The past week has been pretty trying at work and at home. We're severely understaffed at the moment so everyone on the team is putting in extra time to get things done for release dates. On the domestic front I've had my hands full taking care of Alison who has been unwell for over a week now. We rushed her to Wesley Emergency at three in the morning on Tuesday because she felt so bad and they admitted her for a couple of days to keep tabs on her condition. Very little sleep for all involved.
Bringing all this back to me and my hard run of luck with ordering a notebook, I called Dell up on the 20th to check on the status of my Inspiron 9400 which at that point was due on the 21st of March. Surprise, surprise... there is apparently a worldwide shortage of the videocard that I requested in my order (GeForce 7800 Go) and the customer representative could not give me an estimate on when they would be getting new stock.
Suffice to say, by Friday I was feeling pretty darn low. It was time for some retail therapy.
What's that? Could that be a notebook box I see? Surely not.
It certainly looks like a notebook when you unpack it!
Right, all silliness aside. I stomped on down to Harvey Norman with the full intention of walking out of that store either with a new laptop or an XBOX 360 (which has JUST launched in Australia). Mark from work who also had an Inspiron 9400 on order suggested taking a look at the Toshiba Qosmio G30 which was similarly specced so that's exactly what I did. Managed to brow beat the sales person down a few hundred bucks and upgraded the stock kit with another gig of RAM along with a laptop bag. Still ended up being a little more that I was hoping to spend but the bite shouldn't be too bad since I'm salary sacrificing.
So after all that was it worth it? Heck yes. Cancelled my Dell order when I got back home and started setting up my new toy immediately (which I've christened Gemini, you know dual core and all).
First impressions over a day and a bit of playing and configuring are certainly promising. I always knew the new Core Duo laptops would be quick and snappy so that's not a surprise. The extras that I got by going for a top of the line Toshiba however are definitely pleasing. Two lamps mean that the screen is blinding (brighter than my desktop CRT monitor), TWO 100GB SATA hard drives gives me more space than I would have ever expected in a portable and heart thumping Harmon Kardon speakers bring a tear to my eye.
There's also the Synaptics touch pad with virtual scrolling functions and shortcuts. The classy silver volume control dial. Analog TV tuner to use with Media Centre Edition. Finger print scanner for biometric security. Oh, and an in built microphone which is just another thing that the Dell wouldn't have come with. Can't wait to try Skype out with it but Mum doesn't seem to be online. :P
Preordering and cancelling an Apple MacBook Pro due to delays - 6 weeks
Ordering and cancelling a Dell Inspiron 9400 due to delays - 3 weeks
Buying and unwrapping a Toshiba Qosmio G30 - 3 hours
Grinning like a 5 year old with an early birthday present - Priceless
3 comments:
congrats on the new laptop :)
doesn't look to bad, and 200Gb HDD....that's gonna be lot of TV shows etc!! :D
Thanks. I'm sure I'll find a way to fill it all up before the end of the week. :P
Heheh, you only need to say it once mum. Thanks. Glad you approve :)
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