Skyler Call

For a few years now I have been using a Lenovo ThinkPad T43 as my primary computer. The ThinkPad has held out very well and I continue to recommend the ThinkPad product line as the best in mobile computing. Running processor intensive programs like Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Lightroom was hard work on my single core 1.8 GHz and I was ready for an upgrade. The problem with laptops is that you have two pay a couple grand for the best and even then it won’t out perform less expensive desktops. I decided to make my next computer a desktop ending a line of only laptops in the house. After talking to some friends I had come to want one of the new Intel Core i7 quad-core processors. Dell was the only company I could find selling ready made desktops with the new i7 and I was determined to avoid them. This left me with no choice but to try building my first desktop. After consulting with some friends I ended up with the following lineup:

Case: Antec P182 Gun Metal Black cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower

Power Supply Antec NeoPower 650 Blue 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified Modular

Processor Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Quad-Core

Motherboard ASUS P6T Deluxe LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX

Memory G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Video Card ASUS EN9500GT GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

DVD Burner SAMSUNG Black 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Monitor SAMSUNG ToC T240HD Rose-Black 24″ 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV

I have been running this machine for about a week now and am thrilled with the performance. I love being able to run my larger programs and still have room left for entertainment like music and internet. I also have my old ViewSonic 19″ monitor hooked up aside my new 24″ Samsung for extended screen real estate.

Indexed is a wonderful collection by Jessica Hagy that consists of daily index cards with little graphs/charts/diagrams on them that make fun of some things and sense of others without resorting to doing actual math. She posts a new index card online each weekday. A great recent card of hers is:

Anyone who does anything that ever reaches the eyes, hands, or ears of a customer should be required to read Seth Godin’s Blog every day. Seth often talks about marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread; and is the author of many great books one of which is even available as a PDF for free. Get a taste of what his blog posts are like. Below is a list of some of my favorites:

• Done
• You can’t say you can’t play
• I’d be a lousy pilot
• Where do you park?
• What are you hiring for?