Update from New Hometown, Florida for Monday, May 3, 2021

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Photo Credit: Lenovo, via BestBuy.com 

It’s early afternoon here in New Hometown, Florida on Monday, May 3, 2021. Outside, it is a hot, almost summery day; the temperature is 92˚F under sunny skies, but the heat index is 98˚F and the light rain promised in the forecast for our area is nowhere in evidence. The afternoon is still young, though, so maybe we’ll see a few showers and a blissful bit of a cooldown later.

Well, the trusty Compaq laptop that I bought – somewhat presciently – in 2009 and used to write many of the pre-2016 posts I wrote at my old house in Miami “died” on Saturday of old age and because it was running on an operating system (Windows Vista Home Edition) that Microsoft no longer supports. (Official mainstream support for Vista ended on April 10, 2012, and extended support ended on April 11, 2017) 

I was able to use my old Compaq on safe mode for a little while late last month; I recovered several drafts of reviews I wrote for Epinions between 2003 and 2014, copied them to Gmail, then sent them to myself so I could recopy and paste them on this PC’s copy of Word. I would then make the necessary edits and post them on my other not-banned-on-Facebook blog, A Certain Point of View, Too. I’m currently writing a screenplay – or trying to, anyway – and if I could get my daily blog post up without having to use a lot of time and energy, this “recycling of old Epinions stuff” was the best method to use.

I do have a small Lenovo ThinkPad as a backup, but it has one drawback. It is too small for anything that requires sitting in one place for a long time – say, over two or three hours at the kitchenette table – to write anything longer than a letter or blog post. The keyboard is smaller than anything I’m used to, and the function keys are insanely difficult to activate, especially when you have not used the Thinkpad in over half-a-decade and aren’t sure how they work.

Reluctantly, I accepted two harsh realities this Saturday: my old laptop was “dead” and could no longer be used on safe mode with networking, and it might be a good idea to buy a newer laptop as a backup to this Lenovo all-in-one, which was the last desktop PC I bought in Miami while my mom was still alive. (I also bought the Thinkpad in Miami late in 2015, but by then Mom was dead and I would only have a few months left to reside at my former townhouse.)

I bought a Lenovo IdeaPad S340 15" Touch-Screen Laptop and a Logitech wireless mouse, which set me back a cool $687.98, Florida sales tax included. I still feel a bit less-than-thrilled about it, but it is necessary. I spend far too much of my time chained – figuratively – to my desk, so if I want to work in another room of the house I need a laptop. My 12-year-old Compaq no longer works, the Thinkpad is okay for emergencies or small “jobs” but not a good replacement for the Compaq. It came down to a stark choice – buy the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 15" Touch-Screen Laptop or grouse to myself about being a recluse in the house.

Here are the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 15" Touch-Screen Laptop specs:

Photo Credit: Lenovo


Per the product page for the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 on BestBuy.com:

Windows 10 operating system

Windows 10 brings back the Start Menu from Windows 7 and introduces new features, like the Edge Web browser that lets you markup Web pages on your screen.

15.6" Full HD touch screen for hands-on control

Natural finger-touch navigation makes the most of Windows 8. The 1920 x 1080 resolution boasts impressive color and clarity. IPS technology for wide viewing angles. Energy-efficient LED backlight.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700U

Imagine, design, and create without boundaries. The powerful AMD Ryzen™ 7 processor features machine intelligence that anticipates your needs. Discover true responsiveness with four cores and eight threads for ultimate performance.

12GB system memory for full-power multitasking

Plenty of high-bandwidth RAM to smoothly run your games and photo- and video-editing applications, as well as multiple programs and browser tabs all at once.

512GB solid state drive (SSD)

While offering less storage space than a hard drive, a flash-based SSD has no moving parts, resulting in faster start-up times and data access, no noise, and reduced heat production and power draw on the battery.

AMD Radeon Vega 10 graphics

Integrated graphics chipset with shared video memory provides solid image quality for Internet use, movies, basic photo editing and casual gaming.

Weighs 3.96 lbs. and measures 0.7" thin

Ultrathin and ultralight for maximum portability, featuring a smaller screen size and omitting the DVD/CD drive to achieve the compact form factor. 3-cell lithium-ion battery.

HDMI output expands your viewing options

Connect to an HDTV or high-def monitor to set up two screens side by side or just see more of the big picture.

Built-in media reader for simple photo transfer

Supports SD, SDHC, SDXC, and MMC memory card formats.

Wireless/Wired connectivity (WiFi 5 - 802.11 ac)

Connect to a Wireless-AC router for nearly 3x the speed, more capacity and wider coverage than Wireless-N. Backward-compatible with all other Wi-Fi networks and hotspots.

Built-in HD webcam with stereo microphone

Makes it easy to video chat with family and friends or teleconference with colleagues over Skype or other popular applications.

Basic software package included:

1-month trial of Microsoft Office 365.

This laptop does not include a built-in DVD/CD drive.

Apparently, Best Buy does not have any laptops of my model in stores close to New Hometown, so my new Lenovo IdeaPad S340 15" Touch-Screen Laptop will be shipped here via UPS by next Monday. The mouse shipped today – also by UPS – and is due to arrive by Thursday.

I guess I should be excited that I’m the owner of a new PC laptop, and part of me is, kind of. I just wish I had enough money in my bank account so I wouldn’t be so unhappy about spending over $600 on one thing this month. Maybe when I get my Lenovo IdeaPad S340 15" Touch-Screen Laptop and it is up and running I will be.

For now, though, my mind is still going, “Ugh. I had to make an unexpected purchase!”


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