I’m one of those old farts that started out with 8-bit machines running word processing software. Anyone remember the old BBC Microcomputer? No? Then you won’t remember WordWise+.

That’s okay. You might have heard of Microsoft Word, and I started out working with Word 2.0, then Word 6, and I’ve worked with most versions since then.

All of them run on PCs.

So it’s no wonder that I started this project on a desktop PC. This is the family computer and people in the family want to use it too. To that end, I dug out an old Gateway laptop, went through the migraine of resetting it to factory stock Windows 8, and stuck Word 2007 on it. It worked great!

…until it didn’t. The machine got to the point it would completely freeze and, despite resetting the Autosave to one minute intervals, it was more of a headache than I could bear.

I tried moving to the business laptop, a laptop we got on the pretext that as a business, we’d need a mobile computer, but again, other people use it and only occasionally plug it in to charge, meaning for my purposes, it became a smaller, more lightweight, desktop.

Yesterday I worked on Chapter five and managed a paltry five hundred words which, on reflection today, require a revision. So, while sitting at the ETSU library, wishing I could work on my own book rather than stare glassy eyed at one someone else had written, I checked out the price of Chromebooks. One that got a decent reception from the writers I found that expressed an opinion, was the Samsung Chromebook 3. As it happens, Best Buy had a model on sale for $30 off.

So now I have a Chromebook. I’ve ported what I’ve got across to Google Docs and I’m now set. I can take my work anywhere I choose and not inconvenience (or be inconvenienced by) anyone!

AWESOME!

Categories: Administrative, Equipment, Writing