Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Buying a new computer, discuss:
I pretty obviously need a new computer at this point. Well…okay, it’s not exactly obvious, but let’s just say I’m not mentally debating the point much anymore. My computer is old, its seams are starting to show, and I’m not entirely sure for how long it will even continue to work correctly. Hopefully a long time, but I’m not taking any bets on that point. It’s about 4 years old at this point, that’s proper refresh-time no matter how luddite-tastic you are.
Consider, then, what kind of computer to get. I’ve always liked Alienware, despite the fact that I’ve never actually *owned* one. They seem to come out with some pretty good systems on a fairly regular basis. Thom seems to disagree, and I could debate the point despite the fact that I have no evidence to the contrary by using techniques perfected by forum-trolls throughout the Internet. Namely, caps lock and baseless, barely coherent insults. (‘OMG U R SO STUPIDZ00RZ!!!!!!111 ALI3NW4RE R00X00RZ!!!1eleven1). But either way, it’s probably a moot argument. How come?
I’m probably going to go with Dell (sorry, Becca). Disagree if you will, but I have nothing but good things to say about them, and the most damning evidence that anyone is likely to come up with is probably anecdotal (My aunt had a Dell that broke and they were lame!), but I’ve never had a problem with them, and they build some good systems, in my book.
Here’s my toss into the anecdotal evidence pool, though. When I first bought this computer it had a 40-gig hard drive. It failed within about a month of me buying it. I was able to back-up all of my stuff, though, lucky me, and since I had the warranty, they sent a guy out to fix my problem. He came along with a 70-gig replacement to my broken 40-gig drive, fixed the problem, and I haven’t heard a peep out of the computer since. Well, there was an issue with the network card when I moved, but I’m blaming that on windows, since an upgrade fixed it.
Something I noticed, though. I went to Dell’s website to check out their computers and, of course, I started off with their highest-end system. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed, because the system along the caliber I want/wanted was a bit more than I wanted to pay. Downer. Strangely enough, though, when I went down one ‘class’ of computers, I was able to configure almost the exact same system as before, but for nearly 1000$ less. Holy fish sticks! I can’t imagine why the other version is so much more. It might be a case/power supply thing, but 1000$? A little strange is all.
Dad’s been sending me notes from the Cosco website about Dell systems that they’re selling. Certainly tempting, but I think I’m actually going to wait for a *leetle* bit more time before I take the plunge and get the new system. It’s a budget/timing thing, really. If it were up to me, I’d have three top-of-the line systems shipped to my home address tomorrow evening, but you have to pay for that kind of service, and I…uh…can’t. Heh. Besides, waiting to buy technology is always a good idea. Perhaps something new will come out that I *absolutely must have*.
Then, of course, comes the part where I convert my machine from a mere ‘really awesome computer’ to a super-swift ‘audio workstation’. I finally found a place that is really good at outlining how to do it, from the very, very basics!
www.tweakheadz.com
Bad spelling aside, it’s a great place to start if you’re curious about how the whole ‘building your own audio-studio’ thing works. Being an EE helps, though. [Blows on knuckles.]
Essentially all I’ll have to get is an ‘audio interface’ for my computer, which is little more than a really, really good sound card. More expensive, of course, but it sure beats trying to get a 20 channel mixer and outboard processors for everything you want to do. Then I just need an inexpensive midi controller, a couple of microphones for any recording I want to do, and the rest is all software. Not cheap software, granted, but cheaper than the equivalent hardware, that’s for sure. Once I’ve got the studio set up, the rest is experimentation. That’s the fun part. That’s where music comes from. Can you taste the anticipation?
Soon, though, soon. Everything in its place. There is a plan in the works.
Ta,
-N
I pretty obviously need a new computer at this point. Well…okay, it’s not exactly obvious, but let’s just say I’m not mentally debating the point much anymore. My computer is old, its seams are starting to show, and I’m not entirely sure for how long it will even continue to work correctly. Hopefully a long time, but I’m not taking any bets on that point. It’s about 4 years old at this point, that’s proper refresh-time no matter how luddite-tastic you are.
Consider, then, what kind of computer to get. I’ve always liked Alienware, despite the fact that I’ve never actually *owned* one. They seem to come out with some pretty good systems on a fairly regular basis. Thom seems to disagree, and I could debate the point despite the fact that I have no evidence to the contrary by using techniques perfected by forum-trolls throughout the Internet. Namely, caps lock and baseless, barely coherent insults. (‘OMG U R SO STUPIDZ00RZ!!!!!!111 ALI3NW4RE R00X00RZ!!!1eleven1). But either way, it’s probably a moot argument. How come?
I’m probably going to go with Dell (sorry, Becca). Disagree if you will, but I have nothing but good things to say about them, and the most damning evidence that anyone is likely to come up with is probably anecdotal (My aunt had a Dell that broke and they were lame!), but I’ve never had a problem with them, and they build some good systems, in my book.
Here’s my toss into the anecdotal evidence pool, though. When I first bought this computer it had a 40-gig hard drive. It failed within about a month of me buying it. I was able to back-up all of my stuff, though, lucky me, and since I had the warranty, they sent a guy out to fix my problem. He came along with a 70-gig replacement to my broken 40-gig drive, fixed the problem, and I haven’t heard a peep out of the computer since. Well, there was an issue with the network card when I moved, but I’m blaming that on windows, since an upgrade fixed it.
Something I noticed, though. I went to Dell’s website to check out their computers and, of course, I started off with their highest-end system. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed, because the system along the caliber I want/wanted was a bit more than I wanted to pay. Downer. Strangely enough, though, when I went down one ‘class’ of computers, I was able to configure almost the exact same system as before, but for nearly 1000$ less. Holy fish sticks! I can’t imagine why the other version is so much more. It might be a case/power supply thing, but 1000$? A little strange is all.
Dad’s been sending me notes from the Cosco website about Dell systems that they’re selling. Certainly tempting, but I think I’m actually going to wait for a *leetle* bit more time before I take the plunge and get the new system. It’s a budget/timing thing, really. If it were up to me, I’d have three top-of-the line systems shipped to my home address tomorrow evening, but you have to pay for that kind of service, and I…uh…can’t. Heh. Besides, waiting to buy technology is always a good idea. Perhaps something new will come out that I *absolutely must have*.
Then, of course, comes the part where I convert my machine from a mere ‘really awesome computer’ to a super-swift ‘audio workstation’. I finally found a place that is really good at outlining how to do it, from the very, very basics!
www.tweakheadz.com
Bad spelling aside, it’s a great place to start if you’re curious about how the whole ‘building your own audio-studio’ thing works. Being an EE helps, though. [Blows on knuckles.]
Essentially all I’ll have to get is an ‘audio interface’ for my computer, which is little more than a really, really good sound card. More expensive, of course, but it sure beats trying to get a 20 channel mixer and outboard processors for everything you want to do. Then I just need an inexpensive midi controller, a couple of microphones for any recording I want to do, and the rest is all software. Not cheap software, granted, but cheaper than the equivalent hardware, that’s for sure. Once I’ve got the studio set up, the rest is experimentation. That’s the fun part. That’s where music comes from. Can you taste the anticipation?
Soon, though, soon. Everything in its place. There is a plan in the works.
Ta,
-N
Comments:
Thats alright Noal, but I'll only forgive you if you send me your old computer. You see to you it's old and busted, but to me..it would be beautiful and new and have more memory than my current system.....sooooooo this is where you call me and we work out some kind of deal!
-B
-B
Bthdt! Not hardly. I'm going to keep my old one around for backup, as well as neat things like 'network gaming', 'simple word-processing tasks', and 'cause having two computers is cool.' :)
Besides for the cost of shipping alone, you could probably get a better computer than mine.
-N
Besides for the cost of shipping alone, you could probably get a better computer than mine.
-N
Nothing wrong with Dells. My last 'puter was a Dell, and my current laptop is a Dell (though, my current computers are self-builts).
(Dave, btw)
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(Dave, btw)
# posted by 
: August 13, 2004 at 3:42 PM
: August 13, 2004 at 3:42 PM