Toolage

[degringolade]

Abstract Expressionism / Robert Goodnough/ Kilroy Was Here

Sunday AM, Tea is on board now and I am spending a little time doing the mundane requirements of transferring everything over to a new/used laptop as the good old warhorse thinkpad is showing distinct signs of getting ready to give up the ghost.

Freegeek in Portland has been my favorite computer thrift store for years now.  I used to head in there just to browse and see the detritus of nerds' obsession with new silicone hardware.

This particular score was sweet.  It seems that businesses donate their old laptops on a pretty routine basis and I scored a cherry Dell E6430 for $140.  I7, 8gb ram, 240gm SSD.  It is grossly overpowered for running a word processor and with Linux on it, it is stable as a rock.  I have a hunch that this particular computer was the status symbol for an upper management type, it doesn’t have any of the dings and small insults that show that it was actually used.  Nope, this appears to be one of those computers “needed” by higher level managers that rarely get taken out of their desk between meetings and lunches.

I tend to look at computers as tools.  Kinda the same way that I look at cars.  Useful tools.  Now some folks really are intent on going to a dealer and buying a new car.  I have always known that but I have never understood it.  Bessie was a used van with 9,000 miles when I bought her back in 2002 (she’s a 1999) she is getting long in tooth now (around 220K) but still runs just fine and pulls around 23mpg around town.  Cost me 10K back then, the internet tells me she went for around 27K new.  

So my computers usually run me between $100 and $150, they usually last at least five years.  This new axe is nine years old.  A roughly comparable new Dell runs between $1,300 and $1,500.

Seems to me that my cost for computing is pretty much in hand.  I am pissed that I bought that useless chromebook though.  That was a waste.