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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Top bina Lap

We have integrated so much with the digital world...I realized this when my laptop crashed. The motherboard that is...and that means a LONG wait as this was the office machine.
The machine was an archaic Dell 430 model. I had initially resisted getting a laptop from office. One, it would mean 24/7 support. Second, I have a very lady-like resistance to learning a new gadget. Gadgets, however simple, freak me out. But then I was given one. I had to learn first, that it has a charger. Two, that I need to learn how to plug in the network cable. Three, plug in the external mouse. I felt like a hardware engineer connecting all these wires to my laptop.
But slowly as I got used to it, I learnt I could operate it without having to keep the charger plugged in, learnt that the wireless can be configured and that the mouse can be done away with. The sleek laptop slowly crept into my bed to become my companion. Work or browsing was now being done while lying down.This serpent position quickly gave way to the supine with the laptop on the tummy. The elevated tummy gives an unhindered view of the screen :)
Well, as I slept on my side, the laptop also moved and I started reading from the tilted screen. When it blocked the fan and made the machine hot, I would turn to the other side. The laptop now replaced the book. Books started getting downloaded and read in bed. It was easier as I didn't need to get up to switch off the light after the book was read. I simply had to sleepily click 'Hibernate' and slide the machine to a horizontal position. The newspapers were discontinued as I could read the e-paper in bed.
And thus my laptop and I became 'do jism ek jaan'. Familiarity breeds contempt, they say, and perhaps that's why the laptop decided to die on me.
The first reaction was, 'you cant do this to me...com'on,  come back to life.' It didn't budge. When the network and support team looked at it, they confirmed my worst fears. The mother board has crashed and will be replaced after you obtain all the required approvals. Sigh! This flagged a loooooooong wait. Now how do I go to sleep? I have to read for at least an hour before I can sleep...what do I do now? I dug out my books again and tried to read them. But the light that the backdrop provided to all my e-books was missing and I started finding it difficult to read by the light in my room and then the hassle of switching off the light before I go to bed. :(
The withdrawal symptoms started, with me becoming grouchy and grumpy at not having slept well in the night without my laptop.
After nearly a 2 week wait, I decided to go and get myself a new one. ( And, this is from someone who resisted buying a laptop for nearly 15 years of computer use) The main purpose was to read in bed and hence the smaller, sleeker, lighter Acer D257.

                                                                                  image courtesy: engadget.com

Now don't ask me questions like what memory, what storage etc. All I know is, it has a 10 inch display and came with a web cam (haven't used the web cam yet). Ordered through flipkart and got a pen drive free with it :)
I now sleep in peace with my newer, sleeker and lighter companion.

2 comments:

RamaWish said...

Lets do a web chat then ?

Beautiful World said...

:) yeah sure, at least I can test the quality of the webcam that way.