A while back I wrote a post called “I LOVE MY LAPTOP.” And I do. Or, make that did. Much like that car insurance commercial where the young girl talks about her car which she fondly calls Brad. “I love Brad,” she claims. Two boyfriends, three jobs, she and Brad have been through everything together. Then? She totals him. “Nothing can replace Brad!” she declares. Until her insurance company calls.
Brad who?
My old laptop which had to be going on nine, maybe ten years old, was still chugging along, but it would occasionally do some “weird” things. I’d had the hard drive re-built in February 2014 which was a scary day when I started getting all of those URGENT messages and warnings flashing at me.  Then, I mentioned to my husband the other day how my space bar kept sticking. And how the screen would flicker when I would scroll. One thing was a complete annoyance, while the other was a little disconcerting. What is the “light” source behind a laptop screen? What if it went OUT? How would I fix it? Could I fix it?
Those things I worried about didn’t go unnoticed. This showed up on Saturday. This is a Dell XPS. This is also heaven. Wireless keyboard. Wireless mouse. Big screen.
Very SLICK. To say I didn’t know what I was missing is an understatement. I’m like the girl on the car insurance commercial.
What old laptop?Â
The keyboard on this is like comparing the driving of a clunker car to a Mercedes. And, I’ve not worked on a mouse IN YEARS and simply forgot how easy it makes maneuvering around the screen. This view is with the desktop showing on the screen, but all I have to do is click on the Microsoft Windows icon…, or SWIPE my finger and then I get all of these pretty tiles with all sorts of “goodies” to choose from. Weather, financials, cooking stuff, news, maps, reading list, TripAdvisor, and on and on. This thing has so much fun stuff on it I hope I get my writing done! And when I swipe my finger, a keyboard shows up on the screen so I don’t have to use the wireless one if I don’t want.
And…, that’s not all! When my husband decides to do something, he doesn’t do it by the half measure.
Monday came and… out of nowhere, this showed up!
The keyboard on this one will flip around to the back so you can sit the screen on your lap faceup and type on a keyboard on the screen.
Both gifts were a total surprise and my mouth is still somewhere south of my face. His thinking was the AIO would be too large to tote around when we go somewhere, so I had to have portable and the old laptop just wouldn’t cut it.
I mean, can we say “dayum?”
Signed,
One Very Happy (and LUCKY!!!) Writer
OMG I know exactly, I mean, I know exactly how you feel. When I got my Lenovo I thought I had died and gone to computer heaven. I still do.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
It’s like going from a two-man pit saw, to a chainsaw, from a two wheeler to a Harley, from a Beetle to a Limo.
Life is good, ain’t it?
Missed you and very glad you’re back. I was hoping you absence didn’t have to do with your mom. Hope she is holding up.
All good analogies! I could have a boatload of fun and keep on with them but OMG, this keyboard! I’m mesmerized by it. It’s like I’ve been pressing my fingers on a roast and now I’m pressing them into whipped cream, the screen is like I suddenly received new glasses, the new toys are like I’ve been shut up in a cell and suddenly let out into the fresh air and sunlight, it’s like… LOL!
Mom’s holding up okay. She was here this past weekend, as were other family members, and so that had me busy as well, cooking and baking before they came, and then with them here, I stayed off the “devices.” She’s having rough days, and has had some “meltdowns.” Otherwise, I think she’s doing all right.
I SO understand. Some like cruises or furs or diamonds… not this chick. Best present I received lately was a second screen, l can transfer all my notes and stuff onto it for reference, and continue to type my book on the original screen! Who thunk that up? Genius!
If I can get everything working right on these two devices it’s going to be SHEER HEAVEN! I get your enthusiasm b/c when technology makes something easier, what more could we ask for? 🙂
I bought a Dell this past September or so, to replace an ASUS which had gotten me two jobs, kept my connection with Mr. X going for years, been the delivery “room” for “The Ax and the Vase” and generally been a most excellent machine for five years (itself an impressive run) and …
I miss the damned ASUS already. This new Dell has multiple nasty habits, looks and feels cheap, and began to deteriorate before it was six months old. I will NEVER buy Dell again, and am dreaming of a new ASUS. Le sigh!
OH man. Maybe that Dell is a lemon? It’s a Dell I used for almost ten years – a.k.a. “the old laptop.” And this new one with the big screen is a Dell…, so it remains to be seen if it will withstand time like my oldie but goodie.
My husband found out that ASUS actually makes most of the internal technology used on a lot of different computers. (per the Best Buy sales guy who helped him) He said they finally said, everyone wants our stuff, why not just make our own laptops, etc. I didn’t realize ASUS had been around that long – when I opened the box up I was like, ASUS? I’ll have to tell him you had one for five years and that you’re already missing it!
That is EXACTLY the speech Best Buy gave my stepfather when he was shopping for the laptop as a gift for me, years ago! Right down to the “why don’t we make our own” bit. Hee. Fantastic.
My “new” one is definitely a lemon. I bought very cheap, so wont’ feel bad if I abandon this one before five years go by. But still – six months and it’s got even minor chronic limps? Frustrating. The next time I go for it, it’ll probably be an ASUS again. I am brand loyal!
Wow, lucky lady! Enjoy! Hubby leased a car a couple weeks ago after his completely died. He’d gone two years with no AC and limited heat, very limited. So now he’s like, why didn’t we lease when my car started dying?!
New toys are so much fun!
Oh my gosh, Jennine! No AC? Limited heat? He really deserved it! It reminds me of my own hubby’s sacrifices. He will have had his Ford 350 for 11 years this summer.
He’s been eyeballing new and used. He hesitates though b/c after no payments for something like 6 years, he’s not keen on plunging back in. Still, that poor old work truck of his has taken a beating – and then some.
Oh WOW….Hubby did good! And, I hear tell Windows 10 (and maybe Windows 8 does this?) talks to your devices so you can move seamlessly between them while working on the same thing. I do not know if this is true or not. I may have seen it on The Following.
Hubby did do good, didn’t he????
Well, it’s kind a hard to tell… I do have Windows 8.1, and I’d actually heard some “things” about it, but I think it’s okay. So far so good anyway. I wish it would do seamlessly capture all changes I make – like to docs, but for instance, if I work on my WIP I have to upload the latest to a removable device and download it on whichever computer those changes weren’t made from. Or send it to myself via email. One thing that it does mimic I think are changes under Control Panel like the screen savers, etc, i.e., the other device picks it up – b/c I’m logged in on both wireless I suppose?
One issue I’m currently having though isn’t with my devices but the delivery of my emails. I’m pretty sure I’m missing some b/c they are supposed to be held “forever” by my service provider and when I log into the web based side to see them, they are “disappearing.” It’s making me NERVOUS.
Sweet! I’m so glad to read about this, because my husband’s laptop bit the dust and I want to get him a new one for Father’s Day. This would be perfect for him.
Thanks, chickadee, and happy writing!!
P.S. You deserve it.