My Laptop Shop

My computer is a very important part of my life- not only do I use it to blog, find community online and enjoy social media, it’s also very important to my work.  I’m a bit cheap with laptops, not requiring much other than they work and have internet. I’ve put up with hand-me-downs with permanent marker scribbles, missing keys and having a laptop that always had to be plugged in. And I’ve been, in general, happy.  Until last week when I was working on a deadline and my computer just went… [insert rant]. As things would have it, Collective Bias asked me to do a quick turn-around COMPUTER shop for them Saturday morning so I don’t think they had finished asking before I was saying “I’ll do it!!! Also great was the fact that I was able to use the funds they gave me to do the shop in conjunction with my small savings for a new computer- so I was able to get a much nicer one than I would have been able to!

As per most of my shopping these days, I turned to the internet to do some research and figure out where the best deal was for a computer that would work for me.  I hit the regular places, Best Buy, Walmart & Amazon.

Found it online, then in the store.

Walmart.com's computer selection was good too- the site to store was great- free shipping!

Close up on the computers I was looking at on Amazon.com- If I knew EXACTLY what I was wanting, I might consider ordering off here. Otherwise, I like instant gratification!

 I realized that in order to be productive in LIFE that I needed to bite the bullet and just get a new computer. I think that in my world, it goes without saying that most of the voices whispering (ahem ahem YELLING) in my ear were saying to get a MacBook Pro. Umm. Yeah. If I didn’t have 2 young kids and a home mortgage I totally would get one. In my every day life of budgets, school loans and doctors bills I could afford about half of that. That being said- if anyone wants to purchase a MacBook Pro for me, I’ll *totally* take one.

We go tthe best deal out there! Found it first online at Best Buy and was thriled it was also in the store!

So, I set out on my journey. I decided that familiarity breeds productivity and that a Microsoft based operating system was really what I needed.  I actually hated (true story) Apple computers for years because I don’t like the system as well. I’ve heard so many times, “Ohhh once you get used to it you WILL NEVER GO BACK” like a crazy, snobby cult or something.

Having thoroughly shopped the different sections of both Walmart and Best Buy online, including Amazon.com,  and in person, I decided to get a laptop- just a basic laptop… or so I thought… I realized how many dozens of decisions needed to be made. See my whole shop on Google+ here…When it came down to it- my choice was between a Toshiba Ultrabook and the Asus that I got. They were the same price but overall the Asus was sturdier, had double the ram and had a core i7 verses the Ultrabooks’ core i3. It was a hard decision but I’m so happy with it!

Opening the box was such a strange and great experience! It was seriously a family ordeal as both Ben and my 15-year-old nephew Nate watched with jealousy. Ben kept trying to “help” me open the computer and set it up… in fact, I turned around for a minute at he had already snapped the battery into place! As I turned it on, Nate kept asking me how I liked it. Give me a minute… Of course then Bear and Bug were drawn in the room as well, brought in by the excited voices and happy energy in the dining room. I finally shooed them all away so I could have a moment… just me and Asus…

Check out below for more awesome pictures of my new friend! I love it! What do you think?! What is your favorite brand of computer and why?

I've NEVER opened a new computer before!

It's beautiful!