recently i discovered that i no longer have issues with my laptop now that i am no longer running discord on it. kali was right; even the worst hardware can be fine if you stop running several web browsers on it. but its still not fine. i sometimes participate in game jams and those require compilation, and lots of it. and this is why i am soon being gifted a free laptop that is significantly better. only i feel extremely bad leaving portablecompromise (the X260) behind. its the closest i have to a digital soulmate. it is broken (several keys dont work reliably, it has some water damage), it is small and portable meaning i can take it with me most places, and it is nonetheless very comfy to use.

i also have an X270, but i havent even given it a hostname beyond "the X270" because i never really use it. it is so pristine that using it feels like i am contaminating it. i dont want to break it, so i never use it. portablecompromise meanwhile cannot be broken, it is already broken. it can be broken further, but i know that wont really happen for a long time. it is resilient as shit despite being already broken. and thats how i am too.

unfortunately there are great reasons to leave it behind. i dont know what to do. it kind of needs replacement with something that can charge via USB-C, and it kind of needs replacement because of the broken keys, and it kind of needs replacement with something that can be used for game jams. but none of these are portablecompromise's fault and for some reason i have more empathy for machines than i do for most people. the replacement would be some kind of T14, which is not only better in power but also bigger. my X270 also kind of should have been the replacement. but that never happened. in the same way i dont know if the T14 will ever be the replacement. maybe one day when pcp is fully broken, i will feel content with switching for good, but i neither want to break it on purpose nor switch before then. maybe i will be forced by the performance, but that still isnt happening - it is still working perfectly for most things i want to do with it.

something tells me i shouldnt accept the gifted laptop. but at the same time it does make tremendous sense to use something better.

i will have to see, maybe i can get used to something newer just like when i abandoned my X250 as a result of its battery going insane (it stopped displaying the correct charge among other things). unlike the X250, i dont think i will use pcp as a parts machine, in part because it barely has anything that makes sense to take out.

the new machine will likely be called portablethunder, since as far as i know it will be the strongest laptop i can get my hands on for a few years unless i miraculously obtain more money. it feels adequate thus to name it something accordingly strong.

i will see what happens. maybe the change to something more powerful will be so enjoyable that my emotional attachment is overridden after all.