New Computer

OK, so I have a new computer, a Dell XPS 630I. It came on Saturday and it's been sitting in its box all weekend because it's been too friggin' hot to do anything, so Jim pulled it out tonight. Although technically I still haven't taken possession -- it's over on Jim's desk, where he was working on it to get everything set up and transferred over, using this cool utility called PC Mover, which apparently works beautifully.

It looks like something out of a science fiction movie, seriously, LOL! It's a "gaming rig" and is pimped up with enough lights to bring in a 747 for a landing. And it comes with its own wiping cloth so you can keep the ultra-shiny plastic parts ultra-shiny. [facepalm]



This is basically it, although my lights are blue instead of red.

Mind you, I wasn't really asking for a new computer. The old one works fine and I like it perfectly well. And besides, I enjoy switching computers about as much as I enjoy moving house, which is to say I'd rather have the flu or sunburn or food poisoning. But Dell recently announced that after a certain date (which I think was some time last week) they'd no longer ship their high-end systems loaded with XP. :( They're perfectly willing to sell you a piece of crap made of Lincoln Logs with XP on it, since Vista (among its many flaws and sins) is a massive system hog and simply won't run on those, but any computer which can run Vista will be shipped with Vista, period. Microsoft's been leaning on them or something. [sigh]

My old computer's about five years old and would need replacing in another year or two anyway, so Jim figured it'd be better to get one now, with XP, than to wait and be forced to go with Vista. I had to agree, so here we are. The new box has a four-year warrantee, so hopefully it'll get me through the years of darkness until Microsoft pulls its head out of its corporate ass and comes up with an OS that actually, like, sorta works. [crossed fingers]

Anyway, the new baby's still over on Jim's desk. I've been dinking with it for a bit and everything looks good, although the next question is how much of my software (read: commercial games) are going to detect the new system as soon as I fire 'em up and squawk at me, requiring reinstalls. Not much, I hope. [crossed fingers] If everything's okay, though, we'll swap it for my old one over on my desk in the next day or two, and that'll be that. Keep a set of virtual fingers crossed for me. [wry smile]

Angie