Sven and Alfrenzo

Mr. Laptop finally died. After months of sketchy operations, I've
finally decided it's time for him to go. I suspect the hard disk has
been corrupted, the processor has been prepared to meet its maker, and
the fan all but gave up. This is what you get for paying a lot of
money for a cheaply made piece of plastic. Since I'm brilliant, it's
been months since I've backed up everything, which could prove to be
quite sad. Maybe the folks from the Geek Squad may be able to salvage
something...good thing I'm not sentimental and good thing this
happened after I was finished with my senior thesis.

So I am now fighting the eternal battle of practicality vs. love.
Which also means IBM vs. Apple. I grew up on Apple computers but have
most recently lived in company with a Think Pad and the aforementioned
Gateway piece of uselessness. I am utterly opposed to desktops, so
lets not even go there. I've nearly clicked "buy now" at least thirty
times on apple.com, but something has stopped me and it sure as heck
ain't the money (which, by the by, is unfortunate because I wish I had
more trouble parting with large sums of cash). It isn't the software
replacement, because I certainly never actually bought any of that
(shh, don't tell). I don't know, perhaps it's my left brain fighting
my right brain. Everything about a Power Book is just prettier than a
Think Pad X-Series. And while the tablet version definitely intrigues
me, I'm not sure I'd use it enough to justify its purchase.

Something tells me, especially since evaluating my most recent
purchases, that practicality might win like usual. Just months ago, it
was Volvo S40 vs. Audi A4 and Volvo won because (a) it's safer and (b)
it was slightly cheaper. Do I regret this? Sometimes yes because Sven
the S40 doesn't have as much street cred as Alfrenzo the A4. That's
entirely okay though. I guess I should feel fortunate that I can make
those sorts of purchases, so many other people can barely purchase
food. But alas, such is the nature of life.