Laptops

I've always loved laptops. I adore their portability, and the ability to use them anywhere, like on my bed, in the kitchen, or in the car. In fact, I've never had my own desktop.

Since my laptop died a few months ago, I've been commandeering the other computers in the house, to the point where I've almost completely stolen the family's MacBook. I've been looking for another computer with a budget of about $2500 (approximately half of my 'usable' money).
I began by starting with what I needed in a computer. I had a few requirements. It had to have it's own discrete graphics processor, at least 256Mb, for the work I do with High-definition video and RAW photo files. As much as I want one, it ruled out the new MacBooks, which are otherwise perfect. It had to have reasonably good battery life (at least 3.5 hours), and it needed to be portable. It also had to have at least 3Gb of RAM and be at least 2.5GHz, to run the myraid programs I use every day, and to allow for a lot of future expandability.

Under these circumstances, a MacBook Pro seemed perfect for me. But it's not. For the amount I can spend, it would confine me to the uncustomized, yet highest-end 15" MacBook Pro. For the same money, I've found I can fit my computing needs by doing something that I've never done before. I'm going to buy a second computer. An iMac with the same specs as the MacBook Pro I'm contemplating is just $1649. If I wanted to go larger, I could get a 4" larger screen and 200MHz of extra processing power for $1949. Both of which are much cheaper than the MacBook Pro, with many extra benefits. (The iMac hasn't been refreshed in nearly a year, in a few months these computers will yet again increase in power and value) There's one problem, they're stuck to my desk. So, since apple refuses to make a laptop for less than $500~$700, I'm going to make my own. I'll buy a Dell Mini 9, which for $500 comes with a 32Gb of flash memory, an 8.9" screen, and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor. With an installer called Kalyway, OSX will run on the Mini 9 quite well, better than some apple computers from a few years ago (The Mac Mini Core Solo). And there's money left over to buy 4TB of external storage, 2 for redundant backups of all the computers in the house, and the other 2 to do whatever I want with. And still less than $2500. So why would I buy the MacBook Pro? I'll never need the horsepower it has while on the road, since all I'll be doing is storing the video temporarily on a 160GB hard drive. This setup fits my needs better, and I'll be upgrading my airport express to an N version along with it, so I'll have an ethernet dump in my room to go with the iMac. I won't miss the much-maligned new trackpad, because it's just not necessary for me, someone who hogs the keyboard as much as possible.