Choosing a laptop is not a simple matter because there are many good brands of laptops on the market, and each one of them has several models available.

If you are not an expert in the field of laptops, how do you know which one to choose?

This is the same type of question as: "How do you know which car to choose?"

The short answer is that it all depends on what you need and what you can afford.

Laptops are differentiated by the following criteria:

• Appearance
• Overall size
• Screen size
• Weight
• Capacity
• Battery life expectancy
• Special feature
• Cost

First, decide what you are going to do with the laptop – determine your requirements. Then choose a model with features that will best satisfy them – and don't over-estimate the depth of your pocket.

If you are not sure yet how you are going to use the laptop, then it does not really matter which one you get – in that case go for an entry level machine.

If the laptop is given to you – either by your school, the education department, or another body – you do not have to make the decision; it has already been made for you. You can be sure that considerable thought would have gone into the selection process – there would not be any merit in you agonizing about "why was this make and model chosen as opposed to that one".

Remember, a laptop does not have to be the latest and the greatest – it is the way that you use it that is important.
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Making the African Century a Reality – that was the theme of the summit meeting taking place in Gauteng at the plush offices of Microsoft on Thursday, 27 November 2008 – it was part of the annual African ICT Achievers Awards event programme.

The event was attended by a number of Ministers from African counties responsible for ICT. The small group of about forty attendees was punch drunk with continuous references to the Honorable Minister of so-and-so and His Excellency of somewhere else with an occasional allusion to dignitaries and the ubiquitous all-protocols-observed . I humbly accepted being included in a lessor group – captains of industry – a term used to describe those who were not political luminaries.

Rather than giving a blow-by-blow account of the meeting, I am presenting only a few snippets that I find worthwhile to repeat. The meeting started off very slowly, but picked up speed and at the end of the day I felt glad that I attended.

The presentations and comments of the politicians were boring and wordy. The exception was The Honorable Deputy Speaker of Mauritius, Etienne Sinatambou (last year's winner of the African ICT Minister of the Year Award, but recently demoted to Deputy Speaker). He observed that people can be divided into three groups (the I-groups): Innovators, Imitators, and Idiots. The more I thought about this statement, the more I liked it.

An attempt was made to define innovation – it was suggested that it is the inter-section between invention and insight (into the true needs of a community). Gadgets would not necessarily qualify as being innovations, since many of them do not add value.

Since the level of ICT awareness and usage is very low in Africa, all agreed that "we no longer face an ICT crisis on the continent – we are facing a catastrophe." All attendees were called on to do their part, but the meeting failed to inform exactly how this was to be done.

The brain drain (experts leaving Africa for greener pastures) was lamented – all agreed that one should rather have a brain gain. The Honorable Deputy Speaker of Mauritius said that he prefers a brain drain to a brain in the drain; it sounded cute at the time but I am still trying to fathom out the relevance of the comment.

The high-light of the day (to me) was a presentation by Sam Kundishora, Special Advisor for the Ministry of Science and Technology of Zimbabwe, who spoke about a project in his country to digitize the folk stories of the country. It just reminded me that, even though we are on a very poor continent, it is rich in intellectual capital – the folk stories contain an enormous amount of wisdom (just as a matter of interest, Aesop was an African).

I enjoyed a faux pas of one of the commentators, as he discussed the role of politicians in establishing ICT policy. He said, "… they are politicians – they are not businessmen, they are not intellectuals – they are politicians." There wasn't a snigger in the audience; either the implication was lost on the audience, or they kept a straight face in deference to the honorables.

The meeting was concluded with a declaration which boils down to the fact that a database of all ICT initiatives on the continent will be compiled and made available to avoid the continuous re-invention of the African ICT wheel.
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There are many things that could go wrong with a laptop:

• It could be stolen
• The hard drive may crash
• When dropped it will break
• A virus could destroy your files
• And so the list goes on

Since there are so many things that could go wrong with a laptop, one may be tempted to lock it away rather than take the risk of losing or damaging it. If teachers are given laptops, and some reason this way, could one blame them?

But would it be the reasonable thing to do?

Consider the fable of the miser, handed down to us by Aesop.

A miser sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the ground and went to look at it daily. One of his workmen observed the miser’s frequent visits to the spot and stole the treasure. The miser, on his next visit, found the hole empty and began to utter loud lamentations.

A neighbour, seeing him overcome with grief and learning the cause, said, “Do not grieve so – take a stone and place it in the hole, and imagine that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it.”

The moral of the story: an unused laptop is as good as not having one.
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There is some dispute as to whether Marie-Antoinette really said, "Let them eat cake" when she was told by a messenger that her people were starving because they had no bread to eat.

Perhaps we will never know if she used those words, but it seems like a good line to use – particularly in view of the news that there will be an estimated shortage of 94 000 teachers in South Africa in six years from now.

It has also been reported that there is a current shortage of about three million teachers in the whole of Africa.

Who will be teaching our children?

If there is no bread … let them eat cake!

Many people balk at the mere suggestion that computers could be used in place of teachers. Please note: I am not suggesting that we replace teachers with computers. We do not have enough of them – soon we will be 94 000 teachers short (not counting the many incompetent ones currently in the system). But I do suggest that we seriously consider using computers in place of those teachers that are not there .

This topic has been repeatedly discussed on this blog. But talking about the issue is not enough – since we are facing a crisis, it is necessary to put into action clear strategies to use available technology to support an ailing education system.

We have cake (computers); with lovely filling (superb educational software); covered with cream (the rich resources of the internet); and the cherry on top – very smart interactive electronic whiteboards.

So, things are not as bad as they appear to be – in the absence of bread, let's give cake to the little ones.
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Laptops are highly desirable to thieves – they are easy to carry away and there is a ready market for them.

Even if you take reasonable precautions to protect your laptop against theft, you may still become a victim.

How does one deal with the situation?

If the laptop is insured, you may claim for a replacement. This will require that you do the following:

• Report the theft to your nearest police station
• Obtain a case number
• Contact the insurance company for instructions on how to submit a claim
• Wait for a replacement

The wise person keeps a backup (copy) of all programs and data and stores the backup in a safe place. A stolen laptop does not necessarily mean a loss of work you have done – but then you must be diligent in making backups.

If your laptop is not insured, you will have to carry the loss yourself. You must either buy another one, or do without one.

The inconvenience of a stolen laptop must not deter you from using it. Don’t be like the woman who received a beautiful broach from her granddaughter. She was so scared that she was going to lose it that she decided to hide it in a place where nobody would find it. Sadly she died before she had the courage to take it out of its secure place to wear it.

The last word on a stolen laptop: it is a pain – do your best to prevent the loss, but don’t let the possibility of theft deter you from using it.
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