Compy woes
It looks like my laptop (a 3+ year old 15" 1Ghz G4 Powerbook) is in its final throes 
At least, the hard drive is. It keeps making clicking sounds and then crashing, much like a banshee’s shriek signaling imminent death.
I have a few options (which I’d appreciate your opinion on):
- Replace the hard drive (somewhere between $100-$200, which is especially frustrating considering the extended warranty *just* expired)
- Hope she doesn’t die, and just wait it out ’til I graduate, at which point I can hopefully get a shiny new MacBook Pro, and keep that for the next 3 years
- Spend my summer earnings now and get a new MacBook (not Pro) to love and cherish for the next 2 years or so (about $1200 - ugh!)
- Put out a collection plate and try to scrounge up the money to get a MacBook Pro now (about $2000 - yeah, not likely).
I like the idea of getting a new computer now, especially considering how slow my current one is (sorry, Xev!) - even a low-end MacBook (not Pro) would be a noticeable increase in speed. That would, though, mean losing some screen space - going from a 15" screen to a 13" one. And a glossy one, at that. I wonder, though, if I’d regret not having gone for the Pro (not that it’s an affordable option).
Thoughts/comments? Leave ‘em here.
Posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 2:43 am. Categories: Lazyweb, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can also leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
8 Responses to “Compy woes”
Jenn Says:
January 28th, 2007 at 11:53 am
My thought? Get a new hard drive. You can totally get them for less than a hundred bucks. First, it might even be prudent to ask around certain inclined offices as to whether they have any extra hard drives they’re not looking to use in the next few months, and might be willing to lend.
If that’s not an option, or not a desirable one, websites like newegg.com have trustworthy hard drives for cheap, like the one that’s in my Dell right now. And then, when you graduate and get your MacBook Pro, you have an extra hard drive that you can get an external casing for. External hard drives always prove to be useful. So, I’d say spend $40-$60 now so you can get the best computer possible in a few months.
Gordon Says:
January 29th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Glossy screens are teh suq. That’s most of the reason I don’t have a MacBook of some kind, the other reasons being a) pathetically low resolution and b) no way to raise and lower the focused window with a key combination.
Aaron Says:
January 29th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Gordon: I agree that glossy screens are.. suboptimal… But the MacBook has a screen res of of 1280×800 - certainly respectable for a 13 inch laptop…
Gordon Says:
January 29th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
It might be OK for a 13″, but I think that 13″ is too small. Constantly hunched over and squinting is no way to go through life.
Aaron Says:
January 29th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Gordon: 13in is pretty small, but I have a nice 17in monitor that I can plug it in to while I’m at home. Again, suboptimal, but at least workable.
Gordon Says:
January 29th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Aaron: As long as you don’t use the main monitor or have an external keyboard/mouse, it’s all gravy. Captain Ergonomics says “don’t die, kids”.
Jen Says:
January 30th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I really like my macbook but i am no computer geek.
If you have financial aid you can request extra loans for a new computer. That is what Iyah did. Thus you would be able to afford the macbook pro.
Aaron Says:
January 30th, 2007 at 11:36 am
As much as I love new computers (and trust me, I do), I don’t know that it’s worth taking out more loans… Maybe you’ll let me play with your macbook, though, and see what I think of it? It’s a very different experience in the store and in the “real world”.
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