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Spending $1200 for my Chemistry Exam

The most embarrassing, infuriating, and depressing purchase I made before my midterm exam.

By Kyra LopezPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Spending $1200 for my Chemistry Exam
Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

Naturally, my laptop decided to explode a few days before an important chemistry exam at my university.

The weight of my anxiety, an utter disappointment in technology, and the feeling of a cringe-worthy hit to my checking account had done it in for me. I could not believe that in a matter of minutes, my laptop went from a functioning technological miracle to an archaic piece of garbage. All of these elements combined were the sinister formula for my terrible weekend this past February.

So let me back track here to the day of my demise:

One Friday night, I was working on my exam study packet using my 2016 Macbook air. I had saved up for YEARS just to get this model in 2017, and I was happily using it ever since. That is, until Big Sur came around.

Being an uninformed dimwit, I decided to finally go ahead with Apple's persistant update reminders. There were a few notifications that encouraged me to try out the new Big Sur system update. To my complete disbelief, my laptop was not responding well to this. After a grueling 27 minutes of trying to install Big Sur, it died on the journey.

I had tried multiple times to reboot my computer after the update, but it never came back to life. My hardrive appeared to have crashed, eating itself from the inside-out. Everything was unresponsive.

At this point of the night, I was sweating. I tried so many different techniques to bring this metal brick back to life but nothing worked. I sent email after email to my professors using my phone, freaking out for hours. With no solution in sight, I continued having a breakdown over my failed geek squad attempt in recovering my son (aka the MacBook).

To no avail, it remained dead as a doornail. My laptop had been pronounced dead the following day at 9:45 am.

Due to this stupid occurrence in the circus I call my life, I had to think of another plan. Do I buy a cheap HP laptop and hope the programs from school actually work on it?

Or.....

Do I throw every last cent I had in my savings on a new MacBook Pro with that cool looking M1 chip feature?

Well, I am now typing with the help of a touchbar. So you can probably guess what decision I ended up making.

I KNOW....I know.

You don't have to tell me twice that throwing away every last dollar I had just to get a fancy laptop was a mistake. Trust me, the credit card swipe at the store made me want to faint.

Not to mention, getting this receipt emailed to me a day later wasn't exactly a mood booster either.

The shame^

Even though everyone tried to tell me that I should rent a school laptop or get the cheapest options available, I needed something readily available. But, I also wanted to go out in style.

If I had to spend the last of my money on something, I figured that I might as well take it all out in one swing. Now there are definitely positives to this situation, as I don't have to worry about my computer being lowered into a casket anytime soon.

The accessories on the new Macbook are honestly super cool! It comes with some pretty vivid graphics, a long battery life, internet speed that doesn't make you want to pull your hair out, and it comes in an aesthetic space gray color.

I'm not a computer genius here, so I can't describe the significane of its 8-core CPU. But I can tell you that this purchase was a mix between ridiculous and awesome. I love it, even though I hate myself for blowing that kind of money last minute. With only a day until my exam, I had to make a fast and sort've reckless decision. Apple users alike may have had the same issues with Big Sur, and their success in reviving their older systems has been mixed based on reviews.

Luckily, I am not the only one who had been stuck in this sort of situation, which helped ease the pain.

My ultimate advice for college students everywhere:

1. Don't spend all your money and end up embarrassing yourself at the Apple store

2. Don't download Big Sur right before an important online exam.

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About the Creator

Kyra Lopez

Writer from the 773

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