Jun 18, 2009

AWK

This week, Matthew, I will be Andrew WK.

Wait, that's not what AWK stands for, is it? I shall be absent from my usual typing regime because of A Wonky Computer.

My PC pre-dates Moses and it's held together by gaffer tape and spit. It died again yesterday, so I'm going to explore computer shops this weekend. My options are:

- a simple replacement. Normal computer.

- a little laptop thing that I can plug into a larger screen at home.

- ZX81.

I'm tempted by the little laptop idea: I've seen them, but I've no idea what they're called. If you actually know about these actual things and you have actual advice you would like to give me, do slip your thoughts into the comments section.

In other news, I've just seen two examples of limp journalism that made me cry.

The page five lead in today's Manchester Evening News is a picture of Elbow's Guy Garvey walking through the city centre. Here, in his home city. Page five lead, for goodness sake.

And the Metro (otherwise known as the Daily Mailtro) managed to interview X-Factor rebel Steve Brookstein and not ask him once about Susan Boyle. I sense the heavy-breathing of a PR person in that newsroom.

I ask you. Journalists these days. Tsch!

5 comments:

Steve Parker said...

Desktop PC - you know what you get there. Big, not portable, but capable of doing "everything"

Laptop - still pretty big, very capable.

Netbook - that's one of those "little laptop things". Screen size typically 1024x600 - usable for most things but occasionally too small to fit in the bottom of the dialog box. Very good for email/surfing/etc though, and a fraction of the price of a laptop. You can also surf for free in some coffee shops etc.

I have one of each of these, for different purposes. The netbook is great when you're out and about. This week I've got the laptop for extra flexibility (but more weight).

If you plug a netbook into a large screen, you may just see the same thing, but bigger. You may want to see more, not just bigger. Ask to see it in the shop, they should be able to set it up for you very easily, no need to be fobbed off.

steve said...

I've got a Mac Powerbook PC - love it, does everything, very durable, never had virus issues, but still in debt because of it!

Fat Roland said...

Thanks, Steves. I'm going to throw a graphics card at my dead PC to see if that revives it (I think that's the problem), but I'll find a computer shop somewhere and ask lots of questions without trying to sound like a noobster.

Lifer said...

im yer man for pc repair if u so wish! bring it on round if u want...although i will probably recommend u buy a mac...go on..step away from the darkside and see what youve been missing ;)

Fat Roland said...

Stef - It's a pile of crap; it's not worth repairing. It's just the graphics card that's gone, so I'm going to buy a brand new desktop PC and use that to get access to all my old documents.

Do you know about buying PCs? I've been on MicroDirect and Dell and it's like a foreign language,

(I totally agree with you about Macs but they're discounted due to cost, I'm afraid.)