2008-12-14

nemorathwald: (Default)
2008-12-14 11:00 pm

Laptop Purchase

Today I drove out to Roseville, north of Detroit near Lake St. Clair, to put down $130 on a laptop I found on Craigslist. Dell Inspiron 7500, 466 Ghz Celeron, 384 RAM, 24 GB hard drive, Windows XP, and it runs Chrome with no perceptible slowdown. The battery doesn't work, but he warned me about that. Wireless card comes with it and works fine. There's at least one thing that I didn't know I needed to check for. Now that I've got it home, I have just one question.

When did laptops not come with an ethernet port?

Jen won't allow wireless in this apartment. There are malicious computer intruders in this building who constantly try to subvert wireless networks. Why oh why, oh flying-hamster-of-doom WHY, must wireless access to an Internet Service Provider be tied inextricably to accessing a home network of computers?

The free wireless internet at this complex is unreliable, but it will have to do for now. Fortunately there is an Asian grocery nearby, from which we obtained a vegetable strainer in the shape of a parabola, that serves as an awesome wifi amplifier.