Entry tags:
This morning's eclipse
Rotten pictures, but oh well. Here's a collage (so cliché). Obviously the exposure is different on the last frame.
2007-08-28
New computer decisions
So we have two computers to replace due to electrical surges. Maybe only one; depends on whether I decide to try to live with just the laptop.
I was shopping today online. Looks like the only reasonable way to avoid Windows Vista on a prebuilt machine is to get a Dell business class desktop. You can buy one of their regular home desktops with Vista for $349, or a business class desktop with basically the same specs (and the case looks identical except it's black instead of silver) and XP Home for $469. So it costs $120 to stay away from Vista. Yes, it's worth it to me. I prefer to buy computers that do what I want them to, not what I'm allowed to do.
At this point, I think I'm going to build my own. The $469 price has multiple compromises based on the fact that Dell is charging silly amounts for upgrades: going from 80 to 250 GB is something like $50, going to 500 GB is another $100 or so, despite the fact that you can just go BUY a 500 GB drive with the same specs for $89. Upgrading from a DVD/CDRW combo to a DVD burner is $87, even though a good quality DVD burner is $32.
For about $479 shipped I can get exactly what I want; an AMD 64 X2 dual core 4200+, 1GB RAM (may expand later, I don't want to dump too much money right now), 500 GB HD (cheapest $/GB), DVD burner, decent 500W quiet power supply. I'll install Linux (MythTV) on the machine that's for sure getting replaced, and if I get the 2nd, it'll get Windows 2000 (I'll not willingly jump into Microsoft's "activation" (Microsoft Genuine Annoyance) scheme).
If it weren't for Vista, I'd probably still be buying prebuilt machines; I don't mind building machines, but it's not my favorite thing to do in my spare time either. It only takes about an hour to bolt a machine together, but it's a bit irritating, and I haven't built one for a few years so I'm ignorant of some of the new power connectors, I only have seen pictures of PCI Express, etc.
I was shopping today online. Looks like the only reasonable way to avoid Windows Vista on a prebuilt machine is to get a Dell business class desktop. You can buy one of their regular home desktops with Vista for $349, or a business class desktop with basically the same specs (and the case looks identical except it's black instead of silver) and XP Home for $469. So it costs $120 to stay away from Vista. Yes, it's worth it to me. I prefer to buy computers that do what I want them to, not what I'm allowed to do.
At this point, I think I'm going to build my own. The $469 price has multiple compromises based on the fact that Dell is charging silly amounts for upgrades: going from 80 to 250 GB is something like $50, going to 500 GB is another $100 or so, despite the fact that you can just go BUY a 500 GB drive with the same specs for $89. Upgrading from a DVD/CDRW combo to a DVD burner is $87, even though a good quality DVD burner is $32.
For about $479 shipped I can get exactly what I want; an AMD 64 X2 dual core 4200+, 1GB RAM (may expand later, I don't want to dump too much money right now), 500 GB HD (cheapest $/GB), DVD burner, decent 500W quiet power supply. I'll install Linux (MythTV) on the machine that's for sure getting replaced, and if I get the 2nd, it'll get Windows 2000 (I'll not willingly jump into Microsoft's "activation" (Microsoft Genuine Annoyance) scheme).
If it weren't for Vista, I'd probably still be buying prebuilt machines; I don't mind building machines, but it's not my favorite thing to do in my spare time either. It only takes about an hour to bolt a machine together, but it's a bit irritating, and I haven't built one for a few years so I'm ignorant of some of the new power connectors, I only have seen pictures of PCI Express, etc.