After much dorking around with Microsoft in the spring of 2007, when my XBox 360 broke, I replaced it with a 360 Elite. When my first (single Ethernet port) router finally burned out in the summer of 2002, I replaced it with my Siemens Speedstream router, which continues to run to this day. When I left my first iPod 5G 80GB on a plane, I replaced it with...an iPod 5G; albeit a white version vice the black version I had lost.
Being a computer geek, when things get lost, stolen, or break, it is often more a cause for celebration than sorrow. I am on a more stringent procurement cycle than I used to be, but even back then, there were some levels of requirements as to how long a gadget needed to be in play before it was allowed to be replaced. So many were the times that I sat and waited. While more desirable options for numerous gadgets of mine entered the marketplace, I waited. When something finally gave up the ghost, it sometimes meant being able to buy an upgrade a year earlier than I had been planning.
But the euphoric joy does not carry the day in every situation. Sometimes, a crisis occurs right after I've just bought an upgrade package. Sometimes the unit to be replaced was something I was looking forward to not having to monkey with for some time. Such is frequently the case with internal PC components. I am all for a new video card at the drop of a hat, but I am not interested in having to go back inside a case after I've already built it.
Sometimes there is not an acceptable substitute on the market. This might leave with me with the choice to try another unit of the same device that has already failed. Or it may cause me to consider replacing it with devices that originally lost in the neck-down analysis that led me to the one that broke in the first place.
The events of this summer were somewhat in this vein. I got rid of a netbook, with an intention of funding a suitable replacement. Getting another netbook was out. I had already recently gotten rid of an UMPC, and had deemed no other devices in the stratum on the market worthy of my attention. I had also eliminated another MacBook (not yet the MacBook pro at the time), and was unwilling to consider another TabletPC.
Once I had essentially whittled myself down to only considering a razer-book with a CULV proc, I was in a happy place. I went with an MSI-X340. Things seemed to be going well between us until the hard drive sputtered to a halt one day. Now I was in a bind. I had already eliminated many first tier options from consideration. I had gone through all of the options, and determined all but one unacceptable. Also, having recently laid out a bit of cash, the price cap for the replacement was now more restrictive than it was when I bought the MSI.
There were several devices I was interested in, but many of them were not yet on the market. In a fortunate turn, Acer released their new Aspire Timeline products that very weekend and models started showing up in stores later that week. A trip to the local Staples netted me the 4810T at a great price. A device that was cheaper than the X-340 that I wound up losing money on, and was of higher quality. The Timeline has served venerably for a few months now, and is likely due for a mid-term review. Every once in a while when something breaks, things turn out ok.
I just hope that I can avoid the any experiences in the opposite vein for the near future.
- Vr/Z..>>
