We have yet another death in the family. This time, it's my trusty Dell Inspiron 1150 notebook computer. It's my workhorse, my school computer.
I still have my desktop, thankfully. But I'll be out the laptop until the local Dell technician gets a replacement motherboard and replaces mine. I'm looking at probably half the week without a laptop.
This means I'll have to do more work from home. Unfortunately, the school computer lab PCs won't allow me to change the keyboard layout to dvorak, which I use exclusively. It's very inconvenient.
Anyway, it won't slow me down too much. I have access to nearly all my files on my desktop (because I keep the two synchronized), and I handwrite my big projects first. So the brief I'm working on will keep going without a hitch.
The lesson from all this? Buy. Extended. Warranty. I have a 4-year warranty on my notebook, and I may extend it further. For notebooks, I think you should get a warranty for as long as you think you'll use the thing. It's just too easy for things to go out that turn your PC into a brick. This is the second motherboard replacement I've had. If it were a desktop, I could get the part and handle the replacement myself. But a notebook isn't so easy.
Trust me, the warranty will probably more than pay for itself--in peace of mind, if nothing else.
