I decided to Skype a friend just to make sure that the rest of the world hadn't been nuked or something.
"Eh up!" answered chum.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"Paris," he replied.
"What the devil are you doing there? Eating dobbins?"
"Working," he said, "what's up with you anyhow?"
"Everything is really quiet here and I am wondering why," I retorted, "so I thought I would ring someone to check that people are still alive."
"It's Easter this weekend you muppet," came the response. "Everyone takes the week off because Friday and the following Monday are bank holidays."
Ahhhh! All became clear..... everyone was on holiday which explained the lack of calls from agents, banks, customers and suppliers.
All of a sudden I began to feel a bit hard done by that I was the only one who appeared to be working. So I formulated a plan........ Yep, I was going to go gadget shopping! Hell, why should I work my fingers to the bone when everyone else is sat with their feet up.
I decided that a new laptop was going to be the gadget of choice, and so I hit the electrical stores in Oxford, checking specs, and drooling over the new HD widescreen monitors, and flashy casings. But still, I couldn't quite find 'the one' until I arrived at the Curry's and a salesman suggested that I look at a Sony Vaio that had just arrived.
My eyes locked with its screen across a crowded showroom, and from that moment on I know that we were meant to be.
Pic.No.1. Introducing the Sony Vaio VPCF11Z1E
The machine was a beast.......... check this out:
8GB RAM
500GB memory
HD widescreen 16.4" (with Blu Ray)
Dolby Surround Sound
Memory type: DDR3 SDRAM
Webcam and built in microphone and speakers.
Even better, the thing only weighed around 3KG (6.6lbs), so it was also designed to chuck in a bag and travel with.
I turned to the Salesman, "yes please, I'll have that one."
He turned to me blithely, "we don't have that in stock."
"You are kidding me? When can you get it in?" I replied, aghast.
"It normally takes a couple of days....... " he contemplated, "but with Easter and all, you will be lucky to get it before next Tuesday."
Bloody bummer. So it was with a heavy heart that I exchanged my payment for nothing more than a flimsy receipt and the promise of a phonecall when my new laptop had arrived.
Sigh...... these things are meant to try us, but at least I have something to look forward to!
Currys for a computer!!!
ReplyDeleteThat takes me back I spent 17 years working for their parent company, a proportion of that selling computers and doing the training for the Midlands and SW England, I was one of the staff who started what ended up as PCWorld. Ah happy days!!!!!
Ooh, good choice of computer! New gadgets are always a treat. Or new clothes or shoes or whatever...
ReplyDeleteI am working this weekend. Totally bitter about it.
No, chuck, I'm working too - but it does seem awfully quiet without the constant pinging of emails doesn't it. As for Sony Vaio, that's my laptop of choice since its pretty much bomb-proof, and when you type as much as I do you want something that won't fall to pieces under pressure (the pressure! the pressue!)
ReplyDeleteOh Robert? Isn't Curry's a good choice? They had the machine that I wanted.. actually they didn't. They are having to order it in.
ReplyDeleteSo you one of the ones responsible for PC World? That's cool. What did you do there?
Oh yes Brahm - I forgot that you are a bit of a gadget fiend too! Glad you like it.... it looks fab in the pics.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you are working over the weekend..... but not that sorry, I don't like suffering on my own!!
Hi Fastfingers! It looks like it's just you, me and Brahm who are in here working today. Everyone is out enjoying themselves.
ReplyDeleteTell you what, I reckon us three should knock off in fifteen minutes and go for a beer to make up for it!!
I worked for Dixons Stroes Group for 17 years started as a shop junior and ended up a computer trainer for the midlands and South West England.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with your choice either of computer or retailer in my opinion, there are better retailesr but there are far worse, and in the case of the laptop is is one that is high on the list of ones I would buy.
Oooh!!! New toy. Excellent. A nice spec too. Don't forget to flex another hundred quid for a backup device.
ReplyDeleteThe Vaio is a lovely machine, but... (there's always one of them, isn't there?).
ReplyDeleteMy brother-in-law got one. Very nice piece of kit. But I was amazed at how slow it ran when I had a play on it. And it was only 3 weeks old.
A quick check showed that it was running about a bazillion processes. When I delved a bit deeper, it transpired that many of these were Sony's own... running all sorts of things in the background, that just weren't required for day-to-day PC work.
When I stopped (not deleted!)all the ones we felt not needed, the brother-in-law exclaimed that it now ran faster than the day he'd bought it!
Just something you might want to check when you get it.
Oh, and I definitely echo Brennig's comment about having a backup solution.
Hiya Bren and Masher .... what type of back up device do you recommend. I currently use an external disk drive, but it isn't automatic and it takes ages.
ReplyDeleteHi Masher - actually you are right about all the crap that is loaded on the Vaio. I remember when I first got my old one, my brother spent ages uninstalling tons and tons of software that was clogging it up.
ReplyDeleteUmmmmm..... looks like I've got a job ahead of me!
You can pick up a Seagate 1TB EDD from Amazon for £65 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Expansions-External-Desktop-Drive/dp/B00238KZPM). They're reliable, USB2 and with 1TB of space it should be a while before you fill it up with your incremental backups.
ReplyDeleteBren.... my little petal.... is that a foreign language?!
ReplyDeleteActually, an external hard drive is about the quickest and easiest solution.
ReplyDeleteAutomate it with some backup software for real ease of use.
Mine runs at 3 in the morning, just after the 2am virus scan. I don't even have to think about it anymore.
Simples.
lol... no.
ReplyDeleteSeagate make a 1 Terabyte hard-disk. 1 Terabyte is twice the complete storage capacity of the hard-disk in the Vaio.
USB2.0 is quicker than USB1.0.
Sorry for my bad english. Thank you so much for your good post. Your post helped me in my college assignment, If you can provide me more details please email me.
ReplyDelete