Tech Table Radio Show

Tech Table
Monday, January 20, 2014

January 20, 2014


Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.

Diana: And I’m Diana.

Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.

Diana: We promise it’ll be easy to digest. It’s Monday.

Justin: It’s Monday. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Diana: I hope. Did you make coffee?

Justin: Well, you usually make the coffee and I usually stumble into the kitchen and drink the coffee, but only on certain days. I’m not a huge coffee guy.

Diana: I just love the smell of coffee.

Justin: Yeah, I like the smell of it. It’s one of those things a lot of people can’t live without.

Diana: That’s true.

Justin: So, today it’s Mail Day, Monday Mail Day on Tech Table, and we got a question from Frank. Frank asks, “What happens if I drop my laptop?” Well, Frank, probably nothing good. The first thing would be to try to avoid dropping your laptop.

Diana: Do your best. Get a nice carrying case, protect that thing. Protect it with your life.

Justin: Right. The thing about laptops, they’re obviously a lot more durable than they used to be, and especially if you have a case.

Diana: Right, and some companies make them more durable than others.

Justin: Absolutely. So, it’s still not a good idea to drop it. You could break some of the major parts inside the computer, like the hard drive, as it spins very fast while the computer is on, you know, and you might not even notice that you’ve had this problem after dropping it until it’s too late. Obviously, the biggest thing is screen damage and, you know, we see this all the time at MPA with devices that have been dropped or, you know, someone’s left their iPad on the floor and someone has stepped on it.

Diana: Someone’s stepped on it! Oh!

Justin: That’s a very painful thing.

Diana: Yeah, luckily, though, it’s pretty inexpensive to repair. You know, we’re talking about 100 bucks, and it is repairable if you just damage the screen.

Justin: Yeah, absolutely. You could run the risk of damaging the cooling system. Inside your computer, there’s a fan that spins around and around, and it keeps the temperature lowered of all the components, and it is possible to damage that fan. That can make a computer fail in the long run. So, you want to make sure that you don’t drop your computer. That’s just really the moral of the story here, I think.

Diana: Don’t drop it, and I think, another thing that doesn’t seem quite as important to people, and you can avoid this by getting a case, is you could get some cosmetic damage by just some simple scratches, dents, or a crack, you know, a little chip here and there. If you have a case on it, though, that should help with any little cosmetic damages. But even if you have no cosmetic signs of damage, you could still be damaging the inside.

Justin: Right, absolutely. So, you really just have to be careful. Be careful with your technology. You know, we’re still not to the point yet where you can literally run over something with your car. It just doesn’t happen.

Diana: Right, I wouldn’t recommend that.

Justin: And don’t drop it. You know, last week we talked about don’t wash it. Don’t run it through the washing machine, things like that. We’re still not to the point where you can do all these things with your technology, although someday I imagine that we’ll have heavy-duty enough components, made in a way that they’re still lightweight but you can drop it and things like that.

Diana: Right. They are starting to make cell phones now with more durable materials that you actually, they’re saying don’t even get a case for a lot of them or a screen protector.

Justin: Right, right.

Diana: You know, you always used to buy these films for the cover.

Justin: Yeah, and I do really believe in getting a case for your laptop. I do think that’s important. I never used to do that, and I wanted to get the coolest laptop possible. Well, now I get the coolest looking case and I don’t really care what the laptop looks like, honestly. So, I have a case for mine and I was standing too close with my laptop, too close to a guitar player in my other line of work, and this guitar player swung around really fast and the end of his guitar hit the side of the case and completely gouged the entire side of the case, made this huge scratch, but the laptop was fine.

Diana: There you go.

Justin: So, it will protect you from crazy musicians and everything else. So, until next time.

Diana: Take care.

Justin: Tech Table is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa, and God’s Country Radio. You can visit us online at AskMPA.com.

Diana: If you have questions or comments, please send them to questions@askmpa.com. That’s questions@askmpa.com.

Justin: And thanks for listening.

Jodie Atkinson

Designer & Video Specialist - Jodie is a mom to a very active three-year-old, Abbie, who keeps her hopping. A recent transplant to Southeast Iowa, Jodie and her family are enjoying the relaxed pace of living in a rural community. She joined our team from the hurry and scurry of the Des Moines metro area, where she worked at Gannett/Des Moines Register creating dozens of ads every day. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from UNI in Graphic Design and loves creating design that matters. Jodie’s mantra: “Be great. Create.”

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