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October 03, 2006
Toshiba Satellite A20, I Hardly Knew Ye
Old Faithful is on his last legs.He's served me well for the past 5 years and has even survived a couple of medical problems. Battery that only held a charge for 20 minutes - Replaced through eBay. Hard drive that sounded like it was filled with minature cats, all angry for being trapped inside - Swapped with data intact.
(Aside: The hard drive is a story in itself. One day, the computer started making these terrible screeching noises. Me, being the gifted computer guy that I am, thought nothing of it. I asked some of the IT guys at work about it the next day and they informed me that I would be lucky if I ever saw my data again. Freaking out, I ran to Future Shop that evening and purchased an external USB hard drive to copy everything important off.
When I got home, I tried starting it up and it wouldn't boot. I tried again. It still wouldn't boot. The rest of the evening was spent shaking, banging and tilting to try to get to my beloved Windows screen. I even went so far as to put the thing in the freezer for a bit - I recall hearing something that Moyse said his friend did to recover HDs - but to no avail.
In my final act of frustration, I threw the drive on the ground as hard as I could.
I plugged it in and BAM! It started properly! I copied off everything I valued. To minimize my spend, I even ended up returning the external drive to Future Shop when everything was said and done... End Aside)
Now, though, I've run into something I can't easily fix. Like a geriatric missing his little blue pills, Old Faithful's screen has gone floppy. The post that the screen's hinge connects to has snapped. I'd ideally replace it, but after removing 30 screws and looking inside, I can see that the post actually attaches to the a metal framework that goes throughout the entire computer. I'd have to hunt down and replace that entire piece. Bah.
I figure it's time for a new laptop anyway. The only issue I have now is that I'm sadly behind the times as to what to upgrade to. At the time I got this computer, my research told me that Toshiba was the way to go because of its reliability. Now I don't know where things stand.
My requirements are pretty simple. I use my computer for very basic things - word processing, surfing the net, spreadsheets, etc. I'd like something reliable, smaller and with a long battery life. I'm not big on the games, but I do do graphics work from time to time.
What should I get? I'm even open to switching to a MacBook (like all the cool kids are doing). My only concern with that is that I may not be able to use all the PC the software that I am accustomed to. Then again, I don't have a clue about Apple computers beyond the IIe.
Someone help, please?
