I hope you’ll forgive me a little self-indulgence to round out 2010. I don’t get sent any gadgets to test or review (That’s a hint, friendly PR types!), so it’s not often I get the experience the excitement of unboxing something fun. But having been the recipient of an unexpected contribution to a new laptop, I thought I’d make the most of it….

Oh look, it's a box. (And forgive the Christmas tablecloth!)

Obviously if Samsung, or anyone else, fancies sending me review products etc, then I’d have taken 20 seconds to get their logo the right way round.

And now it's a box with a manual inside....

For the record, the manual is pretty much 1. Insert Battery. 2. Insert power supply. 3. Charge laptop. 4. Switch on and follow the instructions.

Ooooh shiny....

Nice new laptop, and horrific crotch shot reflection...

For those interested, it’s a Samsung R540, 15.6 inch notebook. It’s got an Intel Core i3, and my budget and planned usage meant the 3GB, 32GB hard drive version. The reason I picked this particular model is that it’s pretty powerful in the application stakes, is a reasonable size and price, and the only negatives I’ve seen have been referring to the 2-3 hour battery life and the display if it’s not set at the maximum.

While I’ll be using it for client meetings and presentations, the fact it’ll mainly be used for working at home means that neither of those issues should be a problem (If it wasn’t for the fact I work in two different rooms in the house, I might have gone the desktop route).

And most importantly, it means that I can retire my aging Compaq to backup status. Although Ubuntu has kept it useful despite it’s age, the amount of work I have to do means it’s been increasingly painful to use.

So there you go – I’m sure the next time you see it, the Sammy will be scratched and probably be covered in stickers, but at least I’ve got a record of my pristine new purchase before it becomes the daily workhorse.