The perils of press row (my laptop is #@!*%ed)

I'm sure it has happened to some of you ... yesterday was my turn.

I'm just minding my own business, working on a basketball notebook before my girls state game began. Then it happened: An errant pass, which I never saw coming, hit the back of my laptop screen.

The damage was instant, and my screen looked like something Hendrix might have seen circa 1967. I made somewhat of a scene ... punching the table, etc., much to my regret after the fact.

From what I've been told, the internal LCD is broken and repairs will likely cost around $300-500. Uggggggh.

Has something like this happened to you? How did you handle it? And since it was done on company time, does my newspaper bear any responsibility?

 

If you work at a decent (i.e. non-JRC or Ganett company), I imagine they'd realize the circumstances and offer to get it fixed for you. One question though - Is it worth it to fix vs. buying a new one? A new laptop, although not a top line one, is usually $300 to $600 at Best Buy now.

 

This is why you never use a personal laptop for your job if you are a paid staffer.

 

I use an old Dell POS for just this reason. I've been lucky, so far, but I know the moment I take out my good laptop (the one with all the keys still on it), I'll be in the market for a new, new computer.

 

So it's a personal laptop? Not one from work?

I'd imagine that the company would help you out with that. Depending on the company, of course.

 

You're probably right about getting a new one.

The only problem is getting anything off the old laptop that he may want to keep.

 

If you are a staffer and are issued a company laptop but were using your own for some reason or are a stringer and using a personal laptop, I'd say you are screwed.

If you are a staffer and are using your own because the company doesn't provide one, I can't imagine they'd spring to fix yours.

So, unless you have a kindly boss who is willing to find a way to slide some bucks on the side, I'd say you're on your own.

 

To summarize ...

- Yes, it's a personal laptop.

- While not a cheapo, it's only a year old and cost about $600.

- I have some important documents on there and a ton of music (over 1,500 albums) but luckily have it all backed up.

- I work for a CNHI rag, so I know better than to even ask for help.

- Yea, I probably should've used a used computer instead.

 

On the whole personal laptop vs company one, I used to believe that you should always use the company's if they paid for it, but not anymore.

For me, my laptop is my office. I can't do anything without it. So I want one that does everything I want it to, and meets all of my requirements for size, speed, memory, etc. If the company won't give me what I need, I'll use my own.

The other benefit to that is I don't have to worry about what software I put on there or if I want to play online poker with it, etc. I also know I'll have copies of all my documents and stories when I go to another job.

At my last job, they gave me one but I didn't even use it because it was big enough to land a helicopter on.

The downside is minimal. Laptops nowadays rarely require any sort of service. (Mine is 4 years old and it's never needed anything.) This sort of incident, an errant basketball, is kind of a freak thing.

When sitting in a baseball press box, I always joke that it's my dream to have a foul ball hit my laptop because a) I won't have to work that night and b) I'll get a new laptop.

 

If I'm on the road, I'll take my personal and work laptops. I'll leave the personal laptop in the trunk during the game. For work, you just need a working wireless adapter and Internet browser to get your job done.

 

Computer shows are good places to find cheap, used computers. They are a couple years old, a little outdated, but most have wireless Internet cards and are perfectly fine for filing stories. They run about $100 to $200. I troll computer shows from time to time looking for cheap and refurbished computer stuff. Might be worth a look.

 

Data recovery is the easy part. Just get a SATA to USB cable (I got one for $10 on eBay last time my computer took a dump) and easily recovered everything off my hard drive. Just check the manual to make sure you've got the right SATA specs. As far as buying a new computer, go to BestBuy to check stuff out, but you'll almost always get a better price on Amazon.