Bought the 6715b

Finally, after much deliberation and a final push by several friends, I have made the plunge and ordered myself the HP 6715b premium class business notebook. It has a dour look to it, but it has a lot of other bells and whistles!

The thing that finally sealed the deal was the fact that I would definitely need to get a new notebook sooner or later as my current one is slowly passing on. The only thing that kept me from buying a new one was the fact that my current one had not died yet. One friend told me that it was better to buy a new one and have a spare than to wait till my current on dies suddenly.

Now, I'm not sure what to do with my old one once my new one arrives tomorrow. Another friend of mine suggested that I relegate my current one as a backup computer, in case my new one dies on me. Okay, so it will be the backup of my backup.

I was considering whether or not to get the new notebook in the shower this morning. Then, I decided to get it as it would allow me to work more efficiently. I would be able to get more things done at the same time. The new notebook would be up to 8 times faster than my current one. Furthermore, there will not be any deal that can match this one for at least another year or so. You just cannot find a premium business notebook of this class and spec for anything less than 800 quid.

The only thing left was to find the best deal online. I finally settled for the one at Laptops Direct. They've got lots of hidden costs, such as delivery surcharge and credit card surcharge. I decided to opt for next-day delivery, which cost me an additional 18 quid. But I felt that it would be worth it. But just in case, I called them up to check first, because RoyalMail is going on strike again tomorrow. I didn't want to pay 18 quid only to find it delayed till next week. They told me that their courier is CityLink. So, I okayed the button and submitted my purchase. I'd also used Google Checkout instead, to avoid paying the credit card surcharge. Also, I bought it through Quidco, which will hopefully earn me a little extra cash back. Hehe, being trifty is a very Chinese virtue!

So, I'm hoping that it'll arrive by noon tomorrow. Then, I can go pick it up and wipe out Windows Vista Business. I am planning to install Kubuntu on the new machine while leaving my old one under Slackware. This would allow me to evaluate the ease of use of Ubuntu. If it turns out to be as easy to use as the Interweb claims it to be, I will then leave it as my main distro. Otherwise, I can always just re-install Slackware on it.

UPDATE@1650: The Google order tracker tells me that the transaction has been processed and shipped! I look forward to receiving my new notebook computer tomorrow. I should take some screen shots of me declining the license for Windows. It may come in handy if I decide to claim a Windows refund from HP.