Well hey, apparently I have to injure myself in order to update here.  Between sewing and computering and just general tension I managed to sleep on my arm all wrong to finish it off and its excruciating today.  My dad even used his first aid training and put my arm in a sling.  Its... aggravating.  It's muscle pain down through the side of my neck and into my shoulder.  Can't draw, can't sew, can't mouse or play video games.  I can type one handed though.  Somewhat.  I'm out of practice.

I'm so out of touch with my productive routines that it too is kind of painful.  I gave up on my waste of space paperweight/'laptop' and had my brother build me a custom dealy in January.  Its noisier than my laptops and has lots of blue lights but the monitor is HUGE.  Also rotatable.  Not that I have room on my desk to make use of that function for now but itcan rotate from the standard _ orientation to the vertical | orientation.  Actually I haven't played with that at all yet either... mostly I've been playing too much Morrowind with it.  *somewhat sheepish*  Between that and non-stop pet jobs this past weekend has been my first 3 days (almost) totally free since November 2011.  Its been good, but constantly steady, it was nice to stretch out and take up some time for my own projects again without having to keep an eye on the clock at all times to keep on schedule.

Cosplay was going really good too, until my arm got borked.  Cat and I are doing Fire Emblem costumes this time with spiffy armours and stuff.

Ah, food is ready.  I may end up posting more if I can't find anything else to occupy myself with this evening.  >_<

Can you please recommend me a computer system that will not have me wanting to become a luddite and renounce all technology as a lost cause.

I have just gotten my laptop back (for the last damn time so far as I'm concerned) from yet another failed repair with Futureshop of my not-yet-3-year-old HP expensive gaming/art crap machine.  Not only are they unable to repair it, they are unable to identify a problem.  It took them another 2.4 weeks to figure nothing out.  Unfortunately for me (since the store is very apologetic and yet unable to do anything for me) the fact that I have identified several system crashing issues repeatedly for them does not count.  I am enraged.  I am so }bleep{-ing done.

Replacements:

Basic criteria:
- able to create large digital art files, high quality scans, and photo editing therein; aka happily run clunky photoshop program
- work smoothly with my wacom tablet
- a streamlined user interface not loaded down with crap freebie programs that I can't uninstall
- compatible with my current programs that I actually do use, (Morrowind, word, photoshop...)
- able to print text documents without crashing, also scan, scanning would be nice
- less than $2000 inclusive for a botched system that will run my life until I give up on it
- being able to play Portal 2 on it would be nice.
- not a hp laptop. I miss my old compaq laptop from before compaq was bought out.
- reliable; I would like it to last me ~5 years barring explosions.
- if laptop, 2h+ battery life is preferable
- must run -quietly-

I use my (fictional) computer to:
- type, lots
- create digital artwork or format high quality scans and photography
- research
- internet mail/blog/maintain online art galleries
- run an etsy store / run and organize a small business
- build and interface my html website
- travel (if laptop) or support a netbook companion pc thing (if desktop)
+ game on occasion (not much lately)
+ play dvds/media/music while working on other programs

I'm daydreaming about putting my laptop in the road and driving the truck over it repeatedly.  Specific recommendations for replacements are greatly appreciated.

I don't even know where to start looking.  I did a crapton of research for this laptop and it has been a waste of an investment since I could have picked up a $500 machine that would have worked better.  I don't even know.

*defeated Ruth is defeated*


Edit:  If you know someone who keeps up with the latest tech specs for fun feel free to pass this request on to them, I would greatly appreciate the advice of someone not in a sales position.  I would be happy to do up an art piece of some sort in exchange for the research and help figuring out what system to invest in.

If you're unfamiliar with what kind of art things I do:
brightlingworks.ca
brightling.deviantart.com
brightling.etsy.com oh wait no, that one is MIA until I have a reliable computer

Computer was in briefly for some initial diagnostics and fixes then sent home for testing and abuse.  It's still not working so I go back in when I get the chance and leave it for extended diagnostics.  Actually had the most helpful walkthrough yet with what the technician was doing because he actually did them with me and explained and asked things appropriately.  How refreshing.  Computer still doesn't work though. :P

Since I had it back for the moment I ended up typing up story notes so I can organize them better and figure out what sections need to be worked on next and edited together.  I'll print a hard copy before the computer goes in again so I can work on that.

However, I just realized I've been typing non-stop from my notes for over 4 hours.  o_o

No wonder I'm drained and hungry.  There's still 12+ pages to type up.  I've already layed out more than I thought I guess.

Here's to randomly sorting things out, sketching rough scenes, and making notes as they arise for a story.

Wow.

So.  My computer is malfunctioning the same way it did when I had it in the shop for a month back in March with a few new tricks added in.  Aka randomly shutting itself off while I'm in the middle of working on something and wiping any memory of the experience.  Freezing when I try to save an art scan.  It probably only hasn't been malfunctioning for this long because I've been avoiding it like the plague for anything more complicated than checking e-mail and the occasional word document.

Then I tried to use it like a functional piece of equipment again.  Oops, my bad.

Theres a reason I haven't had much digital art here for you since my old laptop died.  And have been storyboarding in a paper notebook.

Good thing I bought the extended warranty which will expire next February.  Time to go back and hurl it at the employees again so they can do a hard-reboot that will fix nothing.  Again.  Unless they can actually fix it for me which would be splendid and new! :D . . .

One more faulty repair (aka, if this doesn't work) and they claim they'll give me a new machine.  Lets hope taking advantage of that process works better than my computer does.  *is not convinced yet but would love to be pleasantly surprised*

Pah.  Time to go finish pulling out any files I've changed since the last repair backup so they can trash them all again.

Not bitter.  Not bitter at all.  *hiss*


ETA: Forgot to state the obvious -- may not be available online for a bit again, will borrow family computers for basics in meantime.

We got fish!

The last of my grandpa's fish died just after christmas and we've been cleaning the tank and letting it reaclimatize before getting any new ones.  We've only got a few little ones now to see how they do, but yay!  We got -

4 Neon Tetras, a corydoras catfish ( I think its a peppered one ) who is tiny and already ridiculously happy and bopping around the whole tank,
and Morse!  Morse is a dalmation lyretail.

:3

If I don't have a computer for 60 days (ie it takes them that long to fix it) they'll give me a new one.  No program issues are covered under store warranty even if its windows vista problems.  Have rearranged my entire room to accomodate a new drawer unit for art stuff.  Overall been very busy even without any computer or sewing machine.  Lots of annoying nosebleeds too for some reason.

I'm still going to be very hard to reach through the internet for who knows how long for awhile.  Stay well everyone!

Alrighty folks my computer is going to be going into the shop for an undetermined length of time so I will be really hard to get ahold of through any internet means.  Feel free to e-mail or comment to me but I most likely won't get it for a week or so(?).  Being able to check anything is going to be random at best, we'll see how nuts that makes me go.

Hopefully my computering will be much less of a pain after I get 'a' computer back.
 
(Honestly I don't particularly care if its this one, its never worked the way it was sold to me and I'm about done with it.  We'll see how this goes.)

I don't know if they were just playing or actually fighting but a couple of the bunnies were boxing with each other in our yard this evening.  Either way it definately results in some interesting antics to observe.

I have blisters forming on my fingers from forming wire into armatures for various plush limbs.  :P  Reeeeally hoping my theory works for these guys since I've never tackled anything like them before.

Still slowly getting my new-comp up to speed.  I have to unplug it every night or the blinding white light that shows its plugged in annoys me when I'm trying to sleep.  Its interesting how some things that clearly indicate their probably not going to work will install and function with no problem.  Other things that should be mindlessly easy to get going either take ages or never quite work properly.  Still trying to figure out how to make the mystery glitch go away thats preventing the media player from running in mini-player format on the toolbar.  It clearly indicates what -should- happen but it definately doesn't.

I went to my first session of a group anxiety program thing today.  Other than causing anxiety getting there most of the people seem really nice.  It'll be interesting to see what I learn and if this helps at all (this was recommended from the competent therapist I'm now seeing).  Surprisingly I left going "Wow, I feel normal after talking with these people."  Its actually pretty awesome to be able to discuss stupid anxiety with people who totally get how it works.

Yo!  ^=^

Got my new laptop yesterday, finally.  It ended up being a full month (March 31 - May 1) without a functioning computer... I'm a bit behind on things.  Also sort of out of practice at the internet.  Apparently that'll happen.  I'm going around to stuff I used to visit and instead I'm like "I used to do stuff here, what did I do here?  Guess I'll go do something else".  So that might be a good thing.  Still getting into this graduadly and pounding out the arrangements of the new system.

It seems pretty solid so far.  The screen is too pale, and shinier than I like, but the system as a laptop had the best capabilities for how I need it to function.   Strangely its also what I consider to be -very- slow for startup and shut down.  It comes with a little remote!  And a finger pad lock.  Also nice to have more than a 12 minute battery life again.  I'll probably be investing in a seperate screen that has truer colours for arting.  Forgive my absence and my slowness as I catch up.  I'm still pretty out of it overall and medications are still being adjusted too.  I should be back up to date on things in a few days I hope.

Exciting things that happened while I was offline:
- I got two pieces of art accepted into a juried art show locally: a necklace, and, surprisingly, a framed print of RAWR - yes I still blame you for that one Dana. :3 It seems to be a favourite though.
- I chased a wild turkey around our backyard - EEE! So cool! :D (there are photos)
- I got some desperately needed new clothes
- I got a new laptop
- I'm progressing on some plushies for a DA contest in an attempt not to have to buy Photoshop (Ha)
- Things I can't remember right now

:)

Other than that its me continuing to have some very lively conversations with the new technology.
"Why are you doing that?"
"No! That goes here!"
"Why are the icons so big, fix it, now."
"Yay! I have favourites! Huzzah!"
"Gah whats that mean!?"
"Stop that!"
"Why isn't that button over there... be over there... you're stupid"

Can't you just feel the love?

So I'm to the point where I'm looking to replace my computer in the nearish future. Or at least need to know what to keep an eye on so I can start watching sales.  >_>

My current comp is a real workhorse of a laptop that has done me very well for the past five+ years. It still functions quite nicely for internet/media/coding but it bogs down enough when I'm trying to do art that I'm finding myself avoiding having to do any projects that might make it act up. 40mins wasted on restarts and getting the program running. Occasional bogdowns and crashes while I'm working forcing more restarts when I'm just finally in a colouring groove. A few hours worth of work can eat an entire day easy. This is bad when I'm trying to be making money through art and actually get on with my life.  It should be a business, not a chore.

It takes a long time to shut down and isn't really doing the standard startup anymore - it still works fine mostly, its just kind of abnormal and finicky in how it does it. The disk drive also occasionaly overheats and skitters if I've got a CD or DVD playing in it (may just need to be cleaned) and the laptop itself is tied to a powercord because the battery has been drained to uselessness over time.

Suggestions to make it work better are also greatly welcome! I've been meaning to just back everything up and wipe the harddrive in an attempt to straighten it out but am unsure if it would actually help and be worth the effort involved.
( Stats and requirements... any suggestions?Collapse )
Anyone have suggestions I can go from? I'm a bit overwhelmed at where to even start this time around. Last time was for university and I knew I wanted a laptop which made it easier. Any links to good review websites or something might be helpful to get me started even.