I think my iBook has officially bit the dust. It's been limping along for about a month, and before that we've had a rough two years. Last night, as I was writing an update for our Carepage, it died. A call to tech support only made it deader. I'm 8 days past the end of my warranty. (Of course.) So we are now in the process of deciding what to do.We have two other computers in the house. One is a powerbook (an Apple laptop). But you can't use it as a laptop anymore because one of the kids pulled the lid/screen too far back and broke the hinges. The computer works fine, but we have to prop the lid up. A bookend is working quite well, but balancing the whole thing on one's lap is rather precarious. So we don't do that much.
We bought Elli a desktop for Christmas, that we have yet to connect to the internet. It was supposed to come with a wireless card, but somehow that didn't happen. So we either need to buy a wireless card or run an ethernet cable to it. It's also a Dell, which means connecting to the Internet exposes us to all sorts of garbage that Apples are immune to -- viruses and other nasty things.
We found a guy who, for $110, will diagnose the problem with my iBook and tell me honestly whether it's worth fixing or not. If it isn't, we can send it to a guy who recycles computers. He'll buy it for parts or to refurbish, so we might get some of that $110 back. We're debating just declaring the thing dead, recycling it, and either buying a used iMac or getting a Mac mini that we would then hook up to Elli's monitor.
My little iBook has been a great traveling companion. It's also fabulous for long doctor's appointments and hospital stays, so I'm reluctant to give up the portability, especially given the recent news about our baby. It is clear that I'm going to be spending even more time in hospital rooms and doctor's offices than I already do -- and I do this a lot.
It also seems I may be headed towards bed rest. I've had a couple episodes of unprovoked contractions. Saturday I had them 2-3 minutes apart for an hour... while I was driving. It's hard to get more sedentary than that! They did stop on their own, but things like that get me thinking I should start preparing now. And a laptop is MUCH easier to use from a couch or a bed!
Brand-new Apple laptops start at $1000. Mac Minis are about $800. I highly doubt I'll get even 1/4 of that if I recycle the iBook. So we have to decide: risk throwing $110 down the drain to see if my iBook is salvageable, or save it to put towards something new... but that might cost more than fixing what we have.
