Whilst I was laid up in hospital, being waited on hand and foot by many lovely nurses (it’s a hard life …), I realised how much I missed being able to tinker with my computer. This came as no shock to me as someone who, given the chance, would spend far more time than is healthy on my iMac every day I could. The trouble lately, as you all probably know seeing as I’ve harped on about it enough, is the fact that I’m needing to spend lots of time in bed or at least sat somewhere with my feet up.

At the moment, my good friend Tugger has lent me his iBook which is a God send – I can tinker away to my heart’s content from the comfort of the aforementioned bed and/or settee and I can access anything from my iMac via the magic of wireless networking.

So, rather than buy a big, shiny, new iMac, as was my original plan, it is now my intention to buy a laptop instead. There is no way in Hell that I would consider buying anything other than an Apple – call me a snob if you like, but after only 10 minutes of using my mother’s Evesham Micros laptop yesterday I was harshly reminded of why I switched to Mac in the first place (helped and coerced, I might add, by that Tugger guy).

But, which one do I get? I’d initially assumed the iBook would be too under-powered for me, but whilst using Tuggers I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well it runs. A PowerBook would be ideal and I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. On the other hand, the MacBook Pro would seem to be the sensible option as it’s the way forward … except there’s a surprising low number of universal binaries available (i.e. apps that will run properly on the Intel CPU as they do on the PowerPC) and no 12” model, yet.

Unfortunately, several unexpected and freaskishly large bills forbid me from buying my new toy anytime soon. Still, it’s my birthday in a little less than seven weeks so I may ask for an unusual present from my family: give me an interest-free loan. I would fully intend to reimburse whichever sucker, erm, I mean generous person that saw fit to bung me the cash, but they’d have to wait until I’d cleared the debts incurred from my new bedroom flooring, having my driveway extended and my much needed gender realignment surgery.