Learning to LOVE the 'No Shop' days...

Either would be a competent machine. I tend to go with the refurbs because they have been thoroughly checked out--which doesn't always happen with new machines. An advantage of new (vs refurb) is that they are offering free upgrade to Windows 7 in a couple of months. With Vista your old software is unlikely to run but supposedly the software that runs under XP should run with Windows 7. One nicety of buying from Buy.com (at least here in Florida) is that the purchase is tax free because they have no brick & mortar facility in Florida.

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Whatever you buy, try and buy a tiny bit more than you currently need, as you will probably use the machine for at least 3 years. So add more memory (not necessarily from the manufacturer, where they overcharge for extra, but from places like Crucial.com...) and get the biggest hard drive you can afford. You will always expand your use to fit the size you have, between just collecting stuff and having every new rev of OS's and Apps need more space to run. A remember to "soup it up" in between the next purchase and now. It could last 6 years that way. I've done it for graphics, you definitely can for this kind of work (for a lot less $, too.)

The most cruel aspect? You did your database and the HD died. That stinks. Last Dec. I bought 2 new320 gig portable HD's to use for teaching. I transferred everything back onto my main computer, so that I could resort and send to the appropriate HD for my classes. I did this Dec. 23rd. December 24th I woke to to the spinning rainbow ball of death. I restarted, and it would not boot up. I went to Apple store that day-diagnosis? Dead HD. Unfortunately, as I transferred from the other small HD's, I deleted. So I lost 4 years + of teaching materials. Never again. Live and learn.

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

Whatever you buy, try and buy a tiny bit more than you currently need, as you will probably use the machine for at least 3 years. So add more memory (not necessarily from the manufacturer, where they overcharge for extra, but from places like Crucial.com...) and get the biggest hard drive you can afford. You will always expand your use to fit the size you have, between just collecting stuff and having every new rev of OS's and Apps need more space to run. A remember to "soup it up" in between the next purchase and now. It could last 6 years that way. I've done it for graphics, you definitely can for this kind of work (for a lot less $, too.)

The most cruel aspect? You did your database and the HD died. That stinks. Last Dec. I bought 2 new320 gig portable HD's to use for teaching. I transferred everything back onto my main computer, so that I could resort and send to the appropriate HD for my classes. I did this Dec. 23rd. December 24th I woke to to the spinning rainbow ball of death. I restarted, and it would not boot up. I went to Apple store that day-diagnosis? Dead HD. Unfortunately, as I transfered from the other small HD's, I deleted. So I lost 4 years + of teaching materials. Never again. Live and learn.

Good advice on the size machine and expandability Dee Shops. I also look for a machine with a bay available to add an extra hard drive. When I switched desktop machines this last time I simply popped in my old drive as the "D" drive and was able to transfer files super simply. Once I got all the files transferred to the new drive and all my software installed on the new drive I had my kid 'ghost' the new drive onto the old one. I use that second drive also as the primary backup to the main drive (though I also backup to an external drive). In the past this techique has saved me because when the main drive fails I simply open the box, move the 'D' drive into the 'C' drive selector and add a fresh HD as the new 'D'. Sure I have to go through all the updates all over, but I am up and running without reinstalling and configuring the OS and that is a huge time saver.

Since Mert's motherboard is the failure the chances are that with an extra bay she can pop in her old HD and transfer her files easily. Of course her old machine obviously was not running Vista and all she will be able to purchase at this point will have Vista on it (unless she goes with an Apple product) so her files will be about all she can salvage in any event.

Good info, geeksters

Still shopping. Tax free weekend in the Carolinas is next weekend, but I sweet talked a manager at one Best Buy into discounting if I buy early. As for transferring files, I'll leave that to my computer guy, who runs an honest business. He'll transfer files, and said he could save my favorites from I.E., but not the bookmarks from Firefox, which isn't a biggie. I can import those, I think. He also told me to remove the crap ware after I get it home.

Yup. Amused that Office Depot is offering a setup service these days for a bunch of $ to remove the crapware for you and for more set up your software.

I try not to schedule shops on Sunday. Doesn't always work out that way, but I love it when it does. I try to cram so many in on Saturdays, I like to just chill on Sundays.

Yes, I have been quite busy. Took a while to get to that point, but I love it. So when I have a day off, take a day off, I just breath the fresh air and relax. It feels good to be able to work when I want if I want. It allows me to do some of the other things I love to do such as writing and fishing.

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Learning to LOVE the 'No Shop' days...

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