OT rant - laptop

Gee, my almost ex bought an Acer laptop and is thrilled with it. No problems in the six months he's had it and he uses it a LOT- mostly recording and watching movies, I think. I have a new Acer desktop (about 2 months old) and not a problem. (We were both sold on Acer for all the memory and features with a very reasonable price. My son did some investigation and said it was a good brand name for my needs.) Have you contacted the store you bought it from to see if they will help out? You might want to look into your state's "Lemon Law" and see if there's anything that covers the problems you've had. Under the law, if your situation is covered, the manufacturer will have to replace the defective item. Good luck with the computer and feel better soonest.

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I don't know about Acer. What I found in my research is that they had a high number of problems with their units. Check out consumer reports and c-net and see if the model you have is covered in the reviews. I passed on buying one while looking for a laptop for my wife. We are having a Lenovo built up to our specs and will pick it up monday, so we shall see if we made the correct decision. Part of the decision was predicated on the fact that local dealer is great for service and we have dealt with them for a number of years. By the time we spec'ed out the Dell we were looking at, it was far more money and a long delivery time. It is always a crap-shoot when you buy a computer. Some people have good luck with the model you want and then you can have bad luck if you buy it. I guess that is part of the game with these rather complex machines. Too bad though, as it can become frustrating for you if you continually have problems.

John

JOhn

BTW- what ever happened with the problems with your sewing machine?

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Well I like it for 6 months! I was attracted to it for the built in webcam and increased memory compared to other similar priced machines. I do need to investigate my consumer rights and see what the store offers. I've generally been fairly lucky with electronics, they mostly seem to either not work right at the start and I exchange them, or they fail after an amount of time and usage that is reasonable and most commonly not at all. Anne

I didn't do my research when I bought that particular laptop, it was my own fault, I knew my old laptop was on the blink, but the cash wasn't available and I didn't bother investigating what I couldn't get, then it failed in the same month that several other expenses stopped, so cash was available, I was impatient, I went to the store and chose one, which was a bad decision. Not sure what has changed, but it seems DH's work laptop isn't in much use at the moment and he was able to pass it over to me whilst he was dealing with the hard drive stuff and has again today. I should probably put some effort into researching my computer needs and possible solutions, a laptop has turned out to be helpful not because I move it regularly, but because it can go with you more easily on an international move, something I've done 3 times in 3 years, the first of those being at 6 weeks notice, already owning a laptop was a big factor in being able to say yes, rather than pass up that opportunity. But circumstances are different now, DH has a different job, we now have 2 kids, we're not going to move at short notice. I have unusual needs when it comes to ergonomics and laptop has so far met them more easily, but I've been increasingly noticing I need some alternative mouse arrangements. I did all the standard make sure it's at the right height, support your feet etc and it just doesn't work for me. I need to get of my butt and do the research rather than get stuck when I find I can't use the computer at all rather than the current situation of going through regular phases of restricted use. Anne

Well after it went to the repair people the 2nd time and it was evident within minutes of getting it back that there was a problem, they replaced the machine. Problem is of course that then you're starting from scratch with all the settings and I think this machine is fairly sensitive, so whilst from the noises it was clear there was something wrong, with the replacement their was still occasional skipped stitches, which was frustrating.

They gave me a gift card and I ended up using that to buy an alternative quilting foot, their were 3 different ones that came with the machine, 2 of them didn't hop, which was no go for me, the one that hopped had a fairly narrow metal C as the bit that came it contact with the fabric, when I'd previously used a fairly standard clear plastic O, turned out that fitted the machine and I tried it and it did seem to be more effective at keeping the quilt sandwich well pressed down at the moment of taking the stitch, so I bought the equivalent one from the manufacturer. With one thing and another, I haven't done much sewing in the last 6 weeks. Various bits of information have encouraged me to try a straight stitch throat plate, which I posess, but haven't used.

It's amazing how much difference of opinion there is when it comes to quilting, I see some people say they never use bigger than an 80/12 needle and others that say they never use smaller than a 90/14. Same difference of opinion with thread, so you end up with a choice of fine needle, fine thread, or thicker needle and either fine or thick thread and everyone has a very good reason as to why they use why they do. Some people say they have problems if they use different thread in the bobbin to in the needle and I generally tend to use the same, but I'm thinking it's time to try a quality bobbin thread with a thicker top thread as well as trying finer thread for both.

I need to get back into it and that's a whole other story, step 1 is tidying up, but I won't launch into attempts at quilting straight away, I need to spend a few hours on simpler stuff, that I can do successfully with relative ease, get some pleasure out of it, then practice quilting!

Anne

Most of these sorts of decisions are subjective. Which is the better Computer/car/television/appliance/whatever. There is no "better" anything. There is just something that is "better suited" to the purchasers use/budget. The difficulty is usually wading through all the hype/advertising and personal preference prejudice, of everybody you ask for an opinion. It is made much easier if you have a clear idea of exactly what you need and start your search with that as the starting point. You have to filter all the rest of that stuff out of your final decision while still using any information you gained from receiving it; but with the caveat that the person offering the opinion may not have had the same needs basis for making their decision. Then there is the impulse purchase that goes awry thing. That is a whole other problem, and can present a multitude of issues for those who experience it. Like, "why on earth did I buy this stupid thing" ?

John

""It's amazing how much difference of opinion there is when it comes to quilting, I see some people say they never use bigger than an 80/12 needle and others that say they never use smaller than a 90/14. Same difference of opinion with thread, so you end up with a choice of fine needle, fine thread, or thicker needle and either fine or thick thread and everyone has a very good reason as to why they use why they do. Some people say they have problems if they use different thread in the bobbin to in the needle and I generally tend to use the same, but I'm thinking it's time to try a quality bobbin thread with a thicker top thread as well as trying finer thread for both.""

Get a spool of YLI lingerie thread and give it a try.

Note: I have no affiiliation with the above site; it was the first one that showed up when I googled for the thread. I bought all my current supply of the thread from Nancy's Notions, which no longer sells it. But I am well stocked up!!! And note I'm not talking about the invisible thread, but about the lingerie thread below it.

It blends in with most backing fabrics and it has just a bit of stretch that prevents it from showing on the top. It *is* nylon, which may be a drawback if you try to iron it, but I don't. I do all my quilts with this in the bobbin, no matter what I'm using on top.

As far as needles, I use mostly the Organ needles I buy in bulk. Last time I ordered, they were about ten cents a piece, although they may have gone up. Don't remember where exactly I ordered them from. It was probably an embroidery supply site, since I started using them for embroidery, and then decided that if they were tough enough to stand up to an embroidery machine going 800 stitches a minute, they could certainly take a little piecing and quilting action. I do have some leftover Schmetz quilting, and metallica needles. I can't decide whether I think the quilting needles do a better job than the Organ. Sometimes I think so and sometimes I don't. Phase of the moon?!? Who knows. I do find that metallica, metalfil, or topstitch needles do make a difference with metallic thread, which I don't use much anymore. I believe that part of needle success is changing the needle frequently, and at ten cents per needle, I can bring my frugal soul to do this.

But -- there's a lot of YMMV involved in quilting and you may not find the above stuff to your liking. You've just got to keep looking for what works.

Iris

That's why I ordered my last computer online. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I don't need a super-powerful computer. I don't do games or a lot of stuff that requires a lot of computing power -- mostly just internet and some word processing. I don't have a lot of music or any movies on my computer, so I didn't even need a ton of storage. I talked to a couple dealers and both tried to sell me more computer than I wanted or needed. I did upgrade the memory a bit a few months ago and it does make it boot up faster, but otherwise, I haven't noticed a lot of difference. I've had this computer 4-1/2 years and it is still more than adequate for what I use it for. I haven't had any problems with it other than a severe virus infection a few months ago, and I don't plan to replace it as long as it is working and doing what I need it to do.

Julia in MN

Your choice sounds a lot like the one we made for my wife's laptop, we are having built. Not very high end at all. Just word processing and e- mail and a Genealogy program, and anti-virus. That is it. For music she has an ipod, for communication, she has a cell phone. We added more memory but that is just so it will run faster. We are even getting it loaded with Windoze XP rather than Vista as she did not want to bother learning a new set of moves. If you keep it simple it is also cheaper. She has a powerhouse desktop at home so this will be for data entry off site. It should work for that purpose for years to come. I hope!

John