So, my laptop failed.
This wasn't terrible. Everything was backed up. But there's a hassle, isn't there?
Once you buy the laptop there's the setup. Connecting to the wifi, connecting to the mobile hotspot, connecting to the network, connecting to the Bluetooth headphones. Sharing the folders, copying documents, music, photo, videos. Downloading all the programs, apps, updates, etc. Customising and personalizing. Inputting and storing auto-inputs, usernames, passwords, accepting cookies on every single flipping website that you had already accepted cookies in your last laptop.
But...
This is once you've bought the new one.
Which was a problem.
Once upon a time I had a netbook. It was the prettiest little netbook I ever had. It was 10 inches of pure pleasure. I had it for a couple of years, and then when the warranty was done I took out the old hard drive and stuck in a 2TB little hard drive which was brilliant for the next few years. It was brilliant.
But, these things outdate. Whilst I could upgrade the hard drive I couldn't upgrade the RAM, the processor, the wireless network chip, the monitor, the failing battery. Stuff.
So, at that stage I looked around. But, having gotten used to a big hard drive, I needed a big hard drive. The problem was that I didn't want to immediately invalidate the warranty by opening it up and replacing the hard drive.
So, I looked for the biggest drive I could get in the smallest machine. The best I could get was 1TB in a 13" laptop.
Which I never really liked.
It was too big. I know there are 15"ers out there almost as standard. My father has a 17" laptop which my mother complains is too big to take anywhere - it struggles to go in their suitcase let alone a carryon bag.
It did what I needed it to, but when I was stood in the vestibule of the train carriage watching video (regularly) it was big.
Anyway, it performed its function, but it burned out. The hard drive failed.
So, I started looking around.
Ideally what I wanted was:
10" device - nice and small, able to slot easily into a small bag.
Lots of storage - ideally around 2tb
SSD - let's face it, mechanical hard drives are dated and they are the reason my last laptop died. Solid state is the future and is around already.
So, it surely must be possible to get this - a nice, small 10" device with a 2TB SSD? Because let's face it, I was able to put a 2TB HDD in a 10" device and SSDs have the same 2.5"form factor?
No.
10"ers they have competing with tablets. I don't want a tablet. I like laptops for a number of reasons. I like that the keyboard is separate, that it doesn't take up any screen estate, that I can write a lot easier.
Also my problem with tablets (and some 'convertibles') is that they don't stand on laps or train seats without stands. And those stands are not comfortable on a lap.
But if you go small, they go slim. Slim is nice but it means there is no space for a 2TB SSD. If you want a big SSD, you have to go 13". And I already knew 13" was too big. So, I would have to go little on my storage if I wanted to go little on my inches. I could find a few at 11.5" with 128gb of storage, but they were unsuitable for reasons - some were actually quite big, but most of them were HDDs, and I didn't want a HHD because of how they fail in laptops.
So I went with 10", but 64GB of storage which you could boost to 192GB by inserting a micro SD card. Why not do that boost or offer that option anyway? Is it really that difficult to include that much flash storage?
So, I settled on a Lenovo Yoga Book, which satisfies me on a number of grounds:
1) very small. Best size factor I could get
2) decent storage. On the basis that I knew this was always going to be my compromise, I don't think I've done too bad. I just have to adapt to a new way of working that doesn't involve me having every photo and music available whenever. I'll have to curate my collections.
3) novelty - the 'key-less keyboard' I find brilliant and novel and I love it, although it will take some getting used to.
However, there is an issue with it.
Connectivity.
It has a single data access port - a micro USB port. This is the charger, but also allows you connect things to the computer.
Now, there is the microSD card slot, but that means that it I want to download from my dSLR camera, I either have to remove the internal storage via the fiddly pin-pop tray, or else connect to the micro USB port and therefore stop charging.
I presume they are expecting anything I want to transfer off my mobile I will do over WiFi or Bluetooth.
Also - why micro USB? This is a laptop released late 2026, why not USB-C, which is faster and becoming more compatible with mobile phones.
But, for now at least, I love it.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Brand New Year - Brand New Me?
So, it's that time of year again - an arbitrary change of date, the train station flicker board clicks over in the same way as it does all the time, the clock carries on its circle from 23:59:59 on 31/12/2016 to 00:00:00 on 01/01/2017.
It's just another new day really - for most it isn't even that, for most we don't even sleep through the transition to wake anew. We cheer, down a drink and then, much later, wake bleary-eyed on a day which is - thankfully - a bank holiday. A day when otherwise - because of winter conditions and lack of daylight - we would not be desperately wanting a day off.
I don't do resolutions. I know I've covered this previously. And whilst I had some success, I attribute very little to a new day, a new year.
But years are the closest way that we really have of 'chunking' life experiences. Remembering them to certain periods of our lives. I'm lucky (not really) in that I have a December birthday, so anything I could ascribe to an age, also aligns wih a calendar year. (honestly, nearly-Christmas birthdays are horrible.)
So, 2015 was my annus horribilis. Truly it was awful. Within days of completing the heavy renovation of my house, I was given notice of my redundancy at work. There is nothing more terrifying than being told that you will not be employed after 10th December - just a week before your birthday and a few more days before the Christmas shut down.
Whilst I was working out my redundancy notice period I then found out that my friend had taken himself. At this stage, actually nothing more could have gone wrong in my mind - I was losing my job, my income, my friends. Just before my birthday and Christmas.
OH YES - I nearly forgot - surgery. I injured my shoulder a year before in a football clash. I ran into someone called 'fatlad'. Normally, when I tackle people, I come off the better. This time I hadn't. After a year of (very attractive) physio with the lovely Dan, he identified that there was something more substantial wrong. So, I was scheduled in for an operation on 20th November 2015. Brill.
Anyway, what with one thing and another, this leant itself to me achieving my long-held ambition to move to London. I'd just completed my house renovation, so it was now (finally) set to sell, I had no job keeping me in the midlands - it was [the] PERFECT [storm].
But I've told you this already.
Everyone has bemoaned how 2016 has been a terrible year. Celebrity deaths, Brexit, Trump and the rest.
Anyway, 2016 was the year when I did London. I settled, explored, sorted. You may recall I went with #DoOneThing? This was where I was determined not to fall into "the London trap" of living in London and yet not doing anything. The number of times that I speak to my friends and they haven't done things because they haven't made time. So I made time.
So, I did #DoOneThing. The rules about #DoOneThing were not great - I had to Do One Thing a week that got me out of the house. Just one thing a week. Something a bit different. It wasn't just meeting mates, it wasn't a night down the pub or in a club. It was doing something different - a bit cultural or something else. So, for example, my Sunday wanders around Cockfosters, Greenwich, Hampstead, Peckham etc. didn't count.
I have counted up. I did 182 things.
182.
110 of these were theatre, 15 comedy, 23 music, 4 art related and 30 in the 'other' category (which included festivals, certain installations that didn't classify as art, cinema and tv/radio show recordings).
To be clear, this is almost one every other day (2016 was a leap year so technically half is 183).
I did do two things on some days - often the comedy gigs involved two (or on occasions three) in an evening. That said, I do notice from my calendar some omissions - certain gigs or events which, perhaps because I booked them on the same day as I attended - haven't been registered on my calendar. So it is probably more than 182, but I am happy with that number.
So, for me 2016 was the new start. It was a good year. It was the year I made the most of London. It was the turnaround. New job, new flat, new start.
A good year.
And 2017?
Well, I don't make resolutions. I have a few aims, but nothing set in stone. I'd like to get a better job (mine is currently a bit more temporary); ideally I would like to get a flat that I own; I'd like to aim to get a bit healthier - I haven't done much exercise or really concentrated on my diet over the last year whilst I've been doing #DoOneThing. But I'm not busting myself on any of these - if I don't achieve them I won't be disappointed. I just need to stablise a little.
It's just another new day really - for most it isn't even that, for most we don't even sleep through the transition to wake anew. We cheer, down a drink and then, much later, wake bleary-eyed on a day which is - thankfully - a bank holiday. A day when otherwise - because of winter conditions and lack of daylight - we would not be desperately wanting a day off.
I don't do resolutions. I know I've covered this previously. And whilst I had some success, I attribute very little to a new day, a new year.
But years are the closest way that we really have of 'chunking' life experiences. Remembering them to certain periods of our lives. I'm lucky (not really) in that I have a December birthday, so anything I could ascribe to an age, also aligns wih a calendar year. (honestly, nearly-Christmas birthdays are horrible.)
So, 2015 was my annus horribilis. Truly it was awful. Within days of completing the heavy renovation of my house, I was given notice of my redundancy at work. There is nothing more terrifying than being told that you will not be employed after 10th December - just a week before your birthday and a few more days before the Christmas shut down.
Whilst I was working out my redundancy notice period I then found out that my friend had taken himself. At this stage, actually nothing more could have gone wrong in my mind - I was losing my job, my income, my friends. Just before my birthday and Christmas.
OH YES - I nearly forgot - surgery. I injured my shoulder a year before in a football clash. I ran into someone called 'fatlad'. Normally, when I tackle people, I come off the better. This time I hadn't. After a year of (very attractive) physio with the lovely Dan, he identified that there was something more substantial wrong. So, I was scheduled in for an operation on 20th November 2015. Brill.
Anyway, what with one thing and another, this leant itself to me achieving my long-held ambition to move to London. I'd just completed my house renovation, so it was now (finally) set to sell, I had no job keeping me in the midlands - it was [the] PERFECT [storm].
But I've told you this already.
Everyone has bemoaned how 2016 has been a terrible year. Celebrity deaths, Brexit, Trump and the rest.
Anyway, 2016 was the year when I did London. I settled, explored, sorted. You may recall I went with #DoOneThing? This was where I was determined not to fall into "the London trap" of living in London and yet not doing anything. The number of times that I speak to my friends and they haven't done things because they haven't made time. So I made time.
So, I did #DoOneThing. The rules about #DoOneThing were not great - I had to Do One Thing a week that got me out of the house. Just one thing a week. Something a bit different. It wasn't just meeting mates, it wasn't a night down the pub or in a club. It was doing something different - a bit cultural or something else. So, for example, my Sunday wanders around Cockfosters, Greenwich, Hampstead, Peckham etc. didn't count.
I have counted up. I did 182 things.
182.
110 of these were theatre, 15 comedy, 23 music, 4 art related and 30 in the 'other' category (which included festivals, certain installations that didn't classify as art, cinema and tv/radio show recordings).
To be clear, this is almost one every other day (2016 was a leap year so technically half is 183).
I did do two things on some days - often the comedy gigs involved two (or on occasions three) in an evening. That said, I do notice from my calendar some omissions - certain gigs or events which, perhaps because I booked them on the same day as I attended - haven't been registered on my calendar. So it is probably more than 182, but I am happy with that number.
So, for me 2016 was the new start. It was a good year. It was the year I made the most of London. It was the turnaround. New job, new flat, new start.
A good year.
And 2017?
Well, I don't make resolutions. I have a few aims, but nothing set in stone. I'd like to get a better job (mine is currently a bit more temporary); ideally I would like to get a flat that I own; I'd like to aim to get a bit healthier - I haven't done much exercise or really concentrated on my diet over the last year whilst I've been doing #DoOneThing. But I'm not busting myself on any of these - if I don't achieve them I won't be disappointed. I just need to stablise a little.
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