Thursday, January 17, 2008

Vaio, Vaio, Vaio

Well, I needed a new laptop because my not so trusty old HP Pavilion was, like the Wicked Witch of the West, melting. (Well, the laptop wasn't exactly melting, but the power jack seemed to be melting something or other onto the motherboard, and the machine was running a very high fever and behaving quite erratically.)

So, I read up on laptops on line and, since I wanted immediate gratification and none of this ordering and waiting a day, took myself off to Best Buy to best buy a Vaio.

Yes, yes, yes, I know before anyone tells me that I paid a premium for something that looks nice and is lightweight. If anyone had ever told me I'd get sucked in by something pretty and thin, well, I'd have replied that I would never be so superficial. But if you have to look at something day in, day out. If you have to lug something, day in day out. Why not have it be something that's nice to look at, and doesn't make you bend over like ancient peasant woman hauling a laundry basket when it's on your back.

And the price premium, when amortized over the life of the laptop - which, I know, I know, will be all too brief - still comes out to a buck or two a week.

I'm worth it.

They didn't have all the colors available - I would have liked the navy blue - but I went for the gold, which sounds bling-y and show-y but is actually muted and quite nice.

I happily overpaid for my Vaio on a Saturday and brought it home, ooh-ing and ahh-ing all the way.

On Sunday, I experienced my first blue screen of death.

Well, me no like, but I had a lot to do before I headed out to Syracuse on business, so I brushed it aside.

On Monday evening, I had not only a few blue screens of death, but a freeze up (accompanied by an ominous ding-ding-ding) the likes of which I hadn't experienced since Windows 3.0.

Too bad I was leaving for Syracuse at dawn on Tuesday.

The Vaio did not heal itself on the way.

Blue screens of death. Freeze ups. Black screens of deather. A popping noise. (Yikes.)

By Wednesday night, the top of my skull was flying off and I was screeching, "Why, oh why, oh why oh/Why did I buy a Vaio?"

Immediately on my return to Boston, I jetted out to Best Buy to return the damaged goods.

They took it, bless them, no questions asked, and without expending once iota of energy trying to convince me to let them diagnose the problem.

They accepted my diagnosis: there's something wrong with this hardware. I want a new one.

So now I have my new Vaio, and so far, so good.

It's lovely to look at. I like the keyboard and the screen. And I'm apparently one of the minority who actually likes Vista.

In keeping with my light and airy laptop, I find the Vista look and feel light and airy.

I also like the 2007 Office applications - now that I've figured out where to find things like wordcount, save as, delete rows, new slide, etc. There's nothing radically different about the functionality. They just look better. (They're prettier, if not thinner.)

Oh, there are some Vista annoyances - like these special security boxes that pop up and ask you whether you really want to do something - but I'm sure I can figure out how to rid myself of them.

I may live to regret both of these statements but:

I like my new Vaio.

I like my new Vista.

Thin and beautiful. Who'd have thought my head would be turned?

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