The Computer Buzz

February 18th, 2010

Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
 

Rice Rocket PCs

Those of us lucky enough to have grown up in post war America will fondly remember America’s obsession with automobile speed and horsepower. From the mid 50s through the 60s every crossroad community had a hot rod club and drag strip. Most towns had one or two “speed shops” and everyone under thirty knew all about the “cubes,” BHP, quarter mile times and top-end speed for each manufacturer’s “muscle car” models. “Muscle Cars” were mainstream, affordable and considered standard transportation for the stereotypical American suburban family.

By the time the 70s arrived, America had lost interest in “muscle cars.” Road Warriors like Pontiac GTO, Chrysler 300, Studebaker Golden Hawk, Shelby Mustang, Chevy 409, Olds 442, Plymouth Road Runner, AMC AMX and Ford Torino gave way to the lower power gas misers. Beetles, Rabbits, Golfs, Pintos, Fiestas, Chevettes, Opels, Valiants, Gremlins, Corollas, Vegas, Civics and Escorts began to infest our urban gridlock.

Speed and power were less important than economy, safety, comfort and gadgets to mainstream car buyers. For those who still felt the “need for speed” there were the Asian made, small engine supercharged, high performance, “Rice Rockets.”

Like automobiles, the early history of PCs was dominated by the emphasis on speed, but after the year 2000 things began to change. Today PC sellers rarely mention speed because in most cases a faster computer has little or no effect on performance. For the vast majority of business and home PC applications speed is limited by the dexterity of the user, not the PC. The speed of Internet activity is limited by the upload/download speed of the Internet service provider, not the PC.

The above activities are within the capabilities of fairly basic, inexpensive PCs. A five-year old PC with XP and a Gigabyte of RAM will perform these activities just as quickly as a brand new $3,000 Windows 7 gamer PC. So what good is a 200MPH sports car when the speed limit is 65MPH?

So, unless you’re using your PC for high-end gaming, animation, solids modeling or editing streaming audio/video, any new PC, regardless of how humble, would probably meet your performance needs. Does that mean that you should buy the cheapest PC you can find? Not really; there are a few other things to consider. Cheap PCs (Dell, Compaq, HP et al) are cheap for two reasons, they use cheap parts and provide cheap after purchase service.

A PC from a builder like The Computer Factory may cost a few dollars more up front but will certainly save money in the long run. Higher quality parts mean lower maintenance costs. Local service means less downtime. Open architecture means upgradability and a longer useful life.

The same factors hold true for the higher function “gamers” and other special application PC systems. You’re local PC builder can always give you better quality and value than brand name PC sellers who no longer design, build or service the products that carry their logo.