The Computer is Dead. Long live the Computer

My desktop computer stopped working last week, when the motherboard finally died.

I bought the machine in January 2015, as a replacement for one that I bought in 2007. In both cases, I spent the most I could afford, to try and ensure that I had a system that was as future-proof as I could make it.

It stayed on, all the time, unless we were away from the house for more than a day.

So, I don’t think it did too badly. I had to replace the hard drive I used as a data store a couple of years ago, the good thing is that I can still use that. And I’ve always been careful to back up all my important files, so I haven’t lost anything.

Of course, there was a more immediate problem, what was I going to use to keep up to date with this blog and my publishing empire?

I tried typing on my phone, it may be smart and good for social media but it’s not designed for blogging. You can do it but that doesn’t mean that you should.

I ended up on an old laptop, one that I hadn’t used for years and almost gave away a while ago. I’m now glad that I didn’t. It’s slow and a bit flaky but it works well enough to type on. And look at emails and websites. As long as I don’t try to open more than two windows at a time, when it comes over all not responding on me.

It took a while to set up, when I turned it on, I found that just about everything on it needed updating.

And that brings me to my next issue.

At some point in the near future, I will have to buy a new computer, I’m currently investigating the possibilities.

The thing is, after nearly ten years, I had the old one set up exactly as I wanted it. Even getting this one to do what I want has been an effort.

The updated versions of my usual software that I’ve had to install on this laptop seem to have different features and quirks than what I’m used to. Finding and modifying settings takes a long time.

There are programmes for graphics and music that I can’t run on here, at least not quickly enough to make them usable.

I wonder what the new machine, with its different version of Windows, will and won’t be able to do?

More importantly, will it last as long as its predecessors? Stay tuned for more news.

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