With a life insurance policy on my dad paying out, I found myself with some windfall cash. Most of it has been socked away, but I decided to spring for a new laptop to replace the three-year-old Mackboop.

There isn’t really anything wrong with the Mackboop; it’s still working like a champ. But that was the point, actually. I had the opportunity to upgrade and get a new machine while at the same time having a perfectly fine one that could now act as a backup. Right now I’m in a world of pain, work-wise, if anything happens to my computer. This way I have a reliable plan B.

So here it is, the Mackboop Heir (joke stolen from pal Matthew):

It’s a Dell Inspiron 17R. Here are some specs on it:

2nd generation Intel Core i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
4GB, DDR3, 1 Dimm
17.3in HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Display with TrueLife
NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M – N12P-GE 1GB
500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, No Media

I probably should have boosted the memory to 6GB, but it’s still one more gig than what I have now, and with a better processor.

(I also got a new mouse while I was at it. When I last replaced my mouse I bought a cheapie one and let me tell you, that is not the way to go.)

It’s wider than my current one — which is pretty wide to being with — but also thinner and lighter. And it’s got one of those switch-out-able lids that is now switched to a blue one.

So now begins the fun of loading up all my programs on it. The work stuff will be tricky since I have to load it off of the network there, but once that’s done I’m expecting no issues.

And then? Who knows? Maybe some Diablo 2!