Tuesday, January 24, 2017

A Working Computer

After months and months of complaining about my laptop, I finally got a new one! And now that a month has passed and the novelty has worn off, I can now review it with some objectivity. It’s…not bad?

I got a Dell Inspiron that for some reason I keep trying to spell as “Inspirion” for some reason. It’s not exactly top of the line, but I don’t need anything fancy. It plays what I want it to and that’s all that matters.

It seems to work better than my last one, although that may just be because it hasn’t been bogged down by years of downloads. It doesn’t overheat from trying to use Flash, definitely a plus, actually plays videos when I’m streaming, and there have been a lot less internet connectivity issues that make me go berserk because it tells me to look for solutions online.

However, it’s not without its flaws. Big, huge, bothersome flaws. The touchpad is horrible. You need to use two fingers to scroll—like some kind of animal—and half the time when I hit the lower right corner to right click it just regular clicks because it’s a piece of crap. And can you change any of these functions to something you like? No! Not at all. Because it’s not enough to have a bad touchpad, you have to have a bad touchpad driver, too.

Plus there are other weird, stupid things. For some reason, it will not scroll in Word when I have a large document open. Say like one for a novel I’m trying to write. Yeah, it’s a bit of an issue. I can still scroll using the touchscreen for some reason and I do use it, but I hate it because I hate touchscreens. Which is why I didn’t order one. But I got one anyway. Although considering the scrolling/touchpad issues, I’ve been forced to use it. Which I hate. It gunks up the screen.

Now, as annoying as this is, it’s still a much better computer. When I first turned it on, I was shocked at some of the colors that I had been missing on a clearly inferior screen. It was like getting new glasses and seeing the world clearly for the first time. And, like I said, it just plain runs better. Hell, we might have had the last comic that involves me throwing my computer out the window in frustration.

Well, maybe.

7 comments:

  1. Sorry about the scrolling issues. Our Dell laptop must be close to ten years old and still works. Not well, but it still works.

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  2. When I had to replace my computer last year, I got a Dell Inspiron. It doesn't have a touch screen, though. Basically, I picked up something serviceable and cheap.

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  3. I'm so used to touching my tablet, a touchscreen might be nice. I don't like using the little touch pads though. I need a mouse.

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  4. I need a new laptop, but I've been putting it off (and will continue to do so for as long as I possibly can) because I don't think I'll like any of the new ones. I don't care for touchscreens, either. Touchpads don't matter because I generally have a mouse plugged into it.

    Still, it's good that it's a better computer for you, despite its issues. Hope that trend continues!

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  5. I was going to mention a mouse. I need one. I hate touch pads.

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  6. I've gotten used to touch pads, but I still vastly prefer the mouse.

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  7. I got RSI from using a touchpad, so I just plugged in a mouse. I've never used a touchscreen for anything other than selling movie tickets etc. I don't know if I could use it in Word or something like that…. Weird!

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Please validate me.