Finally decided to get a new laptop, after my Samsung laptop
failed me twice in 20 minutes, when I started to print some basic notepad stuff. The blue screen of "Physical memory dump" error + "hardware error". I think it was about time. The old laptop was about 3 years old. Before it died down completely, instead of worrying every minute and day, or buying a new harddisk to backup my important stuff, I decided to buy myself a peace of mind.
Surfed online before I turned in last night, after making some comparisons and reviews, and I chose HP DT7-1000, for the 512mb graphic card, 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 17 inch screen, and most importantly a number pad next to the QWERTY keyboard, which is very useful to me. But the price was pretty steep - SGD$3090 with GST. Not intend to spend more than SGD$2k initially.
But after some consideration, if it can help me to work faster, spend less time waiting for the processing, and more time on work, meaning more efficiency. Goes with my principle of "use money to buy time", of course within limits. Moreover, I spend more than 14 hours a day on my laptop. Thus, I paampered myself this round.
Went to Sim Lim Square (to get colour toner and fetch my wife from work too) to hunt around.
Saw a Toshiba giant laptop in MC2 (my Samsung R50 laptop was bought from them in Funan too. Their price was pretty competitive). Good sound system with Harman Kardon speakers, but really huge (looks like a 19 inch laptop to me) to put into a laptop bag, and too ashamed to bring it outside. Hahaha.... looks more like pulling out a PC and out on my lap, or tables. Slower processor, slower 512 mb graphic card, no keypad. Price is $3090 after some bargain, with 4gb RAM thrown in.
Went further in and saw this Acer Aspire 6920G laptop. SGD$1998 only!
2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 16" Full HD 1080P CineCrystal LCD, 512MB GeForce 9500M. Acer Xpress VoIP phone, laptop bag and 20gb external 2.5" harddisk free. (hard to resist liao) Though slightly slower processor, smaller LCD, slightly slower graphic card (may not notice the difference anyway), no number keypad, but saves me SGD$1k, after I upgraded the RAM from 3gb to 4gb (Heard Windows Vista uses a lot of resources). SGD$2.1k, and I said bye bye to my money. Think if I get an additional USB number pad, it cost me at most SGD$25. Felt rather stupid if I pay SGD$1k+ for one of these features too.
Before making this decision, I went 1 floor up to see the HP DT7-1000.
The price was very stiff. That salesman gave me $40 off the SGD$3090 price tag only.
The metallic case is nice, but felt like my hair all standing up, when my nails in contact with the metallic case. Gave it up.
Spent about 7-8 hours in backing up the current system, importing the files, and emails, installing ncessary softwares into it. Trying to figure out the file structures of this Vista. Some good and bad points. Overall, pretty satisfied with it, especially the speed (fast when I run Photoshop) and huge capacity of 320gb harddisk vs my Samsung 40gb.
But this Samsung R50 has done a pretty good job this 3 years.
After traded in my previous Dell laptop (costs me a bomb of SGD$4.4k at that time), I paid SGD$1468 for it. With 128mb graphic card, it was pretty good at that time. However,as time went by, the files were getting bigger, and softwares using up too much resources. It lagged when I opened too many applications.
I passed this R50 to my wife. She doesn't store files on it. Mainly to surft net, check emails and do some internet banking etc. So, if it dies off one day, it won't hurt her. My daughter uses it to play games and do some typing. Now, they don't have to fight over my son's laptop.
Hmmm.... looks like can setup a small-scale internet cafe with these 3 laptops and 2 PCs (3 years+ old) A bit 'kua zhang'......
