A Friend In Need

Multiple choice question:

A friend in need is a ____.

A) Friend with a non-booting laptop.

B) Friend with a non-booting desktop.

C) A friend indeed.

D) All of the above.

I’m sitting here with not one, but two pieces of hardware from two different people I know. Everyone in this field is familiar with playing tech support occasionally, it’s my turn now and they've come in bunches.

At least I’m getting a few good meals for my efforts. I’ve already had a down payment made in the form of a sausage, shrimp, and red pepper jambalaya. It’s a shame I can’t help this person out much, it appears the hard drive has destroyed more files than an Enron paper shredder.

The problem I’m really having is with a Toshiba Satellite notebook. I did manage to get this machine running. The screen is large and crisp and clear. It’s fast. It’s sleek. It makes my aging Thinkpad look so bad.

I keep finding myself on the Dell homepage clicking “Customize It”. I almost get to the checkout when I think: “No, what I really want is a Tablet PC”, and I’m off browsing for a Tablet. Then I wonder if I will really make good use of the Tablet. How often will I use the Pen? What if I need to do some extended development work on the machine? It’s just so cool, but is it worth it?

Now I can find no middle ground. It either has to be the super-portable, battery friendly Tablet PC, or the desktop replacement monster laptop that will give my legs third degree burns if I use it on the couch.

Pen versus Pentium 4

Sexy versus Sledgehammer

Space versus Time

This is the last time I fix a computer for someone who has nicer hardware than I do.