And now for something completely different

Okay, a change from beer, closed pubs, Coronavirus, government policy etc, because, as the announcer for Monty Python used to say, “And now for something completely different.” So different in fact that you’d be hard to guess what it is but then, when you find out, you’re quite likely to be disappointed at the banality and mundane nature of what I’m about to reveal.  

After a decade or more of making do and getting by with second-hand computers – other people’s cast-offs, basically, I finally pushed the boat out and treated myself to a brand-spanking, new desk-top computer.

My previous PC, which I purchased from a work colleague, had served me well these past six or seven years, but it was becoming extremely slow, took ages to boot up and even longer to connect to the internet. The hard drive was practically full; mainly with 50 GB's worth of assorted photographs that I’ve saved and accumulated over the years, but also with hundreds of Word Documents most, but not all, blog related.

It was time for a change, but with so much choice available, what was I to go for? Handy though laptops are, I wanted another desktop. I spend quite a bit of time sat in front of a PC, not just writing this blog – even though it does take up quite a bit of time, but for tasks such as emails, ordering things online, listening to music, and a host of other activities.

I carried out a spot of research first, set a price range and established exactly what I wanted – a PC with 8 GB RAM, virtually unlimited storage capacity – that’s never going to happen, as  I remember purchasing a computer 30 years ago, and the salesman telling me that I’d never fill up the installed, 40 MB hard-drive!

So, without boring readers too much with the technical details, my new LENOVO Idea Centre 3 comes with a 1 TB HDD and a 120 GB SDD (Solid State Drive). Windows 10 is installed on the latter, meaning the unit boots up more or less instantly – unlike the PC it’s replaced. It’s also virtually silent, so no noisy fan to contend with.

The other surprise is my new machine is considerably smaller than the old one, but this does have a downside in that there is no room in the case to house a CD/DVD Drive. This is a disappointment for someone who likes to listen to music whilst typing, but it seems to be the way things ae going in the electronics world. All is not lost, as external CD Drives, powered off one of the PC’s USB ports, are relatively cheap and easy to come by.

So, with my current monitor and set of speakers plugged in and ready, it’s all systems go on the home computer front. There’s no guarantee my writing will be any better, but with a nifty new keyboard and an ultra-fast processor, I should be able to knock posts out that little bit quicker.