Down To Two Laptops

My 4-year old desktop, which Marvin and I assembled ourselves, is dead. :(

Last Saturday, I turned on my PC and while waiting for it to boot up (it has been so slow these past months), proceeded to do some house chores. I was of course expecting the all too familiar Windows welcome tune, so imagine my horror when a female robotic voice began to murmur something barely audible. Without daring to flinch a muscle, I tried desperately to make out the words. By then, I had conjured up an image of some Sadako-like (The Ring) woman standing beside my TV. I was about to cry when I realized it was my PC letting me know that the "system failed memory test". Haha, I was half relieved it wasn't what I feared it was and half amused at my own stupidity childishness.

So now, my PC would not even boot up. It just stubbornly informs me over and over again that the "system failed memory test" when I push the power button. I tried to look this up, and it turns out that it's a known problem with my Asus motherboard. Don' t ask me the specifics though; I don't have patience for all that technical jargon. Bottom line is, my motherboard's toast and I either have to try and replace it myself in the hopes that it is indeed the only problem, or buy a new desktop or laptop.

At first glance, it doesn't seem to be such a difficult choice. Hmm, let's see, 20,000 yen for a new mobo vs 200,000 for a new laptop? That one extra zero seems to give it away, right? But one FB friend suggested that I do both - get a new one and fix the old one! Not such a bad idea, especially if I've been meaning to buy a laptop anyway and I'll definitely always need a desktop.

So after looking at the models out there, I've narrowed it down to two choices.

1. Sony VAIO AW Series (VGN-AW180Y/Q) - Y279,000

   Here are some of its specs:

   • - Display Size: 18.4 in
   • - CPU: Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz
   • - RAM Included: 4GB
   • - HDD: 800GB
   • - Optical Drive: BD-R/BD-RDL/BD-RE/BD-REDL/DVD±R/±RW/RAM/±RDL
   • - Resolution: 1920x1080
   • - Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT
   • - Video Memory: 512MB

   



2. Apple MacBook Pro (17 in) - Y278,000

   Here are some of its specs:

   • - Display Size: 17 in
   • - CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz
   • - RAM Included: 4GB
   • - HDD: 500GB
   • - Optical Drive: DVD±R/±RW/±RDL
   • - Graphics Card: GeForce 9400M/GeForce 9600M GT
   

I'm leaning towards the Vaio because I'm not too sure I'm ready, or if it's even worth it, to switch from Windows. And the Vaio is a good replacement for my desktop, and I sure need a powerful machine in my line of work. Plus, for the same price, I get 200GB more HD space and a BD-RW. What do you think?