Computer Failure
As some people who have read this weblog in the past will know, I am no stranger to computer failure. Over the past 3 years, my IBM Thinkpad has shown me blue screen after blue screen - hard disk failure, boot sector corruption, motherboard meltdown, screen glitches, graphics card self-destruct... I've seen it all.
Through it all, IBM's expensive but essential 3-year warranty has fixed all the disasters the laptop has been able to throw at me. They've installed 2 new motherboards (the first one they installed was broken out of the box), and given me 3 new keyboards. But it is now August, the warranty ran out in July, and the computer failed a week ago.
Much as I admire IBM (although now I think it's called Lenovo) for their machines, I have to say that without the warranty I would have been up the proverbial creek, using the screen as a paddle, long ago. Their service (provided you pay for it) is cool, but their computers fail - and this is the rub, I don't think that makes them special in any way.
All laptops fail, that's why companies depreciate them over 18 months. I'm now typing on my company's Dell Latitude D600, and while it's not creaking or falling apart at the seams, and while it still boots fairly quick, it's a child's toy compared to my old IBM T30. No DVD player on this corporate tool - it's like being in the dark ages (cinematically speaking).
I shall now have to find a way to (a) get the IBM fixed and squeeze another 6 months out of it, or (b) buy a new laptop. I'm edging towards option (b) but don't want to shell out a lot of cash. Looking at the online stores, the difference between a 600-pound computer and a 1600-pound computer is limited - half a meg of memory, a faster processor, a better graphics card, more HD space and so on, but what does it really mean? Unless I expect my new laptop to be able to play GTA3 like the IBM could, I don't need all that nonsense - I just want to be able to code websites, write emails, watch DVDs and browse the web.
But it's still 800 pounds for an acceptable low-spec laptop that's actually portable (the 600-pound ones have 1 hour of battery life and weigh the same as the sofa I'm sitting on).
I guess it all boils down to expectations - I had gotten used to the idea that the IBM would last for at least 5 years, but that's just not in the nature of these things - just as animal lives can be measured in breaths taken or beats of the heart, computer lives can be measured in keystrokes, reboots, or perhaps 'maximum number of windows updates'.
The IBM has had it's day, RIP Thinkpad, "'It tried to boot but the hard disk shuddered, the screen went blue and now it's buggered".
And the bastard took all my music with it.
Posted by nlvp at August 15, 2005 09:57 PM