Saturday 5 May 2001

Pic of the day: Spring (and pollen) is definitely in the air. I've taken a couple walks today, and a couple pictures. But as usual I come home to my computer corner...

I want a new computer

I don't usually lust for more material possessions. Well, except yogurt and the occasional piece of chocolate, and they don't stay in my possession long. But I'm starting to seriously think of a new computer now.

Spot the pattern: It started with a smaller material possession. Actually, it wasn't all that material in the first place; it was House Party, the second expansion pack for The Sims. This add-on is meant to expand on the social relations between the Sims. But sadly I have had little chance to test this: The expansion has bloated the program so much, it slows to a crawl if you have more than 2 persons active at the same time. Even with 2 sims, the program takes random pauses if they do anything more advanced than reading a book or painting. This is on my machine's maximum speed (300 MHz).

The Toshiba, for all its pathetic shoddyness, has three different processor speeds. This is good. It means I can play Daggerfall at the speed the creator meant it to be played, and Sims at another. In fact, the processor speed is not the problem with playing The Sims. The problem is a lack of memory. So I went to buy more memory. Here's the latest update on that: After I brought the machine to the shop again, and they kept it for a few hours, they ordered a new RAM chip. Because either the RAM was faulty, or the connector. "It is a Toshiba" I told them. "The connector is faulty." But they would not believe that. I plan to bring my machine on Monday and hope they have got the new memory. They should call me, but they do that only one time out of three or four, in my experience.

So on Monday they will probably scratch their heads and wonder why it does not work, and then order a 65 MB RAM card instead of the 128MB I bought now. Then around the end of the week, they will give up completely. "Too bad, the warranty ran out after 1 year, you should have bought more RAM the first year, now there's nothing we can do." So I am already starting to plan my next computer.

***

Last year it was Cassie, the Pocket PC. The summer before, it was the Toshiba. So this year is the year of the desktop PC again. I have really only 1 adamant requirement: It must not be a Toshiba. When that is taken care of, the rest should follow naturally. As far as I know, there are no longer sold new PCs with less than 64 MB RAM or less than 8 GB hard disk. Processor speed is also more than fast enough for my use, and has been for two years. And any desktop would have space for a network card, which will be necessary when ADSL arrives.

Stuff that would be nifty: 17 GB hard disk or more. The more the merrier.
-128 MB memory, because presumably this will be the standard a year or two from now and programs will expect it.
-And a true USB port or two. (The one on the Toshiba can only handle one external unit at a time, not a chain. This defeats the idea of USB in the first place.)

Stuff that would be OK only if free: DVD player. I don't need to watch movies at home, and so far there are no games on DVD only that I know of. Now that I buy ca 1 game per year, it may well be another PC before I actually need DVD. By then DVD units will be faster, cheaper and better.
-CD writer. I don't pirate games and music, so I don't need it. The other uses are inconsequential. I already have a zip drive to store the stuff I rarely use.
-Some advanced graphics card. Again, I don't have any games that need this, and the only games I plan to buy in the near future are Simsville when it arrives, and possibly Black & White when it comes in the bargain bin.

Stuff I would like to avoid: Windows 2000. It is a business oriented operating system, and I don't plan to use this computer for work. Windows ME is incompatible enough; I'd prefer Win98, but may have to settle for a dual boot utility.

***

So, will a new computer fill me with happiness and make it all all right? Probably no, since it's already allright. I basically already have everything I really need, except immortality. More about that later, if I live that long. :)

This time, I am in no real hurry. Unless the Toshiba blows up completely, I don't really need the new PC until we get ADSL around here. Now ADSL is something that might actually improve my life, since I would be able to use the computer all I want for a fixed and moderate cost. (There is already competition on this market segment, and with more customers the competition is likely to heat up.) Besides, this should mean I can finally add a webcam at a reasonable price, thus attracting lots of half-pervs (like the ones who watch Big Brother) and get my message out to the broader public. Now to think up a message. Besided "Itland to the people", that is.