Well, poop. [computers]

[rebeccmeister]

It looks like as of this morning, my 10-year-old MacBook may have just gone to sleep, never to wake up again.

(I mean, I'll keep trying, but so far I can't get to the boot screen, yikes).

It's probably time to just suck it up and shop for a new computer. Before the new semester starts. It could just be that this one is physically wearing out again, especially given exposure to cold temperatures this week, plus the vibrations of bike commuting. From what I understand, many Apple parts aren't soldered together very well to begin with. And in this day and age, 10 years is a long lifespan for a computer.



I've been in the Abyss for a while now.

I bought Adobe CS5 about a year before they switched over to the no-disk annual license renewal business model. That's probably the biggest thing holding me back.

I maybe like Keynote too much.

But I should probably shop for a PC this time around.

I hate computer shopping.

Bleah.

Comments

[graydon]

Ten years is a very long time these days, yeah. Which doesn't mean forced upgrades aren't entirely miserable. Sympathy!

All I can say about Windows laptops is avoid MSI. (Work has been having an amazing death rate, somewhere around 80%.)

(Well, and toil is ... six? seven? and still functional, but what relatively high-end thinkpads were like in former days isn't useful information today. Also not used much after that one contract at the start of service life.)

[rebeccmeister]

Thank you!

At this point I'll go with Ubuntu long before Windows. Of course, what will more likely wind up happening is that I'll cast about for a while, whining, and will then give Fruit Company more money than it deserves in exchange for another opportunity to buy more dongles than anyone should ever have to deal with in their entire lives.

Too soon to tell at this point.

S is a big fan of Panasonics, so perhaps that's a direction to take.

[graydon]

One can buy linux laptops as a linux laptop these days; these guys are my top search hit, but the venerable system76 and Dell are US-based.

May the search end splendidly!

[rebeccmeister]

Heh, having just glanced at the prices that Fruit Company is charging for their supposedly shiny new things...I should really just go ahead and get a Linux laptop ASAP. It might not wind up being my primary machine, but I will have uses for it no matter what and it would get me back up and computing sooner rather than later.

[twoeleven]

There is a big market in used Cracs ;) which may be worth looking at. I upgraded my 12 year old machine to one merely eight years old, so I could keep clinging to the edge of the support cliff for a few more years.

The abyss is nice and cozy. That claim that it gazes back is just slander. But if you do make the leap from the Crac frying pan into the linux fire, I'd be happy to take your old copy of CS5 off your hands. My copy is even older (CS4).

[rebeccmeister]

Hmm, I should consider picking up a used Crac, too, although that will open up another can of shopping worms (or something like that). I know there are people who like this kind of hunt, so probably what I really need to do is pay someone to shop for me. Hmmmmm...

I do like the abyss, quite a lot. Everything I've observed suggests that anything shinier and newer than 2012 is built of pure bloatware and viruses designed to slip money directly out of one's bank account at regular intervals. And 2012 was no great year, either.

[twoeleven]

And lo! You called it! About 2012 is when the phrase "good enough computing" starts to show up in the popular press. Once most people had adequate tools, it was hard to get them to buy new ones.

FWIW, I bought my "new" machine from a used Crac dealer, and it's been OK. The case is kinda banged up, but it works. The only part of it that's newer is the graphics card, because I like my glitzy games. :)

[graydon]

Fruit Company is charging for currently unmatched processors.

I use Windows to test some things that have to be tested on Windows, but I've been using Linux as my primary work and personal machines for decades now. So I think this is a sensible sort of decision!

[rebeccmeister]

I see what you mean about the processors. I think I skimmed something on Fruit Company's site about having 8 livestreams going simultaneously? I don't even want to know.

S likes to do things like use interesting installs of OpenBSD, but he also has to test things on various flavors of Windows, so we have our fair share of conversations about how broken everything is, and about software programs that self-corrupt and eat their licenses over time.

I'm stuck using Microsoft products for tasks where I work with collaborators. I have no love for their products or business practices. I have no love for Fruit Company's business practices, either.

[graydon]

The power of incumbency is a real pain.

Having to make the huge graph of what is needed for what is no fun, either.