Autonomy is one of the perks of my job. No one looks over my shoulder, questions where I am, or what I do. It's nice to have that sort of freedom in my work day/week. Of course that sort of trust doesn't come through years of doing the wrong thing and it didn't simply fall into my lap, I worked hard to place myself in this position, not just as far as work goes, but life in general too.
So, here I am sitting in a small out of the way café having lunch and pondering computers. The image below shows the pumpkin and quinoa frittata and coffee I had for lunch, and half of my MacBook Air to the right which is the computer in question. (Don't ask me what Quinoa is...I have no clue.) Someone called in keen-waa but it looks like kwin-oh-a to me so that's how I pronounce it...Doesn't mean I know what it is though. A grain maybe...?ANYway...Moving on...
Pondering computers is not something I do often. I tend to simply use them, like most people, and give them no thought whatsoever. My work, and personal computers are just tools. But like most tools they wear out and I'm starting to see little niggles on my computer that could be precursor's to monumental failure, or at best mild annoyance. I actually spend my life in a time-space-continuum between wanting to brake my computer in half and treating it kindly...A love/hate relationship you could call it.
Undoubtedly, the most prevalent task my computer does is steem-related: Blogging, crypto-ing and reading although I do my banking, emailing, some photo editing and other typical tasks on there as well. I'm certainly not a gamer, very rarely look at YouTube and don't use my computer for a TV (Netflix, Stan, Presto etc.) So, my (home/personal) computer needs are rather basic...I need it to turn on and boot up quickly, multitask efficiently, connect to the interwebs and be easy to use.
I have been running Mac or a while now, ten years I guess now, although I am moving back to PC. I recently frisbee'ed my iPhone into the ocean (not really) and went to Android (true, I did) which was a good move as far as I'm concerned. #fuckapple I have an iPhone for work though, and my wife's phone is also an iPhone however that will change once it dies. So, I'm moving away from Mac and have my sights set on something new, suitable and affordable...But what?
I've heard a lot about the need for processor speed and feel that for my non-gaming purposes the Intel Core i5 is the way to go. The computer I am looking at has the 8th Generation i5 which is fast, apparently. It also has an 8gb RAM thingy so these two thingamajiggy's working together should fit my needs nicely.
I've had a few people shitcan my ideas on it though telling me that I need the i7 processor and 16gb RAM plus a TB of storage. Considering I don't want to spend the additional $500-$700, and the fact that I don't think I need that additional speed to perform the tasks I need to, I figure I'll stick to my original plan. I'm open to suggestions of course, as long as they are based around my needs and not the needs of the suggester...Which would in fact be an unproductive waste of my time, and their's.
I came across the Acer Swift 5 which is a 15.6" computer weighing in at under 1 kilogram (under 2.2lbs) which is pretty cool. Apparently their use of alloys in its construction keeps the weight down yet the durability intact. Sounds legit.
I like it for it's light weight, however it comes with a 256gb SSD, a reasonable graphics doosywhatsit, USB C 3.1 falckermedizzle and a 10 hour battery which all apparently all means something.
I'm trying to be logical about my purchase and find a balance between what I need now, into the future and the purchase price. My budget of around $1500 should get me into a computer and adding in a few extras should leave me with a reasonable unit to carry me forward for a few years at least.
I've just looked online at a store I actually walked into last weekend and noticed that the computer I like is on sale for $1359, about $300 cheaper than on the weekend which is cool although I'm not ready to purchase just yet. You see I'm still weighing up whether to do so now or wait a little longer. My Mac still works at the moment, despite me not having much confidence in it, and if I delay a little more maybe the Acer Swift will be cheaper again closer to the end of the Financial Year (June 30) or when it is superseded...Which probably happened the moment it rolled off the production line anyway.
I'm not totally clueless when it comes to all the numbers and their benefits of course; Sure, I'm no computer expert either, but I understand the concepts and the reasons people suggest buying more than required now so the unit has greater longevity. The thing is that if the i7 16gb unit opens steem 0.013 seconds faster than the i5 8gb version it's not going to mean that much to me. However the $500-$700 I save in the purchase price of the i5 could be half, to one, kilogram of silver, a bunch of crypto or two month's of diesel fuel in my Landcruiser. It's all money and I don't see the point in spending more than I have to to achieve the same end result.
I would welcome your thoughts here of course. Please feel free to comment. No need to comment that I need an MSI Titan computer with the 8th Generation Intel Core i9-8950HK processor, 32gb DDR4 RAM, GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, 1TB HDD and 512 SSD...Well, that is unless you want to buy me one...It's only $5,500AUD if you're feeling generous. I'm happy to forward you a shipping address.
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