New Computer
Posted on October 13, 2007
Filed Under Tech |
I’ve finally purchased a new computer. I’ve been in need of a new PC for quite a long time. My old desktop is, well, old. It has a number of problems with it. The CD-ROM drive is dead. There is something wrong with the video card. There is almost no free memory on the machine. It’s slow. Basically, it’s old and out-dated.
I can’t complain too much about my old PC. It was given to me by my parents. It was a couple of years old when they gave it to me, but they had actually had some upgrades done on it for me, and replaced the terrible Windows ME that it used to have, with Windows XP. They did all of this, and still gave the computer to me for free.
That computer lasted me for 2 years, and aside from the aforementioned problems, it still works. I can still get online with it. I can still write with it. Those are the main things that I do with my computer, anyway. However, I can’t watch streaming video without it messing up and lagging horribly. I can’t do anything that requires a CD. Plus, every so often, that computer makes strange noises, and occasionally can’t find Windows when it boots up.
After months of humming and hawing, I finally went out and bought a new PC. I decided to go for a laptop. Portability is a good thing to have, as a writer. As I’ve said, it’s a PC, not a Mac. I cannot justify the cost of a MacBook. I don’t render video. I don’t do any sort of graphic design. I don’t really need a Mac.
Instead, I went for an HP notebook. So far, I love it. I’m not sure how I feel about Windows Vista, but I’ll play around with it for a while, and let you all know what I think. I’ve only had the computer up and running for a couple of hours, but so far, I haven’t had any trouble with Vista. It does occasionally do that “Cancel or Allow” shit that you see in the PC vs Mac commercials, but other than that, I don’t see why a lot of people have been bitching about it. It seems like a decent operating system to me.
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7 Responses to “New Computer”
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My experience with Vista was the same. I didn’t have a single problem, everything ran smoothly for me. I understand that there is compatibility issues with some software, but that’s really the software developer’s problem.
What’s the specs?
2G RAM
160G Hard drive
AMD Turion 64 X2
NVIDIA graphics card
Windows Vista Home Premium
DVD writer w/ lightscribe
TV-OUT
5-in-1 card reader
It’s a pretty nice unit. Most of the other ones that I was looking at in the same price range only had 1G of RAM, so I think I got a pretty good deal on it.
I look forward to your thoughts on Vista. The way I see it, there are three issues:
1) Never upgrade an existing machine. I think starting with a fresh copy of Vista will make a world of difference.
2) Microsoft set really high expectations for Vista in 2003 and simply didn’t deliver, making it real easy to pick on.
3) Backwards compatability is both a huge positive and a huge negative for Microsoft. It gives people a really strong reason to continue using Windows, but it becomes harder and harder to support and maintain over time (for MS anyway).
I haven’t had any problems with Vista either - I quite like it actually! My only gripe is the ridiculously slow file copying, which I hear is fixed in SP1.
Well I was going to recommend a Dell, maybe the M1330 model, based on numerous benchmarking reports I’ve read where it kicked ass and the fact all the hardcode-nerds at work who can’t afford MacBooks are buying Dells, but I see I’m too late
I’m sure the HP is awesome… if I were still in school I think it’d be awesome to pull up a seat at a downtown Second Cup (offering free wi-fi of course) and just spend the afternoon drinking tea and working away. And this is something you cans till do, as a writer. Color me jealous.
I was actually thinking about a Dell for quite a while, but eventually decided on the HP. One of the main things that turned me off of the Dell was the many horror stories I’ve heard about dealing with Dell’s customer service and tech support.
I’ve also had very positive experiences with HP products in the past, so I guess there was a certain element of brand loyalty, and going with a product that I knew was of good quality (not the Dell isn’t a quality product, I just have far less experience with Dell machines).
After working in the computer industry for a few years, I can say that your HP unit will probably treat you well. When it comes to the big manufacturers, they are all about the same when it comes to their technical support. It all boils down to who you get on the other end of the phone. I have some tricks to actually get better service from Dell, but having worked previously at their call center for just over a year, you learn a few things…=)
As for Vista, I am still staying away. My main reason for that is all the software that I use. I have installed vista on my rig and had nothing but problems trying to get the programs to work. Between vista’s new security “features” and “enhancements”, it’s understandable. It is not the fault of the software developers though. They wrote these programs to run on Micro$oft’s last gen operating system, and they do work flawlessly on it. I blame Micro$oft for not maintaining a proper amount of backwards compatibility (is one generation really too much to ask?) Mike R. Should understand this as he is a website developer and I don’t believe should be blamed that IE, last I checked, still doesn’t properly support all CSS 2.1 standards.
As for that stupid UAC “cancel or allow” item, you can safely turn that off on your system. The benefit of that feature becomes less the more you use it. It basically programs you to always click on allow because that is what you need to do in order to get your computer to work. A good anti-virus program and some common sense will protect you much better than UAC will. I recommend NOD32 from eset (www.eset.com). I have used this program on friends’ computers who were previously using AVG free and had it clean up viruses that were not able to be removed using AVG. Also have used it on friends’ computers who’s browsing habits lent themselves to frequent infection, and have not had to touch their system since.
If you are just using the computer to do publishing, email and web browsing, vista will work just fine for you. Most games even work with vista (although some do need a little bit of fine tuning), and some don’t work unless you have it. If it works for you, stick with it. If it doesn’t, give me a call and I will see if I can help you get it to. =)
@James: I haven’t had any problems at the moment, but I’ll let you know if I have any issues. I’m not a huge gamer, so it’s good. Publishing, email, web browsing, as well as playing music and videos, so Vista does the job well enough, at least for the time being.