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New computer...
Jul. 9th, 2010 03:25 pmIt was kind of an impulse buy. But aren't they always?
I've been annoyed by my laptop's inability to play games -- although it *can* play most games if you're willing to settle for some choppiness and turn the graphics down -- and its tiny hard drive for a while... I got an external hard drive that helped some. I didn't really need a whole new computer, though.
But my desktop was totally worthless (it wouldn't even boot) so I decided to replace it so I wouldn't have to be doing everything on a laptop, which has some inconveniences of its own.
So of course when I finally get the new computer in, I head home a little early to get to the office before they close so that I can set it up right away... and... it crashes, while in the middle of installing crap.
So I reboot it nervously. It doesn't quite finish booting before crashing.
The next reboot complains that the last try didn't finish booting, and starts in some hardware diagnostic mode, which crashes.
Then the power button stops working, so I couldn't make any more tries after that. Obviously, this meant OMG PANIC! AHHHH!
Rowyn talked me down and I called up customer service instead, who walked me through opening up the computer and checking for loose wires and... is the CPU fan supposed to wiggle like that? No. No it isn't.
Anyway, that was obviously the problem, but they also did this remote log-in thing off a web app that let them set up all the drivers and stuff (as part of the 'you are stupid so we're going to keep you from needing to call us back again for the next stupid thing' service I guess) and since then it's worked fine. Knock on wood. (Plywood counts, right?)
Anyway, it runs City of Heroes and Overlord II with all the options turned on just peachy, not that either of them is exactly the most demanding game in the bin. I also installed office. And it came with IE and Media Player, and I copied over all my files...
Um...
But I'm still doing almost everything (aside from playing those two games) on my laptop, because:
(a) the desk that the desktop is on is too tall for the chair; somehow, I used to like it being that high, maybe I'll get used to it again? Otherwise I'll need to buy an adjustable chair.
(b) the lampshade for the only lamp in the room fell and shattered a few months ago, and the lamp is right next to the screen, so I either play in the dark or get a headache from a bare 100 watt bulb glaring in the corner of my eyes. @.@
(c) oh, and I haven't installed trillian or ventrilo or impulse or pueblo or... whatever other stuff needs to be installed. I think this is the explicit reason I didn't get a new computer earlier.
Still, though, Yay! Also, the new computer has USB slots and an audio jack in convenient locations for keeping the thing on the floor between my feet (on *top* of the case!), which is a first. I wonder if ventrilo will work with the microphone in my webcam, though, since that's the only microphone in the room right now?
I've been annoyed by my laptop's inability to play games -- although it *can* play most games if you're willing to settle for some choppiness and turn the graphics down -- and its tiny hard drive for a while... I got an external hard drive that helped some. I didn't really need a whole new computer, though.
But my desktop was totally worthless (it wouldn't even boot) so I decided to replace it so I wouldn't have to be doing everything on a laptop, which has some inconveniences of its own.
So of course when I finally get the new computer in, I head home a little early to get to the office before they close so that I can set it up right away... and... it crashes, while in the middle of installing crap.
So I reboot it nervously. It doesn't quite finish booting before crashing.
The next reboot complains that the last try didn't finish booting, and starts in some hardware diagnostic mode, which crashes.
Then the power button stops working, so I couldn't make any more tries after that. Obviously, this meant OMG PANIC! AHHHH!
Rowyn talked me down and I called up customer service instead, who walked me through opening up the computer and checking for loose wires and... is the CPU fan supposed to wiggle like that? No. No it isn't.
Anyway, that was obviously the problem, but they also did this remote log-in thing off a web app that let them set up all the drivers and stuff (as part of the 'you are stupid so we're going to keep you from needing to call us back again for the next stupid thing' service I guess) and since then it's worked fine. Knock on wood. (Plywood counts, right?)
Anyway, it runs City of Heroes and Overlord II with all the options turned on just peachy, not that either of them is exactly the most demanding game in the bin. I also installed office. And it came with IE and Media Player, and I copied over all my files...
Um...
But I'm still doing almost everything (aside from playing those two games) on my laptop, because:
(a) the desk that the desktop is on is too tall for the chair; somehow, I used to like it being that high, maybe I'll get used to it again? Otherwise I'll need to buy an adjustable chair.
(b) the lampshade for the only lamp in the room fell and shattered a few months ago, and the lamp is right next to the screen, so I either play in the dark or get a headache from a bare 100 watt bulb glaring in the corner of my eyes. @.@
(c) oh, and I haven't installed trillian or ventrilo or impulse or pueblo or... whatever other stuff needs to be installed. I think this is the explicit reason I didn't get a new computer earlier.
Still, though, Yay! Also, the new computer has USB slots and an audio jack in convenient locations for keeping the thing on the floor between my feet (on *top* of the case!), which is a first. I wonder if ventrilo will work with the microphone in my webcam, though, since that's the only microphone in the room right now?
