Sunday, March 31, 2013

Tech Sunday - New Computer

I am writing this post from my new laptop.  I debated a long time on what to get.  My last laptop was only about 18 months old.  It is dead, and I mean dead.  It gave a message that the fan was not working, but we tested the fan and it is fine.  I can get the stuff off the harddrive, so that is not really an issue.  I am not happy that the laptop failed that fast.  Matt still uses the laptop I had before that one.  It is 7 years old.  It's slow, but it is still working.  I only replaced it because the screen fell off and it was over 5 years old.  At the time, we didn't want to play with it.  After we replaced it I actually looked at the cover and realized that all the little screws I had been finding all over the house had been holding the screen in the case.  So it took about 5 minutes to fix and Matt got a laptop.  Funny that they old apple green Dell is still working and the one I got 18 months ago is a useless brick.

I had tried a different brand for the last one.  I thought it was a reliable company and really I am not hard on my computers so it should have been fine.  Well, I will never by that brand again.  There were lots of little nagging issues but it not lasting two years is a real issue.  Several of my friends suggested Toshiba this time.  I have never had one and the one I purchased had good reviews so I decided to give it a try.  I was thinking about doing a touch screen but at the last minute I went with a cheaper regular laptop.  I just could get myself to fork out that much money right now for another machine.  So far I like the Toshiba and I really like that it has a 10 key pad.  That is something I have never had on a laptop.

Here is the strange part.  Before becoming a longarmer I was a computer tech.  I have never had a hard time figure out how to do things on my computers.  My iPad took a little while because some of the things I needed to do just weren't intuitive to me.  I have not played with a Apple since the original iMac came out in the late 90s.  It's not that I don't like Apple, my job was always PC based after that so I never really got to play on one.  I even considered getting a Apple this time but some of the programs I use still don't have Mac versions and the price is more then I really wanted to spend.

I have to  wonder what Microsoft was thinking when it designed Windows 8.  I have had to actually Google how to close a program and how to shut down the machine.  Who thought it was a good idea to have to use Win + i to do anything? You have taught us all to right click and now you took that away.  What are you thinking?  My in-laws need a new computer.  I am really regretting not getting them with Windows 7 on it.  The learning curve is just too much.

I am not saying that there are not some great new features in Windows 8, because there are.  Skydrive is one that I will be playing with because I can get a app for it for my iPad and iPhone and then I can use it like Google Drive.  I do like the new graphical start window.  It is figuring out how to change settings and close things that is weird.  I know how to now, but it just does not make sense to me that they did not go over it in their overview of the system.  It is a laptop I am going to have to be able to shut it off...  I can't believe the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8.  I also got the new Office update.  I have only played for a couple seconds in Word 2013, but so far that is very intuitive.  Must have had a different usability team.

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