I did mention that I'm a geek, right?
Feb. 6th, 2008 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
constanceI ordered my new computer today. There are a couple of you who were curious about the specs of what I finally ended up ordering, yes?
The first thing I did was think realistically about the system I felt would work best for me. I was working with a limited budget -- most people are -- and I like a fast computer but I don't do any serious gaming or all that much multitasking. So as much as I'd like a Blackbird 002, it's much more machine than I need, and probably more than I'll need during a normal computer lifetime.
What I do need, though, is a low-profile machine, physically speaking. My study is the first room you see when you walk through the front door, and because it's an oddly-shaped room with almost zero usable wall space, the desk sits right in the middle of the room. And the back of any computer would face the door! All of which means that I need a space-saver, preferably one to fit underneath my desk drawers, and as few cables as possible.
So that was where I started, a small, decent-but-not-state-of-the-art system* that would last me for a while running Windows XP because I refuse to upgrade to Vista. I looked at a few small ready-made PCs, but they weren't especially impressive, and the smaller the "form factor," which just means the actual box that the whole thing sits in, the higher the price. That's when I decided to build my own, either from scratch or using what's called a barebone computer. I went back and forth on this a while, and in the end decided to go with the barebone system, specifically a Shuttle XPC, because some things do come preinstalled, but it's customizable, and it's little-bitty and famously a manufacturer of little workhorse machines, which is exactly what I need. This is a picture of its chassis, which is about 8" square and 11" deep. Hooray, it'll fit under my desk!
The model I ended up choosing was a last-year model being phased out of production, and so it was available at a real bargain. The problem with buying a machine like this is that it's like buying anything on clearance: you have to act quickly because once it's gone, it's not coming back. In fact, newegg.com ended up selling out of them while I dithered, and I got the very last one from pcconnection.com.
The model that I chose has a dual-core processor, which is like a two-in-one package deal for processors; having two processors working in tandem means that your computer runs faster and more smoothly than it would with a single processor. Like, say, playing ping-pong with two players rather than one. (The latest-and-greatest is a multi-core processor, with four, eight, or however many processors working together, but again, it's new technology and pricey because of its shininess.)
This model also has a 400-watt power supply, which means that you can plug a lot into it before it melts down. Many smaller models have less robust power supplies, and that's something to consider if you want to add any bells and whistles.
One thing I do like to splash out on is memory. A middle-of-the-road processor can be kicked up a notch or two, performance-wise, if you get more memory than the minimum required. Most ready-made desktop machines come with a minimum 2GB of memory, which was an untold extravagance three years ago, but necessary now that Vista's around. The system I ordered has room for 8GB of memory, slots for four 2GB memory cards; I got half that -- two 2GB cards -- and plan to get more eventually.
I also got a pretty big hard drive, which hard drives are getting more affordable by the day, and so why not? 500GB should last me a while, especially because my poor years-old laptop has a 40GB hard drive, and I've gotten used to culling my files on a regular basis to make room for new stuff. There's space for another hard drive, should I eventually want to add it, but as I said, I'll be good for a while.
More and more, especially with Vista and many games, you need a decent graphics card to handle your video display. I was limited by budget and size restrictions as to what I could get -- a really good graphics card can cost as much as a whole system, and take up two expansion slots on a computer, which is all I have to work with -- but I found a small (single-slot) workable card that comes highly recommended for not too much money.
I also wanted a DVD-RW drive (they're dirt-cheap now that Blu-Ray is available) and a card reader, so I got those, keeping in mind that I can replace the drive sooner or later, if I eventually find that Blu-Ray is a necessity. And I bought a 22" monitor which I've read great things about -- God, I can't even imagine having a monitor that big! -- and a card for my wireless internet, and a wireless keyboard and mouse, and we're done, and the same system would be twice as expensive if I bought it through Dell -- just to put things into perspective -- and I get the added pleasure of putting it all together myself.
I hope it gets here fast.
_____________________
* Actually, I confess that as a budget-minded person, I'm morally opposed to state-of-the-art systems anyway, because they're always outrageously expensive and they'll be obsolete and on sale for half-price in a year.
The first thing I did was think realistically about the system I felt would work best for me. I was working with a limited budget -- most people are -- and I like a fast computer but I don't do any serious gaming or all that much multitasking. So as much as I'd like a Blackbird 002, it's much more machine than I need, and probably more than I'll need during a normal computer lifetime.
What I do need, though, is a low-profile machine, physically speaking. My study is the first room you see when you walk through the front door, and because it's an oddly-shaped room with almost zero usable wall space, the desk sits right in the middle of the room. And the back of any computer would face the door! All of which means that I need a space-saver, preferably one to fit underneath my desk drawers, and as few cables as possible.
So that was where I started, a small, decent-but-not-state-of-the-art system* that would last me for a while running Windows XP because I refuse to upgrade to Vista. I looked at a few small ready-made PCs, but they weren't especially impressive, and the smaller the "form factor," which just means the actual box that the whole thing sits in, the higher the price. That's when I decided to build my own, either from scratch or using what's called a barebone computer. I went back and forth on this a while, and in the end decided to go with the barebone system, specifically a Shuttle XPC, because some things do come preinstalled, but it's customizable, and it's little-bitty and famously a manufacturer of little workhorse machines, which is exactly what I need. This is a picture of its chassis, which is about 8" square and 11" deep. Hooray, it'll fit under my desk!
The model I ended up choosing was a last-year model being phased out of production, and so it was available at a real bargain. The problem with buying a machine like this is that it's like buying anything on clearance: you have to act quickly because once it's gone, it's not coming back. In fact, newegg.com ended up selling out of them while I dithered, and I got the very last one from pcconnection.com.
The model that I chose has a dual-core processor, which is like a two-in-one package deal for processors; having two processors working in tandem means that your computer runs faster and more smoothly than it would with a single processor. Like, say, playing ping-pong with two players rather than one. (The latest-and-greatest is a multi-core processor, with four, eight, or however many processors working together, but again, it's new technology and pricey because of its shininess.)
This model also has a 400-watt power supply, which means that you can plug a lot into it before it melts down. Many smaller models have less robust power supplies, and that's something to consider if you want to add any bells and whistles.
One thing I do like to splash out on is memory. A middle-of-the-road processor can be kicked up a notch or two, performance-wise, if you get more memory than the minimum required. Most ready-made desktop machines come with a minimum 2GB of memory, which was an untold extravagance three years ago, but necessary now that Vista's around. The system I ordered has room for 8GB of memory, slots for four 2GB memory cards; I got half that -- two 2GB cards -- and plan to get more eventually.
I also got a pretty big hard drive, which hard drives are getting more affordable by the day, and so why not? 500GB should last me a while, especially because my poor years-old laptop has a 40GB hard drive, and I've gotten used to culling my files on a regular basis to make room for new stuff. There's space for another hard drive, should I eventually want to add it, but as I said, I'll be good for a while.
More and more, especially with Vista and many games, you need a decent graphics card to handle your video display. I was limited by budget and size restrictions as to what I could get -- a really good graphics card can cost as much as a whole system, and take up two expansion slots on a computer, which is all I have to work with -- but I found a small (single-slot) workable card that comes highly recommended for not too much money.
I also wanted a DVD-RW drive (they're dirt-cheap now that Blu-Ray is available) and a card reader, so I got those, keeping in mind that I can replace the drive sooner or later, if I eventually find that Blu-Ray is a necessity. And I bought a 22" monitor which I've read great things about -- God, I can't even imagine having a monitor that big! -- and a card for my wireless internet, and a wireless keyboard and mouse, and we're done, and the same system would be twice as expensive if I bought it through Dell -- just to put things into perspective -- and I get the added pleasure of putting it all together myself.
I hope it gets here fast.
_____________________
* Actually, I confess that as a budget-minded person, I'm morally opposed to state-of-the-art systems anyway, because they're always outrageously expensive and they'll be obsolete and on sale for half-price in a year.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-08 04:25 pm (UTC)Ultra-light laptops are incredibly sexy, I know! My own is on the heavy end of the thin-and-light spectrum, and so not quite so sexy, but my father has one, oh man.
I didn't like Vista before it came out because it is shiny, yes, but all of MS's unnecessary bells and whistles are so greedy about system resources that it immediately doubled minimum requirements for any PC out there. There are a lot of people who won't be able to upgrade until they get new PCs to accommodate the OS.
Since then, though, I haven't really heard that the shininess of Vista is anything but superficial. It's a buggy OS, it's not that much easier or more convenient to use, and most of the power user early adopters I've talked to have tried it, been unimpressed, and downgraded back to XP within two or three months. When people who like newness for newness's sake are switching back, you know you've got a problem on your hands.