I feel like giving myself some love. Funny, I just had my birthday but I didn’t give myself anything, material anyway. It is always good enough for me to spend lots of time with Hi-ace and Chinks. And they did pamper me a lot hehe. But what I suddenly thought about yesterday is that I should buy something big for myself. It also reminded me that I had been blogging since 2007 and earning regularly from it but apart from half of my start up capital when I started my business and some salon trips I haven’t really bought something personal from my blog earnings.

It must be because I’m kuripot (frugal) at heart and I mostly spend my earnings on Chinkee’s needs, the family’s needs or on occasional trips. That put me in a research frenzy!! What do I buy without the kuripot voice inside me saying, “Haller! that’s too expensive or you don’t really need that!!” At first I thought I want to have a Canon or a Nikon DLSR camera. But when I checked the prices, its way too high for the budget I set for myself this time. Maybe next year.

Then I thought why not buy a Netbook? Hmmm, do I need it? I have a desktop computer all powered up and definitely up to my blogging and web blah blah needs. I also have an Acer laptop but I rarely use it and Hi-ace sort of owns it now coz hehe I was the one who destroyed his own laptop when I spilled a cup of coffee on it.. and you don’t really hear me complaining coz well it was really my fault. So I have my computing hardware at home, but the problem is I want to have something to bring around when I travel. The Acer laptop is not really bulky its actually lightweight but I prefer something smaller and just something to jot down ideas and blog posts plus something that can surf the net while I’m on the go.

So I’ve been doing my research. My netbook should be lightweight, good enough to run office programs so I can write, good enough to surf the net with WIFI etc, at least 160 GB HDD, with long battery life and should just be below $500. After reading reviews and comparisons, I’ve narrowed down my list to..

Samsung N150 with Atom N450 + Windows 7 (approx. $480)

Lenovo Ideapad S10 ATOM N270 with Windows XP (approx. $375)

HP Mini 110- 1036TU – Atom N280 + Windows XP (approx. $483)

All of these Netbooks I have read good reviews of. Samsung particularly impressed users with its super long battery life plus it has the best processor among the three. Lenovo is also a good value netbook. Very affordable price with almost similar specs as the others except for the processor. HP Mini has very good reviews too. My very first choice was Dell Inspiron Mini mainly because of the color choices available hehe.. but I don’t like the reviews I’ve been reading about it.

All prices are SRP’s in Manila computer stores. If I ever purchase one I want to buy it there . Whatchathink? Seriously, I have a hard time choosing. Anyway, I’ll mull things over and I still have time to save more. Hayy! This motivates me all the more to work work and work!