Buy your own laptop?

But again, this is the company's problem, not yours. If they give you faulty equipment, and you're late filing because of it, how is anything going to change if they don't feel the consequences?

Say your story doesn't come in on time and they jump your ass about it, you jump right back and tell them the laptop provided to you didn't work.

Now I'm not saying you just throw your hands and give up to force the issue, but at some point, a line in the sand has to be drawn as to how far you're willing to bend to give them the product they seek.

My line is I don't buy a laptop for company use.

 

I bought it for personal use. I just also use it for company use. Part of the reason is, I do most of the work on my primary beat from the house--when I'm not on the road--and it's just easier to have all my files and such readily accessible for reference and what not.

And, as I said, when my laptop developed an issue, they fixed it. Cost me nothing. I understand that makes me the exception to the rule, but that's my experience with this whole issue.

 

I wouldn't buy one to work with on my own dime unless it was the only thing I could do to make my life easier and stress level less.

If you decide to buy one, they don't $1,000. My company bought three last year at $399 apiece. Found them online in some closeout clearance sale by some computer store. They are all made by Dell and they all came with Windows Vista. Haven't had a problem with any of them.

I would never recommend forking out $399 of your own cash to do your job, but if you feel it's best for you, then I wouldn't think you were wrong. I think your paper is treating you poorly but you buying one isn't necessarily wrong. You can keep it when you leave, download anything (legal) that you want to it and not be hearrassed, use it when you're not working for your own personal stuff, and it might give you some peace in your workplace.

I would rather spend the $399 to find peace at my workplace than just do nothing much less find an employer who will.

 

I bought a laptop at my first paper, because it was the only way to ensure I could cover a pro beat in addition to the high school stuff. There were very few laptops available, and no guarantee I would've been able to secure one from the company for every game. It was a used Mac Powerbook which was already old when I bought it, and it's now about 15 or so -- and still works!

I've had two other personal laptops since then -- both Macs, currently an iBook G4 -- and I've steadily brought them to work assignments.

My paper gave laptops to almost all the reporters when we upgraded hardware last summer. However, there aren't enough cell cards to go around. So far, I've continued to use my personal laptop since there is no real benefit to bringing the one from the company. I have years of archives from events I've covered saved, which I can't access on the work computer (until the promised remote access to our corporate server gets set up) and I also like being able to play mp3s while I write.

Sure, I'll be kicking myself when something goes wrong with my personal laptop once it's out of warranty. But until then, I'd rather have the convenience -- and the freedom!

 

I use my own laptop, but it was for my own convience. The company laptops, you have to check-out one day and check-in the next day. I go through stretches where I might need it two days in a row, not need it for a day then need it again for a day or two.

It was just a whole lot easier to have my own. I could keep notes on it, old stories, contact numbers, etc. Oh, and don't forget the tunes.