My Laptops

Toshiba Libretto 50CT, P75, 4GB (upgraded from 810MB, $150), 32MB (upgraded from 16, $75), TFT, Win98, 2 lbs.. B-stock, from Egghead.com ($445!) My "in-a-pinch backup" portable. The only thng enabling me to be productive during Manhattan Jury Duty! Options: extra hi-capacity battery ($80; MicroWarehouse); enhanced port replicator ($40, closeout at PC Connection).

Price & Portability
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My Computers
Friends' Purchases

Mitsubishi Amity CN, P133, 1.2GB, 48MB (upgraded from 16), TFT, Win98. 2.6lbs. New, from Onsale Auctions' Quick Buy ($699!) My vacation portable. Bummed that I couldn't upgrade the hard drive easily. Crappy battery life (sometimes < 1 hour) and inability to easily swap regular battery alleviated by purchase of external 4-hour battery ($199, Mobile Planet).

Toshiba Portege 650CT, P133, TFT, 4GB (upgraded from 1.6GB, $275), 48MB (upgraded from 16; $80), built-in 28.8 modem, Win98, 4.8 lbs. C-stock, from Egghead.Com ($615!) No manuals and one stuck pixel but pristine otherwise. Built like a tank. My "surf at home" portable because it's just a little too heavy to cart around every day. Options: dock adapter ($20, EBay) in case I splurge on a used Deskstation V+ and can't find the part.

Hewlett-Packard Omnibook 800CT, P133, 6.1GB (upgraded from 1.5GB, $150), 80MB (upgraded from 32MB, $116), TFT, no OS, 3.9 lbs. Refurbished; $527 from Ubid Online Auctions. My new "take it to the office every day" portable. Upgraded to Win 98. It came with 2 AC adapters, an extra battery and external battery charger, and a PC Card 33.6 modem which I replaced with a Xircom RealPort 56K modem ($119, MicroWarehouse).

Why do I have four low-end Pentiums instead of the fastest Pentium II DVD portable extravaganza? Because you don't need a Lamborghini to drive to the supermarket! I can edit web pages, word process, do spreadsheets, use Pagemaker and Photoshop, e-mail and surf quite comfortably on all of the above - and all are much lighter to carry around than your Inspiron and Tecra behemoths!. Half of the new laptops only come with 32MB of memory and 3GB drives anyway! Combined with the upgrades I've made and the peripherals I own, I have all the functionality of