After nearly six years, I bought a new laptop.
Well, okay, this isn't the first new laptop I've bought in six years -- after all, I do have over 150 portable computers in my collection, most of which I have bought in the last six years.
This one, however, is different. It is destined to be my near-constant companion, my everyday tool, my tonto, if you will.
The notebook it replaces is a (actually, one of several) AMS Travelpro 5300, aka Austin BusinessPro, and Ergo Powerbrick. It was made by Arima, and was a pretty high-end machine in its day. It is, however, getting a little long in the tooth now.
The new machine is a Chembook 7400, made by Asus, probably best known for their motherboards. Chem is a well-known importer/reseller with an excellent reputation. They are also fairly local and offer pretty good service -- important considerations for a laptop.
The two computers are a little different. Take a look at the specs:
| TravelPro 5300 | Chembook 7400 | Change | |
| Processor: | 80486DX2 | Pentium II | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed: | 66mhz | 400mhz | 6x |
| RAM: | 16MB | 160MB | 10x |
| Hard Drive: | 340MB | 6.4GB | 19x |
| Video RAM: | 1MB | 8MB | 8x |
| PCMCIA Slots: | 2 | 2 | none |
| Serial Ports: | 2 RS-232C |
1 RS-232C, 1 USB |
1/2x |
| Parallel Ports: | 1 | 1 | none |
| PS/2 Ports: | 1 | 1 | none |
| Pointing Device: | Trackball | Trackpad | |
| Unique Features: |
DVD Player, MPEG Decoder, IrDA Ports (2) Sound System 56K Modem |
||
| Total Price: | $3000 | $3000 | 0x |
Something I've noticed over the years is that even as the hardware changes, improves, and gets noticeably cheaper, the cost of a complete system doesn't change much.
For example, the cost of a decent, complete desktop system about 15 years ago from a reputable off-brand (say, PC's Limited) was about $2000. Today, to get a decent, complete, non-brand system (like Dell) will cost you about $2000. Of course, back then your $2k would get you a 20mb hard drive, smaller CGA or monochrome monitor, 8088 processor with 640K, maybe 1mb, with a keyboard and possibly a basic dot-matrix printer.
Now, however, your $2K will get you a fast Pentium II or III, 64MB of memory, a 15- or 17-inch VGA monitor, 6 or 8 gigs of hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, color inkjet printer, mouse, 56K modem, and so on. Very different specs, but not so different relative to the times.
There is a lesson here -- there is no point in either waiting for the price to come down (they won't; you'll just get more for your money) or for the technology to improve (it will, but you'll always be waiting for the next big breakthrough).
So why did I wait for so long before bying a new main laptop? It's simple -- I had no pressing need. The software that I use works fine, for the most part, on my existing system. I still use the same MS-DOS-based word processor I used 15 years ago to develop all my web pages. I use it for writing articles and programs. It works fine for me.
Much of my other software runs just fine under Windows 3.11. I don't need the latest features of Microsoft Word, and Netscape and Eudora work just fine as is. (Note: I almost always have both Java and Javascript turned off, and have no plug-ins loaded. I am interested in information, not flash.)
Sure, a bigger screen would be nice, with bright color and 1024x768 on the internal LCD. But it's not necessary. I would love to have more than 32MB RAM and 1MB of Video RAM, but I get by just fine -- Win3 apps don't need much more than that. Built-in sound and a CD-ROM drive would be nice, but I would really only use them for listening to MP3's and audio CD's, and I have a very nice CD player on my desk as it is.
On top of all that, I have a significant investment in this particular model of laptop. I actually have four of them, with 4 power supplies, three docking stations, extra hard drive brackets, internal modems, a fair bit of proprietary memory, etc. To try and replace all of that, in addition to the laptop itself gets very expensive.
So why, then, did I finally break down and spend money that could have been put to use elsewhere? Well, all of the niceties I mentioned before certainly contributed to the decision. Add to that my increasing Web and Java work, plus ever larger amounts of data for such projects as the Free List, the San Francisco Urban Adventure, and the up-and-coming DuckWorld, and you have some pretty compelling reasons to get a new machine. But still, even all of that was not enough to get me to part with (or more accurately, save up) that kind of money.
What finally did it is that after 6 years of being lugged around the western US, on foot, on BART, and by Land Rover, my trusty TravelPro simply wasn 't so trusty any more. A few hard drive failures, some unexplainable mid-day shutdowns, and it was starting to become more of a hindrance than a help. Even moving the soul of my system into another TravelPro didn't entirely solve the problem -- the screen (passive matric color) on the new machine is nearly unreadable except in very dark rooms, the built-in video connector doesn't work, and when connecting to an external monitor with a docking station, the screen flickers and jitters.
So finally, I had a compelling reason to garner the necessary funds (or as it turned out, funding) to get a new laptop. Now begins an even more expensive task than the initial purchase -- migrating my applications and data to a newer operating system. For now, I am loading my existing operating system on another hard drive (I bought extra hard drive mounting brackets) and (as soon as the CD with the video drivers arrives) will simply be using it as if it were a faster TravelPro with a bigger screen.
Eventually, however, I want to make use of a different operating system -- one that can take advantage of the newer features of the laptop, such as the sound system, DVD player, extra memory, etc. For this, I want to use Linux, which I've had excellent results with so far as the internet gateway for my home network, and as a general purpose box at home (used mostly for web browsing, Java development, and playing MP3's.)
This, of course, will not be a simple task -- many of the applications I use I still need to find Linux equivalents for, and the applications I've written in-house will need to be ported (in some cases, not a trivial matter at all.) This would be true of any operating system I migrated to, so I might as well pick a good one.
In any case, it's exciting. We've already watched the first half of the Yellow Submarine on DVD (I had to have at least one, right? For testing purposes!) under Windows 98. I'm looking forward to loading my MP3's so I can rock out on the road. And, the case is a really cool gun-metal blue grey!