This isn't a techblog, and we don't talk about hardware much here, though we all our own level of experience with computers (I myself am considered something of an expert in juryrigging DOS 6.0 to play early '90s video games).

But here's a piece of advice: don't buy a VAIO.

Now, the VAIO is generally a good machine. I actually like it quite a bit, except for the fact that I've had nothing but hardware problems with it since the day I got VAIO #1 in 2001. The VAIO suffers from an incredible design flaw: After about five months of use, max, the power cord stops being consistently recognized by the motherboard. The computer flips between AC power and battery power over and over until the user is driven insane.

VAIO #1 was unfixable. After five months (seriously) of tech support limbo and four separate attempts on Best Buy's part to fix it, I was given a full refund on VAIO #1 from the basically good-hearted but incompetent folks at Best Buy. In the meantime, VAIO #2 came free from the government as a result of my beloved Jacob K. Javits Fellowship. Because Best Buy offered me a free service plan to make up for the crappy service I'd earlier received, I bought it there.

Guess what? In a few months I was having the same trouble with the new machine. A year after I'd gotten VAIO #2, the power issue was so bad that I had to bring it in for service. By that point, the computer was unusable; it wouldn't recognize the power card at all.

Came back fixed in just two weeks (good work, Best Buy!), broke again in four months (bad work, Best Buy). It's in the shop again now.

According to the terms of the service plan, they have to issue me a new computer after it breaks for the fourth time. Don't think I'm not counting.

I'm really looking forward to that sunny day in the next few years when I can just get a Mac.