Out of stock

[innocent_lex]

In my never-ending search for gadgets, I want something I can use to help me write on the tube. This is not a simple task, both in the fact that I can't read my own writing on a good day and the bumping of the tube makes it simply not worth the effort for pen and paper, and in the fact that what I want either doesn't exist or is out of stock. Yes, the entire world of electronics is out of stock.

My journey so far :
- investigation of a folding portable keyboard to go with my Palm T3. This is harder than it looks, as said keyboards either don't work with the T3 or are IR devices. On a tube? Not a chance the T3 will balance in the little cradle without flying off at the first bounce, let alone actually keeping an IR connection. Scratch that off the list.
- decided there's absolutely no point investigating further handheld gadgets as I did that a couple of months ago and it's a waste of time. Deem these scratched off.
- investigation of the ASUS eeePC which is a wee laptop running on linux. Sadly, while it's great in concept it has only 4Gb of flash drive space, and if I'm going to buy what's basically a word processor I'd like it to be less than £250, especially since you only get less than half that space to use for yourself. And anyway, it's pretty much out of stock everywhere, so even if I did want one I'd want to see it before I bought it. Scratch that.
- investigated UMPCs (ultra mobile PCs) which means a laptop but a lot smaller. And guess what? I found something! It has everything that my real laptop has, except for the CD / DVD drive. I checked review sites, more review sites, and on and on. And then, because I want to see it in reality before I buy, I had a look at various shopping sites... it's out of stock everywhere! Oy.

So, UK folks, when you shop for computers in real bricks-and-mortar shops, where do you go?

Comments

[sg1scribe.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about that conversation we had at the weekend. What I really like about John Lewis is that they don't look at me and go 'middle-aged woman' therefore 'knows nothing about computers but will want the pink one'.

Too many supposed 'gadget' shops employ staff who not only know less about the gadget I want to buy, they actually get their facts wrong.

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

I do like that about John Lewis in general - the people who work there are actually helpful and try their best, even to the extent of backing off when they're in danger of being annoying.

I had one weird experience when looking for a laptop a couple of years ago, where some young bloke pointed me at something, said it was great and began extolling its virtues when it came to gaming. I just stared at him. Finally I interrupted and asked, "Yes, but what can it do that's actually useful?" He was quite flummoxed. I had to talk to someone else in the end.