Days in Limbo, and the Continuation of the Computer Saga

[debka_notion]

Dancing was quieter than usual- just not a big turn-out this week. It felt very strange, and not entirely real, to be telling people that this was the last week I'd be there on a regular basis. Amusingly, I finally got the email of someone I've known for oh, at least 8 years now (admittedly, for most of that time we interacted sort of awkwardly). And the couple of folks who head down to NYC to dance around once a month have promised to get in touch with me when they're coming in to go dancing there.

With the encouragement of a few folks (my sister, my apartmentmate, someone at dancing who works in computers), I'm leaning towards just getting a new computer. So- I'm going to do some research, but input from people who have a clue about computers wouldn't hurt. I'm trying to check with the parents for their input, but this must be done by email because they're in Canada and their cellphones aren't so much working there. So hopefully parental input will happen soon- it's strangely unnerving not to have them accessible to run ideas by them.

Other that that, today's achievements thus far have been some packing, cleaning the bathroom, and some mending- but not enough packing or enough mending or errand-running.

Comments

[chinchillama.livejournal.com]

The husband would say (and I would agree) to buy a mac, since they are user friendly, less likely to be subject to viruses and just plain cool

:)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I'm just iffy about learning a new system- it took me long enough to get competent on a PC. I do just fine with things once I learn how- but generally I need to be taught the basics...

[chinchillama.livejournal.com]

I understand that, though once I started using the mac laptop I never wanted to go back. But I suppose some of that is that it has a better mail program (thunderbird) and it uses Safari as a browser. They are pretty simple and you could always go to an Apple store and play for awhile, they don't work on commission so they won't pressure you or lie to get a sale.

Good luck!

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

That's a thought. I was just looking at the website, and they also look like they're a bit more expensive than the cheaper of the other recommendations I've been getting (esp. Toshiba)- and since I'm doing this mostly because it would save $ in the long run over actually fixing all that's wrong with my current computer, that may be a mark against them. But maybe I'll go check one out. I wonder if there's a store somewhere near here- there ought to be, I presume.

[chinchillama.livejournal.com]

There is one in Boston so you could head over, and there are a few in the Conn area but I don't know where. They are more expensive, but they save a lot of hassle (esp where virus management is concerned) and Adam claims they break less, it certainly functions way better than my pc laptop. you can also get an extension on the apple care for 3 years so they will fix or replace, which is nice. I dunno, so far I have only good things to say, and I've been using it for several months now as my only laptop (since my windows one kept dying, grrr)

In any event, I hope things are going well, when do you start school?

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

It's a thought- and one that practically everyone seems to be pushing. We'll see. No matter what, I'm likely to get an extended warranty- it saved me quite a bit with the nowsemi-deceased laptop, considering that over the course of 4 years I needed to replace the keyboard (about a month into owning hte thing), the hard drive and the motherboard, and now the screen...

Things are going pretty well. Orientation starts the 28th, and it's just starting to feel real to me. Scary stuff. So I'm trying to get myself ready- packing up, etc, and trying not to focus on it too much, so I don't freak out. So as usual I'm shifting a bunch of focus to zodiacmg's arrival back in Boston, and on dance camp...

[carnilius.livejournal.com]

Thunderbird is Mozilla, and exists on Windows and Linux as well. Safari doesn't exist on Windows, as far as I know, but I prefer Firefox which is Mozilla as well, and it exists on all platforms.

I'm a big fan of open source software.

I'm running gaim,firefox,filezilla,gimp,open office,emacs, et cetera... it's better and it's free. Eventually I'll move over to Linux...

[chinchillama.livejournal.com]

hehe, I have no idea who you are in real life, but it sounds like you could play nicely with my husband- who is a huge fan of open source and runs Linux on his desktop :)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

He's a friend of mine from Israeli Folkdance, really from dance camp. He's not even geographically near me, let alone you... But should I someday get you folks in the same general vicinity through some fluke, I'll make sure to make introductions.

[carnilius.livejournal.com]

I agree that Maya should get a Mac. I'm personally not a Mac user (though I grew up on Macs), but I highly recommend them to anyone who is not interested in dealing with the technical side of computing. They're more expensive, but they last longer (or so I've heard), they have much better hardware, they have less bugs, and they have MUCH better tech support available.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

The better tech support would be beautiful. I'm quite sure that my last tech support dude understood only relevant English and only in response to his own questions: certainly he didn't understand a word of my summary of what the previous tech support dude did. Blargh.

But the whole expense and incompatibility with other people's stuff is off-putting: I'd like to be able to send essays back and forth for editting, this being a bit of an ingrained habit (and being lousy at editting my own work). I don't know- I'm torn.

[elfsdh.livejournal.com]

DW has a Mac and uses MS Office for Macs. She dumped Windows when she got her current laptop about a year and a half ago. Files transfer between Office for Mac and Office for Windows perfectly well (or, at least as well as they transfer between any two versions of Office on different machines). Also, if you're not into buying new MS Office licenses, you can use open source word processors (Abiword has a native Mac version) and get reasonably good Word compatibility.

As an added benefit, I'm a desktop Linux user myself. I find it easier to fix DW's Mac problems than those on Windows PCs because the Mac OS is based on BSD Unix. :-)

By the way, what do you plan on doing with your old computer? :-)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

The old computer will be going either to the nice tech people at Dad's work, or to a friend at dancing who asked first, I believe- he works in computers, and says he can always use the parts.

As for all these this program for that sort of computer things- I just want something that functions without me having to bother those of my friends who are technically inclined too often, as I tend to feel that the exchanges of skills aren't so equal: my academic training is only useful to other people of similar religious inclinations, and my other skill sets are mostly on the domestic side.