I have news.

I am currently posting from my new laptop PC, a dv6700 from HP. Not having used a laptop since I was twelve, this is feeling all rather strange. For one, the keyboard is smaller and the keys themselves feel much softer. The way they're packed closer to each other is something of an issue here, since I need to adjust my fingers slightly less now in order to touch-type. Also, I'm having some issues hitting the apostrophe key. I tend to move my hand a little too far and hit the enter key instead.

Also, the screen, unlike my desktop monitor, is a widescreen display. That means that everything I see is pretty much wider and flatter. No more tall windows on this computer. Plus, the screen sort of shines, which isn't the best thing in the world. It looks really cool and all when you can see your fingers reflected off the screen, but there's always that issue of glare. Thankfully, adjusting the brightness settings remedied this problem. Somewhat, anyway.

The good news is that I now have a laptop PC that has more RAM and a better video card than my desktop PC. The processor has a lower speed(2.4 =GHz to 3.0GHz), but that is to be expected from portable electronics. Also, it is worth noting that unlike my desktop PC, this laptop uses multi-core processing, so it can be said that the lower speed value is made up for by the increased efficiency and multi-tasking capabilities.

The bad news is that my parents are suggesting that I bring my desktop PC downstairs to replace the family computer. Apparently, their reasoning being that since I already have quite a high-end laptop, I don't need a desktop.

This is sad news for me. I don't want to let my desktop go. I like that computer, even though it gave me so much trouble in the past. I like the monitor, which is a classic squarish design(4:3) and thus is perfect for games. No one plays games in widescreen format. Ever. I like how my CPU has 5 USB ports in the back, and two in the front. That allowed me to connect multiple devices and not worry about not having enough slots.

But mainly I just don't want to see my monitor go to waste. How am I supposed to achieve world domination on this laptop screen? It's just wrong. I tried to come up with a solution for this, remembering what Shaun once did with his own laptop: He connected his desktop monitor to the laptop PC.

So I tried that. However, I was faced with two problems. The first one was that the widescreen display wouldn't show up properly on my desktop monitor. But that could have probably been easily remedied if I hadn't given up after realising the second problem.

I still had to use the keyboard on the laptop. That meant that I still needed the laptop to be open. And that meant that if I were to use my desktop monitor for my laptop PC, it would look like some kind of coked-out version of the Nintendo DS. The HP-Compaq DS. Okay I suppose there is a way to turn off the monitor display on my laptop(in fact, I'm pretty sure there is one), but it just doesn't feel right. The only way it's going to feel even remotely normal is if I can just replace my desktop CPU with the laptop's, and keep all other peripherals.

Maybe I will try that later. That is, if I can deal with the issue of having my laptop open while I use my old keyboard and such... Maybe I can set my laptop not to go into standby when I close its cover, connect up my keyboard, mouse, and monitor, then completely leave my old CPU alone.

But for now, I'm going to find out the extent of this laptop's abilities using the best methods known to man...

Video games.

Also, crud. All the pictures are on my desktop PC.

-Joe

EDIT: As it turns out, this laptop, is not capable of handling C&C3: Kane's Wrath, at maximum capacity. Looks like I can't play on this laptop unless I'm willing to see plain, untextured landscapes and unglowing tiberium fields. This is so very sad.

And it seems like it's all because of the processor. Even with a newer, more updated video card, and twice the RAM of my desktop PC, C&C3 still lags when I try to play on mid-high detail.

Gah.