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I've been giving it some consideration, and I'm thinking that when I finally do get around to getting a new computer, I might just eschew a desktop altogether and get a laptop. This was suggested to me a while ago, back when this mess all started, and it's more and more seeming like a good idea.
The only issue with this is that all of the parts I was talking about possibly reusing would no longer be of even that much use, but honestly that's not all that big of a deal. The only thing I'd still really want to be able to use would be the HDD with all my stuff on it (assuming, I hope, that it is still usable at all), but there are apparently ways to fairly easily convert them to external USB drives*, so I'd probably do that, for the old one and the new one I got as well. That way, I'd have three external HDDs (the two 640GB SATA drives converted, and the one 1TB drive which is already external) as well as whatever happened to come in the laptop. I may also want to do something like this with my current internal DVD-RW drive as well, but that depends on if the laptop itself would already come with one or not. I figure it would likely be cheaper to get a laptop that just has a normal DVD drive, as opposed to a burner, and then get a converter for one I already have, but I don't know for sure if that would be the case.
As far as laptops themselves, whatever I get is going to have to be able to play most current gen PC games at least moderately well. That's simply not going to be negotiable. Of course, that said, I don't need or want super bleeding edge or anything like that, but I would like to be able to, say, play Fallout 3 with at least the medium settings or higher. That is, I'd want it to at least be able to do what my current system is capable of doing, and hopefully better given how old the current system is. Only problem is that this requirement is likely to cost a bit. I'm not sure quite yet the upper limits that I'd be willing to spend on one, but I know it's not going to be some $5,000 behemoth or anything like that. Haven't really investigated this much at all as of yet, though, as I only really came to this still tentative decision to get a laptop last night.
* - Speaking of which,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
owsf2000, how would you recommend going about doing that, and how much would it cost, roughly? I know you've done it before, which is why I even remembered it to begin with.
The only issue with this is that all of the parts I was talking about possibly reusing would no longer be of even that much use, but honestly that's not all that big of a deal. The only thing I'd still really want to be able to use would be the HDD with all my stuff on it (assuming, I hope, that it is still usable at all), but there are apparently ways to fairly easily convert them to external USB drives*, so I'd probably do that, for the old one and the new one I got as well. That way, I'd have three external HDDs (the two 640GB SATA drives converted, and the one 1TB drive which is already external) as well as whatever happened to come in the laptop. I may also want to do something like this with my current internal DVD-RW drive as well, but that depends on if the laptop itself would already come with one or not. I figure it would likely be cheaper to get a laptop that just has a normal DVD drive, as opposed to a burner, and then get a converter for one I already have, but I don't know for sure if that would be the case.
As far as laptops themselves, whatever I get is going to have to be able to play most current gen PC games at least moderately well. That's simply not going to be negotiable. Of course, that said, I don't need or want super bleeding edge or anything like that, but I would like to be able to, say, play Fallout 3 with at least the medium settings or higher. That is, I'd want it to at least be able to do what my current system is capable of doing, and hopefully better given how old the current system is. Only problem is that this requirement is likely to cost a bit. I'm not sure quite yet the upper limits that I'd be willing to spend on one, but I know it's not going to be some $5,000 behemoth or anything like that. Haven't really investigated this much at all as of yet, though, as I only really came to this still tentative decision to get a laptop last night.
* - Speaking of which,
owsf2000, how would you recommend going about doing that, and how much would it cost, roughly? I know you've done it before, which is why I even remembered it to begin with.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 11:27 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 03:21 pm (UTC)From:Either way, The reason why I woudln't go with a gaming laptop is that they are expensive. You can put together an above average gaming system (which seems to be what you're aiming for) for fairly cheap (sub $1000 CND in my case) AND buy a lower-middle-end laptop for the price of a gaming laptop.
That's the route I went and I don't regret it as I use my laptop to stream files (from my NAS) to my TV, surf the net and play less system demanding games. Then, my PC is used for modern stuff and my photo/design work.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 10:02 am (UTC)From:I found this on the web just now which pretty much explains what I had done and gives a link to a company that makes stuff that should do the trick. In particular look at the "External Drive Enclosures" as those should be what you're looking for. At a quick glance, looks like the prices for their enclosures are half of what I paid back in 2005-2006.