On Thursday, I reloaded Windows 10 on an eight-year-old 17-inch i3 laptop. It was time to shake that old digital turtle. The startup had become so slow, I could turn it on, go make coffee, come back and it would still be waking up.
I generally stick with devices until they are completely unreliable and at death’s door. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the pageant of fancy new machines with impressive chips that do everything better and faster. I read the articles and look at the prices, but if I can say “mine still works,” then I’m resistant to an upgrade. At $1700-2000 for a decent new machine with specs I would want, it needs to make good sense.
My response to Apple releasing a couple of new laptops with the M2 chip was to work on the speed of my digital turtle. Over the years, so much has been loaded on this thing. Starting from scratch with this laptop made absolute sense.
I have use of a home PC desktop (older, good for web stuff and low end photo/graphics) and a very dated Macbook Pro (only good for web) so the 17 inch laptop has always been my go to for major projects. It’s extinction would require an upgrade. I would rather that cash go to travel also; I don’t care for electronic waste.
In fact, I remember having an old apple titanium book that I stuck with for a long time. The chip burned out. There was actual smoke coming from it. That is what convinced me to upgrade (that and it wouldn’t turn on anymore). I was disappointed about the T-book because of all the cool work I did with it back in my Red Cross days.
The old 17-inch laptop is responding quite nicely to the operating system rebirth. Now I can turn it on and open a program in a moment. It’s like having a new computer. All I had to do was shake the digital turtle a bit.
The Beard and the Cap 
Leave a comment