Fickle Fate has played nice...but now what?

[sharkapult]

CLIFFS:
1. One of my laptops broke yesterday.
2. Customer-abandoned laptop is not quite top of the line, but way up there in most respects.
3. Suits all my multimedia and gaming needs...except that I don't need either.
4. If you were to give up a "new" 17" multimedia laptop, what would you give it up for?




We ocassionally have a few computer systems at work that are customer owned, but the customer is nowhere to be found or contacted. Policy is, after 30 days of trying to contact via phone, we contact the customer by registered mail telling them to pick it up within 30 days, or the unit will be considered abandoned and destroyed as per our guidelines (hard drive completely destroyed; we prefer using .308s or sledgehammers, motherboards and other PCB-based devices snapped in half, etc.)

Unofficially, that means destroy the drive and anything else that may have customer data, strip the rest. Technician's discretion. I've been able to rebuild a couple towers so far, and have some parts for another one (AXP 2000+, 256mb RAM, HSF, optical drives).

Well, fate dealt me a blow yesterday, as a laptop I'd sold on Ebay and was getting ready to ship out had both hinges break on me. the laptop is destroyed now (as now the video won't work either). I don't know what the fuck happened, but now it's been stripped of its parts. 1.4ghz Banias, 512mb (2x256) DDR, 80gb 4200rpm.

And, I'm out $285.


But, as fate would have it - Newton as well - I was given a bonus yesterday.

One of our systems that was set for destruction (been in our back room since late August) was a very nice laptop that had been sent in for service, getting a new harddrive. Officially, it's destroyed. Unofficially, it's sitting next to me.

HP DV9000 series
Core 2 Duo T5450
2GB RAM
200gb hdd (blank, "fresh from factory")
DVDDL
8600GS
4965AGN
Vista Home Premium license
HDMI out

No Battery, no AC adapter, no manuals, no accessories whatsoever.


Technician's discretion, and now it's mine. $110 later, I've ordered a new battery & AC adapter, and have an all-but-new system.

But, while this would suit my multimedia and gaming needs perfectly...I don't do either nearly as much as I did 2 or 3 years ago. My last LAN party was in September of 2005. I have a Core 2 Quad workstation to play games with.

So, I'm tinkering with the idea of selling/trading it off for something else.

But what? If you guys were to give up a 17" laptop like that, what would you give it up for?

 

[Zero82z]

If I were to give it up, I would swap it for something that suits my needs better. Personally, I'm a student, so when I bought a laptop I got myself a 14" model which is very light and portable. If you need something similar, then I suggest you sell off this machine and buy something smaller that's easy to carry around. Of course, if you don't need a laptop at all, just sell it off and pocket the cash .