Help Me Solve My Laptop Dilemma

I got some good feedback from my last entry about the laptop issue I was facing. Of course I had no idea what some of it meant and I think that there were people who didn't take me seriously when I said that I have trouble finding the on button and I often confuse my laptop with my toaster. I didn't say this before but when I bought my new laptop (which is now my old laptop coming up on 2.5 years) it took my six months just to find the off button. I'm not kidding! Six months!

I'm doing an experiment with it right now because the computer has always gotten hot underneath which is why even though its called a laptop I could never actually put it directly on my lap for fear of receiving second degree burns. Okey, maybe not but still it was damn hot. My new theory though is that there seems to be some sort of air vents under the thing and I at least know enough to know that air has to circulate through the computer to keep to cool or it will overheat causing the delicate little pieces to go freaky, so that being the case, maybe this laptop has just really shitty design with the vents under it where the air can't really move around too much. So I've elevated my laptop giving it lots of air under and I'll see if that makes things better. Even if it doesn't, maybe I'll at least start a trend and soon you'll see people sitting at the Starbucks with the back of their laptops elevated and you'll think to yourself "hey, I know the girl who started that craze!"

I hate to spend two entries in a row talking about computers but given how much of a part of my life it seems to be coupled with the fact that I don't think I've ever dedicated a single entry to computers previously, maybe it'll be forgivable for now. You didn't want to hear about all that sex, bondage and acting like a complete fetish whore fucktoy now did you?

Traditionally when I would look for a new laptop, I would try to get something that was on the front end of the curve of technology. The idea was that it would be about a year before the thing started to show its age in terms of the kind of software it could run, two years before it just plain wouldn't run the new games and by two and a half I would sell it off on Ebay and buy a new one. I love to play graphics based computer games when I'm not all tied up like the little bondage slut I am, and it seems they require more and more power. The kinds of games I tend to like are more strategy and simulation. Not too much shooting you know? Sims 2, Age of Empires 3, that sort of thing. I used to be a fan of anything with the name Tycoon in the title but then those games started getting crappy and lame so I'm a lot more wary of them. Too bad, the really good ones were a lot of fun.

So this brings me to my conundrum. Do I go buy another laptop for $1,800- $2,000 that has all the lastest stuff so it will last me 2.5 years or so beforeI get so frustrated that it won't play any of the latest games that I buy a new one, or do I buy something that is more in the $800 - $1,000 range and can play today's games just fine but in a year, who knows. The idea is, if I can make that computer last 1.5 years before throwing it off the balcony and into the street (or just selling it on Ebay) and I pay half the price of the one that lasts for 2.5 years, aren't I coming out ahead? The big question mark though is, will the cheaper computer really play even today's newest games and even if it does, just how far out will it continue to do so? Is a year or year and half being way generous or will it not play the games that come out in only six months?

I promise next time I'll try to talk about something more exciting than computers and stuff, but see, this is something I'm trying to figure out and I was thinking that rather than figure out everything on my own I can rely on the collective wisdom of all the great people who like looking at my hot little brown body! Anyway, let me know what you think about this and how you would approach it, I'm really looking forward to your feedback.