El Andalous - New Laptop

Hurghada - Use of Branding

Well, I'm a little bit late with today's blog and that's because my laptop of six years finally gave up on me.

Funnily enough, I'd just been contemplating this eventuality due to my complete fear of finding myself without being able to use Word or to email easily should my current one break down. In August, I'll be in Switzerland and then the UK (mostly for the Edinburgh Festival), so I thought I would buy a laptop while away as the choice will be greater in Europe. My current laptop could then serve as backup when the new one fails.

First of all, I was going to buy one in the UK, then I remembered that laptops were often cheaper in Switzerland (there's a surprising fact). As usual, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the options. My only "must" was a matte screen. There's no way I want to be sitting and looking at my reflection all day!

After much contemplation, I decided to curb my cheapskate tendencies and to go for a lightweight one that was about three times the price of my cheapo option. On the other hand, I could get that computer for about a third of the price in Switzerland vs the UK, so really it was a bargain. Also, I use the laptop for many hours each day, so it was an investment. That was my reasoning.

Then Nicole mentioned that she'd bought hers for a good price in Spinneys. I had a quick look at what they had available there, but as is often the case here in Egypt, you have to get what's available on the day you look. There's no guarantee it will still be available next month. This was also my underlying fear of what would happen if I just left it until my laptop finally broke. Perhaps nothing suitable would be around. The day I was looking, they only had one laptop with a matte screen and the size was smaller than what I was really looking for.

Chris then reminded me of the computer shop in Sheraton Road that I'd visited with Holger when he was here. I decided I may as well look and price them up. I took my current laptop with me, just in case they could clean it there and then (it turned out that they needed more than a few hours). I noted which matte screen laptops they had available and their prices so that I could look them up when I got back home.

Once home, I opened up my laptop to check them all out and, lo and behold, the screen was whited out diagonally across a third of my screen. It was as if the computer were protesting that I had just taken it to a computer shop saying that I was thinking of replacing it. I swear sometimes that inanimate objects can hear and understand. My laptop shouldn't really have been offended because I was often praising it as having been a good laptop, but I suppose I was also saying it was getting a bit defunct.

I hastily did a backup of all my data and then moved my browser to the left and right while I looked up the specs and the prices of the ones I'd seen. Generally, the laptops here cost about a third less than the European ones, so buying them in Egypt seemed like the best thing to do. And in any case, I now had no choice, since I can't wait ten days to get a new laptop.

As I searched about on the internet, my screen got worse and worse and about two-thirds of the screen was malfunctioning by the time I turned my laptop off.

On going to bed, I'd decided to go for the most expensive one (very similar to my current laptop). When I woke up, I decided to go for the cheapest one, as it would be financially better if it lasted even only half as long (it was half the price of the more expensive one).

When I got there, I ended up buying a completely different one again (mid-price).

 Esmat said that you can never be sure in Egypt whether, eg, a HP laptop is really HP or just a fake, so he said I'd be better off buying in Europe (but that was now out of the question). So, I will have to see. On the other hand, if I buy it in Europe, I won't be able to use the guarantee if I'm over here in Egypt, so maybe I am stuffed either way.

The shop offered to load Windows and Office for free, which I accepted (and gave a baksheesh). They told me it would take two hours, so I started off having a pleasant wander on my own down Sheraton Road. I don't have that many photos of Hurghada, so I was enjoying having a bit of a photoshoot, only my camera packed up in the heat (which is also my mobile phone; I tell you, these phones are just unreliable. I should have got just a cheap one).I was a bit concerned as I needed to phone Esmat to collect me.

I wandered down to the Marina to sit somewhere cooler and to have something to drink (two drinks, actually, because it was very hot and I was sweating pints). This also seemed to fix my mobile phone. I can see I will have to buy my mobile phone a cool bag, which is a bit ironic since I don't think my mobile is particularly cool and the cool bag will make it less mobile.

I returned after two hours to collect the laptop, and they said it would be another half an hour. After half an hour, they said it would be another hour. Or maybe after 9pm (the shop is open until midnight). I knew Esmat wanted to be back for the breaking of the fast, so I left it for the next day (today). As Esmat said, I'd made the mistake of thinking they meant two hours in European time. Two hours in Egypt time means it will get done at some point. Maybe.

So, I am now the proud owner of a laptop with an Arabic keyboard. Actually, it's dual English and Arabic lettering and I have it set to English, but I'd like to try out the Arabic one day. At least that's one thing off my shopping list.