World's fastest laptop crashes

Most people just reboot when their laptop crashes, but for Nick "Slick" Matina, that wasn't an option.

Matina, a self proclaimed dotcom-era millionaire who runs an IT services company, is also a fan of motorcycles--the faster the better. And as the owner of a 2002 Suzuki Hayabusa, arguably the most powerful two-wheeled machine sold on the planet, he knows something about clocking impressive speeds. In fact, Matina's heavily modified ride is one of the fastest of its kind, as it has been bored out to a staggering 1397 CCs and features a bottle of nitrous oxide which, when unleashed on the motor, can push the bike well over 200 miles per hour.

Coming home from the drag strip one night, where he uses a laptop to micro-adjust the bike's electronic fuel-injection system, Matina felt his backpack give way at 80 mph and watched helplessly as his Dell Inspiron 8200 careened behind him down the California freeway. Matina saved himself from a near crash caused by the computer's power supply, which got caught up in his rear wheel. But he figured there wouldn't be much left of the computer, so he gathered his other belongings and headed safely for home.

Much to his surprise, Matina received an e-mail several days later from an individual who found the battered machine when he had been stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the same stretch of Interstate 405 where the laptop was lost. Not only was the computer somewhat intact, but after a quick charge the laptop actually still worked. Since he had already purchased a replacement computer and the anonymous person who'd found the laptop had hatched an unusual affection for the beat-up box, Matina let the good Samaritan keep the device after sending him the contents of its hard drive.

Suffice to say, Matina's new computer is also a Dell.