Getting my geek on

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Some might think that as Houston’s best tech geek I would have gadgets galore and the latest, greatest computer on my desktop. This is, in fact, not even close to the truth.

I have been using an AMD K6 400Mhz computer with a 40 gig hard drive and 384 megs of RAM since about 1999 or so. It’s been happily chugging along, doing what it does and I have been mostly content.

There have been a few system reloads in it’s life. I have gone from Windows 98 to Windows ME to Windows 2000 and finally Windows XP.

I have lived with USB without the benefits of Version 2 transfer speeds. I have gotten by with a minimal ATI video card and a low end Soundblaster card. I have burned CD’s at a blazing 8X and I have watched as more and more programs (applications and games) increase in their minimum system requirements.

For the most part this has suited me just fine. I have nice laptop I use when I go to the radio station to do my show or head off to the monthly geek gathering.

Over time, however, I have found myself using the laptop in the living room and not even turning on the desktop computer. Boot times are getting slower and the contrast between desktop and laptop performance was beginning to become more disparaging.

Over the last few months I have been entertaining the idea of buying a new computer. That’s right, buying one and not building my own. Frankly the thought of putting one together and going through all that hassle really has no appeal to me. Give me a name brand and a manufacturers warranty and I am happy.

For the last several Christmas holidays my mother-in-law has sent me Best Buy gift cards of various dollar amounts. They have really added up and today I decided to go and have a look at what was available in the computer department.

I found a good box. A HP Pavillion Media Center a1310n featuring a 3700+ AMD Athlon with 1 gig of memory, a 200 gig hard drive and DVD+/-RW drive. It has a memory card reader built in that reads Compact/Flash, SD/MMC, Sony Memory Sticks and Smart Media cards. The system features digital audio, 7 USB 2.0 ports AND 2 Fire wire ports.

It’s not top of the line and I am not particularly fond of HP BUT, with the gift cards and the rebates I got it for a song. And it out-performs anything I have ever owned.

To make things even better I have plenty of infrastructure. I have a home network with extra cables, a KVM switch which allows me to run both computers simultaneously. This makes the transfer of data a very simple matter and I should be up and running in a short amount of time.

Over the last 7 years I have unboxed, setup and configured many new computers, all for other people. Today I do it for myself. It’s going to be sweeeeeeeeeeeeet and you know it’s going to be done right. After all, I am Houston’s best tech geek.