Computers + attempted upgrade = smaller bank account
This all sounded simple enough: my 3-year-old laptop, an HP Pavillion running a Pentium 4 at 2.66 GHz with 512 MB of RAM, was running slowly, especially when trying to play The Sims 2. So my first thought (after initially ruling out buying a new computer) was to crack open the RAM compartment and throw some more RAM into it. After failed attempts to open the RAM cover with a variety of household objects (knives, screwdrivers that were too large, nail clippers, etc), I ran down to the nearest Menards and picked up a precision screwdriver set for $2. Arrived home and found that even with the proper screwdriver, the screw still would not loosen. Long story short, I had to pry the compartment open from the end opposite of the screw, and somewhat snapped off the screw (it still held, but not very well). The only purpose of this removal of the RAM cover was to determine if I was running on SD RAM or DD RAM, so I replaced the RAM cover and plugged it back in. Imagine my surprise when I turned it on and kept getting a message about not being able to find a file associated with my Realtek hardware, and thus I could not get Windows to start. I kept working on it, trying to get it to start up for about 10 more minutes, before it ceased working altogether. To make a long story short, I no longer have a laptop. $1500 machine, gone.
Monday night I bit the financial bullet and bought a new computer, a Compaq Presario from Wal-Mart for $400. 1.9 GHz, 1024 RAM, 160 GB hard drive, DVD writer, this machine (cheap as it may be), beats the living crap out of my laptop which cost roughly 4 times as much 3 years ago. The only downside is the loss of my pictures and the music I might not have been able to backup. The pictures are gone, but I was fortunate enough to have backed up all of my music earlier this year, along with an additional backup made just last week. This just sucks that I had to make the purchase of a brand new computer so much sooner than I had wanted to.
Sorry everyone, didn't mean to ramble on and on like that...
This all sounded simple enough: my 3-year-old laptop, an HP Pavillion running a Pentium 4 at 2.66 GHz with 512 MB of RAM, was running slowly, especially when trying to play The Sims 2. So my first thought (after initially ruling out buying a new computer) was to crack open the RAM compartment and throw some more RAM into it. After failed attempts to open the RAM cover with a variety of household objects (knives, screwdrivers that were too large, nail clippers, etc), I ran down to the nearest Menards and picked up a precision screwdriver set for $2. Arrived home and found that even with the proper screwdriver, the screw still would not loosen. Long story short, I had to pry the compartment open from the end opposite of the screw, and somewhat snapped off the screw (it still held, but not very well). The only purpose of this removal of the RAM cover was to determine if I was running on SD RAM or DD RAM, so I replaced the RAM cover and plugged it back in. Imagine my surprise when I turned it on and kept getting a message about not being able to find a file associated with my Realtek hardware, and thus I could not get Windows to start. I kept working on it, trying to get it to start up for about 10 more minutes, before it ceased working altogether. To make a long story short, I no longer have a laptop. $1500 machine, gone.
Monday night I bit the financial bullet and bought a new computer, a Compaq Presario from Wal-Mart for $400. 1.9 GHz, 1024 RAM, 160 GB hard drive, DVD writer, this machine (cheap as it may be), beats the living crap out of my laptop which cost roughly 4 times as much 3 years ago. The only downside is the loss of my pictures and the music I might not have been able to backup. The pictures are gone, but I was fortunate enough to have backed up all of my music earlier this year, along with an additional backup made just last week. This just sucks that I had to make the purchase of a brand new computer so much sooner than I had wanted to.
Sorry everyone, didn't mean to ramble on and on like that...