Back when I wrote my first Expedition Nostalgia post about my struggle to play an updated version of a beloved computer game, I had started to write a much longer explanation about why I was hesitant to buy a RAM upgrade. I decided to cut it to make the post shorter and figured it would become its own post.
So here’s the post!
Let’s talk about some recent history. Last month, I accidentally spilled soda on my laptop. This is really the first time I’ve ever really spilled anything on one of my laptops so I think that after over 20 years of laptop ownership this is my first true spill, it’s not that bad.
Clearly, I didn’t do any serious damage. But there are some issues from the spill. Namely I’ve lost the use of my left arrow. It just doesn’t work. And sometimes, it then appears to be stuck until I press it to stop the cursor from moving to the left or a video from going back 5 seconds. All the other arrow keys do work.
Several keys are not really stuck but they are harder to press down and sometimes stay down longer than they need to. If you’re ever reading a post and you see strange capitalization, the reason is probably that I struggled to hold the shift key down or it stayed down so long that other letters were affected. I try to catch them but I’m only human and will likely miss one here or there.
I did try cleaning my keyboard with some rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip but I don’t think it really got deep down to where the true stickiness is. It did help for a little while (and did unstick the space bar) so I might have to try it again. However, I do have to ask myself how much longer will I be able to put up with this and if it is reason enough to buy a new laptop.
I’ve yet to give myself an answer.
There’s more to it though than just a sticky keyboard.
For starters, my laptop is now six years old and will be seven this year. And we know that for technology, that can be old. I know that I don’t have the minimum requirements to upgrade to Windows 11 now. Not that I’m really looking to do that just yet and I know it will likely be some time before Microsoft sunsets Windows 10 but it’s still something to keep an eye on.
A new issue was briefly mentioned last week – I was unable to remove all the screws so I could get to the insides of my laptop. I first wasn’t sure if maybe that was because I would have to constantly remove them in order to sort of reset my battery when my laptop refused to turn on but I don’t think that’s the case. The screwdriver just was unable to catch the grooves in order to turn the screw. It almost felt like it was just grinding it away, making me wonder if the screws are corroding.
I didn’t think the soda got under the laptop but maybe I missed that? Or maybe it’s just six years of use. I don’t know.
The main reason that concerns me is that after six years, my battery is almost shot. It lasts for about a half-hour before needing to be plugged in. And soon, it will likely need to just be plugged in all the time to work. If I wanted to change the battery, I likely won’t be able to get the cover off in order to do that.
That’s a lot of reasons to get a new laptop, huh? So you may be wondering why I’m still hesitant.
For starters, my current laptop still works and everything I mentioned are just nuisances I can work around for now.
I also started to look at what Dell has to offer. And while they all look good and there are some in a reasonable price range. My main hang-up is the size. I really like the size of my current laptop, which has an 11 inch screen. There really isn’t anything that small anymore. And I don’t want to go too big again. So I might have to go up in size. I think I’ll measure my work laptop and see if there’s a middle point between my current laptop and my work one.
And I’ll probably look at other brands. I have had good experiences with Dell and would prefer to stay with it, but if another good brand has what I’m looking for then I may just make the switch.
But I don’t have to make a decision soon. I thought I would by my birthday but that’s fast approaching so I think I may put it off a bit more. See how it goes as I approach the summer.
If there’s a good deal and a size I like, I may just snap it up.
I guess it will likely boil down to what happens first – I get annoyed with my keyboard or my battery dies.
We’ll see.
See you next time!