Deciding About Devices

It used to be that log-term budget planning included saving for a new fridge, winter boots for all the kids who were growing like weeds, and every decade or so, a new car. These days we need to add another budget line – for replacement technology.

Most people I know, including children, have 3 devices: a phone, a mainframe computer or laptop, and a tablet. Some even have a 4th, an e-reader. It’s a tricky business to replace each of them on an ongoing basis. But a first-world definition of modern day chaos is when they all break down at once!

This happened to me during the past year. My iphone began doing strange things like not sending emails. Then my ipad got dropped for the second time and the screen cracked diagonally, giving me little finger cuts every time I swiped. And finally dear readers, as you know, my laptop refused to publish photos on my blog. What to do?

I started by replacing my phone. These days you can’t go anywhere without a smart phone. Never mind keeping track of your partner when you go shopping together in a big mall. You also need a phone to order concert tickets and then present them at the box office. Fly to another country and you need the ArriveCAN app. Go to a restaurant and then wait for the host to call you when your table is ready. Order the perfect shoe size online when the shoe store is sold out. And take that beautiful picture of a sunset that you hadn’t expected to see.

I love my new iphone. It does everything. One day I even worked up enough courage to order airline tickets on it. And then I loaded the boarding passes into my “wallet” and took them to the airport. I don’t mind admitting that I was so scared, I made a print copy just in case. But even at the very crowded and chaotic Pearson airport – there were the boarding passes – right there in my “wallet.” Eureka!

As a result of this success, I decided to ditch my ipad and just buy a new laptop. There are a lot of brands to choose from on the market. I heard so many comments in favour of Apple, it almost seemed like a cult. I visited the Apple store to see if I wanted to join. The clerk at the door signed me up for an appointment in the next half hour with a technical specialist. After 45 minutes I discovered that my name had been accidentally dropped from the appointment list. When I finally met this “techie” she didn’t know the answer to several of my basic questions and she had to go searching for somebody even more special. Then I was told that I needed to speak to somebody at the “genus bar” for which I needed another appointment – in 3 hours. I decided this cult was not for me.

Next I turned to You-Tube and watched several videos comparing various android laptop models. Once again there were so many choices to make: how much memory? touch-screen? which version of Windows? And so on. Eventually I sorted it all out and chose a model I wanted. Then I looked for a sale. Late one evening Peter found one on sale in a COSTCO ad. I was so excited I could hardly sleep.

I woke up early the next day and got out my iphone to order my new laptop. But alas there were complications. I eventually figured out that this ad had come from COSTCO.com, and the sale did not apply to Canadian products. No, I did not burst into tears. Instead I patriotically bought the Canadian version at full price, and it is expected to arrive in just one week!

Now all I have to do is set it up…

Sue