Success! I have a housemate!

[danaeris]

The commute home was incredibly suckful yesterday, and I thank my lucky stars to have such a brave, experienced, and PATIENT carpool driver as pyat. He r0x0rs.


Dinner with femmefatalist was an unqualified success. Afterwards I did NOT go back to her place, but she came and looked at my shinies and we chatted and lost track of time and it was way too late when she left. We have determined that we will definitely be looking together, because we get along really well and have all the same ideals about how our household should be (from what we're saying). In fact, we seem to have similar tastes in decorating and clothes. We may be able to swap clothes, and shoes. In fact, she was wearing a pair of heels I own last night -- same size. She bought hers in Vancouver, and I bought mine in San Francisco.

The bad news is that the two bedroom in the Dufferin building is gone, and they don't have any openings expected at this point. But I left my name and number with them in case someone gives them short notice.

So, starting Tuesday we will be entering the housing search full swing for an anticipated January 1 move.

The only apprehension I have (other than finding an apartment that doesn't suck) is that I haven't met her cat yet. She says that she has several friends who are allergic to cats who don't have trouble with him, and she also has at times used stuff she rubs on his fur that is supposed to make allergens go away. I know people who've used this stuff and it is apparently pretty effective. So, I think it'll be ok as long as we vacuum regularly and have mostly hardwood floors.

As far as household stuff, she apparently used to share a whole house with a boyfriend, so she has TONS of furniture in storage. Nice stuff, from the Bombay company. *drools* She also has almost everything a kitchen could need, except a microwave. Conveniently, my brother left one in the basement which I am free to borrow until he returns, if he returns. And, microwaves aren't that expensive from what I'm told.

Things I need before or around when I move:
-a TV; I have my brother's 13" until he returns but it's 13"
-a multifunction printer
-either a computer desk or vanity
-at least one more bookshelf


As for the iBook, I am definitely buying a new computer. I'm contemplating the idea of buying through Best Buy, which has an extended warranty which is more affordable than AppleCare.


Memory
So, it sounds to me like everyone thinks I need a gig of memory.
It also sounds to me like memory is easy to install, and components from third party manufacturers are as good as Apple's, and cheaper. So, I should just buy memory separately and put it in myself.

If I buy through Best Buy and get the extended warranty, according to my understanding of what's quoted below from their warranty plan, I won't be able to do this without voiding the warranty. Nor can I order an iBook through Best Buy with more memory from Apple, if I understand their website correctly.

Hard disk space
This one is sounding like a YMMV case... I don't think I NEED more space than 40 gigs, but that might change as time goes by. Then again, pyat points out that I should be able to take the hard drive out of my old iBook, buy a hard drive enclosure, and use it as spare storage space, perhaps for backups. If I order through Best Buy, I won't be able to get this increased. If I order a laptop with extra memory through Apple or Light Computer Centre in Hamilton it could take a week or more to get here.

Insurance/Extended Warranty

AppleCare, $389 for an iBook, $539 for a PowerBook
AppleCare, from what I can tell, will NOT be voided if I install third party memory. However, if that memory somehow damages the laptop, that damage will not be covered.
AppleCare does NOT cover damage caused by power surges.

Best Buy, $320 for an iBook, $400 for a PowerBook
This DOES cover damage by power surges
However, if I'm reading this right, it is voided if I crack the shell and put in another memory card:

Cancellation: We may cancel this Plan at our option on the basis of (a) fraud or misrepresentation ; (b) commercial or rental use of the product (except where permitted by a commercial Plan); or (c) an unauthorized repair of a product. You may cancel this Plan for any reason at anytime within thirty (30) days of purchase and receive a full refund of the Plan price, less the cost of claims paid (if any). To receive your refund, you must deliver the cancellation request along with this document and all original invoices to a Best Buy store. After thirty (30) days, no refund will apply. No cancellation fee applies to this Plan.

So why buy from Best Buy?
Cheaper insurance, for one.
The other reason is that they have a policy that if someone returns a product after opening the box, even if there's nothing wrong with it, they HAVE to discount it. So, I could get a discounted iBook or PowerBook (if I'm lucky) through them. This is how I got my iPod and digicam and they've been awesome.

So my options:
-buy through Apple or Light with the upgrades I want and do or don't get AppleCare
-buy through Apple or Light without the upgrades I want (or with just the hard drive upgrade), upgrade the memory myself, and do or don't get AppleCare
-buy a returned iBook or PowerBook through Best Buy and get their warranty and live without the upgrades
-buy a returned iBook or PowerBook through Best Buy and get the upgrades with no warranty

This is all WAY too confusing.

And lastly... anyone have any idea how hard (or easy) it is to extract the hard drive from my old laptop, and use my iPod (or any other method) to transfer the data from there to my new laptop once I've got it? Light Computer Centre will charge me $50 to do this, and back when the last laptop disaster happened, the Apple Store charged me $100.

Edit Apparently I could also trade in my laptop at Carbon Computing, in Toronto or Waterloo, for about $125-150 credit on a new laptop. That's something. CPUsed has to diagnose the laptop before they'll make an offer for trade-in, but my impression was that it would not be much money, given the situation with my power cord and the logic board.

Comments

[earthdragon.livejournal.com]

Yay spiffy housemates!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Hooray for the housemate!

[bk2w.livejournal.com]

iBooks are annoying to get at the hard drive. It basically requires complete disassembly of the machine. It's not terribly difficult, only requiring a small phillips screwdriver, Torx T-8 driver and a credit card to act as a prybar, but it's time consuming. There are instructions available online that detail the process.

For actual data transfer, I'd suggest buying or borrowing an external laptop drive enclosure. They can be had with Firewire or USB for as little as $10. That will probably result in less trauma then trying to put an old drive in a new laptop and offloading to an iPod.

Good luck on getting a new machine!

[nathanjw]

Getting the hard drive out of the old iBook will be annoying, but much less so if you've already given the machine up and don't have to worry about getting it back together in one piece.

External enclosures for the disk (which will let you plug it in to the new laptop) are relatively cheap, around $40 for one that does USB2 and firewire, cheaper for one that only does one.

Apple won't cover damage done by third-party memory (as opposed to damage that just happens to occur while third-party memory is installed), but I think that's just not likely enough to worry about.

[freefloat.livejournal.com]

http://toronto.craigslist.org/zip/111087652.html

Free TV....

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Danae! I'm calling in sick tomorrow (Thursday).

(Gmail isn't loading for me, and I don't know your email addy off the top of my head.)

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

Congrats! :D