#10 - New Computer

I got a new computer last week. I've been hesitant to post about it because, well, I don't love it. I got it so I could watch/stream BSG (yes, that's makes me a double nerd!) because the old one was overheating when it had to stream video.

My old computer was a Gateway laptop bought for $200 nearly 3 years ago. It was a floor model at an electronics store, and the "M" key was missing. The sales clerk found me the "M" key, threw in a laptop bag, and I was good to go. I got home and taped the "M" key to the "N" key and the "," key, and it worked just fine. My old computer ran Windows XP with Office XP. It was a dream to work with. I spent probably 2 hours total formatting Word and Excel for auto fill, format style, etc. The keyboard was small, normal for a laptop, and the screen was a mere 14 inches (diagonally).

My new computer is a close out model Compaq laptop; I bought it for less than $400 online, including shipping. I love the new computer, but not the software. The new computer has a full size keyboard (YAY!!!) with a 10-key (the calculator-like keys to the right). It's got a 16 inch screen, which is perfect for viewing movies and streaming videos.

The new computer is running Windows Vista Home Edition (whatever the home edition part means) and I picked up a copy of Office 2007 at school for free (Thanks Intro to Info Tech Prof! I wouldn't have bothered to look into that without you mentioning it in class!). I've waited a week to write this post because I thought I'd get used to the new software - I hate it. What's with the tabs on Word? I knew where everything was in the menu bar, I knew the keyboard shortcuts to add a table or a row in a table, and now, I have to figure out which tab it's on. Bleh! That, and I have to use "save as" for everything so I can save it as a "doc" file instead of a "docx" file so I can open the documents on other computers I use! And I used to be proficient in Excel - now, I opened it, saw the tabs, and closed it. I did what I needed to do in a spreadsheet in Google docs. In fact, I'm writing more and more using Google docs for 2 reasons: 1) I can access it on any computer I use, and 2) I know the keyboard shortcuts.

So now I'm in the market for an external hard drive so I can grab all of my music and pictures off the old laptop. I don't want to have to sit here again for hours on end feeding my CDs into my computer to rip them and then label them. I know, super-geeky, but that's what I'm turning into, a super-geek!

Teaser: I will be posting this weekend about the snow that's falling and what it's like to get bundled up to go outside! I'll try to take some pictures too!