Heheh. I actually do this (take pictures, assess the layout) whenever I make a major change to my setup. Here's the picture from my livejournal account when I got my latest computer:
10/28/07 - Ridiculous computer I just got...
No, it's not one of those 21" "laptop" computers. But it's close. It's a Dell XPS gaming machine, model 720, 6600 quad-core, dual SLI Nvidia 8600 graphic cards, and a 30" widescreen monitor. Overkill? Definitely. I'm not a gamer, really. I just wanted a machine powerful enough to last maybe 5 years (hopefully). Still, it could have been worse. I could have gone crazy and got the top of the line model with the overclocked processor with 4 gigs of overclocked RAM, 8800 and the water-cooling system, but I don't have the $7000 to blow on something like that, especially when I'd only use about 30% of its power. No, mine only has 2 gigs of RAM (overclocked, though), and the drive is a very modest 350 gigs, though I still have my 500 GB external. Like my laptop which is now in the guest bedroom, I have the sound going in through the optical out into a 7-year old Kenwood receiver, and it sounds great. Dolby digital through the Soundblaster. The speakers are the smaller Polk 5+1 system.
Now I haven't had a desktop (or in this case, tower) PC in 5 years. It was a bit of a shock setting this thing up. The tower is ridiculous. It's 30" tall, 40 lbs, doesn't fit in any of my furniture, and so is sitting on top of my desk (hardwood floors, gets really dusty on the floor), and it still only had one PCI slot left after the dual graphics cards, the sound card, and the tv tuner to fit my wireless network card. So now it doesn't have any more PCI slots. I also ran out of the 6 rear USB ports (monitor, mouse, keyboard, HDD, scanner, Wacom tablet), even with the 3 extra I got on the monitor (IR, iPod, APC backups). The monitor... ah, a thing of beauty. It was well worth the $1200 or so it cost to upgrade to it. I have 6 windows open right now (2600 x 1200), and I can see every single one of them!!!!! Simultaneously!!!!! I think I lose time sometimes just gawking at the monitor. In fact, I confess I get the crazy compulsion to buy two more to set myself up in a nest of monitors like Mr. Universe, which I can do having a dual graphic card setup, but then fortunately the sanity returns.
The OS is Vista Ultimate 32-bit. Yeah, I know. But I figured, XP will slowly die and I might as well take the leap now, have Dell install everything major at the factory. My only regret really is not having them install a bluetooth receiver, because the dongle that came with my Logitech Dinovo Media desktop doesn't work for whatever reason, and I don't want to futz with it so far now I have the cheap USB keyboard standard with any Dell system. At least I have a nice mouse.
Some programs I needed to upgrade to the Vista version:
MS Office
CorelDRAW
I still have Photoshop Elements 4 and Corel Painter Essentials 3 from my Wacom bundle installed and so far, have only crashed PshopElem once. I really don't want to shell out another $250 just to upgrade to CS3, so for the first time since I've been using computers, I might not have Pshop. I'm going to try to get used to Photo Paint instead, and if I can't, I'll upgrade to Elements 6 instead. I love Painter Essentials. After installing the Vista patch, it seems to be working fine. In fact, I love Corel's graphics products in general. I've used DRAW since version 4 (going on 10 years now?) and it's great for design work. I still need to find a good web-design program. I used Frontpage (I know, I know) since it was bundled with Office 2003 and might just have to install it again until I can afford to switch to Dreamweaver or maybe just upgrade to Web Expressions. A very expensive month so far. Sigh.
Anyhow, there's always unexpected costs associated with a major upheaval like this. I got a new APC UPS unit to handle the monster tower and monitor (a 1300VA model), and I went ahead and got the newest Canon MF scanner/printer. MF stands for multifunction, not mother^^^^^kin' huge printer, like it should. Damn thing weighs 30 lbs, too. It's a network printer, so I have it hooked up next to the wireless router downstairs along with my HP 2600 (color laserjet). This house is wired...
END LJ entry. Since then, I updated to Elements 6 and Web Expression, and added a Logitech G15 keyboard (the old one with the 18 Macro keys). I also had to buy a bigger desk, so it doesn't look like this exactly anymore. I also sold Spike, and replaced him with a Vampire Willow (yes, the head I was working on back then) and a regular Willow.
