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September 4, 2006

The Most Unlikely Of Purchases

Yesterday I accompanied my friend Matt to our local Guitar Center while he picked out speakers, mics and other audio equipment. Having no background in music, I wandered the store aimlessly, occasionally touching a dial on a mixing board, or bumping up against a display keyboard, surprising myself, and those around me, with the crash of virtual cymbals. The store was overstaffed, so I was asked if I had been helped by a different person every ten steps I took.

When Matt was ready to pay for his purchases, I began chatting with the store manager. Apparently this Labor Day is a big sale at Guitar Center with low low prices that can't be beat. I had nothing else to do, so I listened to his spiel. He then told me they were getting a limited supply of Apple MacBook Pros. That's when he got my attention.

I have been in the market for a laptop for a few weeks now. I'm tired of being chained to my desktop at home, and would love to pursue my digital hobbies (such has contribute to this fine weblog) outside the confines of my apartment. Sitting outside one of Seattle's legion independent coffee houses, sipping espresso, and typing away sounds like a great way to be anti-social in a public place. So I began looking around, and came up with four different classes of laptop:

Middle of the road laptop.
Has the advantage of being not too expensive, and general-purpose enough to satisfy my needs.
Super-chap laptop
My boss recommended this to me. His logic was that in a year, whatever I buy will be obsolete anyway, so dropping $500 now, and $500 a year from now isn't a big deal. Plus, it's not a huge loss if it gets dropped or stolen.
Tablet PC.
This is where the nerd in me comes out. Tablet PCs look like normal laptops, but have a touch-sensitive screen that swivels 180° and becomes essentially a digital pad of paper. Very cool, albeit unjustifiable, since I can't think of many practical applications of the pad.
Apple MacBook.
But won't I get fired for owning a Mac? No worries. The new MacBooks are Intel-powered, and with a nifty utility called Boot Camp, I can load both MacOS and Windows on this little guy. This gives me the advantage of high-quality Apple hardware, the familiarity of Windows, and an opportunity to play around with MacOS. The disadvantage is the price: about twice as much as the Tablet.

I was all ready to buy the boring old run-of-the-mill PC laptop, when the store manager at Guitar Center offered to put a $1000 MacBook Pro on hold for me. $1000 for a Mac?! I didn't need much time to think about this. I gave him my number and told him to call me if he could secure one. He didn't have nay in the store that day, and all the East Coast stores were closed for the evening at the time of our conversation, he told me he'd call me at 7:30 this morning to let me know. For those of you who know me, it takes a lot for me to get up at 7:30am on a holiday, but for a such a deal, I traded sleeping in for a new toy.

Sure enough, at 7:35 this morning, the store manager called telling me the laptop was available and would be shipped to me within the week. And that's the story of how Chris bought a Mac from a guitar store.

09:06 | Nerd

Comments

Macbook PRO for $1000. I think not...maybe a Macbook but not a Macbook Pro.

Nevertheless, you will enjoy it!

Posted by: Phrogman at September 4, 2006 11:54 PM

A quick song in honor of your new purchase: A Laptop Like You -http://www.jonathancoulton.com/mp3/A%20Laptop Like%20You%20(Demo).mp3

Posted by: Shawn at September 10, 2006 11:34 AM

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