Since I have a limited number of options for fun and frolic while I recover from my back surgery (which is coming along nicely, thank you!), I got a chance to do a little consulting for my sister, who's visiting this week. She needed to buy a laptop -- her first -- and she wanted something that would have the latest in technology. I got an opportunity to take a field trip to a new Best Buy that just opened down the street from me and give her some advice on a purchase.

We took a look around at the laptops; prices have come down a bit since I boughtthe Vaio last year, so the higher end of technology is more accessible. We settled on the HP DV-8000, which was actually on clearance. It comes with plenty of features: Centrino technology, Intel duo processors, DVD burner, TV tuner, all sorts of fun stuff. It also comes with an unsual feature -- a ten-key along with the regular laptop-style keyboard. The wide dimensions that allow the 17" screen also allows enough room for the extra keys.

I de-installed the Norton anti-virus security, having learned the lesson from my own laptop, and installed PC-Cillin. I also installed Microsoft Office at her request and removed some trial software she'll never use. I haven't played around with the TV tuner, which seems a little klugy to me, but I may in the next couple of days. The machine is pretty impressive; it runs fast, and the 200 GB of hard drive would allow for a lot of video editing. Pretty nice way to spend my down time! Too bad she's taking it with her when she leaves.

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