Tag Archives: Dell XPS 15

December 19, 2021

Laptop, Take 3

Friends and regular readers (all three of you) know about my struggles with the Dell XPS 15 laptop I bought in 2019 to replace my Sony Vaio laptop. After access to work machines since the 1980s, that Sony was the first laptop I had to buy in retirement.

It had its issues, but was great compared to the Dell, which, in retrospect, was a lemon from the start. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how broken its wireless system was until after the warranty period. Twice I found a way to improve things to usable, but recently it returned to unusable. And then wouldn’t boot at all.

So I went and bought an HP Envy laptop.

13 Comments | tags: Dell Computers, Dell XPS 15, HP Computers, SONY | posted in Life

April 16, 2021

Friday Notes (Apr 16, 2021)

By Wyrd Smythe

It’s that time again — Friday Notes time — where the flotsam and jetsam that have washed up on the shores of my mind get their brief moment in the spotlight and then recede down the river of time to be lost in the ocean of the past. (If that isn’t a tortured metaphor, I don’t know what one is.)

There’s no theme this time, unless “random bits” is a theme. There’s a thing about very surprised wasp, an upside down beer can, a computer fix that’s worked out, a freedom from loathsome ads, and the light at the end of the tunnel. Also a relevant and favorite quote.

As I said, random bits.

12 Comments | tags: Apple News, craft beer, Dell XPS 15, Google, news, Stone Brewing | posted in Friday Notes

November 3, 2020

The Big Day

By Wyrd Smythe

Well, here we go on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I’ve said it many times: That this is even a contest says a great deal about the changes in our society in the last score or two of years. I think it’s tragic, but obviously (yet astonishingly) mileage varies.

I Voted

Funny how so many of us already have. My vote’s been in for weeks.

13 Comments | tags: Dell Computers, Dell XPS 15, election 2020, election day, I voted, Never Trump, vote | posted in Politics

October 8, 2020

A Better Debate

By Wyrd Smythe

Our next VP? I sure hope so!

I thought Kamala Harris did very well last night and that the debate was a welcome return to almost normal politics (to the extent politics can ever be said to be “normal”).

In particular, she showed more signs of life than Joe Biden did, and she showed some appropriate emotions towards her opponent.

25 Comments | tags: debate, Dell Computers, Dell XPS 15, election 2020, Kamala Harris, Keith Olbermann, VP Debate | posted in Politics

September 21, 2020

Monday Miscellany #4

By Wyrd Smythe

Ralph Emerson famously said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” but I also like what Wilde Oscar said: “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” The last two words in both sentences signify something important. Consistency is the enemy of creativity, art, and philosophy, although it’s generally welcomed in other places (one’s airline pilot, surgeon, or government, for instance).

Which is all by way of excusing the dreadful consistency of this so-called Monday Miscellany series. Episodes in 2012, 2014, and then not again until 2020, is barely a series. Another one so soon is definitely suspect.

Chalk it up to “creativity, art, and philosophy.”

14 Comments | tags: autumnal equinox, baseball post-season, Dell Computers, Dell XPS 15, Minnesota Twins, MN Twins, Twins 2020, Win Twins | posted in Baseball, Society

September 19, 2019

Bummer in the Dell

By Wyrd Smythe

If I went with longer titles, I might have called this post Why I’ll Never Buy Another Dell Computer! Or I could have gone for the much shorter Dell Sucks! But I can’t resist a good pun or play on wyrds, so Bummer it is.

About a year ago I replaced my aging Sony Vaio laptop with a Dell XPS 15. The Sony taught me some hard lessons about buying a laptop online, one of them being “you’ll be sorry if you buy a Sony” — it had many annoyances, not the least of which was the wireless never worked. And it had a literal bug in it! The Dell is better in many ways, but,… well,…

Dell you disappoint me. Let me count the ways…

20 Comments | tags: computer woes, Dell Computers, Dell XPS 15 | posted in Computers, Life, Rant