kidattypewriter

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

This post was brought to you by the letter C and the number 5

Well, over the long years that I've had it (two), I've managed to drop it on its head, swing it around in my bag, spill milk, coffee, water, coffee, water, milk, and breadcrumbs on it; it's sat insouciantly on the top of my bookshelf sneering at burglars as they've broken into my flat; and it's kept on working, losing nothing in the process but a little dignity and the '8' key. But I think my laptop has finally given up the ghost. I spilled coffee on it - again - yesterday morning, and gave it until afternoon to dry out. Half the keys on the keyboard are not working, and the other half are not working like they should. Pretty much the only things I can do on it now are

1) Switch it on.

2) Visit websites I've already visited.

3) Switch it off.

Oh, yeah, and I can also compose a letter that consists solely of the letter 'c', and the number '5'.

I'm the second Ozblogger in the past few days that this sort of thing has happened to. I wonder if there's something in the water? (Coffee, perhaps...)

Anyone want to sell me a laptop?

18 comments:

Martin Kingsley said...

Alas, I sold my last one just the other day. I'll keep an eye out, but. Let you know if anything comes up.

Shelley said...

Dude, if I could afford a new laptop I'd give this one away. I'm not a techie and I'm pretty sure it has issues that would make even a sturdy techie cry. And the keyboard is a trifle fracked from my key bashing habits. Opps.

Maria said...

Maybe we can suggest things that TimT can do with his C5 laptop.

1) Put out a C5 emergency signal! He may end up with a lot of complimentary C5 sized notepaper and envelopes
2) Put it on his head to practise good posture.
3) Serve meals on it
4) Use as a non-standard sized frisbee.
5) Practise his on and off turning tachnique
6) Use as a drum

TimT said...

Damn it, Kingsley! That's not the answer I was hoping for to the email that I haven't sent you yet! Thanks for the news though.

TimT said...

Nails, sometimes doing stuff on my laptop is like peering through a foggy morning at a far-off swamp, there's so much accumulated grot on it. I'm not sure where it all came from actually. And it's veeeeeery slow.

TimT said...

I'll try all those things, Maria. Since it still technically works, just without me being able to type anything in, I might also use it as a CD player now, until I finally get a sound system and/or a new laptop.

sarahj said...

ick. my flatmate was trying to sell her computer a little while ago. not sure of the specs. want me to check it out?

TimT said...

Sure, that'd be great, thanks!

Maria said...

Maybe you could get a separate keyboard, TimT? Actually I bought myself a separate keyboard and mouse set when I bought myself my laptop, just to have the option of using the keyboard separately - it gives the flexibility in case you want to prop up the screen and want to type while sitting further away or at an angle or something.

Of course this isn't great for transport as an additional keyboard is more bulk.

I could suggest some cheap laptop places in Sydney but I don't think that would be much help to you. Sorry.

(I got an email recently saying free laptop if you forward this to 8 other people but I checked it out and it was a hoax. Otherwise I would forward it to you)

Maria said...

Anyway, what kind of specs are you looking at, what's your price range?

TimT said...

I thought about getting a separate keyboard, but it's really not worth it on its own - the good thing about this laptop is it's portability.

Maybe I'll upgrade to a new laptop and an extra keyboard; so I'd still technically be able to use the old laptop.

Specs? I just want it to be fast, have a good memory, and have some space on there so I can load up programs like Word, etc. Dunno about actual bits and bytes, or whatever they are.

Maria said...

I think you should be looking at gigabytes :)

I think mine is ok, except the bad part about it is the battery doesn't last very long so you need to keep it plugged in or if you want to use it where there is no cabling you can't use it for too long.

But I guess you trade on all sorts of things if you don't want to pay too much.

When Mr Coffee's old laptop crashed I remember he got a new one but he kept the old one and tried to force it to work. It did intermittently. you know, the kind of flashes of working with a separate keyboard before it'd die and have to reboot it and swear at it but you might as well squeeze the bugger for everything it's worth.

Good luck TimT but I'm afraid I can't sell you my PC. I just got it this year, a My First Laptop and I put my own pretty wallpaper on it so I'm afraid I've officially fallen for it now.

Hopefully you will find someone else to sell you one.

I guess if you are trying to save money you could go for a new laptop but one of the older models that someone's tryiong to get rid of. There is often not a lot of difference between that and the new release model but they can mark the prices down quite a bit because it's older stock.

You could also invest in getting a lid on your coffee cups with a little hole in it to sip out of, it might help!

TimT said...

Actually the suggested keyboard solution makes sense to me now as a kind of temporary fix until I find the right deal. It's wasteful to just throw out the 'puter when it still works, but I need to find a laptop for future times when I do need a portable thingo.

TimT said...

'Bits and bytes, or whatever they are'
'A portable thingo'

As you can see, I'm up with all the high-tech lingo!

Maria said...

I don't know if there was one around your area, but I got a wireless keyboard and mouse for $37 and then I got $20 cashback so $17 all up ... I think that promo is finished though.

That was why I bought it, I thought it was a good deal at the time.

You had to send in a copy of the receipt to get the cashback so naturally I used a work stamp and envelope.

Hey TimT, anyone who decided to call it a "mouse" was probably really up there with the hi-tech lingo too.

I can imagine someone trying to think of a really hi-tech name for it and thinking what the heck, call it after a little furry animal and then everyone saying "You did what? LOOOOOSER!"

You can be like Doc Brown and talk about "one point twenty one jiggawatts!"

How many jiggabytes are you looking at, TimT?

Maria said...

Here's a tip TimT, don't know if you are able to get there easily, but MSY technology

http://www.msy.com.au/

I bought some cheap stuff there at the Sydney branch, pretty much no service and I don't know about returns policies or anything but if you look at their website they are cheap. They have some run-out stock on key-board and mouse combinations that are very cheap. In the $15 range, but there is not much stock, they're trying to clear.

They also sell notebooks/laptops too, I don't know if that appeals to you at all.

I also have no idea if their parts are compatible with your computer!

But they are CHEAPER! CHEAPER!

TimT said...

I'll have a look, their thingos sound impressivish!

ras said...

I have an old laptop
as long as you dont want to play dvds it is fine. Its keyboard works at least. I am either going to put it to an e waste centre or sell it.

I will boot it up this weekend and see if its usable.

I dont know about price, lets see if it works first.

Oh, and its a Mac.

Email: timhtrain - at - yahoo.com.au

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