I’ve been wanting a new laptop for quite some time now.
The one I currently have, a Lenovo 2-in-1 laptop that converts into a tablet, is great and all, but there’s much to be desired recently.
For instance, the loading time for web pages has topped three minutes, which means if I want to change the page or click on a link, I have enough time to set up a cup of tea, fold an entire dryer load of laundry, and wash maybe one dish before all of the contents to be fully loaded. Videos tend to buffer every two minutes, oftentimes needing me to wait at least four to watch three minutes’ worth of content, and a lot of the times the keys get stuck, leaving words such as ‘mmminutes’ or ‘deteeerrrnment’ for me to grumble about and correct.
Sometimes I have to wonder if there just isn’t enough power for that little Lenovo – whom I have affectionately called Hector – to do anything more than respond to emails, write short essays, or switch into tablet-mode to read an online book.
To those of you who immediately pipe up “but Leah, you don’t like to read using tablets to read books!” Yeah, yeah, I still don’t. I like my physical ink-paper-and-glue books better. But reading is reading! Sometimes you must do what you can to keep your brain entertained.
Seeing as this Pandemic is still kicking everyone’s tuckus, and I probably have a much better time of becoming a Virtual Assistant and working from home, I knew Hector wouldn’t make the cut. I like to think of him as one of those kids you pick next to last on Dodgeball Day, but he’s a nice enough kid, so you pick him on your team to make him feel at least somewhat loved.
So, I decided to invest in a newer, more powerful, laptop.
And boy-oh-boy did I choose one!
My new laptop is an HP Pavilion Gaming-grade 15-Inch Laptop, with an Intel Core i5-9300H, NVIDIA including a GeForce GTX 1650, 12GB of bada** RAM, 500GB of Hard Drive Space, and features Windows 10.
What does all of that mean? Honestly, I have no clue.
What I do understand, however, is this puppy has 12GB of Ram compared to Hector’s 4, has FOUR core processors (Hector may either have one or two, not sure), and has plenty of space in her hard drive for me to write to my heart’s content. She also has three – count ‘em! – three – working USB ports compared to his only one! (Okay, confession: I accidentally broke one of his USB ports during a really late night of working; I thought it was the plugin for the charger. In my defense, the charger port and USB port are literally the same size and shape – something I didn’t like from the get-go for Hector.)
I also know this computer has been compared to Alienware – Amazon.com shows the two together as a comparison tool – and has a higher rating than the $1,700 professional-grade gaming laptop. Plus, this beauty only cost around the $920 range.
There are only two times where Hector has beaten this beauty. One is in the Hard Drive space – he technically has a whole Terabyte. That terabyte hard drive was put in at a later date because he came with a faulty hard drive, and I was too poor to buy any warranties when I first bought him.
The second is, while Hector has a touchscreen, which often proves useful when his mouse isn’t moving as fast as I would like, the new computer has a regular, non-touchy screen. But that’s something I’m not worried about right now. Personally, having a touchscreen is nice and all, but I’m willing to give up that perk if it means gaining speed and power.
Point is, this new laptop is a beautiful green-and-black beast! She’s gorgeous! She can definitely do what I need her to do! I shall name her… Boudica.
If you get the reference, kudos to you!
Of course, I’ll still be keeping Hector. He still has enough fight in him to do easy stuff. He’ll be great to do light travelling and help me answer emails and write stories.
He just doesn’t have to worry about doing any heavy lifting anymore. Boudica can take care of that.
L.J. LaBree 