My laptop is dying.

The problem is repairable, but most mentions of it online seem to suggest it’ll cost around $300 to fix, and it seems silly to pay that much for a laptop that’s nearly four years old and was from the cheaper end of the scale even then. Part of me insists I can fix it myself, and I may actually try to do just that (after I’ve confirmed that I’ve backed up every bit of data from the hard drive), but really, I think this is just a sign from God that it’s time to get a new laptop.

I’ve been considering buying a Mac for a while now, not as a main computer (because I’m a little too addicted to my gaming for that), but just as something to toy around with. One of the reasons I haven’t done so is that the utter lack of free electrical outlets (and space, for that matter) where I’d want to put it. The dying laptop, though, poses a new possibility. I primarily use my laptop for web surfing and e-mail, things that I should have no problem doing on a Mac, and laptops don’t require nearly as much space or as many power outlets as desktops.

Besides, thanks to the new Intel processors and Apple’s release of the “Boot Camp” software, if I buy a Mac and really hate the OS, I can simply run Windows all the time. (Since my old laptop’s dying, can I install XP on another computer and use its license on the new computer, if I do away with the old one?) Sure, it’s an expensive way to get a Windows laptop, but I’ve never been too horribly put off by spending more money than is necessary (Don’t believe me? I have installed (and later uninstalled) at least a dozen computer games that have never been launched, and almost as many computer games that I’ve never even bothered to install). Besides, buying an Apple computer purely to run Windows would have the benefit of freaking out some of the Mac fanatics I know. (Heck, even if I loved the OS, I might have to install Windows solely to freak them out. “Yeah, I love this new laptop. It came with a crappy OS, but I fixed that.” I get a good laugh .)

The only serious potential problem I see with this plan is that I do, occasionally, use my laptop with a little USB GPS thing to navigate on long road trips (or short road trips — even if I know where I’m going, the GPS navigation thing fascinates me). From what I’ve read, I don’t think there’s very good support for the Mac with these devices, but again, that problem’s solved fairly easily with Boot Camp if there’s no other solution.

So, as soon as I scrape together the money (my discretionary income is still a bit wiped out thanks to my Arizona trip), I think I’m going to buy myself a MacBook Pro. If anyone has any suggestions about what kind of extras I might want to toss on, or reasons why I might want to consider something else, please feel free to let me know.