Laptop Goolies

[oregontocal]

I was in the middle of copying my music CDs back to the computer, doing really well, no problems. Then the laptop gremlins woke up. The CD/DVD drive opened, I took out the CD, and inserted another one. Should have automatically closed. Nope. It's stuck somewhere about halfway. I took off my glasses, got out my little flashlight, and peered around. Can't tell what the problem is, and I'm not going to mess with it. Desktop computers are pretty easy to fix - just open the back and everything is right there. If you need a new drive, you just unscrew the old one and stick in a new one. Easy. Although I appreciate the small size and portability of this laptop, sometimes those mechanical gremlins need to be vaporized or something. In the meantime, I stuck a small plastic bag over the halfway drive and taped it to the computer so the dust around here doesn't do a trip to the inside.

Weird.

[AlmostThere]

Yep, sometimes I grit my teeth with this laptop. I use to switch out hard drives and CD ROMS all the time with the desktop/tower. Not so easy, or not doable with the laptop. I don't like messing with the battery either. I leave this one plugged in so I don't need to mess with it. I never seemed to get the hours out of a battery like they say anyway.

[BirdbyBird]

Speaking of Laptops...has anyone here gotten one of the small Netbooks? I think they are used primarily for internet surfing, e-mail and the like. I am looking to replace/upgrade my Apple laptop within the next year and use this older one as my backup.....but the small netbooks do look very handy, small and light weight for just carrying around and connecting in public places..... Any thoughts?

[Redetotry]

I can't seem to get the hang of my laptop, and I too have gremlins come and go. Hope you can get it fixed Chris or just try it again tomorrow and see if it has decided to 'heal'!
Tina, I've been looking at the small netbooks with increased interest. Several people have them at the coffee place I go and they seem to like them. And if anyone wants to buy a Macbook I have one I'd like to sell. It has several upgrades as I had problems back in the summer and they put in the lastest something. Having always had a PC I find the Mac a real struggle.

[Cedar518]

My friend Kath has an Acer netbook for camping,.. just for email and internet. Her only complaint is you have to keep scrolling to read or see anything as the screen is small. She loves the long bat life and the lightweight and dimensions of the netbook. Also the netbook has no cd/dvd drive.

She's getting a normal sized laptop for her main computer as her home desktop has finally died.

[OregonLuvr]

I too have the ACER netbook. I love it. I just throw it in my bag and if I am waiting anywhere for service etc or traveling I can hop on the internet. It does not take the place of a "real" laptop but I do have an external DVD drive for it, and an external hard drive that I use for all my computers to save important stuff. I have the one with the 10.1" screen and the 6 1/2hr battery and I have never run the battery down. It seems to last forever.

I also bought an Apple computer (think I was mad at Bill Gates and Vista) and I am just not feeling the "love" for it either. Right now it is at home at my real house in the closet in "time out". I may get back to it some day......its a struggle to use it tho. I much prefer my Toshiba or HP PC.

Karen

[Cedar518]

I too have the ACER netbook. I love it. .... I have the one with the 10.1" screen and the 6 1/2hr battery and I have never run the battery down. It seems to last forever.

Yep,...that's the one! It's a great little one to have in the camper!

[mtngal]

Me too...Acer Netbook...I love it for the portability....it goes just about everywhere with me. It's small enough to go in my little backpack. Of course, it wouldn't do for working on large documents, or real work of any kind, but it's perfect for me! Funny thing is that my first laptop so many years ago was a Compaq with a monitor not quite this big, guess I have come full circle.

[Liz]

I bought a little Eee netbook last summer when I had problems with a virus on my laptop. I installed a good anti-virus protection and I use it strictly for banking and don't surf to any other sites. Love it, and if my repaired Toshiba laptop ever dies, I'll get another one for playing.

[WickedLady]

Chris: Is there a small pinhole in the front of your CD/DVD drive? If so, straighten out a paper clip and insert it in the hole. Hopefully that will close the drawer and maybe solve the problem.

[Bethers]

I love my laptop - and prefer it over a desktop any day. And after learning how, found out how easy it is to change batteries, take out hard drives, even replace keyboards (I'm on the 3rd or 4th keyboard on my almost 4 year old laptop - and this one is not readable now either ) Gremlins no worse than on any desktop - the inside workings are the same, actually better than the last desktop I had.

That said, I like my 4 year old Dell better than my couple month old Toshiba I recently purchased. Have to get used to it one of these days!

[oregontocal]

Chris: Is there a small pinhole in the front of your CD/DVD drive? If so, straighten out a paper clip and insert it in the hole. Hopefully that will close the drawer and maybe solve the problem.

I remember the pinhole on desktop machines, but no such luck with this one. I believe it is bent somehow - probably need a new CD/DVD. This is a three-year-old Dell, Beth. It's been a great computer - changing the battery was easy, and it looks like the CD/DVD drive is modular and should come right out. Just need to find the right sized screwdriver to remove the bottom. Mechanical is NOT my strong suit.

[AlmostThere]

I thought I'd pipe in with my review of the Acer Netbook. I bought one last year and ended up giving it to my DD. The screen was way too small and I got so tired of scrolling to read anything. My thought was to take it up to the library or coffee shop where I could get free WiFi and enjoy some computer time away from the house etc. and eventually use it when RVing. Sorry, I just couldn't get past it's "tiny-ness". Other than that I had no qualms about it, worked great! JMHO
PS I'd say, if possible, try one out first at Best Buy or wherever they sell them. I ordered mine from Amazon after seeing it on The Home Shopping Network.

[Bethers]

Any of you with the smaller screens - those screens aren't that small - and you CAN change the resolution so that you don't have to do any scrolling. Well, yes, some of them have way small screens - but most aren't - it's just that the others have gotten so big.

[AlmostThere]

If by changing the resolutions you mean making the page smaller to fit, then I'd have needed a magnifying glass to read it! The one I had, had a very small screen. Probably the size of a half a sheet of typing paper. I'll have to go look it up and see. Whatever it was, it was way too small for my old eyes and limited patience.