Although the floor plan for my new house did not provide for a den, it did have an open office area on the second floor. In addition, I could also customize that area with built-in furniture from the builder while the house was being built. In the end, I had an office area with a nice countertop and plenty of cabinets and drawers built into the L shaped desk that also matched the kitchen’s countertops, cabinets, and drawers.

The only drawback was that the counter space of the office area was narrower in width than I had expected, even though there was plenty of length to comfortably seat two people and still have plenty of space left over. Unfortunately, my old monitor could hardly fit on the countertop, much less for workspace for a keyboard and a mouse. And I didn’t even have a big monitor. It was a 17-inch screen but as a CRT, it was still a big honking monitor because of all the space it hogged up.

Although I could probably find some sort of uncomfortable angle to set everything up, this situation provided an excellent excuse to finally replace the old computer. For years, I had known that the prices of complete computer systems were on a steady decline. In fact, I knew that I had already reached the point that it would now cost me far more to buy individual components instead of simply replacing the entire system. As a result, I had stopped upgrading my old computer. And there wasn’t much left for me to scavenge from it since most of my hardware was out of date.
 

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Even though I did have the perfect excuse for getting a new PC, the real necessity was that I needed a flat panel screen so that I could have a normal work area on the countertop. And that is where I figured that my “excuse” would come undone since I imagined that a flat panel would cost me a fortune to get one of a decent size.

So, I sifted through a Dell catalog, which gave me an eye-opening experience.

It had been years since I replaced the motherboard and the other components to my old PC and I thought I had a rough idea what the price tag could be. However, I could not believe all the stuff that I could buy for under a thousand dollars. And that amount even included a very nice 19-inch flat panel screen. Toss in a multi-function printer that had everything from copier to scanner and fax machine and the price still didn’t get too much above one thousand dollars.

I was dumbfounded. And in a way, I also felt embarrassed. For years, I had been fairly computer savvy since I had worked in the Information Technology divisions of a few companies. I always felt that I was a power user when it came to technology especially since much of my employment required lots of technical skills.

I immediately placed an order to Dell. At first, I was a bit annoyed at the sale rep because they were more interested in selling me software. I really didn’t need any new programs from them because I had already spent quite a bit of money keeping my software up to date even for an older computer.

I was totally beside myself when the new Dell arrived and it was set up. The 19-inch flat panel screen was awesome. Even though the screen was big, it took up so little space. And the computer itself was fast! In fact, everything about the hardware was fast and up to date. I loved the six USB ports with two of them in the front of the computer since my previous PC only had two of them in the back. Now with the proliferation of gadgets, more USB ports are a necessity.

Even migrating my old data was a breeze. Although it took a long time for my old PC to load files into my USB memory stick, I was able to move the data into the new computer in a snap because of the newer USB version. But what really amazed me was the speed and power of this new computer system that I bought for such a cheap price. Yes, it was the bottom of the line type of computer but I was still awestruck to see how so little money could buy so much.

Yes, I know that this article is showing a generation gap but I was a teenager when the IBM PC revolution began. I played and worked on those big clunky computers that ran as slow as molasses. And I was accustomed to paying a lot of money for that kind of equipment. Today, I am thrilled that I can actually have a computer system that has just almost everything I want in it for dirt-cheap. Yes, I am now modernized but I don’t think I will ever assemble another computer again.

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COMMENT - John D. Turner of National Summary

Daniel, I sympathize. As you no doubt know, I go back even further. (back to the TRS-80 Model 1 Level 1 in fact, which still sits in my closet). I have also noticed that I can no longer build a computer for as cheap as I can buy one, particularly when you throw in the Operating System, which comes with the one you buy and which you must pay extra for with the one you build. (I have 5 at home now). However, there is one thing which still has me leaning towards building a system. For one, I have a RAID 0 setup on my system (the one we do our finances on). It is much simpler and cheaper in the long run to "backup" everything using a mirroring array. Hard drives are fairly cheap (I got two 160 GB SATA drives for $35 each after rebates), and the SATA drives are faster than the standard EIDE drives. In order to get the RAID controller, I had to buy a motherboard with the controller on it. This is not usually an option with the "off the shelf" systems, particularly the low end ones. Also, I haven't noticed that such systems (particularly Dell, though I haven't opened a Dell in a while (and I do like their cases)) are particularly expandable. (No extra drive bays). Their layouts are usually proprietary, which means you can't upgrade the motherboard because none of the slots, fans, etc will match up with the case. So, even though the prices look attractive, I think I will probably continue to build my own, at least for a while. And there is something satisfying about having a PC that you did yourself.