so last thursday, i broke down and bought a netbook.  i’ve been eyeing her for a couple of weeks but i was hesitant because she’s about the only netbook out there that comes with vista instead of xp.  to be fair, i’ve never used vista but i’ve also never heard good things about it.  when we stopped at walmart for groceries after the bridge run, i decided to go back and see if they had any in stock.  they had one.  and then i noticed the little sign up next to the price tag that said computers with vista on them get a free upgrade to windows 7.  and so i bought her.  unfortunately, we had a lot of errands to run on our way home so, by the time we got there, i was about ready for bed.  i opened the box to look her over but that was it. 

friday morning, the first thing i did was go to windows’ website to read up on this free upgrade deal.  i found that my model, acer aspireone 751h, was indeed eligible for the upgrade so i went on to filling out screens to pre-order my copy of 7.  a couple screens in, it asked for the serial number so i got her back out of the box, gently turned her over, and entered her numbers just to be told by the website that her serial number is ineligible for the upgrade offer.  what?!  so i got to looking around more and found that the upgrade was only eligible for three versions of vista and that the vista basic was not one of them.  i was hurt and angry on behalf of poor cirrus.  and i was confused because, from what i can tell, this model only comes with vista basic so how can the model be eligible if it only comes with an os that is ineligible?  regardless, i felt like i had been duped and was saddened to find myself thinking of returning her. 

there was another model at walmart for the same price but it was 1gb memory and 160gb hard disk.  cirrus has 2gb memory and 250gb hard disk.  not to mention an extra inch and a half over all other models and a full size keyboard.  i really, really liked her.  i looked and looked and couldn’t find any other make or model of netbook with those stats for anywhere near the $300 price range. 

i struggled for several days with the decision:  to return or not to return.  fortunately, i have some awesome friends with much more computer knowledge than myself and dc was able to assuage my concerns about vista. 

feeling much better about the matter, i booted cirrus up for the first time tonight.  and, though i fully acknowledge her drawbacks – inadequate processor seems to be the biggest to me – i am smitten.  she has the most gorgeous screen.  and her keyboard is so easy to type on.  she is white (okay, i would have preferred red but this was the only one they had in stock and white was my second preference  – but i won’t tell her that because i don’t want to give her a complex) and quiet and cool and light as a cloud (yes, these are the reasons for her name).  she’ll even fit in my old purse.  i will say that vista is every bit as frustrating and crappy as everyone says but i’m good.

so, without further ado, i introduce cirrus:

and posing with my work pc to show off her svelteness: