After 7.5 long years by my side, my Toshiba laptop, a high school graduation present from my parents, finally restarted for the last time. Along the way, I replaced the hard drive, upgraded memory, bought a new power cord…but the $150 flat fee to resolder the plug-in spot (name for this? no clue) to the motherboard seemed like just a bit too much to help it limp along any longer. And so, after about 3 or 4 long months without a computer at home, I finally was able to save up, bite the bullet, and get a new computer – another Toshiba laptop. The first one treated me so well, with no real issues over that whole lifespan, that I decided to stay with the same brand and style – but with some serious upgrades. I’m psyched. I’ll finally be able to check my email over the weekend, catch up a bit on Flickr uploading, reconsider designing a personal site (as I’m getting kind of tired of all of the wordpress.com limitations), and…post to the blog more often! Hooray! I think the couple of months that the dead computer sat sitting under my bed helped eased the separation anxiety – but in case I had any lasting qualms with starting fresh, here’s a little comparison.
| Old computer | New computer | |
| Hard drive | 30 GB (updated to 160) | 500 GB |
| RAM | 128 MB (updated to 512 – the max allowed) | 4 GB |
| USB ports | 2 (USB 1.1) | 3 or 4, including sleep and charge |
| Weight | At least 10 pounds | Half as much |
| Battery life | Maybe an hour at first, but eventually, three minutes | Up to 7.5 hours |
| Price | Almost exactly half of what my parents paid |
(image source: ToshibaDirect.com)
I like writing, photography, reading, music, design, typography, paper products, days in the seventies and sparkly snow, Spanish wine and cans of PBR. I spent a year in Córdoba, Spain, working as a 
