New Computer!

As many of you know, I have been in the market for a new computer for awhile. I originally wanted to replace my faithful Dell 15" Inspiron, which I love but have outgrown in terms of memory and storage. I wanted something smaller, with a considerable storage upgrade (I had 30 G's of hard drive space in the Inspiron and wanted at least 160). I looked at netbooks but changed my mind when I found out none of them had CD/DVD drives, since I did a lot of movie-watching and music-playing on my machine. But I didn't love the price or models of any full-size laptops, either, so I was kind of stymied. I had the money to get a new machine, but I didn't like anything, so I quit looking.

Well, right after I quit looking I was given a TV and a DVD player, so I quit watching movies on my computer. A little later, I upgraded to a new Sansa Fuze which had enough memory to hold most, if not all of my music collection, and bought a pair of speakers to sync with it. After a few weeks, I realized I hadn't pulled out my computer to do any DVD-watching or music playing in awhile, and I started to reconsider the idea of a netbook.

I love my Dell, so when I went computer shopping my first stop was the Dell website, and my first consideration was the Dell Mini10. I will say I think it's a great machine for the price ($250) and has great features, but when I went to Best Buy to see one in person, I hated it. I hated the design, I hated the way the keyboard was arranged, the feel of it, etc. The funny part was I didn't want to hate it- I wanted to love it! I kept trying to talk myself into it - it was a great price, I'd adjust, etc - but I knew that that wasn't the computer I wanted.

Then a few days ago I walked into Wal-Mart to see their new netbooks, and the HP Mini210 netbook was there, and I fell totally in love with it. I loved the design, I loved the features (3 USB ports! And a card reader! AND I found an older model that still ran Windows XP, which is what I wanted!). I brought it home, set it up, and voila! I am in love.

It runs like a dream. It's super-fast compared to my old machine, and the idea of having 160 gigs to fill up with good stuff - let's just say I'm loving it! Best of all, I love that when I want to go places, all I have to do is drop it into my purse, not lug around a whole other laptop bag.

I'll still be holding onto my Inspiron, at least for now. It'll be useful for ripping and burning CD's, writing marathons (bigger keyboard), and as a "portable desktop". But I'm pretty thrilled with my new machine! :)