HELP!

[xphilehb]

How crazy would I be to purchase a laptop on a whim? The laptop I currently have is right at 4 years old, and while I know I could probably get another year or two out of it, I also know it's getting ever nearer to the end of its useful life. And besides, who doesn't want a shiny new toy?

Anyway, my coworker Kristen is telling me about this

Comments

[enigmaticblues]

Oh, wow. I think I would do it. A deal like that doesn't come along everyday...

[xphilehb]

I told Kristen I wanted it, but it looks like Kristen's dad might decide to take it, despite the fact that she originally indicated he didn't seem to want it. Apparently, like me, he thinks it's too good of a deal to pass up.

So now I'm fairly sure I got all excited for nothing.

Gateway

[anonymous]

Gateways aren't bad. Like any other brand, they have their good and bad features. I have one and I like it. However, I would suggest you put off the purchase since you are having such a hard time making the decision. Otherwise, if you are like me, I think you would have buyers remorse. My rule of thumb. If I am not 100% sure about the purchase I pass it by. If it is a buy now or you loose the opportunity purchase, I definately pass it up. I figure I can shop around and eventually find as good a deal if not better. Good luck!

[sarita_m]

I had a Gateway in college and it lasted me OK for 5 years. It really crapped out my last year, but I had also downloaded a bunch of crap and got a bunch of viruses.
Regardless, $500 is a STEAL for a computer. I say do it!

[xphilehb]

It is a STEAL, so I decided I couldn't pass it up. But apparently Kristen gave her dad first dibs, and he can't make it up his mind. I fear that in the end, it won't go to me but to her dad.

[shannigansx]

That's such a bargain! I'd go for it!

[xphilehb]

We'll see! I want it, but now Kristen's dad might take it. I don't know...

[sillyzilly2k]

Ooh, that's tough.

But I think I'd do it--it's a good deal on something you're probably going to buy in the next year or two anyway, and watching an old computer die is never fun, if you can afford to avoid it. (The only reason I'd say to let it go is if you were thinking of going Mac with your next computer, but that's just me.)

Incidentally, I got a Gateway when I graduated from college, and it lasted five years--not bug- or quirk-free, because it was a PC, but it served me well.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide! Obviously.

[xphilehb]

I do sometimes have dreams of owning a Mac. But then I think $500 vs. $1,500 and I get over my dreams real fast.

But the computer might not be mine anyway. Kristen's dad might take it. WOE!

[sillyzilly2k]

WOE, indeed! I hope you end up with it!

I do sometimes have dreams of owning a Mac. But then I think $500 vs. $1,500 and I get over my dreams real fast.

1) You are, in my head, sounding very much like a particular line of John Travolta's in Hairspray right now, and it's cracking me up.

2) I go back and forth on the Mac price-point issue. They ARE very expensive, and I get that, and sometimes it's just not feasible, etc. BUT OMG I LOVE MY MACBOOK. It's the most reliable computer in the world--knock on plastic--and it's pretty and it likes me. I have become a Smug Mac User, and it's so appalling, but I'm so happy. What do I do?

[xphilehb]

You are, in my head, sounding very much like a particular line of John Travolta's in Hairspray right now, and it's cracking me up.

LOL! I am sounding old and cheap is what I'm sounding. :) And Kristen tells me that she's 90% sure the computer is mine, but I won't know until this weekend when her dad comes to look at the computer.

It's the most reliable computer in the world

See, like, this is what I thought. But then I think about the people I know who own Macs, and how nearly every one of them has had issues and had to take their computer to the Mac store and be without it for days, and I have never had such a problem with my Dell...and I am not convinced.