Gizmos
MY (nearly everything proof) THINKPAD
From half a mile under ground in Slovenia to a mile up in the Andes, from the humid steamy forests of the Amazon to the hot, dry and dusty deserts of the Sahara – I’ve taken my Lenovo THINKPAD with me everywhere. In fact none of this website would be possible if it wasn’t for my dependence on this sleek black technological clam – it has become for me a vital bit of technology.
I'll be honest with you I’m no Computer whiz kid; to me this bundle of circuit boards, silicone chips, drives and buttons in my lap is a mystery; I just think of it as a marvellous bit of Alchemy; I’ll never understand its inner workings but will happily welcome it into my life as long as our relationship remains on good terms - and so far so good.
My main use for it, and again I'll be honest is as a type writer or word processor - all my books and magazine articles have been written on it and as part of my on road photography kit it is invaluable, in fact almost as important as the camera itself as I use it to down load, back up and sort my digital images when I'm on the road.
I've also recently taken to dragging it around the fields and hedgerows of Devon at night with a "Batbox" plugged into it trying to record the bat species that whiz by on leathery wings somewhere in the dark above my head. While it isn't the lightest device on the market I would happily trade a few grams for the robust reliability it offers (don't get me wrong here it isn't like some of the all weather bricks out there in the market place) especially the amount of times I end upside down in a ditch or gorse bush or that it starts to rain on me.
So far it's survived the rigours of several years hard labour in the Baker house hold and although the little red and rubbery mid-key board mousey thing (that I never use in favour of the touch pad) has long since been plucked out by Thomas my Parrot (probably thinking it was some exotic little chewy berry) and the ‘H’ key is a little sticky - I left it with the baby sitter who spilt some sugary sticky drink on the keypad - everything is fine. My daughter occasionally gets her grubby little fingers on it but again so far the computer is none the worse for wear.
It is the only computer that has survived more than six months in my possession and that alone is quite a recommendation when I think about the countless others that have fallen to minor everyday abrasion and are now buried somewhere. I have killed three lap tops by just cracking the screens; things falling on them, a very large porter in Africa used my computer case as a step, and a simple AA battery leapt out of its compartment to get pushed onto the computer casing with a similar outcome as caused by the overweight hotel human.
I believe part of it's robustness is down to a chassis made of magnesium which means that the whole of the gubbings and the screen is supported in a tough frame, which locks onto itself when closed forming box as strong and robust to compression and damage as the shell of a box turtle - people could now quite happily use this device as a stepping up box and I would be none the wiser!
Another thing which I'm told is in my favour is that this computer comes with Airbags! Now, the image that springs to your mind on the mention of this is a little comical to say the least and I have since been told by the brains at Lenovo that they are not actual little airbags that inflate on impact – protecting the inside of your Thinkpad, no more so than the Hard drive is made to spin by the activities of a small heard of tiny mice. No the airbag technology is simple speak for a devise that locks the hard drive automatically on detection of movement. The sensitivity of which can be adjusted.
For the other lovers of little technological details it has a neat (possibly a bit gimmicky) security feature in the form of a finger print scanner as well as Lenovo's very own very easy to sue back-up software after all even Samson had his weaknesses and as the lap top becomes more and more vital - it becomes more and more useful if not essential to make sure that you are always backed up and never caught out.