Two days ago, I turned on my PC and found...nothing. No sound of it powering up, the screen didn't come to life. The thing is, this could have been avoided. The switch light had been flickering for quite some time and I should have sent it for repair or at least, maintenance. It was living on a promise, as it were.
Anyway, it died on me. A new power supply, according to the technician, cost $180. A new CPU would cost $1300 (dirt cheap). I was nearly tempted to get a new CPU because the specs were far, far better than that of my 5 year old PC. But I knew that there was no immediate need for a new PC, and prices were on the way down anyway. And I should buy only when there is a need. So I forked over the $180 and my computer lived again.
My computer died....and lived again.
August 19th, 2008 at 04:07 am
August 19th, 2008 at 04:37 am 1219120658
August 19th, 2008 at 07:23 am 1219130621
August 19th, 2008 at 01:17 pm 1219151857
Of course, prices vary depending on performance level, and it's me installing it myself, not having to pay someone else for labor.
Still, between the two, it's a very nice cost savings!
August 19th, 2008 at 01:57 pm 1219154244
Way to go. Our computer just died and usually my dh just replaces what is wrong. This time it was just dead.
August 20th, 2008 at 04:58 am 1219208329
The CPU costing $1300 (I guess that's about USD400?) which I mentioned had top specs. It came with a DVD writer, a 40-in-1 card reader, a huge RAM & hard disk space. Also came with original Windows.
Usually, to save costs, vendors will sell you the machine by "preloading" a copy of a version of Windows, let's say XP. You never get the setup CDs (and therefore it's a hassle to do any installation which would require those CDs) and woe betide you if you try to install Windows upgrades - you'd start to see an annoying error message telling you your Windows copy is unauthorized forever after that!
I've considered using Linux, which is open source, but am too chicken to make the switch. I'm thinking that it will be like using an Apple Mac all over again, with lots of compatibility problems.