Novel Times, Novel Measures

I’ve gone and done it. Finally, after all the waffling and wavering and biding my time, I am about to enter the world of portable computing. Yes, I purchased a laptop! And not just any laptop, a 15.2″ Apple Powerbook G4 1.67GHz 80GB with Superdrive — but we’ll get to all that. For now, feast your eyes:

I’ve been contemplating a laptop for many years now. My current computer is quite the trooper – I built her back in the very beginning of this millennium and she is still going strong. Sure, a few upgrades have been necessary — a new motherboard, extra hardrives, more RAM — and I’ve reinstalled Windows more times than I care to admit. Despite the ravages of technological advance that have occurred over 5 and a half years, though, she still can handle everything that I throw at her. Mostly. Nonetheless, she is still a desktop machine, an ATX form factor that just doesn’t travel all that well.

Certainly, mobility is attractive. Considering my lack of true expertise in the Apple arena, I’ve often thought that purchasing an Apple laptop would fulfill both my desire for a mobile work environment along with my craving for fluency in Apple OS. The obvious hurdle in my plan was the Mac price tag. To save money, I could have gone with an iBook instead of a Powerbook. Actually, who am I kidding? Considering my tech-fetish, there is no way I would have been satisfied behind the white of an iBook, relegated to admiring the aluminum gleam of a Powerbook from afar. When it comes down to it, Powerbooks are a pinnacle of modern design. Knowing I could do with nothing less than perfection, the Powerbook price was prohibitive. Even still, I haven’t been ready to commit to a laptop until just recently.

I suppose that prudence is a good thing. It’s not easy, though, and I don’t often succeed. However, I’ve managed to hold off on buying a laptop until now, so that’s a sign of measured decision making. Turns out that just two weeks ago I realized — more than that, I knew — that I was ready to make the jump to mobile computing. Lately, with all the work that continues for www.lunarbid.com, I’d been feeling quite chained to my desktop and, consequently, my apartment. Opportunities for house-sitting were squandered and trips continually beset by myriad preparations for long-term desktop absence. But it was just two weekends ago, in a coffeeshop jotting some notes for a writing project, that all the factors pushing me portable coalesced into the explicit desire to research and purchase a laptop.

And spend a good deal of time researching, I did. Of course, my bias was towards a Powerbook, but I felt the need to satisfy some burning questions and assuage some inner guilt regarding the resource-intensive products of our techno-culture. There has been a burgeoning awareness in the First World about the problem of e-waste that has largely saddled communities of the Third. (Check out this ground-breaking documentary.) It seems that Apple has at least given some thought to such issues in their design, manufacturing and distribution. Though it might be corporate green-washing, the Apple & the Global Environment website describes some of their more ecologically oriented practices. Given the current state of manufacturing, however, there will always be resource consumption, unnecessary waste and environmental degradation, even by companies hoping to improve their record. Apple did prove to me that they are trying to move in the right direction, however. My final decision was a compromise that felt good — I purchased a refurbished laptop of the current generation of Powerbooks. I got all the latest bells and whistles, saved a bit of cash and supported the practice of product stewardship through recycling e-products instead of sending them to the landfill.

And now, the wait continues. Funny, despite the looming delivery of my new laptop which promises to deliver me — and my computing environment — beyond these four walls, I am stuck here, anxiously listening for the doorbell’s ring. FedEx should be arriving soon, probably today. Hopefully today. A big change is in store for me and I’m ready. The transition will be slow and difficult at times, I imagine, but I’m not going to push it. I am in no rush. I’ve waited this long for a laptop — that same measured stance can only help ease the release from desktop chains into mobile freedom. Of course, being chained to a computer, mobile, stationary or otherwise, is another matter altogether. Lest my expectations go too far, I need remind myself: mobility does not freedom make.

Filed under: Technology