just an asterisk

I think the most common question that hits my inbox goes something like this – I’m shopping for a new laptop.  Are there any brands I should look out for?  Any that I should avoid?  What do you suggest?  I’ve written before about what you should look for, but never really about how to choose between brands.

Although this data is going to be old as soon as I post about it (for reference, the current date is Tuesday, November 17, 2009), a great study was just released by Square Trade.

Here is the link

For those unwilling to wade through it, here are some highlights:

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[My friend] and I were chatting about our computers last night and were complaining how a computer has a shelf life of roughly 3-5 years. This is annoying. Obviously there’s nothing we can about technological advances making our computers outdated eventually, thus requiring us to buy a new one.
However what can we do to treat our computers nicer to prevent mechanical breakdowns that necessitate new purchases?
One debate we had was this: is it better for your computer to leave it on, but in sleep mode turning it off only at day’s end? or is it better to turn it off every time you’re not using it? We felt that frequent switches on and off would be worse, but other people–who shall remain nameless–argues that simply shutting the laptop screen while it’s still on is bad for the computer.
Can you clear up this debate and offer other tips to increase a laptop’s lifespan?

I assume that you don’t care about my theories on computer hardware responding to karmic interference… so let’s keep to the facts.  There are plenty of arguments out on the web for keeping a computer on or not, but I think it’s a pretty simple discussion:

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You’ve decided that your 15 pound laptop from 1999 is finally ready for the rubbish heap, but what kind of machine do you need?  What is your ideal computer?  Obviously, I can’t tell you that… It’s not that I  don’t want to, but your laptop choice is a very personal decision.  You are going to be spending a great deal of time together and frankly, the relationship can’t be one way: you are going to have to want to invest time in your laptop for your laptop to perform for you.  That said, the decision process doesn’t have to be difficult.  It can even be fun!

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