Hi folks!

[cyn########]

Hmmm, this place got quiet again, huh? Ah, well...

I live!

(Er, I think I do...the peanut gallery's divided on whether I live, vs
just existing. Bah. Whatever.)

So, anyway, my laptop's hard drive decided that it had had enough of
my abuse and promptly made its way to electronics heaven, where I am
sure it is laughing at my OMG! convulsions. No! NO!!!!

Apparently, _nothing_ was salvageable from the HD. (Urk! NOOOOO!)
Do not ask if I made back-ups, or I will bite your head off. (Yes,
yes, I know I'm an idiot. Thank-you.) Meh. You'd think I'd have
learned my lesson the last time this happened...which, come to think,
was one of the reasons for my first absence from aslm, iirc. Arrgh.
Sigh.

Let this be a friendly reminder -- if you have any stuff you want to
keep, make copies!!! (Because it's proving to be a pain in the ###
looking for essential files, etc.)

I'm currently shopping for a new laptop...leaning towards Dell or
Lenovo Thinkpad, simply because those are the two I've past experience
with. I think I really want the Thinkpad because I remember the
keyboard being really, really comfortable...but I'm not sure I can
justify the expense. For my needs, (no travel), I really don't need a
business line laptop...even if they do look cool. Obviously, I need
something more robust...but there's a lot of options out there! I'm
trying to figure out the differences between the different lines, but
it's a bit bewildering to me...(not something I spend a lot of, (any),
time on)...might get the "T" series, since it's supposed to have
superior build quality. (I'm...er, not gentle with my "things"...)

Anyone want to chip in with an opinion, feel free!

In other news....life is humdum, the norm. Weather's been amazing,
and contributing towards the growth of whatever it is I planted in the
garden. There are green things sprouting, so I think that's a good
sign. :P

Well, back to hiding under the rock!

Cheers all,


cyn#
(who idly thought about prozac, then remembered that I loathe drugs)
shoes kicking soccer balls

[Devra]

cyn asked for recs...

Post by cyn########
I'm currently shopping for a new laptop...leaning
towards Dell or
Lenovo Thinkpad, simply because those are the two I've past
experience with. I think I really want the Thinkpad because I remember
the keyboard being really, really comfortable...but I'm not sure I
can justify the expense. For my needs, (no travel), I really don't need
a business line laptop...even if they do look cool. Obviously, I
need something more robust...but there's a lot of options out there!
I'm trying to figure out the differences between the different lines,
but it's a bit bewildering to me...(not something I spend a lot of,
(any) time on)...might get the "T" series, since it's supposed to
have superior build quality. (I'm...er, not gentle with my
"things"...)
Anyone want to chip in with an opinion, feel free!

I shy away from Dell anymore--the product is quality, but my experience with customer service has been extremely disappointing. That said, check out the Toshiba Satellite series. These are absolute workhorses...good quality, good value, and they last forever. My two cents.

Also, backups have lately become a big issue in my household, so I did a bit of research. Mozy provides an online backup service that includes encryption, automated daily updates of your backed up files, and (best of all) a free account that will give you up to 2G of space. If you need more than that, the upgrade is only $4.95/mo. Two more cents. :-)

dev
bare feet computing on the covered porch in 80 degree weather...what could be better?

[Joules VC]

Post by Devra
cyn asked for recs...

Post by cyn########
I'm currently shopping for a new laptop...leaning
towards Dell or
Lenovo Thinkpad, simply because those are the two I've past
experience with.

Anyone want to chip in with an opinion, feel free!
I shy away from Dell anymore--the product is quality, but my experience w=

ith customer service has been extremely disappointing. That said, check out=
the Toshiba Satellite series. These are absolute workhorses...good quality=
, good value, and they last forever. My two cents.
I am currently using a Toshiba Satellite and love it. (not so much the
touchpad but I use an attached keybpard. I have terrible typing
"posture and the touchpad is very sensitive.) I tend to think that
both Dell and IBM think a little too highly of themselves and charge a
premium for their brands. I confess to an annoyance with Dell as NC
gave them HUGE tax breaks to build a plant and they bailed out on a
lot of promises. I had heard the customer service complaint before,
too.

Post by Devra
Also, backups have lately become a big issue in my household, so I did a =

bit of research. Mozy provides an online backup service that includes encry=
ption, automated daily updates of your backed up files, and (best of all) a=
free account that will give you up to 2G of space. If you need more than t=
hat, the upgrade is only $4.95/mo. Two more cents. :-)
Hmm, I will have to check this out.

joules
not so tekkie feet

[ellesin]

Hmm, I'm not sure what the train of thought was, but cyn# was asking
about Dell, and someone else said customer service notsomuch.

My 2 cents: I'm currently typing on a Dell laptop that's...<mutters,
counts on fingers...looks up brightly> about 3 years old. My
covers-everything complete care warranty runs out in 2011. I have had
excellent luck with Dell *with* the complete care coverage.
Basically, for an extra $350 when I buy my Very Expensive Laptop, I
get coverage for everything no matter what no questions asked. And I
get bumped to the head of the support queue.

That said, I'm not sure I'd recommend my old strategy. Back In The
Day, a decent computer that did what one needed was bound to be
expensive, and took about five years to go out of date. These days
I'm thinking the horizon is more like two or three years, and you can
get a lot of basic needs met for close to $600...in which case the
extra $350 makes zero sense. And then I have no idea what Dell's
support would look like.

As for backups, thank you cyn# for the reminder to back up. I am
currently cleaning my hard drive of a lot of detritus from my last
relationship. I will save the cds. Just in case. But.

And have any of you done the external hard drive backup thing? How do
you like it? I have a very tall stack of CDs that I'm not sure I'm
willing to trust with my data forever.

As for me? I'm plotting a trip to Pride in Portland, Maine next
weekend, partly because it's been years and partly because I need to
go client-hunting. I need a Thing to Hand Out about my coaching
services, so that's high on my week's list. Meanwhile I'm working in
my girlfriend's bakery, washing dishes and generally keeping her
moving through her high season. She's at something like eight or nine
farmers markets this summer, which keeps her (and me) running. I'm
also studying marketing, the better to market myself.

And with that, I'm off to figure out if my business cards will be here
by next week...

Leela, cloudy day toes

Post by Devra
cyn asked for recs...

Post by cyn########
I'm currently shopping for a new laptop...leaning
towards Dell or
Lenovo Thinkpad, simply because those are the two I've past
experience with.

Anyone want to chip in with an opinion, feel free!
I shy away from Dell anymore--the product is quality, but my experience =

w=3D

ith customer service has been extremely disappointing. That said, check o=

ut=3D

=A0the Toshiba Satellite series. These are absolute workhorses...good qua=

lity=3D

, good value, and they last forever. My two cents.
I am currently using a Toshiba Satellite and love it. (not so much the
touchpad but I use an attached keybpard. I have terrible typing
"posture and the touchpad is very sensitive.) I tend to think that
both Dell and IBM think a little too highly of themselves and charge a
premium for their brands. I confess to an annoyance with Dell as NC
gave them HUGE tax breaks to build a plant and they bailed out on a
lot of promises. I had heard the customer service complaint before,
too.

Post by Devra
Also, backups have lately become a big issue in my household, so I did a=

=3D

bit of research. Mozy provides an online backup service that includes enc=

ry=3D

ption, automated daily updates of your backed up files, and (best of all)=

a=3D

=A0free account that will give you up to 2G of space. If you need more th=

an t=3D

hat, the upgrade is only $4.95/mo. Two more cents. :-)
Hmm, I will have to check this out.
joules
not so tekkie feet
--
-----------------------------
ASLM is a moderated newsgroup.
Our webpage is at http://www.shoelesbians.com
The archive is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aslm_archive/

[Devra]

Post by ellesin
And have any of you done the external hard drive
backup thing? How do
you like it? I have a very tall stack of CDs
that I'm not sure I'm
willing to trust with my data forever.

Yup. I've been using a 500G Western Digital My Book USB drive to back up the computers in the house, but it was a pain to move from one computer to another. Cost around $70 at the time, I think. Just bought a 1 terabyte Western Digital My Book World Edition NAS (Network Attached Storage) which I was able to connect to my wireless router. Then I connected the USB drive to the NAS, and now all computers in the house have wireless access to all the storage on both external drives. It's pretty freakin cool. Sent all my itunes music from each of the computers to the NAS, and now itunes on any of the computers can stream whatever music they want. Plus I have double backup capacity for the important data. The NAS was about $150.

All that said, I spent months researching, and since I'm on a tight budget, and very conscious of quality. And researching how to put everything together on networking forums, etc. For quality and affordability, the World Book series seemed to come out on top.

dev
techie toes

[cyn########]

Post by Devra
Yup. I've been using a 500G Western Digital My Book USB drive
to back up the computers in the house, but it was a pain to move
from one computer to another. Cost around $70 at the time, I think.

Interesting. <scribbles down some notes> Something of this nature
will be on my shopping trip, _after_ the laptop is purchased.

Post by Devra
Just bought a 1 terabyte Western Digital My Book World Edition NAS
(Network Attached Storage) which I was able to connect to my wireless
router. Then I connected the USB drive to the NAS, and now all computers
in the house have wireless access to all the storage on both external drives.
It's pretty freakin cool.

[...]

Uh, not sure how all that worked, (eek, I'm even less techie than I
thought!), but it sounds very useful. Wait. <reads again, this time
s l o w l y. Okay. Got it! I'll look into this option, too. Maybe
a longer term project -- I doubt I'd have the need for so much
space...but the wireless potential is intriguing.

Post by Devra
All that said, I spent months researching, and since I'm on a tight budget,
and very conscious of quality. And researching how to put everything together
on networking forums, etc. For quality and affordability, the World Book series
seemed to come out on top.
dev
techie toes

Hey, wanna do my research for me...?!?


cyn#
(knew I'd learn something if I read what Dev writes)
shoes wishing their owner were more techie-inclined...before disaster
strikes

[Devra]

cyn tried to decipher my techno speak about usb drives and network attached storage...

Post by cyn########
Uh, not sure
how all that worked, (eek, I'm even less techie than I
thought!), but it
sounds very useful. Wait. <reads again, this time
s l o w l y. Okay. Got it! I'll look into this option, too.
Maybe
a longer term project -- I doubt I'd have the need for so
much
space...but the wireless potential is intriguing.

You don't HAVE to get both a USB drive and an NAS. I just did things backwards. The NAS sometimes comes in smaller doses than a full TB, and personally I think it's a better option because you can keep it plugged into the network all the time. The USB drive was a pain in the butt, because it never failed that I'd be looking for some photo, realize it's on the external drive, not get around to hooking it up, then later forget what I was doing... the NAS gets around all that.


then she tried to sucker me...

Post by cyn########
Hey, wanna do my research for me...?!?

Uh...NO!!! :-)

finally she tried to sweeten me up with compliments...

Post by cyn########
cyn#
(knew I'd
learn something if I read what Dev writes)

hmmmm....flattery will get you...everywhere!

dev
easily swayed toes

[Diana Eichert]

I'm a big believer in cheap, $300 - $400, notebooks then buy 3rd
party 3 year service contract from http://www.squaretrade.com/
. I bought an E-Machine back in Feb for ~$300 then bought
the squaretrade service contract for $60.

Right now there is ether an Acer or Compaq for under $400 forsale at
Staples.

Low price computer hardware is disposable after three years. The
only real issue is how this old stuff gets recycled. Most of it
gets sent to China to be dismantled in some pretty nasty ways,
both labor and environmental.

diana

[cyn########]

Post by ellesin
My 2 cents: I'm currently typing on a Dell laptop that's...<mutters,
counts on fingers...looks up brightly> about 3 years old.

Hey, me too! (Actually, 3.5yrs old).

Post by ellesin
My
covers-everything complete care warranty runs out in 2011. I have had
excellent luck with Dell *with* the complete care coverage.

Ha. Both my previous laptops, I ordered 3 year warranty on, (complete
care, on-site), and they chugged along fine. It was only _after_ the
warranty expired that they failed. Each year that passed by and I
didn't use the warranty, I was kicking myself for buying it.
Especially when prices continued to drop.

Post by ellesin
Basically, for an extra $350 when I buy my Very Expensive Laptop, I
get coverage for everything no matter what no questions asked. And I
get bumped to the head of the support queue.

Yeah. Mine cost 'round $1500, (taxes in), and at the time, I figured
averaging $500/year was acceptable. With repairs being expensive(?),
and laptops more prone to failure, I was _sure_ I'd make use of the
extended warranty. Bleh.

Post by ellesin
That said, I'm not sure I'd recommend my old strategy. Back In The
Day, a decent computer that did what one needed was bound to be
expensive, and took about five years to go out of date. These days
I'm thinking the horizon is more like two or three years, and you can
get a lot of basic needs met for close to $600...in which case the
extra $350 makes zero sense.

I agree with this. If I was paying for the new laptop myself, I'd
probably just go with something basic, 'round $500Cdn. One year
standard warranty is fine, and the credit card should extend that
warranty by another year....so, $250/year, meh. Anything on top of
that is gravy. By the time I need another, they'll have gotten even
better/cheaper...

Post by ellesin
As for backups, thank you cyn# for the reminder to back up.

Sure. <grumble, mutter> Me and my 70GB of lost whatever-the-bleep I
had on the HD are glad that someone can benefit from the experience.
Bleeping bleeeep. Bleep. (Er, I'm still a little...sensitive).

Post by ellesin
I am currently cleaning my hard drive of a lot of detritus from my
last relationship. I will save the cds. Just in case. But.

Let's change places! Expunging files _voluntarily_ sounds like
fun...!

Post by ellesin
As for me? I'm plotting a trip to Pride in Portland, Maine next
weekend, partly because it's been years and partly because I need to
go client-hunting.

Tell us about it! (It'll be a welcome change from my griping!) ;-)

Post by ellesin
Meanwhile I'm working in
my girlfriend's bakery, washing dishes and generally keeping her
moving through her high season. She's at something like eight or nine
farmers markets this summer, which keeps her (and me) running. I'm
also studying marketing, the better to market myself.

Good to hear you're both busy. (I'd be tempted to nibble on the goods
if I were working in a bakery...yum...uh, I mean the _baked_ goods...)

Post by ellesin
And with that, I'm off to figure out if my business cards will be here
by next week...

Thanks for posting! I was wondering how you were making out.


cyn#
(meh, do I hate this shopping experience)
shoes needing to do some more research

[ellesin]

Let's change places! =A0Expunging files _voluntarily_ sounds like
fun...!

Uh, er, no, that's okay actually. I don't think I need a major data
loss at the moment, thank you anyway. But if you'd like a few grumpy
missives from my last breakup...on second thoughts, no, some things
shouldn't be inflicted on anyone.

As for me? =A0I'm plotting a trip to Pride in Portland, Maine next
weekend, partly because it's been years and partly because I need to
go client-hunting.

Tell us about it! =A0(It'll be a welcome change from my griping!) ;-)

.laugh. I wish I could bring my girlfriend, who works at top speed
from the moment when the first people start arriving "from away" until
they all go home again. But you know, she's working--hard. I'd stay
and help out, but we've agreed that probably marketing is an important
investment of time this early in the business. So...off I go.
Probably. I just need to work out the details. Housing. Getting
there. The usual. Between now and then I try to make some coherent
kind of marketing plan. I help people who are well-settled -- maybe a
little too well-settled -- reignite the adventure in their lives, with
a specialty practice in sex and sexuality issues. Hence Pride. My
plan so far is to hand out stickers that say, "not boring. Go on,
ask." and postcards with little blurbs, images of the stickers, and
the question, "What would YOU say?" Kind of confusing to explain in
bits and bytes; I hope it works.

Meanwhile I'm working in
my girlfriend's bakery, <snip>

Good to hear you're both busy. =A0(I'd be tempted to nibble on the goods
if I were working in a bakery...yum...uh, I mean the _baked_ goods...)

.grin. all kinds of nibbles are very, very tempting. I am so
unbelievably lucky. There's a curious kind of synergy between
gustatory and um...other yummies. Taste is just another way to access
pleasure. :)

And then for fun I'm contemplating the possibilities (positive and
negative) attached to perhaps selling my house, and/or fixing it
up...but I'm not moving far--I'm pretty determined to stay in the same
place. If you know anyone who wants a beautiful cabin in the Maine
woods with water access, let me know. :)

So lots going on, but most of it very good. I'm excited about taking
on more clients and getting to do this work that I love (LOVE--did I
mention love?) on a full-time basis. There is nothing more awesome
than watching someone take a leap that they want .so. badly, based on
what they really value in life. It's like coming out--that
possibility, that excitement, and sometimes the grief, too. Change is
like that.

Anyway, I can go on about it forever so I'll stop. :)

Leela, toes up way too late for bakers' hours

[cyn########]

Post by Joules VC

Post by Devra
I shy away from Dell anymore--the product is quality, but my experience
with customer service has been extremely disappointing. That said, check
out the Toshiba Satellite series. These are absolute workhorses...good
quality, good value, and they last forever. My two cents.

I hadn't even thought of these...I'll have to take a look. There's a
Future Shop and a Staples nearby, so I should be able to find one
there to check out.

Post by Joules VC
I am currently using a Toshiba Satellite and love it. (not so much the
touchpad but I use an attached keybpard. I have terrible typing
"posture and the touchpad is very sensitive.)

How long have you had it? It's proving to be durable? (I'm a little
paranoid, since I can be rough with the electronics...no doubt cause
of the catastrophic HD failure...sigh...) I'm not travelling, so
portability doesn't matter anymore...except from one room to another,
up and down stairs. (Geez, all of this is making me think my life is
boring...)

I don't like using peripherals with my laptop, (excluding the mouse,
of course) -- I think the keyboard that comes with a machine should be
good enough to use full time! Darn it! (And my desk has NO room for
more clutter). But then, I don't use the laptop for anything but the
basics, so it's not like I _need_ a better keyboard.

Post by Joules VC
I tend to think that both Dell and IBM think a little too highly of
themselves and charge a premium for their brands.

The Lenovo (nee IBM) Thinkpads certainly seem to be premium cost. Not
sure about Dell, or others, but I've only been paying attention to
pricing in my current quest.

Post by Joules VC
I confess to an annoyance with Dell as NC
gave them HUGE tax breaks to build a plant and they bailed out on a
lot of promises.

Ugh. I hate when companies do that. (I'm looking at you, GM!)

Post by Joules VC
I had heard the customer service complaint before,too.

Interesting...I heard that too, somewhere, but wasn't sure on this. I
thought Dell was known for having great customer service...maybe that
was yeeeears ago, though.

Okay, so Dell is out. I'll look at some Toshiba Satellites. (Thanks
Dev and Joules).

Gah.

This might go better if I had a better sense of what I wanted....feh.


cyn#
feet

[felice]

Post by cyn########
Hmmm, this place got quiet again, huh? Ah, well...

Apparently so.

Post by cyn########
Let this be a friendly reminder -- if you have any stuff you want to
keep, make copies!!!

Very good advice. Which I'll eventually get round to following.

Post by cyn########
I think I really want the Thinkpad because I remember the
keyboard being really, really comfortable...but I'm not sure I can
justify the expense.

A comfortable keyboard sounds like a pretty good justification to me;
what proportion of your time do you spend on the computer? I'm guessing
it's more than half an hour on alternate weekends. Though do test the
keyboard to make sure it hasn't been redesigned since your last one, if
at all possible.

Post by cyn########
(I'm...er, not gentle with my "things"...)

*felice's mind goes to an entirely inappropriate happy place*

Post by cyn########
Weather's been amazing,

You mean it's gone above freezing? ;)

Post by cyn########
and contributing towards the growth of whatever it is I planted in the
garden. There are green things sprouting, so I think that's a good
sign. :P

As long as it is in the garden, yes. In the fridge or under the bed, not
so much.

felice
chilly feet, though not by Canadian standards

[Rebecca Burnett]

(sipping a Coke and watching the exchange between cyn#, dev, and felice)

Post by cyn########
Let this
be a friendly reminder -- if you have any stuff you want to
keep, make
copies!!!

dev suggested Toshiba in cyn#'s search for a reliable replacement
and felice was watching green things sprout under cyn#'s bed,.....
or something like that!

Just as I read cyn#'s post on a catastrophic computer failure, my very
own screen went completely blank! I went through this back in February,
and was down two weeks until I could find a computer tech to fix it.
Wonder of all wonders, I forgot to turn on my power converter and my
battery went dead...where's my warning?!?!

Anyhoo....I was hoping that everyone was doing okay. I have been
on the road and the work has been steady. The freight pay seems to
be getting cheaper though...sigh.

On a good note, I'll be heading to Texas tomorrow from Detroit. I'll hopefully
get to see my kid again. I think it's been almost a year!

lastoutlaw
truckin' shoes

[cyn########]

Post by felice

Post by cyn########
Hmmm, this place got quiet again, huh? Ah, well...

Apparently so.

And, apparently, the way to liven things up is to ask folks about
their toys...

Post by felice

Post by cyn########
Let this be a friendly reminder -- if you have any stuff you want to
keep, make copies!!!

Very good advice. Which I'll eventually get round to following.

And license keys! Write down your license keys! (For software that
you may have d/l, and not have hard copies of... %#$!)

Post by felice

Post by cyn########
I think I really want the Thinkpad because I remember the
keyboard being really, really comfortable...but I'm not sure I can
justify the expense.

A comfortable keyboard sounds like a pretty good justification to me;
what proportion of your time do you spend on the computer?

uh....waytoomuch....but cutting back, since it's summer, and I should
do _something_ to justify my existance. I need to spend some more
time on property maintenance.

Post by felice
Though do test the keyboard to make sure it hasn't been redesigned
since your last one, if at all possible.

Hmmm. I'm not sure if retail units carry Thinkpads 'round here. I'll
have to look into this more. Gah, I need to get this thing ordered by
the end of the week.


cyn#
(geez, there's a lot of products to choose from)
shoes puttering about

[nora]

Post by Devra

Post by cyn########
I'm currently shopping for a new laptop...leaning
towards Dell or Lenovo Thinkpad, simply because those are the two I've past
experience with.

I shy away from Dell anymore--the product is quality, but my experience with customer service has been extremely disappointing. That said, check out the

Toshiba Satellite series. These are absolute workhorses...good quality, good value, and they last forever. My two cents.

I agree - avoid the Dell. I've had several Lenovo thinkpads (both personal and work-issued) and have had good luck with them.

Post by Devra
dev
bare feet computing on the covered porch in 80 degree weather...what could be better?

well, i'm computing on my back deck, but unfortunately it isn't screened and the bugs are biting. so what could be better? computing on the porch with no
bugs!

- nora
travellin' feet back from a 9-day stay in italy

[cyn########]

Post by nora

Post by Devra

Post by cyn########
I'm currently shopping for a new laptop...leaning
towards Dell or Lenovo Thinkpad,

I shy away from Dell anymore--the product is quality, but my experience
with customer service has been extremely disappointing. That said, check
out the Toshiba Satellite series. These are absolute workhorses...good
quality, good value, and they last forever. My two cents.

I agree - avoid the Dell. I've had several Lenovo thinkpads (both personal
and work-issued) and have had good luck with them.

Have you used them until they died? Or, were they "leased" or traded
in? I'm curious what their life span was. I tend to associate
Thinkpads with business, and there's no way I would maximize that
capacity...but...ilikethenameThinkpad...(yes, I am that fickle)...

If I buy before June 17, I think I can make use of a 30% coupon to
lower the price on a higher end Thinkpad. Arrrgh. Decisions.

Oh...and, <cough>...if I play my cards right, I won't even have to pay
for it. (Silver lining!) Actually, the purchase is approved, I'm
just holding my breath a little until it goes through, and I get the
moolah back.

I get to spend > $1000, with an upper limit of about $1300 on the new
laptop. So...this gives me a fair bit of room to play with...! <g>
Makes choosing what I want, vs. what I _need_ a lot more difficult,
though!

For those US-based folks, knock about $200 off that, to get a sense of
what my Canuck money will buy. You can get a lot more, for a lot
less, south of the border! Even with close-to-dollar-parity. (This
used to really bug me, but then I realized we have higher costs in
Canada because the cost of doing business here tends to be a lot
higher -- taxes, etc, which do go towards better health care, etc, in
general...I think/hope...so, if the higher costs go towards a better
quality of living for society, I'm okay with it!)

Meh. I'd rather buy a cheaper system and just pocket the difference,
but that's not how it works.

Post by nora
- nora
travellin' feet back from a 9-day stay in italy

Sounds fun! Or, work?


cyn#
(should get outta here, and find the ideal laptop NOW!)
shoes wasting time

[nora]

Post by cyn########

Post by nora
I agree - avoid the Dell. I've had several Lenovo thinkpads (both personal
and work-issued) and have had good luck with them.

Have you used them until they died? Or, were they "leased" or traded
in? I'm curious what their life span was. I tend to associate
Thinkpads with business, and there's no way I would maximize that
capacity...but...ilikethenameThinkpad...(yes, I am that fickle)...

The work-issued ones (probably 5 or 6 of them over the past 15 years) I just turned in. I've only had two personal ones - my original laptop from the late '90's
(which is now essentially a desktop since it isn't wireless - it sits on the desk in the office downstairs for my son to use for homework) and my current 5-yr-old
model that I am using at this very moment. It works fine so I see no reason to replace it.

Post by cyn########
If I buy before June 17, I think I can make use of a 30% coupon to
lower the price on a higher end Thinkpad. Arrrgh. Decisions.

In that case, I'm too late to comment - I've been out of town enjoing a mother-son holiday (which was fabulous except for the sunburn!)

Post by cyn########
Oh...and, <cough>...if I play my cards right, I won't even have to pay
for it. (Silver lining!) Actually, the purchase is approved, I'm
just holding my breath a little until it goes through, and I get the
moolah back.

Cool beans - that sounds like a sweet deal!

Post by cyn########
I get to spend > $1000, with an upper limit of about $1300 on the new
laptop. So...this gives me a fair bit of room to play with...! <g>
Makes choosing what I want, vs. what I _need_ a lot more difficult,
though!

So what did you get? Or did you already say and I just haven't gotten to it yet? I keep telling myself to read ALL the posts before I respond, but I never
listen to my own advice <g>

Post by cyn########
For those US-based folks, knock about $200 off that, to get a sense of
what my Canuck money will buy. You can get a lot more, for a lot
less, south of the border! Even with close-to-dollar-parity. (This
used to really bug me, but then I realized we have higher costs in
Canada because the cost of doing business here tends to be a lot
higher -- taxes, etc, which do go towards better health care, etc, in
general...I think/hope...so, if the higher costs go towards a better
quality of living for society, I'm okay with it!)

Sounds reasonable to me

Post by cyn########
Meh. I'd rather buy a cheaper system and just pocket the difference,
but that's not how it works.

But can you get a cheaper system and add one of those cool routers with a USB drive for back-ups like Dev was raving about?

Post by cyn########

Post by nora
- nora
travellin' feet back from a 9-day stay in italy

Sounds fun! Or, work?

It was vacation. I had 9 days in Italy with my partner, my daughter, my aunt, my neice, my nephew, and several friends ... then was back for a week before
heading out of town for four days with my son. All fun - but now my vacation time for the year is all spent!

- nora
work shoes again

[cyn########]

Post by nora

Post by cyn########
I get to spend > $1000, with an upper limit of about $1300 on the new
laptop. So...this gives me a fair bit of room to play with...! <g>

So what did you get? Or did you already say and I just haven't gotten to it yet? I keep telling myself to read ALL the posts before I respond, but I never
listen to my own advice <g>

...can't....decide...not...sure....arrrrrgh....one hour
left....arrrgh...


cyn#
(maybe there's a coupon tomorrow...arrrrgh...)
last minute shoes, that would reply in greater depth to nora's post,
but I'm a little distracted... ;-)
(Thanks, good to know you've got a long lasting Thinkpad!)