OK, so I didn’t set out to get a new computer even though my existing desktop is almost 6 years old. I set out to get a new monitor because my Samsung SyncMaster seems to have grown something weird on its screen. Except there weren’t any monitors on sale at Best Buy I cared to bring home. There was however a Compaq desktop and monitor package at a very appealing price. So this rather basic AMD based machine with 4 GB of RAM, onboard graphics, onboard sound and a modem running Windows latest seems to have followed me home.
I spend a couple hours taking everything off my computer desk, cleaning the desk and then setting up the new computer on the desk. Its amazing how long it can take to set up a computer, monitor, printer, external HD and speakers and then route all the cables and tape them in place so they aren’t dangling. The monitor has built in speakers which work fine for normal computing and even music but are rather lame for DVDs. So my Bose speakers are on the desk but installed so they are easy to remove and take places. I’ve gotten various security software installed along with Open Office, GIMP and all the Canon camera software plus some maintenance utilities. Windows has gotten very impressive. Loads quick, runs quick (I’ve got a 64 bit version) and its even easy to remove Internet Explorer 8. Most my photos were already on the WD Lifebook but I haven’t copied over my document files or installed iTunes as yet. I’m liking the wide aspect screen for working on multiple windows.
2 comments:
A very basic machine with plenty of RAM is perfect for business applications and music and video. Unless one is a gamer, or a developer, this basic sort of machine is exactly what one needs most of the time.
The number of add-ons that just work straight out of the box makes it easy to personalize a basic box. This wasn't as easy even five years ago, but now speakers, external drives, mice, keyboards, printers of all sorts, mikes and more just work and work rather well.
Gee, until now I built my boxes, which made them very personal. I even added all kinds of upgrade goodies to my daughter's college HP Pavilion. This box's motherboard can only handle 4 GB of RAM, which is rather wimpy by current standards. But I don't game or do high end graphics so the box is fine for what I actually do. I do plan on installing a media card reader (from my old box) and maybe upgrade the video card. . .
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