Ok I finally broke down and got myself my first new laptop. Even though I have had two previous laptops, \\Fenris and \\Murgatroid, both of these were second hand. Both have served me very well so I figure now that I have a laptop that is my pick it should last longer. The only downside is that it comes with Windows Vista. Now I'm not a fan especially after all the press it got but I figured I should at least try it out. So far I'm not completely disappointed but the boot time and application load times are .... terrible.
Many years ago my APC SUA-1000XL died because it was involved in a flood has finally been replaced with an SUA-1500 which is oddly cheaper but has a longer batter life and higher output. I'm not sure how that works but there you have it. Even though this is for the entertainment centre it matches the one that I have safe guarding the workstations/servers so if anything happens I can easily switch them while worrying about the recovery later.
Last but not least I got a new Acer 19" LCD for my main system. This brings me to using dual monitors which personally I think is long over due but will allow me to be more productive on the book work that I have ahead of myself. I know this isn't a grand monitor but it isn't intended to be. I love my Viewsonic PS790 and it still works great. The best part is that it doesn't have the ghosting issues, and other technical faults of LCDs.
