There really are not enough hours in the day. Or the week. Or the month. And the years are certainly elapsing too quickly. How can it possibly be October again?

If I had a small sum for every great article I have written in my head at various times when I did not have access to a computer to memorialize it, I could probably retire. But I am determined to stem the tide of ideas and words flowing out of my memory bank before they are captured on a hard drive: I have joined the legion of laptop computer owners.

Two laptops, to be exact.

I have been looking for a laptop for a long time, but was determined to find just the right model. And for me, that meant it had to meet two specific criteria: Full functionality, but extremely lightweight.

Thanks to Susan at Toddler Planet, I think I’ve found the solution. I will let you know in a couple of weeks when I take delivery of my new toy, a Dell Mini 9.

Dell's New Mini 9 Computer

I have been reading Susan’s posts for a long time. On September 7, 2007, she wrote All things . . . in which she expressed her happiness and anticipation about purchasing Dell’s newest model. I followed the link she provided to Dell’s website and discovered that they were offering a special deal for a limited time: Purchase a standard laptop and get a Mini-9 for $99.00.

I travel a lot on business and always need a laptop, but I do not use my business laptop to perform personal tasks. Hence my desire to have a separate laptop available so that when, for instance, I am alone in a hotel, I will be able to blog, chat with friends, etc.

Most of my business travel is by car. On those times, the 15.4″ laptop I purchased will be extremely useful. I have already received it and begun using it in a variety of settings.

But when I fly, the Mini-9 will be perfect because it only weighs 2.8 pounds! It is also small and lightweight enough that I can carry it with me virtually all of the time. That means that when I have a few spare moments — and begin writing a post or article in my head — I will be able to open it up and memorialize my thoughts before they are lost forever. I purchased a model with a 16GB hard drive which will be powerful enough to run the software I need. Memory sticks are now incredibly inexpensive. I already have a couple that store 1GB of memory and recently saw one on sale for a very reasonable price that can hold up to 4GB of data.

I am really looking forward to receiving and using the Mini 9. I will let you know if it allows me to increase my productivity in the manner I desire and anticipate.

Do you own a laptop computer? Do you find that it enhances your productivity? Do you carry it with you regularly? If not, why not? What steps other than purchasing/using a laptop have you taken recently to increase your productivity? Or perhaps you are accomplishing all that you desire. Is so, what’s your secret?

Also published at Write Anything.

Subscribe to Colloquium's RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Leave a comment and stop by again soon!