A New Laptop

Back in those fondly remembered days when I was constantly traveling I always took my laptop with me so that I could write on my blog.  In between trips, the laptop was put away, and I used my desktop computer almost exclusively.  

Then the pandemic hit.  I had rarely used Skype previously, but now it became a necessity in the world of limited social interaction.  I stayed connected with Alejandro and his family in Mexico, and then I started doing regular video chats with my cousins in Europe and with friends here in Ohio. The laptop had a built in camera, but I had no camera for my desktop.  Alejandro also gave me the password for his Netflix account.  I got a cable to connect my laptop to the television so that I could stream movies from Netflix.  As a result the roles were reversed... my desktop was neglected while my laptop was used daily and had become a fixture of the living room.  

Then about eight months into the pandemic, my laptop started going crazy.  I would turn it on, and I would be unable to connect with the internet even though my wi-fi was working, and my desktop was connecting with no problem.  This would last a day or less, and then I would suddenly have internet access again.  This occurred several times.  In the meantime I bought a camera for my desktop so that I could Skype if the laptop was acting up. 

The problem stopped as suddenly and mysteriously as it had begun.  For a couple months the laptop ran fine.  Then recently I began to have problems again.  This time the laptop was connected to the internet, but I could only go to certain websites.  I could go to Blogger, where I create my blog, Google Maps, YouTube, Netflix and Wikipedia, but I couldn't go to most other places on the internet.  Duolingo... nope.  TripAdvisor... nope.  Webcams de México... nope.  Sometimes I couldn't even sign in for my own email.  Again this situation would come and go.  I might be able to go anywhere to any website first thing in the morning, but then a few hours later the laptop would decide to be obstinate.  It was bizarre.  

I did some research, and it seems that the average life expectancy for a laptop is three to five years.  My laptop was just about to celebrate its fourth birthday.  Come the day when I once again travel, hopefully in the not too distant future, I will need to have a laptop that I can rely upon.  So last week I went out to buy a new one.

Up until the recent problems, I had really liked my old laptop.  It seemed easy to use, and I was used to it.  So I upgraded to a more expensive version of the same model.  Getting the new one set up seemed more complicated than the last time, and it was a bother transferring my security program from the old one to the new one.  (I still had two years left on the license.)  But I think that I am all squared away now.  Hopefully this one will last more than four years.