Real life - Technology woes (Kindle question, iPhone, Macbook)
Sorry new friends, I don’t have a fun, fandom-related post to start off our LJ relationship :-)
No worries thought, I have an Arthur/Merlin ficlet nearly ready to post; so yay for that.
In the mean time, my real life is giving me a lot of ups and downs. Normal, when you’re “in between jobs”, but these added technology woes are something I don’t want to keep to myself anymore, because I could really use some advice.
Feel free to skip this post entirely or read only the section that you feel like reading… But definitely a huge thanks in advance to everyone that’s able to help me with this!
Last year I asked you guys about e-readers and Kindles. Thanks to your wonderful advice, I went for the Kindle Keyboard, adding the 3G option just ‘cause I’d liked this device to be the best it could be. It was an amazing journey, discovering Kindle. My fandom-experience has been so so much better now with the existence of AO3, download as Mobi and Kindle. I’ve read so much fic as well as English classics that I always wanted to read but never got around to.
It’s been my constant companion, this Kindle. On daily commutes between home and work (back when I still had a job :p) and home and my other homes (I have a pretty nomadic existence compared to a lot of people). It’s been awesome.
Now, I’m just really, really angry at Amazon. My Kindle is broken - I tried resetting to factory settings - it didn’t work so this pretty much means it’s as dead as can be. Sometimes I can get a 20 minutes of reading in on the device before it continues its loop of freezing and restarting, but it won’t remember my page and well, it’s pretty frustrating when you’re in the middle of a book and it breaks down and is unresponsive for another half an hour. So it’s pretty unusable right now. As a European, I’m pretty appalled at only having one year of warranty (you’re legally entitled to 2 yrs in Europe). Especially as I’ve got it from end of February last year, so it’s very little over a year old.
This is exactly what happened to my iPod, conveniently the home button broke 13 months after I got it. And both my Kindle and my iPod I’ve treated really well (both being in a proper case and all that). Luckily, in case of the iPod, there’s ways around not having a home button.
So yeah. Frustration frustration. I buy stuff like Kindle and Apple because I prefer something that’s good quality and won’t give me trouble (I don’t mind paying extra for peace of mind). It worked out really well with my previous laptops (IBM and Apple) but I now have to conclude it failed me with the iPod and the Kindle.
So what do I do? Boycot Amazon from now on, buy my books on Bookdepository and get a Sony e-reader? Part of me really wants to do that because I’m definitely angry.
Of course they’re offering me a discount on their current Kindle models (not a great discount, mind you), so I guess I could get a Kindle again? I was really happy with my Kindle while it was still working. If I go for that option anyone have any experience with the Kindle Paperwhite? I’d only get the discount on the model without 3G, but I can probably live without that. Or should I just go for a standard Kindle without touch or keyboard or 3G (would be cheapest)… I think I’d miss the keyboard a little bit as I tend to make little annotations when reading fic - for the purpose of commenting afterwards. But of course they’re not offering the keyboard edition anymore. From reviews the Paperwhite seems to be a ‘genuine’ step-up from the earlier editions. I’m just annoyed that apparently even the model without ‘special offers’ has a large bar with Amazon’s ‘recommendations’ on the home screen, so you only have 3 titles on the home screen… Also I heard that if you have 'special offers', the device demands that the wifi is on a lot of the time? But wifi kills the battery, no? Either way, it's weird that they're offering me the 'special offers' one on discount, because they *know* I'm in Belgium and the special offers are US only...
My current phone is still a ‘dumb’ phone that I’ve never liked because I always have a hard time understanding the other person in a phone call (very bad speakers). Plus, with my constant commuting and use of public transport, it would be a huge relief to get a proper 3G device that I can check bus timetables on and google maps and my email etc.
For those of you that hate Apple and are convinced it’s a big sect of weirdos that have too much money - I hear you. But I’ve been really happy with my Macbook Pro. It’s been solid for four years, the battery is amazing, no noise, no stress basically (up until recently, but that’s mostly my own fault - see the Macbook section).
So I’d like to stick with Apple and pay more to get the iPhone. BUT
The Macbook Pro I have is dying, I know it it. It’s been great but I never upgraded the operating system (it’s still Leopard) and I have too much data on it. On top of that, I use it pretty relentlessly and it’s pretty much been around the world and back with me. So it’s logical that I’m only getting 4 years out of it, that was also what I intended (to buy a new one after four years). I just haven’t found a new model that I like quite enough…
Thanks for helping me! I’m just already so stressed about job interviews and volunteering and doing the little odd jobs here and there while networking and writing a hundred emails a day that theses are just things that I can’t seem to be able to decide on on my own. Mostly because it’s everything at the same time...
No worries thought, I have an Arthur/Merlin ficlet nearly ready to post; so yay for that.
In the mean time, my real life is giving me a lot of ups and downs. Normal, when you’re “in between jobs”, but these added technology woes are something I don’t want to keep to myself anymore, because I could really use some advice.
Feel free to skip this post entirely or read only the section that you feel like reading… But definitely a huge thanks in advance to everyone that’s able to help me with this!
Last year I asked you guys about e-readers and Kindles. Thanks to your wonderful advice, I went for the Kindle Keyboard, adding the 3G option just ‘cause I’d liked this device to be the best it could be. It was an amazing journey, discovering Kindle. My fandom-experience has been so so much better now with the existence of AO3, download as Mobi and Kindle. I’ve read so much fic as well as English classics that I always wanted to read but never got around to.
It’s been my constant companion, this Kindle. On daily commutes between home and work (back when I still had a job :p) and home and my other homes (I have a pretty nomadic existence compared to a lot of people). It’s been awesome.
Now, I’m just really, really angry at Amazon. My Kindle is broken - I tried resetting to factory settings - it didn’t work so this pretty much means it’s as dead as can be. Sometimes I can get a 20 minutes of reading in on the device before it continues its loop of freezing and restarting, but it won’t remember my page and well, it’s pretty frustrating when you’re in the middle of a book and it breaks down and is unresponsive for another half an hour. So it’s pretty unusable right now. As a European, I’m pretty appalled at only having one year of warranty (you’re legally entitled to 2 yrs in Europe). Especially as I’ve got it from end of February last year, so it’s very little over a year old.
This is exactly what happened to my iPod, conveniently the home button broke 13 months after I got it. And both my Kindle and my iPod I’ve treated really well (both being in a proper case and all that). Luckily, in case of the iPod, there’s ways around not having a home button.
So yeah. Frustration frustration. I buy stuff like Kindle and Apple because I prefer something that’s good quality and won’t give me trouble (I don’t mind paying extra for peace of mind). It worked out really well with my previous laptops (IBM and Apple) but I now have to conclude it failed me with the iPod and the Kindle.
So what do I do? Boycot Amazon from now on, buy my books on Bookdepository and get a Sony e-reader? Part of me really wants to do that because I’m definitely angry.
Of course they’re offering me a discount on their current Kindle models (not a great discount, mind you), so I guess I could get a Kindle again? I was really happy with my Kindle while it was still working. If I go for that option anyone have any experience with the Kindle Paperwhite? I’d only get the discount on the model without 3G, but I can probably live without that. Or should I just go for a standard Kindle without touch or keyboard or 3G (would be cheapest)… I think I’d miss the keyboard a little bit as I tend to make little annotations when reading fic - for the purpose of commenting afterwards. But of course they’re not offering the keyboard edition anymore. From reviews the Paperwhite seems to be a ‘genuine’ step-up from the earlier editions. I’m just annoyed that apparently even the model without ‘special offers’ has a large bar with Amazon’s ‘recommendations’ on the home screen, so you only have 3 titles on the home screen… Also I heard that if you have 'special offers', the device demands that the wifi is on a lot of the time? But wifi kills the battery, no? Either way, it's weird that they're offering me the 'special offers' one on discount, because they *know* I'm in Belgium and the special offers are US only...
My current phone is still a ‘dumb’ phone that I’ve never liked because I always have a hard time understanding the other person in a phone call (very bad speakers). Plus, with my constant commuting and use of public transport, it would be a huge relief to get a proper 3G device that I can check bus timetables on and google maps and my email etc.
For those of you that hate Apple and are convinced it’s a big sect of weirdos that have too much money - I hear you. But I’ve been really happy with my Macbook Pro. It’s been solid for four years, the battery is amazing, no noise, no stress basically (up until recently, but that’s mostly my own fault - see the Macbook section).
So I’d like to stick with Apple and pay more to get the iPhone. BUT
- the home button on my iPod touch breaking after little over year was worrying - if my iPhone breaks down after a year, I’d be pretty upset; luckily I’ll buy this one in Europe and get proper 2 yr warranty…
- it is of course very expensive; I’d also like to get enough memory (maybe 32 GB) but that makes it even *more* expensive…
The Macbook Pro I have is dying, I know it it. It’s been great but I never upgraded the operating system (it’s still Leopard) and I have too much data on it. On top of that, I use it pretty relentlessly and it’s pretty much been around the world and back with me. So it’s logical that I’m only getting 4 years out of it, that was also what I intended (to buy a new one after four years). I just haven’t found a new model that I like quite enough…
- Macbook Pro standard: looks exactly as mine does now and doesn’t appear to be any different, except slightly better processor and more storage… kind of feel silly spending 1400 euros on something that doesn’t genuinely feel like a step up
- Macbook Pro Retina: much improved screen and flash memory are definitely a huge step up from what I have now; BUT standard memory (129 GB) is not enough for me, even if I start taking an external hard disk with me everywhere (which I am also reluctant to commit to). Upgrading to 500 GB is ridiculously expensive… (basically 1 euro for 1 GB of storage). Also maybe the retina screen is annoying because all the imperfections of content (online and your own photos) are more glaringly obvious? Anyone have experience with this? Also: no CD/DVD drive which I could probably live without but still, it requires me to adapt.
- Macbook Air: recommended to me because I take my laptop everywhere and was considering getting an iPad as well to avoid having to drag the laptop everywhere. Is indeed lovely thin and light. But people say it’ll be a huge step down as it won’t have the processor power I’m used to. It’s flash memory - so same pros/cons as above, very expensive if you want to upgrade to proper storage.
Thanks for helping me! I’m just already so stressed about job interviews and volunteering and doing the little odd jobs here and there while networking and writing a hundred emails a day that theses are just things that I can’t seem to be able to decide on on my own. Mostly because it’s everything at the same time...