Perpetual Ruminations

A Swell Dell

I spent quite a bit of the day researching computers, comparing prices, and trying to decide what would be the best new computer for us. I also researched different brands, to determine which would be the most reliable. Researching the computers wasn't bad, most of the information is pretty basic, and all I needed to know was what operating system, how much memory, and how large of a drive we need to meet our needs.

Windows has been our operating system for many years, so that was easy to decide. Since we don't do much for gaming, memory wasn't very difficult to figure out. Currently, 4 Gb would be enough, but since memory needs tend to increase with time, more would be better, so 8 Gb should take care of our needs for quite a while. Even so, wanted our new computer to be capable of at least a minimal memory upgrade. Finally, what kind of drive and how large would we need?

Again, the question was easy to resolve. Our current compute 7 or 8 year old netbook has 250 Gb, and we still have ample room. Although I've never had a problem with a mechanical hard drive, I have heard of other's who have. Also, they are a bit slower and more prone to damage than a solid state drive, even though they offer a lot more storage room. I decided to go with solid state and about the same as our netbook. I don't keep a lot on the computer, since we have 1Tb available through our Microsoft account as well as unlimited photo storage with our Prime membership.

Which brand proved to be more difficult. It seems like every reference and review I looked at had a different opinion. Now, a person would think that they would research and rate based on similar data; not the case at all. Everyone seems to have different opinions about which make is the most reliable, with much of the data based on how innovative they are, not how dependable. Even so, I narrowed my list down to three makes, HP, Dell, and Lenova. HP and Dell kind of went neck to neck as which was better, but Lenova rated very close to both, and in a couple of sites, better.

Price was also a determining factor, and from my online research, HP ranked a bit less expensive than Dell in similar machines. I also checked into places to purchase that offered the best deals, and again HP was the most affordable. Our local Best Buy had a sale on quite a few computers, and in the end, they seemed to be the best place for a purchase.

With my information in hand, I headed over to Best Buy to make my purchase. One of the employees was right there to help out, and I provided him with my list and desired computer. He took me over to see it and then showed me another very similar, but a bit more expensive. The higher priced machine had a CD drive, but it cost almost a hundred more.

I told him I wanted to think about it a bit and browse, so he left me to my looking and thinking. I looked around at the types of computer we had decided on, and found a Dell that was similar to the HP I was interested in, but over a hundred dollars cheaper. I asked another associate about it, and he said that a customer had been in the process of purchasing the Dell and wanted some software installed. They hadn't even completely unpacked the machine when he changed his mind, so they had an opened box but unused computer. They had run out of inventory on this Dell, except for the one opened box, so it ended up getting marked down even though it wasn't originally in the sale.

It was just the machine I had wanted, but opted for the HP because it listed for almost 200 dollars more. It didn't have the CD drive either, but the associate provided me with an external Dell CD drive for 40 bucks. I took it, the Dell all-in-one with wireless mouse and keypad, as well as an extended 2 year warranty for the same price, give or take a little, as the HP with CD drive the other guy tried to get me to purchase.

I payed, brought it home and proceeded to set up. All in all, the setup went quickly, and even better, very easily. Even so, I was up till midnight putting things on, setting up apps, and transferring data. The longest part was getting the info from my netbook into the clouds, especially the music. I ended up going to bed while OneDrive loaded. This morning I turned on my Dell and looked at OneDrive, it was complete. I downloaded a very large audio file, a Bible study about an hour long, in just a couple seconds... Wow.

It's not even been a full 24 hours, but I'm in love with this new computer. One cable, the power cord, so it's very portable as far as ease of moving, it's not real heavy, even though it has a huge touch screen (both my wife and I agreed, it's about the size of the TV screens we watched in the sixties), and the sound is terrific for built in speakers.