Because I've had a day job for the last 3 years it's been quite some time since I was the one buying myself a laptop. But with my contract job ending next month, and my loaner going away with it, I needed to decide what was next. And with a 10 day roadtrip in March, I needed to do it quickly.

I whined and whinged about wanting a MacBook Air, or waiting for a revised Pro, but once I accepted the reality that I am a struggling cartoonist, the choice was simple. I got the 2.2ghz white MacBook, which is Apple's best value laptop. I also got third-party 4GB memory and a WD 320GB 5400RPM HD, which thanks to its data density is reputed to be almost as fast as a 200GB 7200RPM drive. The net? A very capable desktop replacement that isn't the smallest or lightest, but which is small and light enough.

The less economical part of today's purchase is a Wacom 12UX Cintiq, which will let me draw the strip on the road, which is crucial for this travel-happy year, where I expect to away from home a solid two months of the year. Phew!