#1 Obsess much?

Something The Beautiful Belle, often, no, always struggles to comprehend is my never-ending fascination with ever-so-slightly out-dated technology. Today I realised, and let her (TBB) know, it's never, ever, going to change.

Don't get me wrong, I like new technology too, I just can't afford to buy all the new technology I would like to afford. For example, I recently bought an Apple MacBook Pro. I am desperately in love with this particular piece of hardware, in fact, I think that the MacBook Pro is the laptop computer equivalent of soft-core pornography (I'll probably regret writing that... ). I particularly like how the new Mac OSX Snow Leopard solves the age old Windows vs Mac dilemna: If you were ever wondering if you should buy a Mac or stick with Windows, you can now just buy a Mac, install Windows on a partition and you have the best of both worlds, whenever you like, and all on a very, very good looking piece of hardware.

However, I am typing this blog, not on my new MBP, not on my less-than-two-years-old iMac (26", 2.4GHz C2D, the one before this one), but on my second-hand-in-2005, HP Compaq nx7000. Which, if you were too lazy to click the link, is a Pentium M, 1.4GHz, with 64mb shared graphics, and (recently upgraded to) 1.5GB of 333MHz (old, slow) RAM. On this machine I have had three installs of Windows, a new hard drive, and several Linux installs on Live CDs, small partitions, and most recently, Live USB (with persistant storage!).

I also own a 1.1GHz Compaq TC1100 Tablet PC, and an iPAQ rz1710, and these, along with the nx7000, are maintained in Windows update, virus-free, firewalled, connected, networked, etc etc. So, what does that make me? An advertisement for Hewlett Packard from 2004? A freak? Or just unwilling to let go? Or maybe, I just want to experience all these technological gadgets, and am willing to accept the fact that I will always be about 2 years behind the times.

The worst part is, as I realised to TBB's horror today, that it is never going to change. That sooner or later, I am going to own a room full of old computers, all networked together, controlling the motorised blinds in the living room, and dangerously close to becoming self-aware. It is inevitable. Like the Borg, resistance is futile. It is going to happen.

I just have to wait until next year's inorganic collection to get a Core 2 Duo PC off the street and I'm all set...