Well, I was going to write about cats, but I think I'll save that for a serious writing post. I have a story to tell you, though, about computers.
Computers are important for nearly everything that we do--from social networking and blogging to getting directions, from playing games to doing work. Jaron and I play a lot of video games. We use the computer for writing. For artwork. For composition. For game design. Tons of stuff. And when we can't do them, it makes us stir-crazy.
Our old computer is something Jaron got a long time ago, and it has been wearing out. It's a great computer, but it takes forever to load, and run, and its RAM and stuff just can't hold up to today's computers. So, I'm typing this on a little ASUS netbook, a computer we got specifically because it's good for writing, it's transportable, and it has a really good battery life. But it's no gaming machine, and it's no good for art stuff, just writing.
So we thought we'd buy a new one.
All right, here's my rant. You don't have to hear it if you don't want to... you can skip to the end.
We bought our new computer last year, this month. An ASUS, which are supposed to be awesome. And it was sleek and powerful, and I had a folder of around 20 composed pieces, and several works of art. Well... that was all fine and well, until about three months after we started using it. It crashed. Again and again. Finally we took it back to Best Buy. They sent it out, replaced the motherboard. We got it back after an entire month. Ah, good, we thought, it's fixed. But we backed up all of our files, just in case--or so we thought. ToT (crying face, in case you didn't know). After a couple of weeks, it broke again. It sat at Best Buy for two weeks because they DIDN'T HAVE A SHIPPING BOX. For two weeks. They finally replaced the memory sticks, and after a month, we had our sleek machine back. And my music files, that I thought were on our external hard drive? Gone. ToT
After two repairs and a lot of frustration, we thought we'd finally fixed the problem. Lies. All lies. Sent it out again, replaced the hard drive. Sent it out again, and they're currently replacing the hard drive. Neither Best Buy nor ASUS will give us a new computer. They'll only replace parts--and guess what? The warranty expires this month.
Four fixes, and I doubt it's actually fixed. Our computer has been in the shop as much as we've had it at home. Three months out of a computer that was supposed to be good for several years. And when you worry because you don't know if you have the money for a desktop, but you know you need it... I bet the problem is the processor, and it's making the other parts crash. I have a hard time believing that EVERY part of our computer just happened to be faulty. And TWO faulty hard drives? I don't believe you. Damn you, Best Buy. Damn you, ASUS. I loved you both, but I'm just so mad I don't know how to deal with it. And being angry makes me cry.
Well, rant over.
...all things considered, we're doing okay. The old computer still works, and this little lappy is a great machine. I think from now on Jaron and I will be building our own computers. Over the last year, I've learned what all of the components are and what they do. I'm sure what happened to us is a fluke. If we had just picked up a different box that day, things would have been fine. We were just unlucky. Stuff happens sometimes. I got a raise at work, and Jaron got a second job, so if we have to, we can buy parts and put them together into a computer that is designed to do exactly what we want it to.
-Tsira