Pink Laptop

Computers are becoming such a large part of our lives, it's no surprise that we like to customize them to match our own personalities.  The pink laptop, one of the earliest custom colors offered for laptops, continues to be very popular, especially with women.  And is that a surprise?  You can easily find pink laptops that are geared towards girls in school, all the way up to professional women who want their home computer to be a little jazzier than their work equipment.

But this poses a danger to the consumer in the form of poor quality equipment.  It's easy to get caught up in the color and look of the computer, and forget to make sure that the computer itself is of an equally high quality.  So you need to make sure, when shopping for the computer, that you take care to pick a quality machine first, and then the color is the gravy.  Pink, delicious gravy.

This Hub will explain the best mindset to have when choosing a computer (and this comes from someone who has purchased a lot of computers in his lifetime!) and some of the pitfalls that can trip you up in the process of making that choice.

So let's say you're looking for a pink laptop for your daughter - she's in middle school now and it will be good for her to have something to work on at school, or in her bedroom, or wherever she needs to study.  In the process of shopping, she falls in love with a laptop.  A pink Disney laptop that has spirals and shapes drawn on the lid.  And you have to admit that it's a beautiful machine.  So you drop the $400 on it as an investment in her future, and she has her machine.  Everything is great, right?

Well, not if the machine is going to break in a year.  Or slow down to the point that it takes it ten minutes just to start up.  And this is the problem with a lot of pink laptops, especially those that are specifically marketed towards younger girls.  The manufacturers know that the girls are going to want this model, and so they put subpar parts inside.

Does this happen all the time?  Well, no.  But especially when computers are marketed to specific age groups, like little girls who wouldn't know the difference, they usually make cost cutting choices that they wouldn't make otherwise.

So what mindset do you want to take when shopping?  What's the best way to avoid this?

My suggestion is to look for a computer model and then look into customizing it.  Perhaps the custom little girl laptop isn't the best one to get, but you can get a quality notebook for $400 and then customize it with a pink shell.  You're buying a computer, and so you need to focus on the computer aspect - not the color aspect.

Of course, if you have computer knowledge yourself, then put that into use here.  And that's not to say that all pink laptops are bad - perhaps your daughter would be tired of the color after two years anyway, so it doesn't matter if it's going to slow down or not.  But you really want to go into the process with as much information as possible - laptops are not cheap.

Well, suggestions are tough, because in the world of computers, and especially laptops, models are discontinued very quickly.  But overall, there are a few laptop makers that have been more prominent over the past couple years, and so offer a variety of machines that will meet your needs.

My personal favorite is Acer, as they make overall quality products.  I'm currently using an Acer Aspire, which is their line of high quality laptops at middle-range prices (the one I have is capable of playing most current video games, and cost me about $800 back in January 2009).  They also sell netbooks, which are smaller, more portable laptops closer to the $300-400 range.  Those might be better for school, as they're light and have a long battery life, and they come in a range of colors too.

Other larger laptop companies today include Dell and Toshiba, both of which I've had past experience with and both of which were good when I used them, and they still have good reputations today.  However, it has been several years since I've used either of them, so take my conclusions with a grain of salt.

Another alternative for designs and decorations would be looking through the very large quantity of pink laptop bags that are available on the market today. These bags are even more customized than the computers themselves, they serve a valuable purpose, they often have some form of shock absorption built in so they help protect the computer, and even if the worst happened and they were somehow ruined, you'd be out... $30?

I think pink laptop bags work as a fantastic alternative, and this is where I look for computer customization. Computers themselves, outside of Apple, are generally not so sexy (though there are certainly exceptions in the laptop world). Laptop bags help avoid that altogether, and can cover a bland computer with brilliance.

This is some advice from an admitted computer junkie.  Any time you are looking for a new computer you need to be careful of spending too much money on low quality equipment, and when you get to custom machines like pink laptops, the potential of buying a lemon is even higher.

Look for a good computer first, and a color second.  Perhaps you can even get away with getting a pink laptop bag instead.  But above all, don't sacrifice style over substance, and you'll do well.