The Blue Screen of Death
Which, actually, isn't the problem plaguing my computer, now in the shop until further notice. Instead, it's an overheating issue (or lack of cooling, or fan defect, or whatever excuse du jour causes the Monstrosity to shut down when it wants to, not when I want it to.) So until I get this sorted, posting will be light to nonexistent.
Then again, I've been thinking about getting a new laptop - one that doesn't weigh nine and a half pounds and look like the proverbial misfit wherever I take it. Suggestions welcome in the backblogs, although at the moment I'm rather leery of TOSHIBA - unless they can fix that damn overheating problem...
Well, I should note that my laptop is a Toshiba Satellite. It's worked just fine, although its battery life is piss-poor. I understand that later models have improved upon this.
Posted by: ed | March 21, 2007 at 09:17 PM
I have a Sony Vaio TX770P. It's compact, and under 3 pounds. The battery goes nearly 5 hours. I'm very satisfied with it, but if eyesight is an issue, you may be disappointed by the screen size.
Posted by: Sean | March 21, 2007 at 09:28 PM
I clung desperately to my PC existence for many years -- I said I LIKED the complications -- until someone handed me a MacBook earlier this year. I will never go back. The extra money you pay more upfront, you save in not having to buy peripherals.
The MacBook is light, it's sturdy, and the battery lasts at least four hours, depending on what I'm doing. And it does everything but make coffee. (Obviously, it comes with its own virtual Kool-Aid...)
Posted by: Clair Lamb | March 21, 2007 at 09:32 PM
What Clair said.
I have a MacBook Pro. No one is allowed to breathe on it. Seriously. Well, okay, David but he does updates, etc., so can't divorce him otherwise I'll never figure the tech stuff out. Love, love it. Spend the money.
Previous one was a Compaq - never had any troubles with it, loved it also. But David talked me into a new MacBook Pro. He said I needed it. Uh-huh.
Took me a little time to adjust to Pages, but am comfortable now. I do drafts on Pages. Also have the parallel program thing that runs Windows. It is so cool watching that cube thing turn ...
Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne Ketterer | March 21, 2007 at 09:46 PM
Like Clair, I've got a Mac Book. I love it. And there's a feature that I love -- the magnetic power supply connection. It allows it to disconnect without damage to the computer if someone (or some dog's tail) pulls on the power cord.
As Clair says, you don't have to buy a lot of peripherals. If you're doing price comparisons, be sure to look at how much a non-Mac system costs if it has the same stuff loaded on to it.
Posted by: Jan Burke | March 21, 2007 at 10:54 PM
I do so love my Dell Inspiron.
Posted by: Dave White | March 21, 2007 at 11:55 PM
All hail the Apple PowerBook G4!
Posted by: Ron Hogan | March 22, 2007 at 12:04 AM
Macs. Macs. Macs. I won't ever get anything else. I've been using them since 96. Update every three years or so but I really do put them through the ringer. 12 hours almost every day of the year. As long as you don't spill water on them they are perfect.
Posted by: MJ | March 22, 2007 at 12:32 AM
I used to be a longer time PC user and fanatic. Now I have a Mac and I ain't going back. Like Ron, it's a Powerbook G4. I can't wait to replace it with a Macbook.
And they come in black.
Posted by: Daniel Hatadi | March 22, 2007 at 01:36 AM
I used to be a long time PC user and fanatic. Now I have a Mac and I ain't going back. Like Ron, it's a Powerbook G4. I can't wait to replace it with a Macbook.
And they come in black.
Posted by: Daniel Hatadi | March 22, 2007 at 01:37 AM
Add mine to the list of Mac recommendations. Bought my first Mac powerbook in 1998 and watched all my writer friends go thru PC after PC for the last 10 years. Bought a new G4 this summer because I deserved it.
Posted by: Jersey Jack | March 22, 2007 at 05:17 AM
MacBook all the way . . .
Posted by: Sarah Stewart Taylor | March 22, 2007 at 08:33 AM
Ooo, yeah, MacBook!
Posted by: Tasha Alexander | March 22, 2007 at 08:53 AM
Well, you know what my answer is going to be ;-)
MacBook, of course.
If you do opt for a Mac, get a copy of Parallels and hang on to your Windows software. You can install Parallels and then install Windows and your PC software. You'll be able to run Windows in either full screen mode or in a special window. BootCamp does this as well, but you have to reboot to switch from Mac to PC. With Parallels you can have them both running at once.
Posted by: Mary | March 22, 2007 at 09:44 AM
I've been a Mac person since 1985. I honestly don't understand why anybody would get anything else.
Posted by: Jeff Cohen | March 22, 2007 at 09:46 AM
I have a Dell Inspiron that I am happy with at the moment. My son who is a Mac fanatic goes on constantly about all the problems pcs have, ad worries me. A conversation about computers with him is like going to a Mac religious revival meeting. But from the other posts he is obviously not alone.
Posted by: Norm alias Uriah Robinson | March 22, 2007 at 10:10 AM
A glance at the financial pages reveal that Dell is reinventing itself as a very bad company with lousy products and service. The only cloud on Apple's horizon is back dating stock options. HP was spying on itself and Gateway may enter the dairy market. I have a pre-HP Compaq that sounds like an F-16 taxiing.
Posted by: David Thayer | March 22, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Sarah, get a Mac. It will love you back.
Posted by: Tim Maleeny | March 22, 2007 at 12:23 PM
ditto ditto ditto ditto Mac.
Posted by: Cornelia Read | March 22, 2007 at 01:06 PM
Okay, Apple should be paying us for this. What do you guys think about a "Mystery Writers for Macs" ad campaign?
Posted by: Sarah Stewart Taylor | March 22, 2007 at 01:20 PM
I've been working on a PowerBook for a million years (spacetime continuum thing) and I lurve it. I want a MacBook or MacBook Pro desperately. My daughter bought one last fall and I salivate whenever she brings it over. "I gave you life! Now gimme your MacBook!"
She ignores me. Kids.
Posted by: Bill Cameron | March 22, 2007 at 01:41 PM
Alright, someone needs to say it:
Apple Mac = hippie bullshit.
Posted by: N | March 22, 2007 at 01:46 PM
Have no direct experience of Macs, though as I work for a journal I am well aware of the type of high feelings being exhibited in these here comments.
But if you are a PC person, I have some experience of laptops as I am part of a workaholic/blogging/internet/Sims mad family, so we all have and have had laptops.
Sony Vaio is my recommendation.
We've had mixed experience with Toshibas and Samsung.
But Sony Vaio is reliable, the new screen is great, and my teen loves the built in skype webcam/mouse that comes "free" with the models we use.
Malcolm (the professor in the family) has got as his latest a very slim and elegant Samsung-- he's very happy with that. Goes with him wherever he is travelling very lightly, but is synchronised with work so he can use the bigger screen when there.
Posted by: Maxine | March 22, 2007 at 02:40 PM
I kind of agree with where Anthony Neil Smith is coming from.
I've only ever used PCs. I don't have a problem with the WP software (I used to use Lotus when me and Mr Lotus were the only people using it). But I like Windows well enough and my current desktop, an HP Pavilion, sings along nicely.
Having said that, I had someone load up an old laptop with linux and that's pretty amazing stuff - the ability to run sixteen desktops simultaneously, to contain a whole edition of windows XP within one of them, etc. But it didn't know how to mix me a decent martini so I gave it away.
Posted by: Kevin Wignall | March 22, 2007 at 03:27 PM
For the record, my wife is a PC gal and we co-exist very peacefully in our dual-platform household. Sometimes we even use each other's comps depending on the situation.
She has an HP laptop which has worked very well for her.
Posted by: Bill Cameron | March 22, 2007 at 03:50 PM