If this is some kind of logic problem, I fail.

[effervescible]

I need to get a new computer. Here is my dilemma:

-I don't really want to get a laptop as my primary computer because I find them too squished together for desktop use, and I have a nice LCD monitor I want to continue to use.
-I like Macs but they are effin' expensive, and $1000 minimum is really more than I can justify. I have never in my life taken on credit card debt I couldn't pay off at the end of the month and I'm not going to start now.
-So I could buy a PC but there's the issue of Vista. Fucking Vista. I don't want Vista, and even if I get a computer with XP on it or install XP over Vista, in time, Vista's gonna be the way of things and I am not enthused about that.
-Linux. Let's just say "NO" and leave it at that. Besides, I don't have any pirated Photoshop for Linux.

So this leaves me in a position of...NOTHING is suitable, so I sit spinning my wheels and using the old computer. Which sort of sucks since the secondary hard drive died in, like, February.

WHAT DO I DO?

Comments

[a-hollow-year.livejournal.com]

Upgrade the old computer?

[jaina.livejournal.com]

I got this computer back in...*thinks* spring/summer of 2001, though. The now-primary hard drive is the only new thing on it, and I'd like more space, more RAM...it just seems worth it to upgrade entirely instead of pieacemeal. I'd LIKE to bribe my brother to build me a computer, but given that he is a) already putting in mucho overtime at work because that is apparently what video game programmers do when working on a Halo title b) way richer than me and not in need of bribery money...I doubt it'll happen. :/ I wish.

[a-hollow-year.livejournal.com]

You could probably build one yourself, it's not terribly hard. (I base this on the fact that I could do it with a list of instructions, and if I can do it anyone can. Of course I'd probably forget to ground myself and end up fried, but whaddaryagunnado?) You could keep the old case and just fill it up with new parts. I know a few places online that sell parts for decent prices.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Do you know a decent guide to doing this? I tried googling it once and the result I got was so horribly complex I want AHHH MOTHERLAND and ran off with my metaphorical tail between my legs.

[a-hollow-year.livejournal.com]

Googling "How to build a PC" comes up with several different sites. I don't want to choose one to follow unless I've done it myself, so I'll leave that to you. (I do like the first one, though.) I took a gander at most of them, and while there are a lot of steps, they appear to be very easy and highly detailed. Most of them shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do and require, at most, the use of your wrist so you can operate the screwdriver.

The pros to doing this are, of course, that you can get the computer just how you want it (no Vista, for example), and you'll know everything about it. The cons are that it takes an initial time investment, and you still have the problem of Vista being the wave of the future (though I kinda like vista :3).

...Or, since you like macs but don't want to pay for one, you can just buy a new desktop and hack it to run OSX. Google "OS X on PC" to learn more about that.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm going to look into this some more to see if it's something I can do.

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

I like a_hollow_year's suggestion to build your compy better, bigger, stronger, faster, but if you want to buy new, I'll tell you that Vista ain't all that bad. It uses up a lot of memory, so I put in a stick of 1GB RAM when I bought my laptop (bringing it to 1GB and 512 MB). It doesn't take a terrible amount of getting used to. My parents work it out fine, and they're fairly illiterate. You can get a decent eMachines at Best Buy for $400-500, since you already like your monitor.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

But it won't run my pirated programs! I NEED my pirated programs!

[jmcgarry.livejournal.com]

Ever thought of buying a refurb (from a major vendor obviously)? Or as others have suggested building your own? There are a lot of places that sell barebones kits that you just put together. It's annoying and might be a bit challenging, but you have a lot of technical people on your flist that can help.

Other options are that you can get Photoshop to work under Linux using wine (the Windows emulator), but there is a good deal of tweaking (there is also GIMPshop). I dual-boot Ubuntu and XP at home and Ubuntu and Vista at work. For the most part there really isn't a lot of difference between the two other than for complex applications, since more and more of what I do is web-based.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Building my own is starting to sound more attractive, though the idea of doing so without real life supervision is sorta scary. I may look into it though.

My main issue with using Linux is...it sounds kinda over my head, from all the tinkering Char does with it.

[jmcgarry.livejournal.com]

You just need a live machine (to post) and a digital camera (optionally to take pictures to post). It's not rocket science. :-)

Char, is, how should I say this, a total, über-geek about Linux. You don't have to do the sort of granular configuration and tweaking she does; she enjoys the tweaking. Linux, particularly Ubuntu, is totally not over your head.

[aevalin.livejournal.com]

Dell actually is still selling computers with XP on it - at least laptops - I just ordered one for a client. You can still buy XP in a few places (M$oft actually has just agreed to let people downgrade from Vista - trouble is not everyone is introducing new hardware with XP drivers) so if you bought a system without an OS you could put XP on it.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

I couldn't select XP as an option yesterday when I was sampling their build-your-own-desktop thingum. Oh man, I didn't even THINK of computers not coming with Windows drivers anymore. Aaaaggh.

[aevalin.livejournal.com]

Make sure you're looking under Small Business and not home. They try and shove Home folks into Vista but they know businesses might still need XP. I'm seeing some on the Canuck site.

[aevalin.livejournal.com]

http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/optix?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

These ones let you choose either...

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Thank you! See, this is why I turn to you people who are smarter than me. ;)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

smalldog.com sells refurbished Macs. Not sure about prices but they're fair and have a good reputation. I think you can get an iMac for under $1000 these days, too.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

I'll investigate that, thanks.

[imre-nico.livejournal.com]

Just man up and buy the Mac. You're an adult now, with a steady job. It's not going to lead to herpes or uncle abuse. And if a slightly longer-term credit card debt really freaks you out, go get a personal signature loan at the bank. Small amounts (under 5000), monthly payments and low interest.

Computers aren't a luxury item in this day and age, (and especially not with your job) so don't compromise on what you want.

Macs, bitch. I'm a rabid believer.

You won't regret it in the long term.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

It's not so much that the debt freaks me out as I've never seen the point of taking it on when I don't have to. I'd rather just suck it up and drop a bunch instead of letting the card companies get their chunk.

Honestly, I'm not sure if the Mac is what I want. Basically I want my current computer to not be getting old and busted. :/ I guess that won't happen though.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I will say that I've had longer 'relevancy life' with a Mac than I've ever had with a PC, and PCs don't seem to be getting any better on that scale. My work computer is almost six years old and it's finally needing replacing now-- but I do an asston of Photoshop work on it and it uses a lot of memory. That might be something to take into account.

Having said that, my laptop's a PC.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

My current PC is six years old too, actually. I guess that's old?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's pretty old. Our uber-cheap office replaces computers every five years, and the PCs that were just replaced were hardly running anything by the end.

[sarcasticval.livejournal.com]

Rock on, Mac friend.

I adore my powerbook. ADORE. I've had it almost three years and the only problem that I ever had with it was covered by my apple care plan. They really do work so much better than PCs.

[starsapphy.livejournal.com]

Umm, hi. I'm a random IchiRuki fan and I just finished reading your "Setting Sun, Rising Moon" and somehow randomly stumbled in here. (Side note: your fic is amazing and I'll try to leave a review as soon as my brain can get over the awesomeness that is your IchiRuki). Anyways, I saw this post and couldn't resist commenting even though I know it's kinda really creepy for me to do this:

If you look around enough, you can find some pre-assembled PCs that are not that far off from the custom jobs price/quality wise. Of course it mostly depends on what you're using it for but if you're not going to be doing intense gaming, decent deals aren't all that hard to find.

If you don't like Vista, you could just uninstall XP on your current computer and then reinstall that version on your new computer. If you have those random disks the manufacturer gave you when you first purchased your system, the key should be on one of those.

If you've lost those disks, you could ask your brother (after this week since Halo 3 comes out on the 25th) if he has an old XP key and/or install disk lying around. If he's like any of the programmers I know, he probably will if he *ever* had an extra. (We hoard those things like mad. I think I actually have a Windows 95 install disk + key lying around somewhere.)

Yeah, you are right in that stupid Microsoft will force us to move to Vista eventually, but as of right now, I haven't heard any good reason to move over except for the prettier interface (and DirectX 10 if you're a serious PC gamer). I'm refusing to switch over until they have some decent service packs out.

Melisande

PS Holy Crap, your brother works on Halo?! OMG WOW ::bows to your brother out of sheer computer-geekiness::

PPS I'm not creepy at all in real life! Really!

[jaina.livejournal.com]

It's not creepy! I appreciate the advice. :) I think what I really want is for my computer to just STAY THE SAME and not get outdated and busted. That's not really gonna happen, though. :/

P.S. Heh, he's actually working on...Halo Wars, I think? The tactics game in the Halo universe that's not in the direct line. So they're still programming it and putting in a bunch of crunch time.