Keep the Box, Just in Case
Picking up where we left off 2 weeks ago with our A-Z of computer purchase mini-series, this week we look at the stage of getting the new PC home. In case you have made a purchase mistake or ever need to send it away for warranty, be careful with the packaging. Given a little care you should be able to unbox the new device and re-box all the packaging to be kept safe ‘just in case’ – even just for 12 months as the below story demonstrates.
Yesterday we had a customer come in with a new laptop that they had purchased 3 weeks ago from a large blue coloured retailer in Rockhampton. At $397 it was a Lenovo IdeaPad S340 14” Celeron laptop with a CPU rated at 1,469 with 4GB ram and with a 64GB non-replaceable hard drive. Publicly printable words cannot reflect the performance and useability of this piece of junk. The customer said that they still had a budget of $180 for us to try to speed it up, however divine intervention would be the only way!
Instead, I called the retailer and asked if they would be happy to exchange it (with the $180 upgrade price) to a $577 Lenovo IdeaPad S340 14” Pentium laptop with a CPU rated at 2,444 with 4GB ram and with a 128GB replaceable hard drive. The customer had kept all the packaging and for the difference in price the dearer laptop would still be no speed ball, but would at least be useable. The retailer (with staff that are not on commission basis) were more than happy to do this.
Modern IT devices don’t come with any user manual as manufacturers are trying to save trees and a few cents, so these documents are instead available online (from a working computer). You should however have some sort of setup guide which I would encourage you to read once you find the English section.
If the new device is a desktop then consider its new location. For the sake of clean air and safety from liquid spills, you should be trying to keep the tower off the floor and positioned away from open windows or direct sunlight. The computer screen should not be located where bright lights or windows are located behind the user, causing annoying screen reflections. If this is your PC, for privacy you may wish to sit with your back to a wall otherwise if you are setting up an employee’s PC in a business environment then a better setup is where people can walk behind the user.
Keep in mind where your Internet router is and where you wish to locate your printer. If possible use an Ethernet cable to the router and a USB cable to the printer in lieu of any wireless connections. If this is not possible give the printer priority in the cable department and use Wi-Fi for the router connection.
Also, be very careful with cables between the tower and your screen. You should be trying to use a Display Port cable or a HDMI cable or a DVI-D cable or lastly a VGA cable. The first three types here are digital based which will give a much better and crisper picture than the VGA cable which is still analogue based. Never plug in more than one of any of these cables at a time to a single screen.
Again, for a desktop installation – draw a mud map of which cables go where and try to plan the installation to keep everything neat as any luck will see it stay put for a few years. Future Byte Me topics can be emailed to[email protected] and Bruce is contactable at Kerr Solutions, 205 Musgrave Street or on 49 222 400.
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