Laptops, Notebooks, Netbooks and other synonyms

Well, my laptop for the last 2 years or so is now dead and buried and I am left without an item that has become rather crucial to both my work life and leisurely activities.

I do still possess of that old Compaq Presario piece of junk that I keep referring to as my HP wannabe. And it still does run, sort of. If you call taking an hour to boot up and lasting around another hour before it goes into a coma from overheating, running. Mostly down to my torturing it from opening too many tabs I guess :P Anyway, there is a reason why this backup laptop was designated as a backup. Come to think of it, it isn't a very good backup at all ...

So with my main laptop's demise, I went online with some cautious optimism of being able to acquire a new notebook for a reasonable price. And by reasonable, I mean dirt cheap because I'm dirt broke what with most of my finances being funneled to other more critical needs. My son's sustenance, diapers, me and my wife's sustenance, bills and some savings and insurance for my son and our future home, etc, etc.

After detailed browsing of 2 web stores that I know of which serves consumers in Singapore it seems that there was no such luck, not that I was hoping for any to begin with. For starters, the cheapest of such devices start from SG$600; give or take a dollar or two. And they aren't even your prime notebooks but would certainly get the job done running MS Word and Excel that I need for work purposes (Yes, I know you can use Google Drive but it is still a bit clunky and doesnt' format as nice) the running of flash or javascript in browser for some of my leisurely activities. The following are the two laptops in question (tossing in pics for good measure):

HP Pavilion 14-b106AU Sleekbook

Dell Inspiron 14R

Thing is as I alluded to before, I'm dead broke. And I do mean dead broke. Only have enough in my Ezlink for my needed commuting and some spare change for those occasions when I need to purchase food while out. I'm running on fumes as it is. And come next payday and around 7 days after it, I'll be in the same situation again. So it makes the whole argument of saving up for one of the above devices kind of moot. The only way I figured I'd be able to get a proper replacement laptop is if I were to blow a part of my end year bonus and extras on it. But that's the end of the year and some 6 months too late. I need the replacement laptop now .........

Why? Well because there are some work related backlog stuff that I haven't quite done yet. Shouldn't have procrastinated I know but then again where's the fun in that? Then there's that whole scouting task for Singapore's National Team and U20s that I need to get to on Hattrick - not as important but certainly as urgent. More importantly though, there'll be these 2 weeks of precious free time courtesy of the school holidays which by virtue of me working as an educator gets to enjoy. The perfect time for me to work on my manuscripts, update my blogs, create or edit some media. Basically just unleash my creativity that usually gets suppressed during school terms. Not to mention the fact that I intend to restart my Psych modules in July and to do so without such a device would be the greatest folly known to modern man. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration but you catch my drift.

The consequences of me not being able to indulge in all those stuff, inclusive of my studies? Let's just say that this F.U.B.A.R. that I had today is going to creep into every crevice of my known existence that will definitely impact my work and social life at the same time. Yes, it will get that bad. What's F.U.B.A.R.? Seriously, look it up.

Of course if some kind soul (or souls) would see it fit to present me with an early birthday present (my birthday is in October by the way, so it isn't that far off) or an early Christmas present (not that I actively celebrate Xmas) with oh I don't know some mystery gift *cough*one-of*cough*the-above*cough*laptops*cough* it would not only make my day but my whole year. Inclusive of some months in 2014.

However, seeing as this is real life and how such kind souls tend to exist only in TV shows, movies and hallucinogenic induced dreams, I'd settle for someone to spot me the funds I'd need to get one of those devices listed above. I'd make repayment but not on a monthly basis due to my situation. But rather when my year end extras come in. And perhaps some months into 2014 as well if it doesn't suffice. And most certainly without any interest otherwise I might as well just take out a personal loan ....

So, any takers for either of those two options? Please, please, please say yes :P And if you do .... well you know where to find me :D

PS: In case you were wondering how I typed this .... Let's just say that doing all this up on your smartphone seriously feels like one is getting screwed where the sun don't normally shine.