Gratuitous Capitalization

[sofiaviolet]

My weekend has come to a satisfactory conclusion, with all work completed on time, even with social media sanity breaks. \o/

Ellie has decided to Clean All The Things. The apartment totally needed it, but it was a little stressful to come in from Special Work Event after lunchtime and find Even MOAR Stuff in my bedroom.

Also, today I talked to my mom about getting a new computer. My Macbook is five years old!* It's still a perfectly adequate computer for my needs, except for two problems:

1. The fan makes loud angry noises whenever the computer is sleeped/hibernated/shut down, carried in my bag, and woken up again.
2. The plastic case around the screen and keyboard/trackpad has begun to chip off. Including right under where my right wrists rests when I'm mousing.

But, as my mother needs a new computer (hers is so old she can't update past Firefox 2, and she's understandably worried about Bad Shit From The Internet), we have decided she can have the Macbook, since she won't be moving it around or using the trackpad.

So now my goal is to locate the best Macbook for the least money. We have determined that it is a worthwhile investment to get a better computer than I need Right Now, because said computer will serve me for more years.

* I have been pretty impressed with the longevity of the Macs I've owned. 6 years, 4 years (would have been longer but Evil Ex stepped on it and refused to admit it was his fault the screen died), over 6 years (since AFAIK the iBook I gave to Cameryn is still kicking), and 5 years. Mom's iMac is 7.

Comments

[contrarywise]

Check Mac Rumors for expected release dates for new Macbooks--stores often discount the newly superceded models to get them out of inventory. I've had good luck with Micro Center for Mac purchases in the past.

[sofiaviolet]

Thanks!

[laughingrat]

Oh yay, I hope you get a very good computer and that the Macbook works well for your mom.

[sofiaviolet]

I think her big problem will be getting a mouse with a long enough cord. Left-side ports + right-handed mousing.

[turlough]

I've never owned a laptop Mac but all my desktop Macs (the current one is the fourth) have lasted five years or more. They probably lasted much longer than that but after five years they were outdated enough that I couldn't do things I wanted on them so I'd to get a newer model.

[sofiaviolet]

Yeah, that's actually why I got this one when I did, and why Cameryn got my old one. I bought that iBook in a rush because I was computerless, and it just wasn't powerful enough for my purposes.

[mllesays]

I totally understand your wanting a new Mac, but in the meantime, you can get the chipped casing replaced for free even if it isn't under warranty anymore. Just an FYI!

[sofiaviolet]

I don't think I could stand to be without it (and I assume they'd need to keep it a while, since they probably don't stock 2007 parts in the store any more), but I think I might bring it in once I have my new one, just so Mom gets a slightly more attractive computer out of this.

[holyschist]

For reference, the plastic top case can be replaced, although it might not be worth it. The fan issue is...weird.

We have determined that it is a worthwhile investment to get a better computer than I need Right Now, because said computer will serve me for more years.

This is very sensible.

[sofiaviolet]

I might try to bribe Ellie into taking it apart and seeing if the fan just needs to be cleaned. But even if we can't fix it, Mom should get a decent span of service from it.