The Frayed Ends of Sanity

That’s it. I’ve had enough.

I’ve had this infernal contraption for over a year now. It is a monument, not only to my own stupidity for buying it in the first place, but to the manufacturer’s absolute mastery in the art of crafting such a wondrous pile of complete shit. Maybe I haven’t made myself clear enough: a beast this vile, with its blue screen after overheating problem after blue screen after overheating problem, would drive Cthulhu himself insane. And I’ve had quite enough of it.

I should never have convinced myself to buy it – “it” being an Alienware M15x laptop. “Look at all the big numbers and stuff it has”, I told myself. “It lights up, for fuck’s sake”, I thought to myself. If I could jump in a flux capacitor-laden DeLorean and go back in time to slap myself clean across my dashingly handsome ginger face, I would. While I was there I would also remind myself that I don’t need stupid lights and that the “big number” was the damned price. I’d maybe ask myself what my favourite biscuit was too.

But anyway, I got this laptop on the premise that I didn’t think I’d have the space in my sex palace bedroom for a desktop PC. Come forward a year, and I’ve since bought a spacious new desk and re-arranged my room twice to maximise what little space I have and with a great deal of success too, if I say so myself. Suffice to say, the decision to get a laptop over a desktop PC on the basis of spacial limitation has been rendered largely invalid.

Despite all this however, I’ve always been rather intimidated by the thought of building a PC. I mean, what if it all went wrong? I could buy a bunch of parts that weren’t compatible. I could buy all this stuff and not know what to do with it. These are the reasons I’ve been too afraid to build my own PC and have thus opted for buying a pre-built one every time – this way, I know I’m getting something that works and if it breaks, there’s someone I can verbally bitch-slap. But then, look how that excellent philosophy turned out.

However, I have seen the light – a video that put everything in perspective and made a molehill out of a mountain. Or something. So filled with inspiration was I, that I started to work out what sort of parts I could get and what components I could potentially salvage from the monstrosity I’m typing on just now. Anyway, this is that video. Eagle-eyed viewers may recognise a familiar face too!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69WFt6_dF8g[/youtube]

So there you have it – I’m building a PC. Starting from my next payday, I’m going to buy whatever parts I can afford every month and slowly put together a PC of my own – such are the joys of a student’s budget. I won’t have been the only member of the Ready Up team to have done so, as others have previously made the jump, so I’m definitely not the first to have done this – but will I be the last? Who knows. There’s a long journey ahead, I’ve got a list full of parts to buy, it’s dark and I’m wearing sunglasses.