Seems that's what my computer is.
A desperate hermit.
My little laptop is starting to feel it's age, it's had it's cables replaced and hip surgery (split the hard drive or something like that) and it's battery doesn't hold a charge the way it used to.
But this was new.
You see, I took it to work. Apparently it didn't approve. I turned it on there, went to hook it up to the wifi system (a foreign wifi system *gasp*) and it froze solid in horror.
The swirling basketball of doom that never ever leaves till you heartlessly and somewhat fearfully push and hold down the power button. Sort of like injecting an anesthetic through the straight jacket of someone who has totally lost it.
When I tried to boot it up again, it stonewalled me, in absolute.
A plain blue unchanging screen. I repeated the experiment several times despite Einsteins comment that insanity is the act of doing the same thing over and over again in the hope of different results.
I was, to say the least, despondent. So, it seemed, was the computer.
I got home, and thought, 'Oh what the heck, lets see what happens if I give it LOTS of time to boot up.' (Sorry Einstein, seems I'm certifiable)
Seems also that it was happy to be home. Started up no problem at all. Working just fine, thankyouverymuch.
Just didn't like going out I guess.
(sotto voce - weird, no?)
5 comments:
Weird indeed. Computers are not supposed to have personalities; watch out for Hal.
Seadog
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't let you do that".
Odd indeed. my laptop is also getting old. Just can't replace it at the moment. So I make do with what I have. Stays plugged most of the time, gives me maximum 2 hours unplugged when it's in a good mood. Maybe some cleanup of unwanted programs would do it good. Checking what gets started during boot time may also be of help (you'd be amazed at how many programs, during installation, will also install a small "boot time program" that runs in the background to check for new updates or whatever. Java, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, etc...). Usually that's one of the things that makes computers slower and slower to boot over time: accumulation of small boot-time utilities all "doing their stuff" in the background. You can also have programs that have been uninstalled but didn't cleanup the registry properly when they got uninstalled, so Windows will try to find a program that does not exist anymore, every startup.
Hmm, Hal eh, we'll have to see.
ElP, that's some useful info, I'll look into cleaning some of that up...though boot up is definitely slower, not as slow as all that! I'm looking as a tablet to replace the laptop, probably with an external keyboard, but I'm not sure yet, any thoughts?
There's definitely a market for those "convertible" laptops. I guess it all depends on how much you write, how much screen you actually need, and how comfortable a keyboard you need. After going to Vietnam with only the iPad mini, I know that the screen was too small for me and I wouldn't do that again (would need either a bigger screen or an actual separate keyboard. Or both). You can check out tech review websites for their "Top 10 convertible laptops" guides, make your own shortlist, then find one in the store to see how it looks and feels like if you try to type and read :)
I was certain I would need an external keyboard, I've a student who has one that is integrated in the case and you can stand the tablet up like a computer screen too. Pretty clever, and no, a mini would be too small, it would have to be bigger. Someone mentioned a Samsung Galaxy notes tablet, but it seems a lot of money to be able to write, I can do that on paper more or less for free. I've also heard hat the galaxies are great for the first bit, but with every update they go slower and slower until about 2 years later you want to throw it at the wall. For me that would be completely unacceptable, so still have to think......
I will check out the guides you mention and see.....
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