I swear, it's as big as a small car

After much debate, Gina and I decided to get a laptop today.  Using Rory's old laptop upstairs as much as we have (even though it has seen much better days) the last few months was enough to show us that, based on use, we could justify the purchase. 

Even though I don't like what the government is doing with it, I do have to thank the economic stimulus payment for making this possible.

The two brands that we most strongly considered were Dell and Mac.  In the end, we just didn't think the Mac fit our needs enough to warrant the change (and platform headaches) and getting one that would also Windows XP was not in the budget.

My main stipulation was being able to get most of the features I wanted and keep it under $1,000 (which I was able to do).  We decided on a 17" Dell.  It's huge.  I preferred the 15.4" but the only screen option for it was the glossy.  No thanks. 

If we were planning to be mobile with it I'd honestly say it is too big.  The only weird part to me about the size which will take some getting use to is that the keyboard is not centered so it can also fit the ten key on it (which Gina and Molly both loved).

I upgraded everything but the video card (I hope I don't regret that).  I wanted to but for another $100 I just couldn't pull the trigger considering it won't be used much for gaming, DVDs, etc.  I even added the built in webcam (Shane, you can't say we don't love you anymore).

Now, we wait. 

The estimated ship date is 5/15.