The New Dell

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new Dell for the American people. – Franklin Dell Roosevelt

The last thing that I wanted to do after I returned home from an expensive vacation was to spend more money, but our desktop computer had gone kaput while we were gone. I made a few vain attempts to revive the old machine, but it was to no avail. All I could get out of it was a faint pulse, before even that brief sign of life faded away. I spent most of the day carting out the corpse, cleaning up after it and then backing up the hard drive of the now defunct computer. We still had the laptop, so there was no real urgency in replacing it, but I soon became driven to do just that. The computer and it was a Dell too, had served us well for over eight years, which made it pretty long in the tooth in PC years. It was still running Vista, which was Microsoft’s state-of-the-art home operating system when we bought it. That was then though and this is now. Microsoft has all but dropped support for Vista and will officially do so soon. We had the latest version of Internet Explorer that was supported on that operating system, but one-by-one my favorite websites would cease to load or load improperly. I had planned to replace the old Dell by the end of the year, but I had planned on doing it closer to Christmas.

In-between the cleanup tasks, I also did some research and online shopping. I decided that I wanted Windows 8 over Windows 7, basically because it is newer. I wanted an Intel Core processor, preferably an i5. I didn’t think that I could afford an i7. And I wanted as much RAM as I could get. I did some shopping online, but my usual sources for machines, Dell’s and HP’s refurbished computer stores were pretty bare of product. At about two, I left to do the grocery shopping. We had been gone a week and there was almost no food in the house. On my way out the door I mentioned to Anne that I might swing by Micro Center and I asked her if she wanted to come along with me. She was ensconced on the couch with a new book and so she said, “No, I trust you to do the right thing.” Mama, never let your boys go to Micro Center alone.

I found the machine that I wanted with Windows 8, i5 Core and 12 GB of RAM. It was a teensy bit over my target price point, but there was no one there to argue with me. Micro Center is like a computer warehouse with this one unusual attribute, all the salesmen work on commission. After I had made my decision I found a salesman who went into the backroom to fetch my computer. I must have been the bluebird of happiness that landed on his shoulder, because on the way to the register, he stopped off at the front office and had the manager come out and shake my hand. Maybe, I did spend too much? I got it home and setup in record time. Anne was surprised that I had already bought a PC. I’ve spent some time struggling with Windows 8, but it will come eventually. After a while, I got tired of the IT grind and settled back to watching movies.