Computer Conundrum

Last Thursday, my laptop stopped working. As usual, I brought it to the Computer Service Center for repair. This being the fifth year of my laptop’s life, I understand that there are going to be problems with my computer, and it will occasionally have to get fixed.

However, when I got my computer back Thursday night, I didn’t check it until Friday evening, which is my fault. What is not my fault is the fact that it still didn’t work. The fan would turn on and a bunch of lights would light up, but the screen wouldn’t display anything. This was exactly the problem that I had sent my computer in for, and apparently re-imaging it had done nothing to solve the problem. Since the Computer Service Center is closed on weekends, I spent the weekend without a computer.

Luckily, I didn’t have anything due on Monday, because I don’t have a secondary computer. Granted, if I had a major report due, I could have used my town’s public library. If I had a midterm or final project in software they didn’t have (i.e., Solidworks), I would have had to plead with one of my friends to use their computer. There are computers in the Fielding Lab with the requisite software, but the Edward A. Stevens building is locked on weekends.

In any case, I spent the weekend with only my iPhone. Granted, an iPhone is more computer than phone, but it really opened my eyes to how computer dependent I am. I could view attachments, but I couldn’t edit anything because I don’t have Microsoft Word on my phone.

And it wasn’t just schoolwork that was affected. It turns out I spend a lot of time on the internet when I’m not working. I have tons of other things in my room to distract me, but it was somehow odd not being able to just boot up my computer and look at whatever website I wanted.

Now I have my computer back, but I can tell it is on its last legs. It only boots up sometimes, and I’m not sure what else the Computer Service Center is going to be able to do for me. After 5 years of commuting, this laptop has seen its fair share of repairs. And if it didn’t get fixed completely the second time, I’m not sure sending it in a third time will fix it. I can only hope that it will continue to function properly for the next two months, after which point I will graduate and will no longer need to rely on Stevens-specific software.