Thoreau, Emerson and a Laptop

This week I’ve been thinking alot about what is necessary and what is optional.
What are the tools necessary to get my job done and what are the frills that would be nice but not mandatory?

Several weeks ago, I put it out into the universe that I’d like a new laptop to finish up the third book in the series on. It would allow me to still be mobile, still have fun while writing, and give me more creative and publishing options than the AlphaSmart 3000 that I composed the first draft of “Everlasting Life” on.

Last Friday, I was rummaging around Craig’s List, in the computer section, and saw an ad from a store that advertised $99 laptops. I figured that for $99 I would get an old 286 with a green monochrome screen and a 5 1/4″ floppy drive. Or at minimum an old Radio Shack TRS-80.

Someone I know (the gorgeous and talented Prema), is a big fan of IBM ThinkPads. She actively seeks them out, despite there being newer, faster and shinier laptops on the market.

I figured if they were good enough for a tech savvy vixen such as her, they would be good enough for me. So on Saturday, after Chinese class, I wander over to the store. It was a little hole in the wall in a strip mall, and looked like a technology surplus warehouse had vomited inside of it. Old Dells, old Compaqs stacked to the ceiling. Keyboards lined up like so many dominoes. Monitors on the floor like abandoned tombstones.

In the glass display cases, laptops.
I ask him if he’s got any ThinkPads.
He says yeah, I’ve got a 400mhz and a 500mhz.

Well, my mother didn’t raise no fool; even I know that 500 is greater than 400 (thank you college degree!) and ask to see the 500.

We power it up, and it wheezes to life. The fan running and hard drive clicking, the Windows 2000 splash screen coming up right on cue.

I test drive it; make sure the battery holds a charge, make sure that I’m not hearing any HD clicks of impending death, and then ask him how much?

$160.

Which is more than $99, but this is a ThinkPad and Prema thinks they are wonderful, so I’m in.
I’ve got a very short window of warranty in case it starts melting and burns down my house, and I’ve also made sure that he takes American Express, because they are simply aces when it comes to disputing charges and giving you your money back.

A few minutes later, I walk out the door with a new (to me) ThinkPad 600X.
A few days later, and I bloody well love it.

I love the fact that it seems to be made out of pounded steel, impervious to bullets, hand grenades and shrapnel.
I love the fact that it only has a 10GB hard drive, and even with the operating system and all my writing tools loaded up, I still have 8MB left for music to listen to while I write. Maybe some Debussy, some Beethoven, some Albinoni, some Mahler if I’m feeling frisky.
I love the fact that I have yet to even open Internet Explorer, because it will never touch the internet.
I love the fact that I have yet to scan it with the included Symantec Anti-Virus, because again, it will never know the pleasure of being bombed by a worm or virus or spyware.

But it will know the joy of opening up Word 97, and creating another journey, another story in a fictional world that I love to share with others.
But it will know the joy of ordering a nice cup of chai at a local coffeehouse, then sitting down to write a blog entry that encourages others to continue their creative journey.

The laptop will do exactly what I need it to do.
Process words.
I don’t need it to play videos, rip or burn CD’s, copy DVD’s, cruise the internet at warp speed, run 8 to 10 simultaneous screens of AOL Instant Messenger, use VOIP to call a close friend in Singapore or Ireland, download music from iTunes.

I just need it to write.
That’s what I need.

Anything else is just extraneous and distracting.

Too often in this life, we focus on what we want, rather than what we need.
It was Thoreau who scolded us to “Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!”
It has been said that in keeping with Pareto’s 80/20 rule, we don’t touch 80% of our possessions past the first touch, wear 80% of our shoes or clothes past the first wash.

How much is enough?
When does necessity make a run for the border and become excess?
I believe it becomes excess when we fail to consider the lesser, smarter option in favor of a newer, shinier, flashier option.

Ask yourself “What do I need to get the job done?”
Ask yourself “Will this do exactly what I need it to do?”
Ask yourself “Will this accomplish the tasks I outlined in question number one?”
If the answer is yes, then it’s a sensible purchase; one that Thoreau and Emerson would be proud of.
If the answer is yes, and it will also…. then you might want to take a step back, think about what you really need and then consider other options.

I did some research on the 600X. It was evidently one of the top selling ThinkPads of all time, a real workhorse.

Which is good, because we’ve got some work to do.