Alright... this is the Story of one broke man's quest to get a free laptop... and how he actually got it.
2005, I had just switched careers...after getting my A+ and Net+ Certifications after spending years as a Graphic Artist for Budweiser and delivering pizzas. New kid and all that jazz... I had no money. While playing on the interwebs I found out about the glory of affiliate marketing; not as an affiliate, but as a person that clicked links to see what they had to offer. Came across a site that gave away free laptops. Since I built my computer from old parts from a friends computer... a new one seemed like an awesome deal... I just had to try some weight loss pills, subscribe to Netflix, Disney book club, get some coffee... things like that... and they PROMISED me a free laptop. Well... I did everything they asked... when all was said and done I spent about $50 or so... and then I waited... and waited... and waited... and one day, while I was trying to sleep (I was working 3rd shift) the damn UPS man came and dropped off a package... and I'll be damned... it was a brand new Sony Vaio FS790B Laptop. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! I jumped up and down like I had won the lottery! I couldn't believe that it had actually worked. I had my first BRAND NEW COMPUTER!!!!
I loved it... and my wife loved it... and my kids loved it... and well... It's been through the ringer... and it still works... albiet... slowly.
My wife uses it now... mostly to figure out non-techy ways to spend my money. While she's out partying with the girls I'm sitting here looking sad.
1. This is the Vaio... I finally got it in 2006. Since I've gotten I've kept it running through shear force of will. Numerous battery's which still don't work... I have to keep it plugged in to work.
2. This big thing it's sitting in? That's the Docking Station. It's a full size laptop, why would I need a docking station? Because my wife and kids refused to use it in a place where the cord isn't plugged into a high traffic area. They kicked the cord out of the thing so many times that the power adapter would no longer work because the socket in the laptop was broken. Rather than pay $200 to have it sent to Sony and fixed... I bought a used docking station which did a sufficient job of charging the battery (when the battery's worked).
3. That's the power adapter... My laptop is only as portable as the length of this cord and the dock it's attached to. Sometimes... I have to move it for my daughter because it's too heavy for her to move from place to place. I had to buy a weight bench so she could build up enough muscle to lug it around... and by around I mean from couch to couch... from outlet to outlet.
4. This is me. I loved this laptop with all my heart and these heathens ruined it. They can't even keep the screen clean. Why do they have to touch the screen? Why are there fingerprints on the screen? It's not a tablet. It... it just irks me and hurts me. My use of ellipses is out of control.... but it's o.k.
1. Speaking of the screen... Can you friggen believe this? This was my baby and someone sat on it. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into the living room or bedroom and found the laptop casually laying on it's side while one of my "loving" family members layed in they're own drool... have a care people! This was my baby. They broke the screen. I didn't even know. I actually had a couple of other netbooks before this but sold them because I still had a full size laptop... and low and behold... the screen was broken. Now to some it wouldn't matter. But I have successfully upsold my way into newer technology no less than 7 times... selling the old stuff for the new. I could have easily gotten $200 for this 7 year old laptop... but now I'd be lucky to get $80. The screen... arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I took back a Lumia 900 because I noticed the two dead pixels on the screen... it annoyed the **** out of me. Can you imagine how this makes me feel? I feel betrayed. I feel like Glenn feels when he thinks about what the Governor did to Maggie. I'm sorry FS790B... I am... now I want to go kill walkers.
2. I think I mentioned the broken power cord before... So I got a dock, and power cord, and 3 battery's and
3. I replaced the keys in the keyboard. For a long time the K or L didn't work. Found someone on ebay that sold individual keys... and I bought them... only to find out that underneath the keys were more little parts which I also had to buy. This was supposed to be a free laptop... I've had 6 other laptops in my house and they were all eventually sold... but we kept the Vaio... we loved it. I have spent close to $300 to keep this free laptop up and running and now all its' good for is slowly surfing the internet and warming our laps in the middle of winter.
So you may wonder why I need a new Tegra Powered Windows RT Tablet... It's because I will take care of it and use it for years and years and years and because, as much as I love my Vaio... it's a piece of Crap! Please give me one of the Tablets... You will not be disappointed!
--Dethzilla