TOPIC: OFFICE EQUIPMENT
A case of the reverse Midas touch?
18th May 2009Last week, a power outage put my main home PC out of action. While it may have been recoverable if that silly accident of a few weeks back hadn't happened, a troubled rebuild is progressing. Despite the challenges, I somehow manage to remain hopeful that an avenue of exploration will yield some fruit. Even so, thoughts of throwing in the towel and calling in professionals rather than throwing good money after bad are gathering. The saga is causing me to question the sense of self building in place of buying something ready built. Saying that, they can have their off days too.
Meanwhile, I have been displaced onto the spare desktop PC and the laptop. In other words, my home computing needs are being fulfilled to a point, though the feeling of frustrated displacement and partial disconnection from my data remains; because I have been able to extricate most of my digital photos and my web building, things are far from being hopeless. With every disappointment, there remains an opportunity or two. Since the spare desktop runs Debian, I have been spending some time seeing if I can bend that to my will, which can be done, sometimes after a fashion.
A few posts should result from this period, not least regarding working with Debian. On the subject of hardware, I will not elaborate until the matter comes to a more permanent resolution. From past attempts (all were successful in the end), I know that the business of PC building can feel like a dark art: you are left there wondering why none of your efforts summon a working system to life work until it all comes together in the blink of an eye leaving you to wonder why all the effort was expended. The best analogy that I can offer is awaiting a bus or train; it often seems that the waiting takes longer than the journey. Restoring my home computing to what it was before is a mere triviality compared to what some people have to suffer, but resolution of a problem always puts a spring in my step.
A new laptop
7th January 2008Having had it on my wish list for a few years, I finally succumbed to temptation and purchased a laptop in the PC World sale, a Toshiba Equium A200-1VO in fact. I reserved it on the web and popped into the nearest store a few hours later. However, while the reservation system worked, the collection did not go as smooth as I had hoped; it appears that the store where I went was not as well staffed as I would have liked, so I needed to wait before I was served. Finding the right part of the store was another issue. Nevertheless, service was efficient once the wait was over, and I left with the said laptop, a half-price copy of Norton 360 and a network cable.
The laptop comes with an Intel Pentium Dual-Core CPU, 2 GB of RAM and a 120 GB hard drive. The size of the hard drive may not set the world alight and neither, I suspect, will the Intel graphics adapter. Speaking of graphics, the glossy screen might not be to everyone's taste, but its 1280x800 maximum resolution is definitely respectable. Windows Vista Home Premium is the included operating system, and a 90-day trial of Norton Internet Security comes too; I'll wait for that to expire before adding in Norton 360. While I am not rushing to add software, the Home and Student version of Office 2007 has made its way on there.
As regards performance, the machine so far has done what I have asked of without any bother. Even so, battery life is far from extensive, with a maximum of ninety minutes. For long stints away from a power socket, an extra battery might be in order, and there is an offer show on the box in which the device came. That would add to the weight, though; at around 2.5 kg, it isn't something that I would go carrying on a weekend backpacking trip. Despite those limitations, it will get some enough use for me to see how things proceed from here.
