Last week my four-year-old laptop dissolved into a screenful of horizontal lines. It had been acting squirrely, and with the help and guidance of my ladyfriend Lisa, who is an absolute genius with computers and software, I had already had it partially apart for an inspection. It rewarded our efforts with a total freakout.
A day later, Lisa had the problem fixed. The laptop now seems to be behaving itself, at least so far. The problem may have been mismatched memory cards. Lisa removed one of the cards, and that may have done the trick. We’ll see. I’ve already seen the laptop behave itself beautifully for day after day on previous occasions, only to suddenly start behaving like it’s on drugs for no discernible reason. Sad to say, I just don’t trust it, nor does Lisa. And obviously, whether I’m writing copy for clients on the road or chasing storms, I’ve got to have a laptop I can depend on. It’s part of my livelihood as well as my safety net.
So I finally knuckled under and bought a Dell Latitude. And while I was at it, I bought the extra-tough E6400 ATG. That oughta last me for a while. Shock-resistant. Dust resistant. Moisture resistant. Faster than greased lightning on ExLax. And, I might add, pricey. But if it lasts me five years, I’ll be happy, and it sounds like it ought to.
Meanwhile, if it turns out that the mismatched memory chips were in fact the culprit, and that my old laptop behaves itself from here on, then it should serve as a great backup.
I hate to spend so much money for this new machine. But I’d hate even more to have my radar suddenly break up into a bunch of lines while I’m chasing a tornadic supercell in Kansas. And I have a feeling that this new laptop is going to be a dream. So I guess it’s money well spent. I can’t wait to find out.
