I am typing this on Edith, my new laptop. Her arrival this morning is the only reason I am typing anything at all, because over the past month or so my laptop had been getting slower and slower and whirrier and whirrier until even opening an email took so long that I would frequently get up while it was working to do something else. Like knit an afghan.
I in no way had the money for a new laptop, but I spend 10 hours a day on my computer, and when it up and stopped loading the photo editor on Flickr altogether, I knew I had two choices: get a new computer, or have a massive breakdown involving shouting, weeping, and the ritual destruction of electronics. Posting anything here had become quite the undertaking, with an entry that should have taken 20 minutes taking something like TWO HOURS if I had the temerity to include a picture. And then today, the very day my new laptop was delivered, the old one all but stopped responding altogether.
You know, it was never quite right, that laptop, and I think my mistake was that when I chose it, I thought to myself “oh, all I do is write and piddle around on the internet, I don’t need “RAM” or “memory!” But apparently I do. So I put a 15″ MacBook Pro (I’m a Pro, apparently, in need of special PRO equipment) on a credit card, and oh my god, it is the best thing I have ever done, squirmy shameful feeling about living beyond my means aside. Everything is so fast! Opening a sixth browser tab doesn’t make smoke rise from the keyboard, and I can have more than one application running at a time. I can have two word processor documents open AND be on the internet, and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of that goddamn unendingly spinning rainbow beachball of torpor, and I bet that if I wanted to I could even watch a YouTube video without all hell breaking loose.
I’m going to post more often this month in celebration. WITH PICTURES, even, because I have been meticulously documenting Simone’s most recent installations, and I know you won’t want to miss her unorthodox use of materials (iced tea pitcher, keychain, baby wipe, miniaturized Mr. Potato Head spectacles—and that’s JUST ONE PIECE). Am I right, or am I right?
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
yay! shiny new mac smell is better than new car smell.
i know what you’re talking about. opening iphoto on my very old mac laptop (that i love!) makes the beachball spin like crazy. no money for a new mac, here, unfortunately.
Huzzah!! I’m in favor of anything that allows you to post more easily. AND post more photos of your adorable mini scientist. You must feel as if you’re suddenly flying!
My life was changed forever the day I got my 15″ Powerbook – I was too cheap to go Pro. I know what you mean about doing two things at once. And that one of these things can be music? So great.
Welcome to the Mac club. It’s so lovely here. Come sit by me. (Or something less creepy) xxxx
Welcome, Edith! Can’t wait to see Simone’s new handiwork.
BTW, is there an official name for that beach ball thing? It would be an interesting project to collect all the things people call it.
Chez Newt, it’s the twirly-whirly rainbow of death.
I’m typing this from my brand new mini and it does not…speedeth. But it’s cute! I thought the same thing as you thought with your old laptop (write, fiddle on the net, what more do I need?) Now when I want to do anything serious I have to go down to the basement and use my desktop. It’s a hard knock life, I know.
Enjoy Edith!
Love my new Macbook Pro. Just be careful, my 16 month old dented it with a toy a mere 5 minutes after I had it out of the box. I almost cried.
yay! I just got my first mac (but I couldnt swing the macbook pro that I wanted, so I got the 20″ Imac which is pretty damn sweet!) I am really enjoying it!
gosh, i feel like buying a mac pro after reading this!!! =) glad you got a nice new laptop — you are an author… you definitely need a good computer! can’t wait to read your upcoming posts!
Totally get what you feel. My dad had bought a laptop and had it sent to me so I can then send it for him (it was cheaper in the US). It was delivered today and I couldn’t resist opening and playing with it. New laptops are the best!
Yeah, you haveta post more, or your Mom is gonna send sad emails. Now you have no excuse.
“Goddamn unendingly spinning rainbow beachball of torpor?” HAHAHA. I hate that thing.
Also, I can’t type my whole handle in the “Name” field and I could before…that’s odd!
Do I ever know what you’re taking about! My MacBook Pro arrived just a few hours before yours and is also coming after a much older model (a Desktop G4 733Mhz *cough*) that on the one hand has been extremely reliable (for eight years!), but on the other hand kept giving me slideshows for Youtube and had to think for seconds about each move I wanted to do in InDesign on a poster-sized projekt. And emails? I wrote them and could then sit and watch as the letters appeared on the screen as if someone was sending me a telegram. Whee!
The MBP is so sleek and shiny in comparison that I hardly dared to touch it at first (yeah, I got over that :).
I did, however, already see the beachball. When it crashed on its very first time being powered down. Nothing is perfect, I guess.
Yay! I have to admit, I’m sort of an Apple hater…them and their smug genius bar and their stupid iPods that break thirty minutes after the warranty expires…but anything that will bring us more Simone pictures has to have a germ of good in it.
Can’t wait- cheers to Edith!
Trying to harvest crops on Farmtown in Facebook is flat out humiliating. Everyone else is harvesting away, and I am WAITING…. I need a new computer too. But I am very happy that you will be posting more because I love to read your posts!
Oh that’s good. And you know, it’s not “living beyond one’s means”. No, no, no. It’s “stimulating the economy”. See? “stimulating the economy”.
That’s a hoot!
We call that the pinwheel of death at our house.
And I had to reinstall my OS to try and minimize the time it took for various applications to load (InDesign allowed me time to grab a snack; iPhoto allowed me time to complete a PhD INCLUDING the dissertation and defense of said document).
One suggestion my dad (yeah, I still get advice from my dad) gave me regarding iPhoto–he said it’s essentially a giant database, so if you load everything into the main library, it’s going to take forever to try and load all of that data. He advised me to create separate libraries for my various chunks of photos, e.g., one library for a vacation; another library for Fall ’09; etc. You can create different libraries by clicking Control > New Library (I believe…I’m at work and not sitting at my computer). Then, when you launch iPhoto, you load the library using the Control key (Control > Choose Library)…again, I apologize for guessing at the exact terms used, but that’s the gist of it. Hope that helps those of us who grew to hate using iPhoto! Hope I haven’t comment-jacked, Alexa. Enjoy your shiny machine.
You are right! Can’t wait… :)
Woohoooo for Edith….now we get to see more Simone!!!!!!!
Yeah, being able to open up multiple tabs is KEY. I just traded down my Macbook Pro, which, while being wonderful for four years was starting to slow down, too. Gotta keep a perpetual computer coin jar in this house. =) Congrats on your new purchase.
Congrats on treating yourself to Edith! Looking forward to seeing more pictures!
Oh, hurrah for new laptops, and hurrah for no more beach balls of doom! And for more posts and pictures of Simone of course. : )
I love new toys!