Tuesday, December 01, 2009

New Computer!

I know I have told you guys MULTIPLE times that I am horrible about taking pictures and uploading them to my computer. More recently, I explained that this problem was because my computer was so freaking slow. Also, it's because I usually forget to whip my camera out to take a picture (but that's besides the point). I generally don't get online at home anymore because of my slow computer. Thursday night (Thanksgiving) I had some time to kill so I logged onto my computer to download new music for running. To make a very long, detailed story short – I lost over half my Itunes library. This had nothing to do with my computer itself – rather some settings and my own lack of paying attention. I was devastated! Friday morning I had to work, so I lugged my laptop and all my CDs to work with me and started the process of uploading the CDs back to my library.

Imagine my dismay when I was notified that my CD rom drive was not working. Ummmm. Come to think of it, I had been seeing a "modular bay" warning pop up every time I started my computer, but I just ignored it. I don't know much about computers because my mom works on computers for a living, so I generally just hand the computer over to her and she fixes it for me. I was meeting my mom and brother for lunch and I asked my mom to bring her computer tools so we could take out my CD rom and try to re-position it inside of the computer. That did not work.

Over lunch, I was obviously feeling anxiety about a non-working computer. Furthermore, I was feeling anxiety over the computer itself – CD rom or not. My computer is 4 years old. It was a very nice computer at the time, but since then – it's gotten its fair share of wear and tear. It is a Dell and I am seriously convinced that Dell computers are some of the worst made (externally) and therefore have sworn to never buy another Dell. But, I am taking 4 internet classes next semester and I don't have the money to be buying a new computer. I'm very much a save and pay in cash kind of person when it comes to big ticket items. I like to make calculated decisions and weigh all my options before making a purchase. I also don't want to have ANY debt that I don't have to have. Therefore, buying a new computer wasn't an option for me.

I have to say though, as my mom and my brother tried to explain to me how important it was that we go look at new computers, I really started to feel swayed. I, also, felt VERY stressed out VERY fast and probably called Matt to talk over the decisions with him a thousand times. In the end, we went to Best Buy "just to look" and within 10 minutes of being there I found a computer I wanted. Luckily it was Black Friday so the deals were there. While I didn't get the exact computer I wanted, I actually bought a much nicer one that was a better pick for the price and spent a little more than I had hoped. I also opted to open a line of credit at Best Buy to get their 18 month 0% interest deal. At least if I'm putting this on credit, I'd like to not be losing money in the process. I'll only have about a $50 a month payment and as long as I pay it off in 18 months, I'll pay $0 in interest.

While this was definitely a purchase I wasn't expecting to make, I've decided it was a necessary one. I already have been on my computer more than I used to be. My blogging has improved! And really, there was no way I could take 4 internet classes next semester on my old computer. It took about 10 minutes just to boot up! Another 10 minutes to get the internet to boot up. That is not time that I have folks. Matt and I actually decided to keep my old laptop around for a while, until I quit my job, since it has my VPN access for work. I don't want to put that on the new computer so we'll just keep the extra laptop around.

So here is my new laptop – which we have named Jonathan. I wish I could tell you the specs, but I have no idea. I think it has 4 gigs of ram? It also has windows 7, which I haven't decided if I like yet. It has a wonderful touchpad that is ribbed. This is my favorite thing because my old touchpad would get hot and make my finger feel like my skin was melting off. Also it has a really really cool fingerprint technology where I can sign into my computer and websites by just swiping a finger! I love that and was really really surprised about the feature when I got home. It's already helping my blogging (3 blogs in one day, all three with pictures? Amazing!) and I know it's going to be a tremendous help with school. The computer is SO fast! I love it!

Also I have decided I need blogging software if I'm going to blog more. Blogging in the blogger website is horrific and I spend more time trying to get the formatting to look correct. See how the top font is different from the rest? I can't get it to change! It's awful. I'll have to research this!






That thing in the middle is the fingerprint reader



1 comment:

  1. Congrats on your new computer! It looks so shiny and new. Ps. When you figure out the blogging program stuff, please let me know!

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