So my laptop died this week. Ok, it didn’t really die, it has a short in the power cord, which is super cheap to replace, I know. But it is aging, hasn’t been acting quite right for a while, and the battery stopped holding a charge a while back and then magically started again (still not sure what happened there), so the power cord is just one more thing that’s got me wondering if I should just break down and get a new one. I bought my laptop when I was in college, so, at the time, I was more interested in something light that I could carry around in a backpack full of bulky textbooks. I knew I was taking a hit in power, but that’s what I had my gaming desktop for. I am kind of sad that I can’t really run Guild Wars 2 on my laptop (a 2.3 GHz i3 with integrated graphics). Well, it runs… at 5-10 FPS at minimum settings, with occasional shutdowns from overheat protection. But it’s light, weighing in at just under 4 pounds, and gets great battery life–over 8 hours when it was new, though, of course, time and heat have brought it down to about 5 or 6–and fast enough to do normal non-gaming tasks without having to wait.

I’m kind of picky when it comes to computers; I want a specific set of hardware, not too weak in one area, but no more than I need, lest the price be too high. That’s the main reason why I built my own desktop. Unfortunately, you can’t really build your own laptop. So, as I see it, here are my options. Continue reading →