Words + Dreams

Lately I’ve been shopping for a new tablet. Do I go iPad, Dell, Samsung, Kindle Fire, or some other brand?  While this is not one of the most difficult things in life to do, it is one of the more miserable. And yes, I do understand that this is most definitely a first-world whine.

Getting on with it, there is the problem of simply deciding which brand to go with.  There are a great number of brands and types and sizes out there and simply coming to terms with which one is best can be mind numbing. Pretty soon you can start to see corporate logos in your dreams.

What do you do?  You take the information you already have – the tablet you’ve been using if indeed you have been – and start asking friends and co-workers.  You visit web sites, you read the literature, you look at ads, and you see what other people are using. And you start to get very confused.

But you look and you look, and you look.  Finally, you decide on two different tablets from two different companies.  You compare them side-by-side.  You scratch your head and take some Tylenol.  And some more Tylenol.

The serious shopping starts

I started out looking in stores.  I thought – silly me – that I could simply go in, find what I wanted, and buy it.  In my case it wasn’t that easy.  See I’m a media specialist and writer and I want it to work in very specific ways.  It doesn’t need to game; it does need to let me research 100 pages deep and not lose speed.  With everything I do, I have to have “stuff” that lets me do it. I never did find what I needed in the stores; as good as the machines were that I saw.

Next stop:  online.  After looking at site after site after site I narrowed it down to Dell and Apple.  But good grief!  Each site had any number of computers that could be configured any number of ways.  Added all up I probably had choices that numbered in the hundreds if not more. 

And you get more confused…and take more Tylenol.

But after a few days I finally narrowed it down to two specific machines.

Now the real fun starts:  that side-by-side comparison I mentioned a lifetime ago.

But it’s not easy to make a side-by-side comparison.  Sure, you think that it will be –after all, what could be easier than comparing two machines?  But each computer has its own quirks, its own configurations, its own pricing and bundle pricing.  And Special Pricing, and Today’s Special! Pricing and This Week’s Special! Pricing and THE VERY LAST TIME YOU WILL EVER SEE A PRICE THIS GOOD ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH NO MATTER WHERE OR HOW OFTEN YOU LOOK SO QUIT LOOKING AND JUST BUY ME!!!!!!! Pricing.

And you go to take more Tylenol except you see that you’ve run out.  So, you jump in the car and head to wherever it is you get your Tylenol).

Now here’s a sad thing.  When you get in the store to buy the Tylenol you start looking around wondering if they sell computers. And if it’s Costco you went to, well, you know they sell computers.  You ask yourself, “Why didn’t I look here?”  But you know why. Sure, there are some good prices on a few good machines, but none anywhere near how you need one configured. 

Never mind, back to the Tylenol-by-the-bucket aisle.  Of course, while in Costco you spot a few hundred other things you really, really need.  Things like a two-gallon bottle of ketchup, a gallon jar of pickles, four tires (you only needed two but you went ahead and got all four because you’re going to be there having them put on anyway and they were pretty cheap), fifty-five rolls of paper towels, 148 rolls of TP, six cases of Diet Coke because you do, after all, drink a great deal of it, three best sellers, a bag of white sport socks, four chickens (you hope you have room in the freezer), and an inflatable air mattress. No, you don’t need one but you never know…

So, two hours, four tires, two huge slices of pizza, a gross of, now, Extra Strength Tylenol and all sorts of stuff later (and you’re glad you brought the van and even then you still had to tie some of the stuff on the roof rack which turned out to be a great option after all) you leave Costco and head back home because, after all, you still have to buy a tablet.

Once home you give the tablets once last look and decide on the Mac.  The person you spoke with on the phone was helpful, you got it exactly the way you wanted it, and you won’t have to sell the house to afford it.

Not a bad day after all.  And hopefully, by the next time you have to go through the process again, your son or daughter will be old enough to do it for you.