Sunday 17 December 2006

Pic of the day: Because obviously there's always room for a couple more computers.

The fad that keeps on fading

Now that I have bought a laptop PC, you'd think that my electronics buying fad would be sated. This is not entirely so. I still want to buy a desktop PC. These are not in vogue these days, since the laptops have become so good people can play even high-end games on them. Also the latest games consoles are becoming so good that they can compete with the PC in graphics and action. Or nearly so. On the bright side, you get a lot for your money in a desktop PC these days.

Once again, the idea is to secure a dual-core processor machine before they come with Windows Vista. There is no reason to have Vista, as it is basically a prettified XP as far as the user is concerned. It is supposed to be more secure, but I see that when I believe it. So far it has not been seriously tested by real-world hackers, at which point I expect it to fall apart like its predecessor and need weekly upgrades and third-party programs to protect it. In any case, for now the only effect of Vista is to slow down the computer. So I intend to get a fast computer before the slow-down.

I have been online and composed a couple dream machines at dell.com. You sure get a lot for your money there. But Vista doesn't come to the consumer market until the end of January, so I don't really have to hurry. There are some nifty temporary offers, but I have a distinct feeling that the prices are not likely to increase after Xmas. Admittedly this is based on experience with a different market, where clothes are reduced to half price starting December 27th. I guess it won't be quite that much on computers, more's the pity, but I doubt they will grow more expensive either.

Yes, why, my monster desktop PC is still making a lot of noise. Perhaps more like a vacuum cleaner than a blender, which is an improvement, but still pretty bad. So I still try to spend as much of my time as I can in the living room, except it becomes quite cold. So I return to the heat of my home office, and the noise. Then when I'm warm again and can't stand the noise, back to the living room. I suppose I could heat the living room, actually, but I prefer to spend the money on new computers.

Clearly this fad must be in its last week, though, because I actually managed to not buy anything. In January, if all is well, there is probably something else that has caught my interest.