As a belated celebratory present to myself for selling FAIR COIN, I finally ordered a new netbook last month. My previous netbook was actually the first of the netbooks, the Eee 701 PC, which I purchased back in January of 2008. That was some time ago! I wrote the first draft of QUANTUM COIN on that, and two other novels after that, before finally retiring it. I still keep it around for some light web surfing and some potential emergency, but the mouse buttons are buggy, the software is outdated (I somehow broke the Synaptic Package Manager, so I can’t download anything), and the 7″ screen frankly isn’t cutting it anymore–certainly not for novel revisions. And until recently, there was no Scrivener for Linux, which was the real clincher for me.
While I hemmed and hawed over the expense, and looked for the Perfect New Netbook, I revised QUANTUM COIN on my full-size Acer laptop, which was manageable to carry around but not ideal. I found I really like the Acer keyboard, at least in comparison to the Mac-style chiclet keyboards which are more and more common these days, so I ultimately decided to get an Acer netbook.
I settled on the Aspire One 722, which has an 11.6″ screen, is only 1″ thick, and weighs about 2.6 pounds. The keyboard is nearly a standard size, and this thing has an AMD graphics card that not only supports HD video (with HDMI output!), but is powerful enough to let me play Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam. (Hey, sometimes I need a break from writing, and what better way than killing zombies with friends?) Best of all, the battery usually lasts up to 8 hours, which is just so liberating; I don’t even pack the power cord most of the time. I recommend checking this netbook out if you’re on the market. I was sorely tempted by the Macbook Air, to be honest, but I can’t argue with the $295 price tag on the Acer.
Like many people, I like to name my electronics, but I realized that I always tend toward masculine names. My computers have been called Pup, Ender, Schmendrick, Zim, and (AceR)immer. My USB drives and SD cards have names like Brainiac, Astro, and Gir. Even my Android phone has a name: Glitch. (Okay, so maybe I’ve gotten carried away.) This time I decided to break with tradition. My netbook is named Penny. Say hi, Penny.
I thought it would be fun to see if you can guess which Penny my netbook is named for. Pick one from the pictures below and cast your vote! Tell me why you chose the way you did in the comments, and if you give your electronics names too, share them in the comments!
[poll id=”2″]
Josh S.
Penny from Inspector Gadget. Because a netbook is a gadget, you see.
Alternately, Penny from the Rescuers because a netbook is ridiculously cute. Or Penny from Lost in Space because that’s just how you roll.