Well, I did it again -- fried another hard drive in my laptop. I bought the computer (Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100) about 1 1/2 years ago, and had the first hard drive go out before my 1-year initial warranty was up. This time, the drive was only in the computer for about 6 months. They don't make 'em like they used to.

The biggest hassle is trying to get the computer set up again with all of my programs, then activating all the licenses (major pain) and then trying to transfer all my files and sites. Blech. Luckily I purchased a 3-year extended warranty. That was another hassle -- Toshiba had no record of it. Long story short, after a half-dozen phone calls with endless menus, I finally spoke to a live person who was able to find their error and get my computer entered into the system.

I've worked with laptops for a few years now as a secondary computer, but about a year ago I decided to start using the laptop for my main development machine at home. Part of the reason was because of some of the restrictive licenses that companies like Macromedia are putting on their software -- it makes it hard for people like me who work from more than one computer at home and in the office. Laptops are handy, but after this fiasco I'm seriously considering moving back to desktops full-time and using the laptop only for travel and for sitting in front of the TV.