(mis)Adventures in Computer Purchasing
The first PC I ever owned was one I built back in 2006. It was decent at the time, even for what the pros called an entry level set up. Eventually I upgraded it as far as it could go to a 3.4 Ghz Pentium D dual-core processor (Luckily the D101ggc motherboard supported it), a couple of gigs of ram and a decent video card for the time. I kept this setup for a few years until I gutted it, rebuilding the tower from the ground up.
Then, a couple of years later, it just died, and since that day in 2011, I haven't bothered building PCs. The old Dell i was using until recently was decent, although I had to replace the power supply a few times because the bearings always seem to go bad after about 2 years. In fact, I had to replace the power supply in January. Then....the video card went bad this month, and since it's difficult to find a card that can boot through legacy BIOS, I decided a new computer was the way to go.
I spent the last few weeks looking at new computers that were reasonably priced and ended up going with this one. It's an interesting little box to say the least, though things like its laptop-style optical drive and lack of upgrade potential are annoying. Still, a maximum ram capacity of 32 gigs (12 current) isn't anything to scoff at.
It also has an m.2 port that can accommodate a solid-state drive. That'll be something worth trying out later.
For now, though, I think it'll be just fine.
Comments
RAM
Like you, I always get excited every time I get a new computer, but something makes me laugh about getting 12GB (or 8 for that matter) for normal everyday usage. Somehow we have been trained to buy gigs and gigs of memory to support all the poorly written advertising apps running on our computers and telling us what to buy and believe.
Yeah, I know a low-RAM Windows system is likely unstable or unusable.
Indeed. I was lucky to be able to make my Dell XPS 8300
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Have you taken a look at Affinity Painter or
Designer or for that matter at Krita (free)? I have CS 5.5 (Design Premium) and that is as far as I am going with Adobe. I totally dislike renting software.
If you are doing a lot of photo manipulation, you might also want to take a look at On1 Photo Raw. If you are more into drawing, Clip Paint Studio from Smith Micro is very good.
LOL, you can BUY all of the above programs and more for less than a yearly Adobe sub, and still get everything done effectively.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Any recommendations for an antivirus or office software?
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Here you go
Clamwin anti-virus:
http://www.clamwin.com/
LibreOffice:
https://www.libreoffice.org/
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
I have used Avast, the free version,
for what is probably more than a decade now and have been very satisfied with it. I have an older version of MS Office which suits my needs; however, Open Office offers the same modules that MS Office has for free.
There is an open source alternative to pretty much all major software. For a search I type in the name of the software and the word "alternative" and can usually find a ton of options. The only issue then is finding which one best suits your needs and preferred way of working.
I forgot to mention before that Inkscape which is another good free alternative for vector drawing (Illustrator). Also there are a lot of software packages from "big name" companies that offer a free stripped down version (not trial versions) of their own software for non-commercial use.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
That is weird that your PSU keeps
dying. I have never had go one go bad on me (building my own since the late 80s). Do you have your computer plugged into a grounded (not just 3-prong) outlet with a surge protector?
I put my next build off until summer when the price for the video card I need should come down. You are so lucky that you can get away with AMD as they are so much less expensive than Intel.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass