Lusting for Laptop or just ramblings…
I need a new computer. My current computer will be used as a test server for our next project and housed at IDC Jakarta by the end of January. Before that, I have to setup this box with Linux (probably Fedora, probably Debian, don’t know for sure… love the apt-get feature) and getting the LAMP system ready for testing environment. This also mean that I have to erase all of the data on this computer (Zinio magazine, massive arrays of ebook, couple of presentation examples, music, videos, pretty much everything) and install the new system fresh and clean.
Which leads to one conclusion. I need a new computer, fast (at least to contain all the data that I will transfer).
I’ve been leaning towards Apple Macintosh since they already released some computer with Intel-based processor which means, theoretically, I can dual-boot between MacOS and Windows (be it Vista or XP) and still can run my Windows only application (such as MetaStock, SPSS - although I think they already have this version on Mac, Eviews, etc). Moreover, I’m leaning to their notebook lines. My calculation is, I’m better off using a notebook than a PC because I’m pretty much a road warrior (and it saves space!).
But alas, their price tag is far too high for me. I’m eyeing a MacBook Pro right now that will probably cost me more than Rp20M and available in March. So I geared towards iMac instead. Rp13 million, all-in-one, not a pretty bad system but the overhead cost still too heavy for my pocket.
So I contacted Adinoto (sorry for your misfortune by the way) to see when will iMac computers hit Indonesia (which he eventually states, around February — still not a good timing). I also inquire about the possibility of participating on Apple financing program. Haven’t heard back from him since then, I need this computer next week.
Edit: have heard from him. See another edit at the end of this entry. He offered me somekind of job/project/something. He didn’t go into details yet. Hum… a very misterious man…
I then decided that I’ll go with an non-mac x86 notebook instead. My first choice falls to Acer Aspire 5002 NWLCi with AMD Turion64. The laptop comes with a 256MB DDR-RAM, a potential bottleneck considering the processor power. The second one falls to Acer Travelmate 4062 NLMi with Intel Sonoma 1.73GHz processor. It came with 512DDR2 RAM. Both laptop came with 60GB storage.
Both specification still can’t fulfill my needs. I need a bigger hard-disk space to save more files and (probably) install patched version of MacOSx86 (is this legal? Anyone has the installation DVD?). I need more RAM to do multi-tasking better. On top of that, I need a replacement for my current computer.
For comparation, my current computer is pretty much lame for gaming (not that I do that alot anyway). She is (yes… it’s a she!) powered by KT600 chipset with Athlon XP 2600+. She uses 512MB RAM with 2 storage disk. A Seagate 80Gigs and a Maxtor 40Gigs (and since Maxtor has just been bought by Seagate… they are both Seagate’s). The only “unusual” thing about this computer is that it uses a 1Gbps LAN Card instead the usual 10/100 Mbps.
Not a great computer for hosting anyway, but it will suffice for testing purposes. I mean, how much load can you generate on development purpose? Only a team of developers and some alpha-testers trying to make the code works and eliminate the bugs. Yeah sure, things can go wrong (eg not properly coded script) and makes the server load high. But that’s the point! If you can make the script runs smoothly on this kind of computer, you then can make the script runs even smoother on a better system (we are planning using 2 servers with dual processors and load-balancing if everything went smoothly for the first 3 months).
Okay now… where are we going with this… I easily become distracted lately. Not in the right state of mind you might say. It’s just that there’s quite alot of things to be done in such a short time! I have yet to finish the final design of PojokBisnis.com. Everything is ready, only the logo is still left out, will finish it tonight… I hope.
There I go… rambling again…
Edit: I have just got contact with Mas Noto. Pretty unfortunate event he had there. So I think If I hear more from him about the iMac thingy, then iMac will also go into consideration. I mean, intel dual core at that price, sweet!
HI HI HI, MAKAN-MAKAN…