Holiday Technology Acquisitions
This season in technology was quite interesting, to say the least.
Initially, I was not thinking of getting anything at all. I just got a new laptop and the only things I could really improve on the computer front was the fact that my desktop had only 1 GB of RAM (which I could double-up to 2 GB, but would cost more because it was 184-pin stuff, not the current 240-pin stuff) and a single-core AMD Athlon 64 CPU (which would also be expensive because it was Socket 939, not the current AM2).
Then I did some looking around.. mainly at NCIX….
Like always, there was not any awesome stuff on outdated technology that my desktop runs on. No dual core Socket 939 CPUs. Surprisingly enough, there was 184-pin RAM on sale, but it wasn’t that great of a deal when you compare that with the sales for 240-pin RAM ($58 for 2×512 MB Corsair Value Select PC-3200 compared to $30 for 2×1 GB OCZ Value Series PC2-5400). However, if you take a look at tech pricing trends as proposed by of the tech staff at work, you will notice that prices start off expensive, dip down to quite low prices when they are mainstream, then go up again when it is past their time. To avoid getting shafted any more on RAM that would work for my desktop (it’s only a year or two old), I got the Corsair RAM.
However, when it was time to install it, the upgrade failed. After some trouble shooting, which involved borrowing stuff from people (thanks Benton for the PSU tester!) and Googling, it turned out that my PSU, although in working order, lacked the power to run the stuff, or something. What was strange about the situation was that even after removing the RAM, the motherboard still refused the power supply.
Replacing the power supply for my case, an Aspire (now Apevia) X-QPack, is a complete pain because the depth for the unit is 11.5cm. Your standard ATX power supplies are 14cm to 16cm deep (or long). After some measuring and experimentation, a 14cm depth PSU would fit, given some work, so I looked around for suitable power supplies.
Things somehow worked in my favour because my distant cousin who is studying down in the US came by to visit and my dad was going to drive her back down to Seattle (and also visit her sister because she could not come up due to unsigned papers; they are international students). Doing some research, Fry’s Electronics has a sale for the 550W Antec TruePower Trio for $60 USD (50% off) and since there is a Fry’s in Renton, I got myself that and made myself a happy camper.
Some further checks on my laptop, due to the 1 GB laptop RAM sales going on at NCIX, revealed that my spiffy new laptop has two slots for RAM and only one slot is used to get my 1 GB of RAM. NCIX has the RAM inside the computer available, but not on sale, so despite the fact it was not on sale, I ordered a stick for $26.28, which is a fairly decent price for a RAM upgrade for an already pretty cheap laptop.
On the audio-front, I was using my dad’s 1 GB MP3 player and a pair of gimped-up headphones (only one side works). The NCIX web-only Boxing Day sale had Sennheiser earbuds going for $18, so that’s been ordered (along with the previously mentioned laptop RAM). Haven’t got them yet, but should be awesome stuff. It just so happened that for the in-store NCIX sale on Boxing Day, they had 2 GB Creative MuVo T100s on sale for $0.99, so I managed to snag one of those as well. Of course, that meant an early morning for Boxing Day, but meh.
Boxing Day also saw a new game in my library – World in Conflict. If you are into the whole tactical strategy stuff, it is a game for you!
So a little bit of spending from me for the Boxing Day sales, although now that I have cleaned up a good portion of my room, it appears that I can actually go dual-monitor..
And I still have yet to procure a Nintendo DS.
Oh well, maybe some other time.
