Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Problem resolved.

So yesterday I reported problems with my laptop that prevented a real entry, and I believe they have been resolved. Any errors you spot here today are the fault of the proprietor.

My laptop is almost six years old, so you can probably guess the issue. Yep: hamster died.

laptop
It was sad.
I suppose it's time for a new machine, but I have to say, this is the first time I've ever had a problem, and it really was not a big deal. It's an Acer, and it's not Acer's fault I don't clean off the crap once in a while, or stop two rival antivirus programs from running at the same time. Can laptops get autoimmune diseases?

I think back to the first laptop I ever operated, an IBM that was thrust into my hands in a meeting by an executive I didn't know who thought I would be able to operate it because I was a youth. He was mistaken. It had one of those TrackPoint mice (mouses?) and I couldn't work it to save my life. The reason I bring it up is this: That laptop was probably new at the time, and there's no way it was able to handle the software that was to come within the next five years. I venture to say that no one ever expected to get five years out of a computer in those heady days.

I wonder why there seems to be more longevity in computers now. Did we hit a good combo of speed, memory, and price that made further obsolescence-causing upgrades unprofitable? Does the average consumer not need anything more expensive, because a cheap machine can handle all the bells and/or whistles one could want? Or was compatibility with storage media the main reason for upgrades leading to obsolescence, a problem that barely exists for the home user now? I wonder. If you have information on this, let me know; use small words and as little jargon as possible. Too much computerese sounds like Wizard talk to me.



Anyway, if I perform routine maintenance I could probably get another five years out of my Acer. Unless I drop it. But I'll probably get a new one this year anyway. It's for the same reason I don't finish the basement -- because I want someplace to stick the old stuff so that I don't have to look at it.
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2 comments:

  1. Alan SMarch 20, 2019 at 2:56 PM

    I don't know how much information I have, but I can say I'm pretty near your age, and eventually upgrade fatigue set in. My wife has the newest laptop in the house, a Dell refurb about 3 years old. I have the next newest, her old laptop, probably 7-8 years old. I only have it because it runs Windows 10 and is the only thing I can reliably stream video on.

    After that I have two laptops and a desktop, all still running Windows XP. The laptops aren't even portable, their batteries long since fried, and none of these machines is younger than my 13-year-old granddaughter. The desktop machine has actually been running almost continuously for over 20 years, only stopping for power outages and a house move. I'll grant you it's more a science experiment than a usable information station at this point, but it still makes me smile every time I wiggle its (wired) mouse and it wakes up.

    As long as I can still websurf and use the software on those, I see no reason to either upgrade or get rid of them.

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  2. FredKeyMarch 21, 2019 at 7:22 AM

    Hey, Alan -- that's kind of my take. I'm always a "if it ain't broke" kind of guy anyway. Of course, since I use the thing for work, my temporary outage was a great reminder to KEEP BACKUPS UP TO DATE (eek!).

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