Just over two and a half years ago, I used the computer loan program at work to purchase a Dell 4100 and all the fixin’s. This computer has served me well, but I fear it no longer can run the latest and greatest sim games. I often abuse its memory and processor with Photoshop. I also want a new printer as I have a daughter and I feel compelled to print out photo after photo of her. I also use the printer to print out paper to use in making items for our decor, like clocks and picture frames. What I could do with a large format printer makes me drool.
Also, hubby wants a windows computer. He currently uses a Linux box. Not only is he slightly intimidated because it is KellyM’s computer (although she reassures him he really can’t mess it up), it is frequently slow as she abuses its processor from afar. The plan is to move hubby’s up to our server farm, give him mine, and I build my own.
I want to build my own, because I can get more computer for the same price, and currently I have someone to give me good advice on the tricky part, namely choosing compatible components that are right for me. The Dell has been great, but now I am in a better position to do my own tech support if need be. That and buying hardware is fun.
So far we have decided on for hardware:[ul][li]Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz socket 478 Hyper Threading 800FSB[/li][li]ASUS Motherboard for Pentium 4 / Celeron, 800 FSB P4P800[/li][li]A matched pair of 512 MB 184 pin DDR PC3200 Speed 400 MHz (I have yet to decide on the exact pair.)[/li][li]Antec SOHO File server ATX Case, Black with 400W power supply[/li][li]Radeon 9600 Pro video card either ATI or Sapphire.[/li][li]WESTERN DIGITAL [/li]200GB Caviar Special Edition Internal EIDE Ultra ATA/100
7200RPM Hard Drive with 8MB Cache
[li]Canon i9100 photo printer[/li][li]Some kind of wheeled optical mouse[/li][li]Some kind of keyboard, preferably black.[/li][li]CD Burner[/li][li]Wacom Intous2 4x5 (from old computer)[/li][li]HP 4575c Scanner (from old computer)[/ul][/li]For software (mostly moved from my old computer):
[ul][li]Windows XP Pro[/li][li]The Gimp[/li][li]Office 2000[/li][li]Photoshop 7.0[/li][li]POV Ray[/li][li]Moray[/li][li]The Sims[/li][li]Real Myst[/li][li]Riven[/li][li]Exile[/li][li]SimCity 4[/li][/ul]I also have a and an that will be moving to the new computer.
Hubby will be getting:
Hardware:[ul]
[li]Pentium 3 700Mhz[/li][li]40 GB hard drive[/li][li]60 GB hard drive[/li][li]512 MB memory. [/li][li]DVD Player[/li][li]CD Burner[/li][li]Artec flatbed scanner[/li][li]K60 Scanner/Printer/fax/color copier[/li][li]Microsoft Optical wheeled mouse[/li][/ul]Software:[ul]
[li]Windows XP Pro[/li][li]Office 2000[/li][li]Ultima I-VI (wish me luck getting that to run)[/li][li]Myst[/li][li]The Gimp[/li][li]Perfect Office 2000[/li][/ul]Have I forgotten any thing? Is there anything that I should else that would be nice on hubby’s computer?
Mastema does TWINX1024-3200C2 fit the bill you think?
I thought about the 9800 or 9700, but 9600 is much cheaper and since I don’t do first person shooters and don’t do MMP games, their is not really any compelling reason to make that jump. Instead, I’m putting those bucks in to the printer. 13x19 borderless printing really speaks to me.
I would still be a little wary of the 200gb hard drives tbh. You can usually get two 120gb drives for the same or even less money, and you end up with 240gb instead. Two drives is also safer for backing up stuff between them and so forth.
Sound reasoning, but 200GB for $115 seemed like a decent price. The 8MB cache drives usually come with the 3 Year Limited Warranty, as is the case with this one, so it should be built to last.
Windows XP Pro better not be one of the software titles you copy from the old computer. Unless you have the corporate version of XP Pro or otherwise have some means to bypass the copy prevention mechanism, I don’t believe you’ll be able to activate the OS on both systems. Unfortunately, you might now have to factor in the cost of an OS among your purchases, since your husband does not want a Linux computer any more.
All of the software I put on my computer has proper licenses. I, unlike most, even pay and register the shareware I use. It would not matter if it were easy to install XP without acquiring a second license, I would not do it.
I could, were I cruel, wipe the computer and put Windows ME back on it before turning it over to hubby and use my current license of XP on my new computer. I bought the full version, not an OEM version, so I can transfer it to another computer legally. I bought it straight from Microsoft for $50 and got the full OS on CD, a baseball, a bobblehead, trading cards and gum too! This time I will likely pay about $145 for XP.
amore ac studio, we already researched that. Current best price is about $150 for a DSP version “bundled with hardware” meeting Microsoft’s licensure requirements. Or we could buy an additional license direct from Microsoft for the low low price of $269. Yeah, right.
Consider the fruits of this decision. Hubby would quickly lose interest in a Windows operating system and would be more easily persuaded to go back to a Linux computer. You would save the $150 that you would have spent on an OS license “bundled with hardware”. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
I do that too. It’s a behavior that my college acquaintances found odd, especially a roommate from Malaysia. I registered mail clients like PocoMail and The Bat!, eventually abandoning both of them in favor of fetchmail, postfix, procmail, and mutt on a Linux box. I made a donation to the freeware project Yamp in a futile attempt to jump-start development after years of stagnation.
I was even prepared to register Snood on the computer in the math workshop, where I tutored calculus often enough during the week to make the investment worthwhile. Having graduated college over a month ago, I’m glad I opted not to spend the money subsidizing other math tutors’ entertainment.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion.
My husband has a longer attention span than that, He would not be persuaded to go back to Linux, he would whine and demand tech support. Besides it would be a poor way to reward someone who quit their job to stay at home with our child.
Also, XP means a better home network. sharing files and printers securely is a big deal to us.