When I was much younger the movies promised a future where everything would be easier and require less effort due to the rapid rate of technological advances. By now the thought of manually vacuuming my house would be a distant memory along with changing the speed from 45 to LP on the record player. I would be served my dinner by androids, my car would be a spaceship and all of the doors in my house would automatically slide open and closed with a swift 'whoosh' sound. So why in these days of wireless revolution do I find myself feeling like I'm wearing nothing but animal skins and holding a wooden club in my hand when I speak to salespeople about purchasing a new computer? Having walked into an electronic appliance shop today I'm approached by a slightly distracted or non interested employee who finds me puzzled by an array of computers that all look the same but vary vastly in price. Mr I'm So Up With It kicks off the sales pitch with "they're pretty aren't they?". Not in a fun, let's use humour to show warmth and empathy to a discerning customer kind of way, this was more let's be a smart arse because she's clearly a dumb blonde. I stood there and stared at him thinking about how the pretty computer will look sticking out of his backside when I decide to persist a little longer. Mr I.S.U.W.I goes on to overload me with must have add ons and enough electronic devices to allow me to browse the internet with at least 14 devices anywhere in my house including my washing machine and dryer. I was able to interrupt him only briefly to explain to him that I don't "connect", "route", read instruction manuals or wish to have access to anything remotely termed a help desk because I want someone who knows what they are doing to connect this stuff. He couldn't comprehend this request so he ignored it and went on to prattle off flexible rental arrangements and considered he had closed the deal. I took his shiny brochure and said "leave it with me" and left the shop to return to my cave. I think I can put up with my Flintstones PC just a little longer. Now where's that android, it's cocktail hour.
I tend to ignore those tech-speaking salespersons and make my choice based on price, amount of memory and the way it looks. I also take advice from my #2 daughter who is a bit of a whizz and can get anything working with only a sidelong glance at the manual, also son-in-law who is also very tech savvy.
ReplyDeleteOH my I feel your pain. I ended up just researching it myself and first bought a Dell which everybody told me were crap but it's literally pug and go. It's still going 8 years later and we use it as a website test machine.
ReplyDeleteI now have my daughters old iMac, again 7 years old and apart from the odd nana nap now and then is perfect. If you think buying computers is hard, wait until you revamp your mobile phone plan!
Lorna, I took a while to decide what to get, did not have a clue really. Then I saw and fell in love with a Mac, bought it and have loved it ever since. It's quite user friendly, they have a telephone support service available, but basically is quite easy to get up and running. Good luck.
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