Posted 3:47 PM by Gene

I am still trying to decide on a new computer. My deadline is July 30 -- when the Bugmeisters end Bing Cashback. I've discovered the meaning of six of one. I'd prefer building my own computer -- it would make me accomplished despite its simplicity; all you need is an hour and considerable patience, and every part has a warranty, unlike the refurbished HP rigs I've been eyeing on eBay and HP's own site, which give you ninety days. But I've discovered the computer retailers play more tricks with their prices than your average supermarket. It does not help that you're basically stuck with maybe three of four online retailers -- NewEgg, Superbiiz aka Ewiz, Systemax, aka Tiger Direct, aka Circuit City, aka Global Computer, aka.... (I wouldn't buy through those eBay amalgamators; they play tricks with their prices plus a markup.) Going to the Web for advice doesn't help. You will never fully learn whether, say, an I7-875K is better than an I7-930. (The rabid gamers say it is, but I have less than zero interest in first-person shooters, which sums up most video games; and Intel very cleverly added an element of planned obsolescence to its motherboards.) These last few days I've been seeking an answer to a scalding query: can I use 12 gigs of DDR3-1600 in my computer without having to tweak the BIOS? and I get 50,000 different answers, a true demonstration of the blind leading the blind. "What's the best motherboard?" gets you only 15,000. When not getting parts from their suppliers the parts "reviewers" on the geek sites play a game of Julian Hirsch saying as little as possible in as many words as possible. Nonetheless I've pretty well decided on most of the parts, although $140 for a PSU seems absurd, even with a Visa rebate card that allows the issuer to gyp you twenty ways (oh, and that's Power Supply Unit; you must pay through the lingo to play), but it's annoying that it must cost as much as a ready-made -- and that memory prices are twice what they were a year ago and won't come down.

I've mentioned before the trouble with buying a refurb HP. One eBay seller has had a couple of loaded items. But is it worth a tarnished motherboard and a puny warranty? I dream of loading my new rig with a dozen hard drives but are they necessary? Yes an SSD boot drive would be nice but can I afford it? A decent-sized one still coasts ten times its hard-drive equivalent. I don't want something I'll have to replace in two years, but the term "future-proof" is that lunatic asylum business's latest up-to-date version of a hoary old cliché. I just want something good, and powerful, that will last.

P. S. And now I learn HP's introduced the HPE-300 series -- its third new higher-end model series in six months. Given their profits in printer cartridges I wonder when the bums in Palo Alto will have their own BP moment.