So, if you can recall I busted my laptop on the way to Sri Lanka.

I was bummed out to say the least. It was a big purchase for me two years ago, and it’s not like I have a ton of cash laying around to buy a new one (especially after our trip).

But obviously something was going to have to give because I need a computer for work.

So, while I was enjoying vacation I was also trying to come up with a solution when I got home.

I haven’t taken my laptop into Apple yet, so I’m not sure if there’s an “inexpensive” fix to it or if it’s gone for good.

Michael and I were talking about it one day and he suggested using the iPad as a temporary fix until I saved up and found a computer I wanted. He also has a MacBook with a broken screen that’s a $400 fix if I want to go that route.

In the long run I think I’ve decided I want to save up for an iMac since I work from home 85% of the time. But I need something until then and I need a portable option for when we travel.

I opted for the iPad option. We already had it from a Black Friday deal, and didn’t really use it. So, while in Sri Lanka I started researching the best way to ‘turn an iPad into a laptop’ essentially. And here’s what I’ve done.

The first thing I knew I would need was a keyboard. No question about that. So, I opted for a keyboard case instead of a keyboard and stand option so it was portable.

I also knew I needed a way to get video footage from my SD cards onto it so I could edit videos. My camera does have a WiFi option, but seeing as I didn’t want to hassle with that I decided to get a lightening to SD card adapter, which was a great options.

The first day I was using it with the keyboard I found it a bit fussy to not have a mouse or keypad so I looked into buying one of those, but for the time being I’m just using the screen, which just takes some getting used to.

It can be a bit finicky at times and has taken some time to get used to the differences, but because we already had the iPad it was a pretty inexpensive solution.

Depending on how I like it this might actually become my long term portable option after I get the iMac, which hopefully I can buy in a month or two.

Update: I’m sitting outside Apple waiting for an appointment. I’ve decided to pay the money to get Michael’s old MacBook Pro (which is the same model as mine) fixed. After trying to edit a video yesterday on the iPad I just found myself pretty frustrated. There’s an obvious difference between the iPad and the MacBook Pro, and I was beyond frazzled by the end of the day.

I was working to get a video up because I post every Tuesday and Thursday. Well, it’s still sitting on the iPad because even after I got the very simply edited video exported it now won’t upload to YouTube.

I just came to the conclusion that having a computer is too much of an intregal part of running FemmeHead. I really don’t want to see it hurt by not having a computer and I think it would be.

I think I’m still going to save up for an iMac, but for the time being having a MacBook Pro to work from will be such a treat. I’ve brought both his laptop to send in to get fixed as well as mine to see if there’s anything to be done about it or to at least get stuff off of it.

If you’re just looking to type documents, send emails and such, you can definitely do that on an iPad with a keyboard case. But when it comes to editing things, videos and such, the iPad is not made for that.

Update: I got called in for my appointment. We started by sending off Michael’s old MacBook to get repaired and mailed back to our house. That was going to cost $475, which was fine. And then he took my poor laptop to the back to open it up and look to see what sort of water damage there was.

He came back probably 10 minutes later and said, wait for it, that it looked fine inside and he wanted to plug it in and turn it on.

Wait what?

Ok, I said, as I fumbled in my bag for my charger. I plugged it and he pressed a few keys along with the power button and I holy mother of god it turned on. I about pooped myself.

I still didn’t want to get my hopes up because he said that he was going to run diagnostics on it. That took another 5-7 minutes. In the mean time I asked him why my screen looked like it was separating around the edge, and he said it was called ‘delaminating’ and we could look at repair options for that once the diagnostics finished.

And here’s the kicker, the diagnostics came back and he said it looked fine.

He said that even though my laptop was out of warranty, there was this replacement warranty thing when it came to screens delaminating because they aren’t supposed to do that. So, while it normally costs $475 to replace a screen they were going to do it for free (excuse me?!)

Then he said that my batttery wasn’t holding charge for as long as it should, and right before I could say I didn’t care about that he said he was going to try and get that replaced under the same thing as the screen...for free.

At this point I didn’t want to jinx myself, seriously, is this real life?

But I had to politely ask to cancel the repair order on Michael’s Mac because obviously if my computer had miraculously came back to life I didn’t need his as a replacement. And the Apple guy was kind enough to go grab it from the back and cancel the order.

I thanked him profusely, told him he was a rockstar and that he made my week, no the entire month for me. And then I left.

So at the moment it’s best case senario. My laptop is being sent in to essentially be spruced up, and it’s not going to cost me a thing (unless something else pops up while they have it).

But you guys! I’m over the moon right now.

I tried to turn it on after it got wet on the plane, but then my brother told me that you’re not supposed to try and turn on or charge electronics when they get wet. Not until they dry out. So I waited until a few days before we came back to try again, just for the hell of it, because I was pretty sure there was no hope. And it didn’t turn on so I thought it was toast.

There is nothing better than electronics coming back from the dead.

Viva la MacBook Pro!