The Adventures of Laptop Boy
Written: Jan 02 '01
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Pros: Practically perfect in every way.
Cons: Is there a connector somewhere on the horizon? A convertor perhaps? Tune in next week.
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| MK2K's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite Pro 4300 |
Although I have had many nicknames throughout life (most too embarrassing or profane to print here), my current is laptop boy. In the past, when I bought a used Compaq Concerto and took it to high school with me on and off, that was also my nickname, and I was more the subject of scorn for it than have it be a mark of pride. Now, a student at Kent State University, I find myself tapping notes away everywhere. In the student center… in the lobby of my dorm. In my dorm room. Like Dr. Seuss’ neon delicacies in reverse I will use it here or there… I will use it anywhere.
In fact, I am using it at this very moment.
Yes, I am Laptop Boy! Conquering simple math problems with the Windows calculator because I am too damn lazy, listening to mp3s and CDs on the fly, and watching DVDs wherever I roam, there is nothing I cannot accomplish! I am able to leap buildings and land up my laptop (as its still under warranty)! To attach my laptop to a television via composite video! To, with the aid of a Netgear PCMIA Ethernet card, connect to the college network which I may use to conquer the world! The Palm Pilot be damned, I have the best tech toy on the block. I work on the go, do Flash animation and 3d graphics work on the fly, and use the laptop to project video every week or so as I do visuals at a nightclub.
I recently acquired my laptop direct from Toshiba’s site, getting it for around $2400 with several goodies included. I have 64 MBs of Ram, a 13 gig hard drive, a 15” active matrix screen, and a sense of quite (ok, loud) arrogance that I don’t have to wait for someone to get off the student center computer to play DopeWars during lunch.
There really isn’t much of any limit to what this laptop can do: I regularly use it to do just about everything from play audio to take notes to, next semester, hook up a separate microphone and record the class lectures (and then encode them into mp3s). And with the Toshiba Satellite Pro 4300 Laptop Boy is unstoppable… or so they all thought.
The first enemy on the horizon was Merlin VR, version 1. Sitting there with a point hat, looking like the sorcerer’s apprentice, this mickey-mouse like figure was not to be underestimated. It came at Laptop Boy with a mocking error: the inability to correctly render 3d on this computer (although it works fine on my desktop) and the inability to save. The battle was long and nearly deadly, but Laptop Boy survived by crashing only a few times… and completed the 3d logo he needed in time for his deadline. Then came the true nemesis, one that haunts Laptop Boy to this day: his primary tool (um… not that one) wasn’t working quite right. You see, Laptop Boy’s Toshiba is able to do many things, but display itself on a TV monitor and on the Active Matrix screen it cannot. Laptop Boy searched in vain for a cheap and easy solution. Must he buy a dinky black and white portable television and a surge trap? Could that fit in the carrying case? Tune in next week to the Adventures of Laptop Boy to find out if he will survive his own worst enemy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2399
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: Greater than 15"
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
MK2K
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Member: James Brundage
Location: Kent, Ohio
Reviews written: 400
Trusted by: 151 members
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