So once again I’m on the prowl for some gadgets prior to our US trip overseas. As mentioned in a previous post, I have a list of items I would like to purchase before we head over. One of these was the purchase of a small laptop. My requirements were simple:

• Small and light – something I could whip out and use quickly and easily, and not struggle to carry over the countryside with me.
• Wireless – for use in cafe’s and hotspots around America so I could communicate with friends and family back home
• Ability to transfer files between digital/video camera and an external hard disk to free up space on the memory cards within the cameras

Given the amount of competition in the market at the moment, I thought I would be buying an Asus eee and that was it. It was small, cheap, and portable. It offered everything I needed, and for a relatively small price tag. Until I saw it.

I went to Myers on a separate matter one day, happened to walk past the technology section and saw one on display. A black one, if that made any difference. And I immediately thought it looked cheap and nasty. Sure it would do what I needed, but it was UG-GLY! I was greatly disappointed.

Then my sister emailed me about the Dell e (what’s an extra two vowels anyway?) and I was over the moon. It was cheaper than the eee, and looked about a bazillion times better! I’m not a geek, the bells and whistles don’t interest me. I’m an inexperienced consumer who likes shiny sleek things, and the Dell has captured me. It has wi-fi, it’s small, and has 3 usb slots allowing for simple file transfers.

So, now I’m just waiting on a release date to be announced. Oh, and to learn how to use linux. I’m in the process of installing a copy on my laptop in a virtual environment (there’s that geek in denial thing again) so I can learn how to use it, which I’ll blog about later. It’s been overwhelming so far, to say in the least. Once I have that downpat, the world is at my feet. Well, the linux world of mini laptops anyway.

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