It is only a matter of time until that flashy new laptop that you can't afford today will be in your price range tomorrow. As a purveyor of old, cleverly packaged technology i have found that patience and a good memory are infinitely better than sight buy purchases and an empty wallet.

For example, when the HP Omnibook 800ct came out in 1996, it was great for its time, it ran the amazing Windows 95, had a clever little mouse design and a price tag of $3,000 dollars. I just had to have one. In the meantime, i purchased the Dell Inspiron 7000 workhorse to meet my daily computer needs while i waited.

Six years and $2,940 dollars later, i bought my first Omnibook 800ct fo $60 american dollars right here on ebay.

The Moral? The 800ct is a fine little machine, and at 166mHz, it stuns most people when it boots to windows Xp (you must have the 166mHz version for Xp graphics, and the 64mb ram upgrade to load), but in reality, i was mystified by its ingenuity, and i happily reflect on my decicsion to wait and pay gimmick prices for a gimmick item, rather than drain the checkbook on an item that fell behind the technology race.

There are still older machines worth purchasing like the Omnibook  800ct ($40-$150) the Vaio n505 ($80-$220) and the Portege 3025 ($60-$180.) All these machines have a WOW factor between 9.2 and 10, and get looks you wont get lugging around your massive brand new Hewlett Packard. But that HP will pay the bills, the other machines just have 'flash factor.'

The next time you see a 'newest and best' novelty laptop, pat your bread and butter machine, and look to the past for that zingy technology you crave, and put aside a dollar a week until that sexy new little rocket falls into your budget.