A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Nashville
Last year, my iBook died a slow death. :cry: I didn’t know my laptop was dying. I did know I’d accidentally tripped on the cord and it dropped to the floor four months before 
but since it worked afterwards, I didn’t give it another thought. Much. Then it died. I should mention I loved my iBook 
and at the time that it croaked, Apple had just announced the new Intel Macs at Macworld in 2006. I had a dilemma. Did I buy an existing model iBook or Powerbook or did I wait for the new Intels to come out in early February? I’m a self-proclaimed Mac addict so of course I waited. I pre-ordered. I STALKED the Apple store in my mall to ask when it would come in in case they received them before they shipped from an online order. They didn’t. The new Macbooks shipped the day I left for Aruba and I had to go to Fed Ex after I came home. I couldn’t wait. I was so excited. 
I bought the shiny new silver machine home. 
I hated it. Why? Not a clue. (OK this is a lie. It was boring. It wasn’t plastic white. It was boring metallic grey – are we seeing how shallow I am? :happy2:). All I knew was that I missed my white iBook. To add insult to injury, the Macbook started acting funky. It was making a loud whirring noise that drove me crazy and kept my husband up at night. I couldn’t concentrate while writing. I did a search on line, I brought it in, I explained the problem and said others had similar issues because I read it on line. Nobody seemed overly impressed. They couldn’t fix it, however, and sent it back to Apple. Within a week, I had my Macbook home and tried to get used to it again. Things got better until the Macbook started to shut down without warning. I’d be working and then … dead as a doornail. Brought it back again, sat in Apple for an hour while I tried to recreate the shutdown and somehow the Apple Gods smiled on me and the sucker shut off. The tech Gurus were happy and sent it off to Apple again. Another fix – both times something huge like a hard drive; a batter; or a logic board or something. Again I took my Apple back home a week later and tried to get used to it. Once more, things didn’t get better. Things got worse. The Macbook was so hot beneath my palms that it burned to use it. I made another procare appointment and brought it back in.
I explained to family members who kept expounding on the virtues of PC that it wasn’t fair to blame Apple because this was a brand new model off the assembly line, with the Intel processor, and it needed to have the kinks worked out. I understood. It was fine. And this time Apple replaced some fans, and other things.
This time I stood up to them and asked just what it would take to have them replace the laptop that had spent what felt like as much time at Apple as it had in my lap. 3 major system failures and replacements, they said. I’d had two. This current one hadn’t been “major.” (Not major to THEM. I was without my baby again.) But this time when I got my laptop back, a miracle happened. IT WORKED.
I GOT USED TO IT. A little. Then I bought it a red Speck case that made me feel as cool as I had when I owned my iBook and then I bought a new iPod and picked up a red metallic case similar to the laptop and I was in fashion business. I LOVED my MAC and Apple again. 
BUT A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO NASHVILLE. After four quiet months with my Macbook Pro, after deciding I was in hog heaven with my computer, IT DIED IN KENNEDY AIRPORT BEFORE I BOARDED AT THE GATE. 
Sad but true. Dead as a doornail. Walking off the plane in Tennessee, I thought to myself, other than my kids, my husband, my dog, my parents, my family, and my plotmonkey pals and friends, MY LAPTOP FRIED and I WAS IN DEEP DOODOO. :cursing:
No, I wasn’t. Because I had Apple Procare. I could get my laptop fixed or at least sent back in any Apple store in Tennessee. Except when I went to log into procare online (you can only make an appointment online), it wouldn’t accept my Procare number. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Of things going wrong? Without a Procare number, I had to sign on as guest and I couldn’t book an appointment in advance. But the next morning, I was up at six AM and I logged on as guest and made a 10:40 AM appt at the Nashville Apple Store in the Green Hills Mall. 
Here’s where things get good. Janelle and I went over there early because Julie and Les were first landing around 11:30. I sat down and opened my notebook for my friendly Apple Procare man BEN. I explained to Ben that my Macbook Pro was one of the original models first off the assembly line last February. (I was probably about 11 months into ownership) and I’d had nothing but aggravation. Ben said OK and he plugged it in, did his GENIUS thing and said, “the harddrive died.”
What?
“THE HARDDRIVE DIED.” No kidding. I bit my cheek and waited. He punched in some keys and read through my description of problems and history with the thing. He didn’t say a word until he looked at me and said, “Be right back.” Ben walked away and I didn’t see him again for a solid ten minutes. Janelle went shopping somewhere while I waited. Victoria’s Secret maybe? You’ll have to ask her. Anyway, FINALLY, Ben walked over to me and said, and I quote here, “We’re swapping it out.”
What? 
:
“WE’RE SWAPPING IT OUT FOR A BRAND NEW MODEL.” 
:cheer:My husband and I had talked earlier and I’d said to him, they had said three major system failures and this would be a third, which meant they’d repair one more time and if it died after that, they’ll give me a new one. He agreed. We figured there was no way they’d just hand me a new computer. I would have asked eventually what would happen if it died again, but I never got that far.
MY BEST FRIEND BEN WAS GIVING ME NOT JUST A NEW MACBOOK PRO, BUT AN UPGRADED MODEL! A bigger harddrive, more memory and RAM and get this – the Intel core 2 duo. Just like that, he walked me over to the manager and she handed me a new computer. Just like that. 
OK 11 months of aggravation but still.
I thanked my friend Ben and he said he’d just wanted to first check my history and that my constant aggravation wasn’t just a popped off key or something like that. But when he viewed what I’d been through, he opted to swap it out. His pleasure to help, he said.
And that, my friends, is why I LOVE APPLE and Macs and iPods and all things Steve Jobs related. Seriously. Ease, simplicity of use, hot and sexy looking (what else would a romance writer want?
So THANK YOU you to Apple, 
especially to the GREEN HILLS MALL APPLE STORE, their manager and my friend Ben. ODE TO APPLE. Now and forever. :thankyou::thankyou::thankyou::thankyou:
Luckily, I had backed up before I left. I really wanted to end this blog here. With my Ode to Apple, thank you to TN etc.
However, I learned that backups are not what they seem. I used something called .mac’s backup program to an external harddrive. This included my photos, iTunes music, documents, mail folders, and so on. After hours yesterday both at home on the phone with a tech and in the Apple store, I’ve discovered EVERYTHING IS GONE. Of course they said I could come back and we could try some more, but considering I was NEAR TEARS :cry::cry: from frustration trying to restore, and after an hour at the store, they move on to the next appointment and I was left on my own, I said, no thank you. :cursing::fryingpan: and 
Lesson learned. I hope. So from now on, my backups are going to be basic drag and drops onto an external hard drive, no fancy programs. And I will continue to upload to Gmail as a safety net. But I still have things I wish I could restore onto my computer. Like old books. Some are on disks. DISKS. Who uses those anymore? I don’t want to think about how many of my books are not on any computer. It’s too scary to contemplate. Seriously. So today, I want to focus on good things from Nashville like my plotmonkey pals and APPLE in TN.
TWO QUESTIONS FOR ALL OF YOU OUT THERE TODAY:
To all:
So are you a Mac or a PC person? And why?
To published writers who post here:
Where are all your old books? Computer? Disk? Print only? (in other words, suggestions for me going forward!)
******************
Don’t Forget:
THE PLOTMONKEYS ARE HAVING A Special Appearance:
Plotmonkey week at
Romance: By the Blog
January 23 – 26 is KING OF THE JUNGLE week:
TUESDAY – Julie
WEDNESDAY – Janelle
THURSDAY – Leslie
FRIDAY – Carly
Come visit!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are hot men to be seen!:party:
And prizes to be had
Carly Phillips would like to take 100% credit for all her stories but the truth is, Carly’s strength is writing family, emotion, funky elderly people and animals. She couldn’t plot her way out of a paper bag, which is why she smartly found her plotmonkey pals early on in her writing career. Thanks to their support, Carly is now a NYT Bestselling author of 23 plus novels. Because writing doesn’t keep her busy enough, Carly is also a wife, a mother of one preteen and one teenage daughter, the primary care giver of her soft coated Wheaten terrier and an expert carpool mom.
ANOTHER WILD WEDDING NIGHT
Hard to Hold
Love Me If You Dare
Wild For Him
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Hey you guys have to check out Romance by the Blog. It’s great fun and having the Plotmonkeys there is an extra treat.
I’ve only ever had PCs, so I couldn’t tell you how’d I’d feel about a Mac. I do have an ipod, but that’s as far as I’ve ventured into Apple territory. I’ve heard lots of great things about them, but it’s kinda like you stick with what you know, even if it’s bad. When it’s time to get a new computer, and I have the funds, I might seriously consider a Mac. I’m clueless though, on what type of stuff I should have on it.
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Stacy,
Macs come all with what you need unless you’re adding Microsoft Office package which you need for Word. Other than that, they’re pretty amazing and it teaches you, LOL.
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TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY I woke up this morning and half my plotmonkeys apple post was missing b/c I’d added something last night and didn’t realize I’d deleted HALF OF IT? yes I fixed it. I’VE HAD IT and it’s only January and we’ve only been home 3 days.
:fryingpan::wallbash: and 
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Wow, I thought I was having a rough week! Thanks for making me feel so much better, Carly.
Back in my advertising days the art department used Macs but everyone else used PCs. It was impossible to switch material back and forth between the two so I just never even thought of switching to Mac because I’m not real good at change and I’d never get everything converted – EVER. I do have an iPod though and am never without it. I love it!!!
As for backup – what’s that?:roll: I’d be absolutely devestated if my harddrive died and I lost all my pics, etc. Fortunately, I get all my electronics from Best Buy and when I have had problems they have always been able to recover everything. Maybe I’ll take a lesson from you and work on the backup thing. lol
Hope your day and year gets much, much better! Did I miss the update on your finger? Hope it’s healing quickly.
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Jodie- Don’t EVER count on recovery. My laptop fried 2 months short of the end of the contract and anything that was there was lost. Forever. Thankfully everything that was important was either on my external hd or a flash drive.
I publish a newsletter for out Elks Lodge and have everything saved twice, 3 times if you count the paper version in the files.
My laptop has since begun acting stupid again. It’s 3 years old. Daughter wants a Mac for college, and she will need it in the fall semester. It’s the cost that gets to me. DH insists on HP/Comcrap or other such PC based puters. I think I may want a mac too. Daughter’s PC has been nothing but trouble and it is only 2 years old. Similar to what you had happen Carly with the new one.
I have to call again, with people who don’t speak English again, and usually I end up with a man who thinks women are idiots- again.
I think I have the TX repair facitility number somewhere.
I love my iPod and the fact that when I do call them, the most foreign I get is Canada. I just don’t know if I can get used to using something else, and whether or not my programs are compatible- like the one I use to do much of my newsletter on. Can something written on a mac be read by someone with a PC??? :doh:
I.:wallbash: HATE.:wallbash: COMPUTERS.:wallbash:
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Macs are now mostly PC program compatible thanks to a program called Rosetta that comes and runs in the background; and thanks to the Intel processors and new programs that are Universal (i.e. run on both). you should definitely talk to an Apple sales rep. I think that they are worth the money b/c despite what happened to me, they have NO popups; NO spyware; NO viruses, and fewer prbs generally. The learning curve is about two weeks to switch your mind over how to do things.
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I’ve always had a PC, and am brand loyal to HP. (Just ordered a new one last night with a nice 22 inch LCD monitor and a dual processor.:cheer:) I’ve never had a desktop crash, though my laptop did last year. My computer guy was able to pull everything off, so I didn’t lose anything and I always email my work to myself so I have it hanging out in cyberspace all the time. Still, after the laptop died I went ahead and installed an external hard drive that automatically backs everything up every night. I’ll simply hook it up to the new computer when it arrives and everything will be there. Not sure this applies to software, but documents, pictures, media files, etc…will transfer for sure. (And that’s the stuff I don’t want to lose, so…)
As for old books, I’ve moved most of them to CD, but really need to pull the rest of them off and burn them to CD, too. It’s on the to-do list, but I just never seem to get around to it.
Glad Apple came through with a new computer for you! After everything you went through, you deserved it.
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Right now, I’m on a PC but I use the flash/jump drive thingy to back everything up. Maybe that will work for your old books since there is a lot of space on them? I have MAC envy though. I’m all about backing up since last year I had to reformat my hard drive.:wallbash: I lost a all of my music but fortuantely it is on my IPOD.
Now to figure out how to get it back on to the computer so I can remix the order in ITunes.:wallbash:
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great, now I have to come up with the money for 2 of them?????:devil:
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Well, I’ve pretty much always used a pc, but have thought about getting a mac. The cost is a big issue…the mac book is about 600 more than the dell laptop. Still doing research and glad to know only takes about 2 weeks to figure out the mac from pc changes. I think I might have used a mac computer years ago, but the only apple product I’ve used in the past year is my ipod(which I love,love,love).
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Okay, I hate to admit this. But I actually have my first three books stored on those gonzo floppy disks. Crazy, right? Especially considering I have no computer that actually supports those things anymore. I keep thinking that one day when I’m dead and gone and someone excavates the sight where my house (that of an uber famous novelist), they’ll find those things, send them to the Smithsonian and I’ll be forever immortalized. That or they’ll print them and college kids will study them in Classic Literature (I admit it. I’m a little out of sorts right now. My new book comes out Tuesday and I’m totally nuts from the stress). Either way, I’ll be making a contribution to future society. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
(Real story–I’m a technophobe from HELL and don’t know how I would even go about having the things converted over).
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And where is everything else, Kim? All on one computer? (if so I am jealous!)
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I’m a Dell girl. Always have been, always will be. I’ve heard too many horror stories about Mac’s. Besides, my Dells work faithfully – why fix what isn’t broken?
My work is backed up on my computer, but I also keep copies of my books in my yahoo email acct. I just email myself a copy of the completed book and store it there. Best thing about that is I can get to it from any internet connected pc.
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Well, I have used both the MAC and PC but for some reason I prefer the PC. Just because of personally preferences though, I don’t think one is superior over the other.
Carly, how about using a flash drive for your books?? They have them in cute little designs now, I have one that twists up like a lipstick and has 1 gb of storage. It is so small you can store it in a safe deposit box. And they are so small you can carry them anywhere with you. I have another one that is a pen, you take the top of tha cap off and plug it into the USB to save your info to it.
Good luck!
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The rest of my work is backed up on one of those little pin thingies (my hubby knows technical term for this), that plug into your computer. He backed everything up for me. The problem is, I don’t back up myself. Whatever I’m working on usually doesn’t get backed up until I’m done. Scary, I know. I do–when I’m feeling paranoid–e-mail myself the book and save it in a file which I can access from any computer, as well. At least that keeps me with a semi-current version of my WIP. Otherwise, I do a LOT of praying.
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Hey Carly — that’s quite a computer journey.
I used to be an Apple user, years ago. My first computer was the little classic. 
But after a while I converted to PC mostly because the people I worked with used PCs, and as much as they want to say sharing documents works between the two platforms, that wasn’t always true. Also I was finding more bang for the buck with the pc. I’ve had 2 Dells in a row now, the first one lasted about 6 years, and it’s still in the office set up as a print server, and my new one is going fine, too, have never had a major crash with either of them, not even one day in customer service. My first one is still going strong in the office, and I only paid $1200 for each of them, with tons of features. So I guess I’m pretty much a Dell/PC girl.
I back up to Gmail, and that’s it. I back up everything, all during the day, whenever I write something new. Have always done that.
Sam
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Just another note, I also have never had a virus, pop up or spyware problem on my PC. If you have a home firewall and/or a decent anti-virus program, it’s all you need. I know they use this as a sales point for Macs, but most PCs come with the security software, too, so it’s really not an issue anymore. The biggest reason people get viruses these days is if they download or open things they shouldn’t have…
Sam
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Carly…I used to be an Apple girl (there are mostly APPLES in schools). They are just easier for me. Since I stay home with the kids, and hubby only uses PCs (he thinks Apples are the work of the devil, except for he has an ipod), that’s what I have. Unfortunately, ours crashed a couple of years ago and we lost everything. He’s still loyal, though.
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anyone know how to get my disks transferred to CD or external hard drive?
Worse, I have a ton of docs originally done on Word Perfect and my Macs won’t read them …
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Wow that was a cool Ode
Never really been into Mac, anything other than Mac I’m cool with. I’ve never really liked them since I started computer camp seven years ago.
Ms. Carly are you talking about for a Mac? I can ask my professor since she uses MAc computers more than anyone in this school for her Publishing classes.
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You should be able to take all disks into a local computer store(for major techno people)or a computer restoring for crashes store and they should be able to transfer to the new format. As for the word perfect files, on a pc you can load the 2nd office disk(has all the templates and whatnot on it) and convert the word perfect files to microsoft word. Not sure about a mac.
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Glad Apple treated you well. Good luck with your new Apple.:cheer:
Me I am a PC fan. I never switched to Apple cause all my programs are for PC. My brain is happy with PC so I am happy. I started with a Sony and stuck with them. They have been good to me. I got a toshiba at work and other than the battery backup stinks. I find it works. I still save evrything to disks. I know I am old fashion. We have 2 sony disk cameras we love too. :wave:
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My very first computer was a MAC, but I switched to PC because that’s what most programs were compatible with at the time. As Carly knows, I don’t handle change well, and that switch from MAC to PC was traumatic enough for me that I’ll always be a PC user!
And yes, I was shopping at Victoria’s Secret while Carly was getting her new MAC computer
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Oh Carly, I am so sorry you weren’t able to recapture your backed up stuff! That seemed like such a silver lining in the cloud. SUCKS!
I am a pc person, and, like you, I have some things that are only on disks. My early books–like my first one, which is being reprinted next month–are *nowhere*. I am sure I have a disk somewhere, but I have no clue where it is, so I couldn’t even put an excerpt up on my site, unless I wanted to rekey. (No, thank you.)
Hubby did get a new external hard drive for Christmas and I intend to use it. Meanwhile, I backup everything I can’t live without at gmail.
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Les, Ladies, I can not recommend it enough – BACKUP. Use GMail or some other place as a safety net. Invest in an external hard drive and drop those folders in there. You won’t be sorry. you never think it will happen to you!
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Always on Gmail
I have over 200 saved drafts just in case a professor can’t find the work I turned in.
I never delete them b/c something might arise
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Kimberly, it sounds like you and your husband use a flash drive, like I was talking about in my earlier post. I am not kidding on how convienent they are, ANY computer that has a USB and is running on a decent platform can use them. My old Gateway computer is Windows 98 and I can even use it on that. It is essentially like saving your work to a disk, except that you plug it into your USB slot in the computer. It is a heck of a lot easier than carrying a bazillion disks around with you.
Carly, if your MAC has a disk drive and you are able to burn CD’s you should be able to transfer your files yourself. It isn’t hard at all. It may even be cheaper for you to buy an external disk drive that you plug into your MAC when needed than risking someone else doing it and losing your data by someone else’s mistake.
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The other fun thing about backing up on Gmail (or any mail) is seeing how many drafts you end up with — I have a manuscript now that I’ve resaved new changes to 47 times so far! LOL I don’t now why that seems like a lot — it’s basically only 47 days, which is about 9 weeks, so that works out. Though it will be an even 50 or so before it’s done.
Sam
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OOH good idea, Kelly!
Except I just realized they’re on Word Perfect and this is a Mac. Sigh.
Almost
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WE have always had PCs. (my husbands choice I really don’t know any difference) We also had an HP years ago. It didn’t impress me much.
Now I have a Dell that has never given me problems and my daughter has a Dell notebook. There again no problems. Thank goodnes. I’ve heard that lately Dells Customer service has been lacking. That will be enough to have me change brands if it is true.
You would think that the BIG business owners would figure out that it is just not the product ,but service after the sale that counts. I want to talk to someone from this country. Not some forgein outsource:soapbox:
Both my girls got ipod Nanos for Christmas and my youngest daughters froze up the second day she had it. :cry: I was ready to send it back to Apple.:cursing:
This must have been a regular problem because the site told you how to fix it.
As long as I can surf the net I’m okay with anything .:doggie:
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Wow, I’ve learned a lot of neat stuff on here today. Thanks, everyone!
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Gigi- daughter’s ipod also had a problem when she first got it, but they fixed it right away. Did it again, and they just replaced it. No questions, no hassels. THAT is what I like about Apple.:thumbsup:
What the heck is gmail???????
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I don’t know enough to figure out some of the things you are all talking about here today! Fortunately for me I have a couple of computer savvy friends that have to help me out from time to time. Sometime in the 80’s I worked in an office that had “Apple” products, didn’t like it but that might have been cause no one trained me! My computer is a PC(it is an IBM) & I love it, no complaints, it works! I’ve never used a laptop but have heard they have drawbacks–is it true?! :)
Nuff said!
Carly, sorry 2007 has not started out so well for you. I hope things will just keep improving from now on.
I agree with the fact that the service after purchase is so important. I hate having to talk to someone in India when I’m trying to take care of a problem! Nothing against people in India one of the men I talked to one time with a problem really ticked me off with his attitude!!
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I’m a PC girl, always have been. . . I never had major problems. But hey, every brand, every company that makes something, you’ll get a lemon somewhere in there. And very new things are bound to have problems too.
What I have done with stuff on my computer is put it all on CDs, but that got really annoying once I started running out of disks, and I had stuff on my desktop that I couldn’t move on to my laptop, so once I had to get a new laptop, I also got an external hard drive. Looooove it. It hooks up through the USB port and I can use it on both the laptop and desktop. The only thing is if it’s a USB 1.0 port, then it goes really slow (as it does on the desktop, since it’s older), but it flies with USB 2.0 :)
Lois
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Carly, what are you trying to convert your Word Perfect documents into?? I haven’t used a MAC in a while. I do know there are third party software that you can even get as a “shareware” and it will convert your documents into Word documents or PDF files. So there are options, I guess it just depends on what you feel comfortable doing.
I may be mistaken but I also know that some of the newer versions of Word will let you Import the Word Perfect docs into them with no problem.
If you want/need any help just let me know. :)
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Kelly
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I’m almost embarrassed to say I’m a PC girl. I always feel like mac is so much more hip. And truly, Carly, some guy I’ve never met before offering me “a bigger harddrive, more memory and and core 2 duo” is the stuff of more than one of my nerdy guy love-in-public-places fantasies. TMI?:?
Now you’ve got me really worried about backing up, cause I rarely do it…
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I started w/the iPod and then my daughter got our first mac a laptop, and then I was hooked and now, sadly or not, I am an Apple/Mac all things Steve Jobs Related GEEK!
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I used to be a staunch PC kind of girl. But I had my breaking point with the Blue Screen of Death. I switched to a Mac iBook and never looked back. I love my iBook!!!! :)
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Carly I sell Cellphones. Have you seen the new skins . You can select a skin for your laptop and have it on your phone too. They are inexpensive enough to change them when ever you want. I even have a photo I took on one.
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I’ve been wanting a Mac, but only because I want a nice white one to match my iPod, which I love.
I’ve been a PC girl for ten years now. I guess I’m an old dog.
My hubs is very PC proficient, and can fix most problems on our PC’s. That said, I have lost everything to the blue screen of death more than once, but that was on the same computer. (Dell) I’m actually very suprised to hear about your Apple woes. I heard that they never crash.
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I’ll tell you what I tell everyone: THIS IS A UNIQUE CASE b/c it was one of the first Intel Macs and I think the kinks hadn’t been worked out. That said, they gave me a BRAND NEW ONE and despite losing stuff, I am 100% an APPLE GIRL.
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I have a DELL and when my died I had no clue:doh: what happened to it so I just call Dell and got another one lol. I tell my son I am no cumputer geek so please be nice to the puter lol
My son & HUbby have Ipods
Carly glad you got a new computer, but:soapbox: about everyhting you lost
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We have a HP and Dell. I use an Apple at work, but don’t care for it at all. I do have an iPod and just got a new cell phone that has iTunes on it. Love both of them. I don’t think I’d buy Apple computer for myself, just don’t know enough about them.
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Glad to hear that you got all of your computer-related issues worked out.
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I have had Dells for awhile now and when I got my laptop I went to mac and got a powerbook g4. I’ve had issues but the Genius guys are always..genius and it gets fixed. Although the guy said he has never seen someone have as many issues as me.
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Two MAC programs I would reccommend you check out are chronosync and SuperDuper. Both are killer back up apps. SuperDuper is more a traditional backup program that doesn’t suck. Chronosync is my preference, though. It is essentially like manually dragging the most recent copy onto an external drive, only it does it automatically every time you mount the drive. Whether it is a thumb drive, external hard drive, .mac drive, or whatever…when you mount, it syncs. You can also schedule timed syncs. Best part, it is not some funky file type, it is a literal file by file copy of whatever you told it to back up.
Hope that helps.
BTW…I am a mac user. Love my mac. Dread the day it dies since they discontinued this size/model with the new machines. I graduated from a design program using a PC when all my classes were taught on macs. Now that I exist “in the real world” I work on Mac while everyone else uses PC. I find people on both sides of the argument to lack perspective and be uwilling to recognize the truth. They make uniformed statements like “only a mac can…” or “only a pc can…”. However, being me, I will make the statement “Only my mac can make me happy”. (Although that touch screen HP running Vista came close).
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I’m an HP girl! I once tripped and ripped out my ac adapter cable – oops my bad! When I called them to tell them I needed a new cable, they had it at my door the next day. With a prepaid box to send my old one back in.
Sounds good to me! I love warranties!
As for the backup… I’ve had some
moments and accidently deleted some chapters or research that I needed. I now know to keep my info on a memory stick. My motto is: the only way to learn is the hard way!:devil:
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I need to get a new one but am resisting buying a new one until I absolutely have to.
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Hi Carly:
I’m a PC person, but then PCs are how I make a living. For eight years, I was a full-time author, and wrote computer books on how to use various programs and technologies from Microsoft. Today, I’m in charge of research and development for an engineering company building new applications using Microsoft technology.
I have a network at home with a server attached. I backup each pc to the server and then backup the server to a DVD drive. Like Sam, I typically email works in progress to myself, partially as a backup and partially to move files from one compute to another (my computer at work isn’t allowed to access my home network).
All of the books and articles I wrote are stored on the server, but I’m planning to burn several copies on DVD and put them in different places, just in case.
One thing you might consider if your machine as a CD or DVD burner is to burn your files to the CD or DVD each night. I do this with my work laptop and keep a history of the last five backups. You’d be surprised how often I accidently delete a file or delete something from a file I can’t recover and it’s so easy to restore the file from my backup disk.
Sorry to hear about your problems, but I’m glad you have your computer back.
Take care………..Wayne