Today, since I did not have homework to do, I felt more relaxed and stopped by at the “Best Buy” to look at the available laptops. So far, I have not had my personal laptop, but I already anticipate that a laptop becomes more of a need, than just convenience with my progressing MBA studies.
Now I have one desktop in my home for the whole family. Until the start of MBA program I did not really need much of computer time at home as I don’t play games or watch video. My wife is the same way. We basically need it to maintain our banking and billing services, check email, occasional research, mapquest, occasional online reservations or purchases. The biggest computer time hog in the family is my older daughter as she needs it for her homework, and she does watch videos and engages in social networking.
At any rate since the beginning of my classes at business school there have been many occasions when my daughter and I had a need for computer for our homework at the same time. I resorted to using a laptop from my job as a temporary solution. It is not ideal option as I don’t want to keep my personal files on the business computer. Besides its battery is not operating, so I can use it only with the power supply. Every time I wanted to move from a coach to a table I needed to save all the work, power off, and than restart it again. Besides, since the new class I am starting next week on Judgment/Uncetainty and Decisions has Excel as requirement, I assume we will be doing some work with spreadsheets in class. In this case the laptop will be required to have in class.
So the time for a personal laptop has come. In summer I did some preliminary research on laptops and narrowed down to several models that had all the features I considered important for me.
My short list of features was:
- Intel processor
- 4 GB RAM
- At least 250 GB hard drive
- At least 15.6 inch monitor
- Writable DVD
- HDMI connector
Other required features like USB connectors, card reader, wireless card are pretty much standard fare on most laptops anyways. Built-in microphone and webcam would be nice to have, but not really a deal maker for me personally.
The selection of laptops they have at Best Buy now is quite impressive. In my summer research I did just online comparison, I never stepped in into the store to actually look and touch the laptops I singled out as potential candidates.
That’s why today I was surprised that none of the models I had on my list were available any more. All manufacturers had the next model on offering. I think it is also connected with the recent public release of Windows 7. All brands have introduced newer, more feature rich models.
At the store today I realized that laptops with monitor bigger than 15.6 inch are too bulky and heavy to be carried to my MBA classes on regular basis. I also found out that 14 inch displays are not as bad as I thought they were, and give significant space and weight advantage. So for now the 14 inch are also in the pool, given they have other required features.
One of the things I have been waiting for before getting a new laptop was the results of my half term finals. In worst case scenario, if I failed one of my exams, I would not need a laptop altogether. Otherwise, the laptop would be not just a necessary purchase, but also a sort of reward for passing the exams.
I have been checking the blackboard almost every hour for the finals grade since Thursday, as I had taken my Microeconomics on Tuesday. Today I got my results for Microeconomics. I got an ‘A’ for the final exam and the whole course! It’s a huge relief and a cause for joy. Out of 18 questions on the final I nailed 16. Not too bad.
Now I am waiting for the Financial Accounting. It is going to take longer as there were quite more papers to read for professor. I hope to have results no later than Tuesday, before my classes on Financial Accounting II start.
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