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Warning: The loopy alert level is at sapphire, which is a beautiful but dangerous color. I haven’t been making much sense all day. In fact, I’ll be amazed if I make it through this entry, as I haven’t been able to write all day, either. Earlier I tried to write the word “social” three times in my class notes and the closest I got was “colia.” That’s not even a word!

Assuming you’re me (and I realize this only works for a few of you, but read on…), you know it’s going to be an interesting day when you spend over $700 within a few minutes of waking. In related news, I bought a laptop!

I’d been looking at them all week. I’d made a few decisions early on as to what I was looking for. First of all, it was going to have to be a refurbished laptop, because I’m on a grad student budget. My budget has a lot in common with Bill Gates‘ budget, assuming we’re talking about the Bill Gates that lives in the park and throws refurbished condoms at skateboarders. Secondly, the laptop had to be very small and light. This requirement tends to raise prices (another reason for that ‘refurbished’ bit), but since I already have a desktop and am not looking to replace it, the point of having a laptop is that I can carry it everywhere. If it’s too heavy to carry around, it’s no good to me. Thirdish, it had to be a Dell, because, hey, Dell rocks. I briefly considered getting an Apple because their laptops make me drool and there’s some benefit to having multiple platforms on-hand, but their prices were pretty steep, and there are also downsides to having to manage multiple operating systems.

So, I’d been watching Dell’s refurbished site like a hawk with a programming background for the last several days. Their turnover rate is amazing. They would have completely new sets of laptops, with completely new prices, every few minutes. Twice I tried to buy a laptop but was simply too slow on the draw, and someone a little bit click-happier snatched it before I.

I’d noticed that prices seemed lower and competition seemed slower in the mornings, so I woke up at 6:30am to check out Dell’s site (I also had homework to do, so I’m not ~that~ crazy). I hit the refresh button and saw (nearly) the exact laptop I’d been looking for, at roughly $100 less than I was expecting to pay for it. I added it to my cart as quickly as humanly possible and checked out with equal haste. I’m hoping I didn’t do anything stupid in my morning-fog stupor. :)

Assuming I didn’t screw up royally, I should soon have in my possession a brand new* Dell Inspiron 700m (pictured above) sometime next week. It’s got a 12.1″ widescreen display, measures only slightly larger than a sheet of printer paper (assuming your printer paper is 1.5″ thick), and weighs in at just over four pounds. I’ll probably plop down another C-Note on EBay to get the extended life battery, as I’ve heard the factory-default 4-cell only holds a 2.5 hour charge. I’ll probably also either buy a notebook sleeve or a whole new backpack for carrying it around, too. But all those purchases considered, I still consider it an excellent deal.

Next up, I’ll figure out how to pay for it. I’m considering international espionage.

*Note: I’m using “new” in the NBC Must-See TV sense of the word. “If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you!”