OT: Need a new computer

[William O'Higgins Witteman]

On Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 05:12:29PM -0500, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
>> I would like to get something for under $400, taxes in.
>
>I would save my money until I could afford something that would last.

I understand the sentiment, but I am just finishing a major, unplanned
home renovation, and my current computer shuts down if I launch X.
Waiting is not looking favourable.  Doubling my budget is not very
exciting.

Also, I am not inclined to build a machine from parts myself - I don't
do it often (i.e. not in years) and you can introduce major problems by
doing it wrong.  I need a machine in the very near future that just
works out of the box.

To give you an idea of how much I need a machine that just works, I see
that I can get a Mac Mini for $649, and I would be up and running
(browsing and video) inside of an hour.  When I have more time, I can
configure Boot Camp and run Linux on it.

>Avoid the Pentium Dual Core in my opinion.  It is a seriously low end
>chip with none of the new features.  Some of those new features can be
>really handy.  I can't imagine buying a machine without VT support
>anymore.

I'm not sure what VT support is (virtualization, right?), and I'm willing 
to bet it wouldn't make YouTube run faster.  I don't play games, I don't
transcode video, I don't even use OpenOffice more than twice a year.
Firefox, vim, Python, vlc, miro, mutt - that's what my home machine
does.

I appreciate your advice, but there's no way I can build a machine, and
if some store is willing to do it out of adequate parts, that may be the
way I need to go.

The downside to the Mac Mini is that I am less likely to upgrade it,
whereas if I get a PC, I can upgrade bits as appropriate - swapping RAM,
drives is no problem, but I am unwilling to seat a new CPU without adult
supervision.  The upside of the Mac Mini is that it is small, quiet and
adequate.

(There's no way I'm paying for Windows, btw, so most other store-bought
machines are not feasible.)
-- 

yours,

William

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