Well I finally splurged and assembled a new computer. I spent $1500 SGD on the box without the monitor. I'll keep to the existing monitor since it is rather new and the monitor currently doubles up as my PS2 display.
Compared to my old Pentium 4 1.6 GHz machine, this new one can run rings around it. My previous rig was 256 Meg ram and spots a 40 Gb harddisk. It runs on a $40 graphics card. My current computer is a Core2 duo 1.83 GHz machine, 2 Gb ram, 500 Gb harddisk with a Radeon 1950 Pro graphics card. Currently this set up would be a mid end computer but since I have been so used to the old setup, software just seemed faster. Moreover, the 500 Gb harddisk allows me to burn rental DVDs into the harddisk in about 10-15 minutes. No more late returns for rental DVDs.
All in all, does the new machine save me time? The answer is a resounding "No!". As with most(98%) new technology gadgets, this computer just does not save me more time. No matter how fast windows take to boot up, I end up having to spend more time learning new software, playing new games where the old junk could not play, downloading new animes to watch and a plethora of things that just eats up my time with nothing to show for in the future. The morale of the story is this - "Don't kid yourself into thinking that the latest gadget will save you more time." I'll have to admit I kind of like playing with these new toys even if they eventually end up wasting days of my life.
