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heidi’s journal

gotta get a new laptop

· · 🌡️ 61°F

I took my work laptop with me when I last went to PA because, ya know, i was working... When I got back to Buffalo, the screen stayed dark instead of lighting up on boot. However, I could still see the images; they were just very faint. I googled up some answers - most likely cause: inverter board failure. Since my laptop is about three years old, I didn't want to invest a lot in a repair, so I found a used board on ebay and also got a new battery because mine's no longer holding a charge for more than 10 minutes of use. $80 for parts and I'll have a functioning laptop for at least a few more months.... or so I thought.

The package came Tuesday and I tried the battery - wrong battery. The list of compatible Toshibas on the ebay listing was huge and mine wasn't specifically excluded... :-(

I installed the inverter board Thursday night because Drew needs something that's stored on that computer and I was going to the church on Friday... 6 screws and two small pin connectors later, I had it installed... Boot up... yea! lights! for 10 seconds. WHAT??? 10 seconds?? try again. same result. #$*!*#$ not just an inverter board problem, it's also a backlight problem. So screw it, I need a functioning laptop for finals, I need a functioning laptop for work... I gotta buy a new laptop.

I'm posting all this just to make sure it is reasonable...

How's this Toshiba look to you geeks?

I like this Sony Vaio but an extra $250 for a better processor (and admittedly excellent sony hardware) doesn't seem worth it.


I'm very hard on my machines so I don't want to spend a lot on them for them just to break because I'm clumsy and dangerous.


321 words

💬 6 comments

  1. jim ·

    I don't think the one is necessarily worth the $250 premium, but I wish I knew more about non-Apple laptops to give any better advice :)

  2. paul ·

    I found sony hardware to be really sturdy and reliable. However, I hate all the spamware they come with.

  3. heidi ·

    Yeah, I have a 5+ year old Sony vaio that's still running. The screen is falling off the hinges b/c of a few drops. Great hardware.

    I realized after I posted that y'all use Macs... Really I just needed to think it through. I ordered the Toshiba last night before I went to bed, plus a 1TB backup drive, eSATA compatible. I spent a lot (too much) time moving files from the old toshiba to my 80gb external hdd and moving some to my school desktop, installing software that I use for work on the school desktop... I *hate* getting a new computer. It's such a pain to get it set up and configured and takes too much time! This is my third in about eight months.

  4. tinypliny ·

    So what did you get in the end?

    I have never had bad luck with Toshiba. I dropped my first from the second floor and it still works!

  5. heidi ·

    I got the toshiba. it's speedy and functional but I really hate the super-shiny, fingerprint-gathering finish. I didn't expect to use the integrated webcam so much - I spent about two hours with one of A's aunts working on her computer using gmail video chat and logmein.com. She lives in Syracuse.

  6. tinypliny ·

    I hate that finish too! Why can't they have selected a more sensible matté finish!? Isn't video chat awesome? I feel like I am taking to my family without even going home. It keeps me sane.

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