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A couple days ago my laptop's power cord stopped working, leaving me with approximately two minutes of battery time (because my battery's shot) to save everything in a panic and then to wibble at my suddenly non-functional computer. My laptop's a Jetta--which no one, of course, has ever heard of--so Frank, the family friend who runs a computer repair business, said that I should get a universal adapter for it, which were available and reasonably priced at Staples.
So I drove to Staples yesterday after work, only getting lost twice on the way, and arrived in the parking lot fifteen minutes before the store closed. The first employee had no idea what I was talking about, but the second led me straight to what I needed. At which point I found that "reasonably priced" apparently means eighty-four dollars (including tax).
I bought it anyway, because I had no choice, and now my laptop is working again but the battery refuses to charge at all. I can't tell if this is due to the new power cord, or if my old power cord and my battery both decided to fail together in a touching show of electronic cameraderie. Additionally, on six separate occasions today, the power cord has jiggled loose and--in half of those cases--caused my laptop to turn off for lack of power within a matter of seconds. It's not that the tip is wrong, either, because I double-checked, and this one's the only one that fits among the eight choices available to me.
Moral of the story: Don't buy a computer with an unrecognizable brandname, and, barring compelling reasons, don't buy a laptop. (The second part of my moral has more to do with my sister's computer woes than with the above sordid tale, but I still thought it apropos.)
ETA: And now my computer's begun shutting off at utter random. I've got all my word documents backed up on my USB key, just in case. At this point, I'm just hoping that if my computer decides to snuff it, it does so within the next two weeks so that I can return the universal adapter for a refund.
So I drove to Staples yesterday after work, only getting lost twice on the way, and arrived in the parking lot fifteen minutes before the store closed. The first employee had no idea what I was talking about, but the second led me straight to what I needed. At which point I found that "reasonably priced" apparently means eighty-four dollars (including tax).
I bought it anyway, because I had no choice, and now my laptop is working again but the battery refuses to charge at all. I can't tell if this is due to the new power cord, or if my old power cord and my battery both decided to fail together in a touching show of electronic cameraderie. Additionally, on six separate occasions today, the power cord has jiggled loose and--in half of those cases--caused my laptop to turn off for lack of power within a matter of seconds. It's not that the tip is wrong, either, because I double-checked, and this one's the only one that fits among the eight choices available to me.
Moral of the story: Don't buy a computer with an unrecognizable brandname, and, barring compelling reasons, don't buy a laptop. (The second part of my moral has more to do with my sister's computer woes than with the above sordid tale, but I still thought it apropos.)
ETA: And now my computer's begun shutting off at utter random. I've got all my word documents backed up on my USB key, just in case. At this point, I'm just hoping that if my computer decides to snuff it, it does so within the next two weeks so that I can return the universal adapter for a refund.
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