Hello Mr. Mac, Let's Co-Exist

Here's a little anecdote for those who subscribe to the Mac - PC wars. I was in Starbucks for my break today reading and writing to clear my mind (only for the lack of a better place to chill) and a woman decided she liked my laptop. She may have been slightly handicapped but she was very friendly. She told me it was the smallest computer she's ever seen and that she liked it very much but that she liked Mac's better. I conceded that Mac's are indeed great computers but far too expensive. As I said that the woman looked behind me and there was a man (a clear regular of this particular S'bucks) using his $2,000+ Mac. He started passive aggressively defending his consumer choice to this woman and said "he's obviously over-exaggerating about the price." Then he packed his stuff and left.

I was only stating a clear, non-subjective fact that Macs are very expensive. They're probably worth it, but they're still expensive! There was no reason for him to take offense. I thought about apologizing, but my sense of manhood and commonsense wouldn't allow it. Talk about awkward.

To Mrs. T Ronda, I know this will strike a chord with you. To any other Mac users, what do you think about this dude's reaction? Does he watch too much TV and in turn too many Mac commercials with the skinny emo guy dissing on PC's?

On top of that, I feel people are gunning for me on the road. Is paranoia settling in? Probably. It's the holidays. This is when I need my Hemingway style cabin in the woods to stay safe and sane.

An Internet Addicted Tree Hugger

Time for a new computer? Quite possibly! This guide gave me a few more interesting things to think about before buying.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/buygreen-laptop-computers.php#ch04

Having a work laptop computer is a nice perk. I am allowed to work at home a couple times a week if I really want to and I can finish up work that I don't complete during office hours at home if the pressure is on. I currently use an IBM ThinkPad that is quite a workhorse. I think the actual machine is four years old but it has had memory upgrades to handle the applications and software that I use regularly. Also, it's really light! I'd be surprised if my work laptop weighed more than 5 pounds.

Then there is the big baby that I use at home. She weighs upwards of 10 lbs. A Hewlett Packard Pavilion, it has served me very well and has never had a hardware problem in the four years I've owned it. I originally bought it as a replacement for my laptop that was stolen in Prague. It was big, fast and badass and the best laptop on the market at the time. Now there are laptops at half the weight with double the features for 2/3 of the price! What a world, huh?

Either way, I debated getting a desktop, but I'd like to conserve energy and also stay as mobile as possible. Carrying my current home compy around is terrible. I want something much lighter and not too pricey. I miss being able to carry around my older, yet much lighter laptop to cafes and bookstores and doing geeky things no matter where I was! I'll also probably get a docking station that will allow me to hook up to a large monitor with extra USB ports and such when I come home and want to login.

Hopefully my purchase as an American consumer goes to a company that actually cares about the environment AND economy!

Please leave a comment if you have any advice on which of the computers in the Green Buying Guide are good or not. I'd appreciate it!