AlanBarber.Org
Saturday, April 16, 2005
The girlfriend's computer is almost finished
Well the computer is almost finished. I have all the parts and it’s up and running. I’m almost finished setting things up. Just a bit more tweaking of windows and downloading updates, etc. There has been one minor problem. The Floppy drive I ordered is defective and doesn’t work. So I have to RMA it back to ZipZoomFly so they can send me a new one that works. We don’t really need a floppy drive though so it’s no big deal and I’ll give the computer to my GF now. When the floppy comes in she can just bring the box over one night and I’ll toss it in really quick.
Like I said, all the hardware is in and running and they work out the box. Well, I take that back. Windows didn’t recognize the modem so I had to go and download the drivers off the US Robotics website and burn them to a cd. That aside the system is running great.
The 700mhz Celeron with 512mb of ram is plenty fast for word processing, browsing the web, doing email, light image editing (from digital camera) and even watching DVD movies. Yup, I was a bit surprised myself but it’s smooth as silk playing movies!
So let that be a lesson for you computer shoppers. Any idiot sales person at a place like Best Buy or Circuit City that tries to convince you that you need to get the new top of the line multi-gigahertz cpu system so you can surf the web better or watch movies is full of it. Unless you plan to play video games or do major video editing any system sold today is just fine!
Here’s the parts list:
[X] - Case (Linkworld 617-C.88-P4)
[X] - Motherboard (PC Chips M791G)
[X] - CPU (I have a used Intel 700Mhz Celeron Processor in socket 370 format)
[X] - HSF (I have a used socket 370 Golden Orb cpu heatsink/fan)
[X] - Ram (Crucial 512mb DDR PC2100)
[X] - Hard Drive (I have a used 27.2 Gigabyte Maxtor)
[X] - Floppy Drive (Sony FD MPF920Z161/131 1.44MB 3.5in Floppy)
[X] - CD-Rom Drive (Liteon SOHW-1633S 16X Dual Layer DVD Burner)
[X] - Modem (U.S. Robotics USR263091 56K PCI Voice Faxmodem)
[X] - Keyboard (I have a used Logitech Deluxe 104key)
[X] - Mouse (I have a used Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical)
[X] - Monitor (Balance 15” LCD Monitor)
[X] - Windows XP (XP Home Edition OEM)
Total Cost: ~$500.00
Ok, I admit for the cost you could probably buy a dell that’s much faster then this but hey this isn’t about the money. Anyone can order a dell and have it shipped to a girlfriends house but that’s boring. This is about my want to build a computer for my girlfriend. It’s about getting to spend the time picking out the parts, ordering them, playing with all the parts and setting it up.
There’s something wonderful about being able to say “I made this for you because I love you!” Maybe it’s a geek thing but this is one of those ways we geeks show someone that we think they’re special. It’s like a painter painting a portrait or a sculptor making a piece of art. The originality and self expression of using ones own skills to make a gift. Just ordering a system and giving it to someone lacks that.
on 04/16/2005 at 02:20 PM