{"id":300,"date":"2006-12-05T22:54:19","date_gmt":"2006-12-05T13:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-12-05\/300"},"modified":"2006-12-05T22:54:19","modified_gmt":"2006-12-05T13:54:19","slug":"ordered-a-new-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2006-12-05\/300","title":{"rendered":"Ordered a New Computer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

\n\nGetting sort of sick of having to reboot my horribly flaky Windows<\/a>\nsystem 10 times a day<\/span> (I kid<\/span> you not), I've finally succumbed to getting a\nnew<\/span> system.<\/p>\n\n

Despite being a geek for the better part of 40 years, I didn't<\/span> buy my\nfirst computer until I was<\/span> 30 (and I still<\/span> have it below my desk —\nalmost 10 years old, it's the machine with which I wrote<\/span> my last two books<\/a>). In the years<\/span>\nsince, I've bought two laptops<\/a>, a system<\/span> for\nFumie while we were in America, and systems for both of us here.<\/p>\n\n

I built my current system from parts, building exactly what I wanted.<\/span>...\nexcept stability and disk performance. So this time<\/span> I opted<\/span> for a pre<\/span>-built\nmass-market (hopefully no-headache) system, from Dell.<\/p>\n\n

Because I want an English version of Windows, and I want<\/span> it to be\npre-installed by the company that builds the machine (again, the emphasis\nbeing on “no headaches”), my choices were limited. HP also sells<\/span> them, but I hate<\/span> my last HP printer so much, I just couldn<\/span>'t think\nabout going with HP.<\/p>\n\n

Dell lets you customize a machine extensively during the order process,\nwhich is great. I ended<\/span> up getting a fairly<\/span> bare-bones system — it\nhas, of course, CPU, memory, power supply, disks, graphics card, and the\nlike, but the only “extra” component I added<\/span> was a Firewire<\/span>\ncard. I didn't<\/span> even get a monitor,<\/span> but that's because the Dell 20\" LCD I've\nhad for years is still spectacular.<\/p>\n\n

I'd decided a week or so ago to get it, but hadn't placed the order\nbecause the current promo special wasn't something I would<\/span> benifit from. My waiting<\/span> paid off, because when I looked<\/span> yesterday, I found<\/span> that they had a\none<\/span>-day 10%-off special. Sweet! Saved $300.<\/p>\n\n

In the end, I ordered<\/span> a Dell®<\/span> Precision™<\/span> 390<\/a> with:<\/p>\n\n