Spend Spend Spend

I'm looking at getting a new laptop before I leave Canada, and I'm feeling a bit conflicted about it. On the one hand, I love shiny new tech toys, and on the other, I'd really like to avoid ploughing myself into debt. Where the decision gets tricky is that I'm due for a new one - my old Toshiba P3-1.1Ghz is getting very long in the tooth, and might even die on the way back to Australia, which would leave me very sad, and in need of an internet cafe. Internet cafes are like public toilets - full of all kinds of icky, distasteful stuff, and frequented by some very shady characters with poor personal hygiene. I just need the internet connection, not the sticky keyboards, the smelly chairs, or the teenagers trying to shoulder-surf my gmail password, and I certainly don't need the virus / keylogger / spyware bonus plans, which makes me fearful to check even my sacrificial Hotmail account on the cafe machines for fear of it being compromised and my details sent to a Russian cybercrime syndicate. I'd much rather hop on someone's wifi connection for a few minutes and do my business. That's civilization, right there.

I'm not going completely insano-Gobie-bonkers with my planned purchase either - I've been looking at a very reasonably-priced dual core Toshiba for only CA$2000. I could probably rustle up all of that by selling my current desktop and some other apartmental goodies, which means that the new laptop would be effectively... free. It's really unhealthy to think of it like that, but there we are. This model isn't available in Australia, and even if it was, it would be significantly more expensive, so advising me to wait until I've completed my journey home is less than convincing. Besides, the whole point of a laptop is for the great journeys, not for when I'm all settled and polishing my clever coffee table in the shape of a yin yang.

Having it would provide me with a decent rig to work off when I get back to Australia, rather than one that takes fifteen seconds to open a text file. Gaming wouldn't be great, but I could probably sneak in a half-decent game of WoW or Civilization 4 on it, and I could edit photos, watch DVDs and convert PSP videos reasonably quickly or, at least, without having to bring along a magazine.

The big downside to the deal is that it's a crapload of cash, and I'd really like to make it back to Australia without beating my credit card around the face with a steel shovel. Credit cards are useful for wringing every available moment from a journey, but I don't want to land in Sydney several thousand dollars in debt. I did that trick when I landed in Canada, and it was like having a lead weight around my neck. I also feel like a bit of a dick buying a new laptop when my old one is still fine, although I'm stretching the definition of "fine" a little bit. Modern games don't work at all, and heavy lifting like converting video or playing high-def porn is painfully slow. Simple tasks like email are all right, but only as long as you don't do too many at once, and you don't move the mouse too fast. It can be endured, but it won't be enjoyed.

I'm still weighing the various factors, and my opinion seems to waver hourly. I've already committed to buying a new digicam to take candid shots of Japanese schoolgirls and Thai ladyboys, but my final laptop decision is far harder to reach.