01.08.08
Robbed in Chicago…Lenovo to the rescue
Just wanted to write a quick note to apologize/explain the recent lack of content on the blog. I was having an excellent holiday season until my apartment was burglarized the day after New Years. Fortunately, all they took from me was my laptop, a 3 year old Gateway with a broken CD-ROM drive, a busted fan, a battery that lasts 4 minutes, and an LCD display with a broken hinge that was on the verge of falling off the body of the computer. They also took my laptop bag which was probably worth more than the computer itself. My roommate wasn’t as lucky, as he lost his 6 month-old laptop, an expensive watch given to him by his uncle, and a 46 inch LCD TV. Insurance should be covering most of the loss, but the most annoying part was being without a computer for a week. Luckily, they didn’t take my external hard drive which had all my data backed up. The KMart near my house has a free Internet cafe, but the time restrictions, and lack of access to my own software and files drastically limited my online activity.
So as of yesterday, I am now finally back online. I picked up a Lenovo Y410 Laptop, and am quite curious to see first hand how China’s most poignant encroachment into the American electronics scene shapes up. So far so good, and I can’t imagine this Lenovo laptop could be any worse than the Gateway I foolishly purchased 3 years ago. In honor of my new computer’s national heritage, I have also decided to leave the protective plastic covering on it for at least the next 6 months.
KyleY
said,
January 9, 2008 at 3:27 am
I can’t help from laughing when I read the last sentence. Ben, you are getting good at being humorous and sarcastic at the same time now. Wondering if the snow in Chicago makes you feeling so.
Lawrence Jiang
said,
January 9, 2008 at 7:30 am
Sorry to hear the accident, bro…
Hope everything goes well with you now.
By the way, is your new laptop a Lenovo or a Lenovo IBM? I didn’t know it was sold in the states.
Take care.
maxiewawa
said,
January 9, 2008 at 7:40 am
Ahhh that sucks! Commiserations to you and your classmate.
Peter
said,
January 10, 2008 at 1:31 am
Arrr… Shit happens. Sorry to hear about the burglery. Hope you and your roomie get by.
Tora
said,
January 10, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Sorry to hear about the robbery, and that last sentence definitely had me laughing out loud.
@ Lawrence – I thought that Lenovo bought IBM’s Thinkpad division, so is there a difference between Lenovo and Lenovo IBM when talking about laptops?
Benjamin Ross
said,
January 10, 2008 at 4:36 pm
@Peter
Yeah, shit definitely happens…fortunately shit decided to happen at the most opportune time…right I moved back from overseas and hardly have any possessions of value. Seriously, I’m sure the thief was quite pissed off when he broke into my room and found that my only possession with any resale value was my computer. And I’m sure he was even angrier when he went to the local pawn shop to sell it, and was told that nobody is interesed in a 3 year old Gateway with a busted screen anyway. By some miracle, they didn’t take my Canon digital camera which cost me 2800 yuan, was only 8 months old, and was sitting out on my shelf.
syz
said,
January 11, 2008 at 6:47 am
Bummer about the electronics. Nice that you cursed your thieves with an embarrassing trip to the pawnshop, rather than, as the NYT documents for Iranian burglars, a double amputation. Good to see your back.
syz
Gabrielle
said,
January 11, 2008 at 1:05 pm
It sucks that you were robbed. I know the chances of finding the asses that broke in and stole you and your roommates stuff is slim, but if you believe in karma . . . they will get what is coming to them in time. It’s just a good thing you had insurance. I know someone who has a lot of expensive stuff in his apartment and he has never gotten around to getting renter insurance. If I lived where he lived, I would have gotten insurance the day I moved it. I don’t like taking chances. Hope your new computer works out and that everything gets back to “normal” soon.
China Law Blog
said,
January 12, 2008 at 8:33 am
Since when did K-Mart get hip?
Benjamin Ross
said,
January 12, 2008 at 9:46 am
Judging by the clientele, I wouldn’t call KMart hip, but it is still pretty forward to have an Internet cafe, not to mention a free Internet cafe. I think most of the people who use it are from the socioeconomic group who still can’t afford computers, (and those who just got their computers ripped off as well I guess).
eric
said,
January 12, 2008 at 7:58 pm
dont they hvae free coffee too?
Benjamin Ross
said,
January 13, 2008 at 7:41 pm
@Eric
no, but they do have a Little Caesars
dcningbo
said,
January 13, 2008 at 10:42 pm
You might want to remove the plastic from the laptop to keep it from over heating. Computers need to breath to stay cool. I think the reasoning for leaving plastic on new items in China is that it keeps a better resale value. I still have to laugh at the plastic coated car seats though.
synly
said,
February 2, 2008 at 1:08 am
I have left the plastic covering on my Lenovo laptop for almost three years since I bought it in 2005. Including upside covering and the screen covering, I won’t remove them. It has no effect on your usage but to protect your laptop from scratching.