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Thursday, March 01, 2007
Mephala's Tips for Buying a Laptop
Yes, this is my mission for the month of March. The I.T. Show is looming and I am frantically researching the prices and models so that when the time comes, my hands will be all over the lovely machines.
Since this will be my sticky and guide for myself, I present to you, Mephala's Tips for Buying a Laptop.
1. Decide what you want your laptop for.
Is it for work, school, design, gaming, or just surfing and email? Each function requires a slightly different configuration.
If you need it for work or school, you'll probably carry it around. So portability is a concern. You'd probably want to look at the laptops with a weight under 2.5kg (including battery pack - ah this they don't always tell you in the specs).
If you want it for design, get one with a large screen and the best graphics card you can afford.
Similarly for gaming, you'll want a large screen (minimum 14" - come on, how are you going to PvP on a 12") and a good graphics card.
In fact for the above two categories, get a desktop if you can afford the space and don't need the portability. The price you pay for a laptop can buy you two desktops already. Or else just get an external 20" screen. I have one. It is very very nice. :)
Finally, for just surfing and email, and probably photo storage, get a basic model.
2. Decide on a budget.
Sigh... this is the part when reality bites. Perhaps I should retitle this, "decide on a realistic budget".
Laptops are expensive. As mentioned before, you can get 2 desktops for the price of 1 laptop, and usually with similar specs.
But there is nothing like a laptop nice and warm on your lap, beside you while you sleep, and greeting you with a startup when you wake.
Okay, I digress.
Yes, decide on how much you can afford and then match it to your needs.
3. Do some research.
So now you know roughly what you want, visit some review sites to see what you can get for that price and range. Then isolate your selection to let's say 3 models and search online to see what peeps are saying about them. Read in particular what users say.
With technology, you can read the reviews and be absolutely certain you want something but then at the store, when you handle it for the first time, you become sorely disappointed. It is almost like having an online romance (not from personal experience but I can relate) and then meeting that person IRL.
Anyway, be prepared for this shocking experience. I did so with my first digital camera purchase. I spent a month and a year deciding to get the Canon A70 but the moment I touched it I cringed. It felt so heavy, chunky, and plasticky. Vincent immediately passed me the Panasonic Lumix F1 and the moment I touched it, I was in love. Never mind I never read a word about it before the "touch test". I bought it and spent many wonderful months with it.
I digress again.
Okay, so head to the store and touch the laptops. See if you like how the keyboard feels when you touch it. See if you like the touchpad or prefer the pointer (little nub thing). See if you like how it looks in real life.
5. Sleep on it.
If you have some self-control (don't worry if you have none - I buy my tech stuff on the spot), sleep on it and see if you can sleep at all. If you can't, get up and surf a bit, look at its picture, and return to get it tomorrow.
When you are there, see if you can haggle for extra bits like DVDs, SD card readers, a mini-mouse, and other peripherals. And then pass them to me.
Oh sweet! I was just thinking of how else I can back up my stuff when I stumbled on IDrive-E Online Backup. They give free 2GB for storage online. No strings attached.
A friend of mine who is a hardcore techie told me that they don't make computers the way they used to anymore. We gave the computers of old a moment of silence and he proceeded to tell me why. They're not made to last anymore. Components are more fragile, especially hard drives. So much for storage huh, he grumbled.
It got me thinking how else I could store my precious photos, poetry, articles, websites I had archived over the past few years, now precariously and rather haphazardly kept in various CDs (which have not been examined for scratchage) and two old hard drives which are still working. I am hesitant to delete Jack's photos and videos from the 1GB card in my phone.
So the timing couldn't be more perfect!
Storage is an iffy thing. Even keeping stuff offline can be hazardous to fire, mold, angry cats, curious babies, and fastidious husbands. I've lost 2 years of work from a crashed computer which I lazily forgot to back up.
With the IDrive-E Online Backup, you can do a remote backup in a simple drag and drop interface, and this part I like: it has enhanced security with 128-bit SSL encryption on transfers, 256-bit AES encryption on storage with a user-defined key. It doesn't get more secure than this.
I'll post a review on TechBot after a couple of weeks of test running it. If you have any questions, visit their FAQs and then go download it already.
This post is kindly sponsored by Pro Softnet Corporation which is the makers of the cool IDrive-E. Thanks for the 2GB!
My 97 year-old Grandma has been sneaking into the CNY goodie area and gobbling up a ton of goodies in plain sight. She's completely mobile, very fiesty, has all her own teeth, and very protective of Jack.
She really shouldn't be eating this stuff as she's diabetic although the strict diet she is on can't be very tasty. Lately she smiles quietly and helps herself with the grub. I swear there is no doubt Tuxie is her grandson!
Meanwhile, she just offered me a love letter after stuffing herself with several and some CNY cookies. :p
Before I became a Mom, I'd happily wear my acuvue contact lenses everyday. It feels nice to have clear vision all day instead of my rather studious-looking pair of spectacles on my nose. These days I barely have the time or energy to comb my hair. Nonetheless, on weekends when we go out I try to use my dailies.
I do have rather dry eyes, especially after working on the computer all day and surfing on my mobile phone in the evenings while nursing baby to sleep. In fact I think my eyesight has deteriorated since I gave birth! The funny thing is, when I wet my lenses, pop them it, the lens seems to lubricate the eye and retain that lubrication so through the day, my eyes feel more moist. A real curious phenomenon. I wonder why.
AC Lens has a pretty good resource on eye care and a neat forum. They stock my daily lenses as well and the prices are pretty good. Check out their Ask a Doctor section and stop by their Contact Lens Forums. I should try to ask them about my weird moist-with-lenses-eyes and a few questions I have on Lasik.
This post was kindly sponsored by the good people of AC Lens, who have generously provided an excellent information resource on eye care and concerns for everyone.
Aye, I can relate to that. Back in the day when customer service officers actually picked up the phone not a machine, customer care actually meant that, manuals were actually useful, and companies actually bothered about you after you paid them.
Service standards range from excellent to downright awful these days. The experience of shopping should be just that: an experience. For someone who associates a purchase with the whole experience, sometimes it can put me off buying something if the service staff is rude, never mind aftersales care. Plus, the word service means to help. Very often it is overlooked.
It's been said that the secret to a good marriage is... don't change. In other words, be the person you were when you were merely dating. Don't stop paying attention. Don't stop being kind. Don't gain 50 pounds. Don't stop flirting. Stay passionate, stay sexy, stay caring. Answer their calls. Unfortunately, too many companies are all candle-lit dinners, fine wine, and "let's talk about you" until the deal is sealed. Once they have you (i.e. you became a paying customer), you realize you got a bait-and-switch relationship.
I think the problem is that companies have forgotten the golden rules of social responsibility and maintaining good relationships. It's all about the bottom line now. Service staff are underpaid and overworked. No wonder they have no incentive to be nice, particularly if there have been difficult customers in the house.
It's easy to cite it as a work ethic issue. Japanese and Taiwanese service staff are some of the best I have ever encountered. I cannot say for sure how much they are paid but it certainly is in their work ethic to be polite.
Can we say conclusively that it is an issue about poor working conditions? There is only one way that change can happen, as with all other changes. From top down. Management has to treat their service staff well, train them to treat us well, so that we have a good buying experience.
But until companies are willing to expend the resources to lead the way, we'll be better off buying selectively.
I've been going crazy with my Canon Selphy CP400 so to be able to print from my phone has gotten me thrilled since as you all know, I already live vicariously through my phone.
Zink (sounds like it stands for zero ink), by the way, is a spin-off from Polaroid, so their imaging quality is pretty decent. Their integration with phones will kick off end of this year. I am looking forward to it!
For a long while now, I've been admiring the Sony Ericsson W880i (see pic on left). Yes, that beautiful thing.
I remember its picture screaming out at me in magazine ads and swooned over its gorgeous sleek black design and sweet orange buttons. Hubby had to wipe my drool off our copy of Stuff. As much as I love functionality, I adore heart-stopping gadget designs. But before I spend pages waxing lyrical about its beauty, I must mention its amazing specs.
It is tri-band (yay when I travel), has 3G and Bluetooth, a must-have for all mobile surfing gadget freaks like me, a digital cam for taking quick snaps, a cool music player integrated with WalkmanTM technology, a free 1GB memory card, long battery life, and it is astonishingly light to boot (9.5mm thick and 72 grams in weight).
Basically it can do everything my phone can (and more - mine doesn't have tri-band). Plus it is sleeker, way better looking, and fits perfectly in my jeans pocket and does not make that unsightly bulge.
My mobile contract is due for a renewal soon. Perhaps it is time to get a brand new phone. :)
The sponsor of this post has just enticed the author to upgrade her old phone.
I've always been a huge proponent of being responsible for securing your own computer. Granted, not everyone is savvy about Internet and computer security but it should be drilled into everyone buying a computer that installing an antivirus, firewall, and spyware protection is like putting a lock on your home. It is that basic.
While this post is sponsored, the author had already previously downloaded and highly lauded the freebies Google made available. She strongly urges all computer users to put a lock on that gate already.
I've lived in two of the coldest cities in the world: Toronto and Melbourne. Okay okay, so I don't take to the cold very well. I like a comfortable temperature of 24-28 degrees Celsius all year round. Can't help it. I was born and bred in the tropics.
In Toronto, where the outside temperature had been cold for me 9 months of a year while I lived there, I kept my portable heater on to full (30 degrees C) so I could sit around in t-shirt and shorts while it was -40 degrees C out. Very unenvironmental, I know. These days I'm more enlightened.
While in Melbourne, my hubby's home had a Vent-Free Natural Gas Ultra Slim Wall Heater. It was way more efficient than the portable one which tended to burn my feet. Having researched a bit, wall heaters seem to be a better choice than the portables. They look prettier too. :)
Now that the family and I are thinking holiday, I've been pondering about the places I'd like to visit sometime in my life.
Japan is one of them, for sure. I cut out a picture from the newspaper last week of one of Japan's aquariums where a pair of whales swam before an awestruck crowd. I have my reservations about animals in captivity but once in my life, I'd like to see a whale up close.
Of course, the US of A. With so many friends there, many of which I'd love to see again one day, some time in my life I would like to visit New York, LA, North Carolina, Washington, and Las Vegas, for starters.
Europe is always a draw for me. Sure, I have visited Paris, Florence, and Rome before but it is so huge, one could never hope to explore the whole of it in several lifetimes. I love the small towns and hope to visit at least Tuscany before I grow too old to wander up the cobblestone path.
Most recently I have been rather fascinated by the artificial islands under the name of Dubai Marina, where construction is ongoing to cater to the rich and famous. Of course, I could never afford to buy a dubai property on that island, but I hear that there is no income tax and the weather is beautiful. Plus the shopping is great. :)
This post was sponsored by Dubai Venture and it has gotten this author wanderlusting again.
"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness." -- Bertrand Russell
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
-- Thomas Edison (Harper's Magazine, 1890)
A woman's romance with motherhood, green living, finance, and this heady thing called life.
Now I've mentioned 
