal Sony girl, I have to admit. Playstation I and II, desktops, my cellphone, television set, the laptop. Even my first Walkman (wow that was a long time ago) was of the Sony brand. I don't do it on purpose to be honest and in fact, hadn't really noticed my blatant devotion to Sony until today, whilst mentally categorizing all the crap that I own. I attempted, last week, to shift over to the Mac but that battle was pathetically futile. I have apparently sold my soul to Microsoft. And I don't really regret it to be honest.
So, without further ado, welcome, The Valiant III, my third (hence the roman numeral) laptop (seriously, I go through laptops faster than Wilson does wives). He's a tiny, squat thing, around a 14 inch screen, 4 pounds, rather cute, but oh-so vicious - it's got the fastest processor Sony has developed as of date and it utilizes spyware programs like they're steroids to tear trojans and ads into pieces as if they were constructed of freaking swiss cheese. Holy fish sticks, guys, this thing is super sexy. He (I'm so convinced that laptops and their owners are paired in opposing sexes. Shut up) has a glossy dove white overcoat, like one of those badass French trench coats from The Matrix and blinding silver metallic lettering for the "VAIO" logo and he flaunts it like some sort of big Mafia street-gang tattoo. In short, he's more than impressive. I have even given him his own LJ tag.
There are many names that my laptop has had in the past, though The Valiant certainly has a long story behind it. Asides from sounding like some corny Michael Crichton movie meets Power Rangers in 3D, The Valiant has surprisingly deeper (okay, maybe not so much deep, like life-changingly deep but maybe just cooler) connotations. Sure, it vaguely resembles a name assigned to some bumbling Gundam but in actuality, it does have a legitimate reference: The Valiant was named after the spaceship in Doctor Who. Specifically, the U.N.I.T controlled airborne aircraft carrier similar to Cloudbase in Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons series. It was created by the Master (I love John Simm. /end shameless fangirl pimping) and first appeared in the episode "The Sound of Drums", then again in "Poison Sky" (which was on last night. Just so you know). It saves the planet.
Other names he has been called include: Lancelot (isn't that just hilarious? How fitting for my current state of mind), Argo, Bellerophon (this is more my desktop), Phaethon (whose hard drive, coincidentally enough, actually burned itself out in a burst of steam and fury. This was my IBM, rest in peace), and Bo.
...Yes, Bo.
The first three were the most popular because they were the most unique. Though Valiant has usually rendered scrunched up noses and baffled frowns, curiously enough, it is the one that sticks to memory the best out of all of them, much to the surprise of all (Plus, it gives you an excuse to go around saying "Valiant" all the time without sounding like some sort of medieval dork). So eventually, that was what stayed. I personally think he wears the title rather well, the stubborn, egocentric little thing. He's a real head turner, I'll give you that.