Why did I buy a PC?

Excellent question. Why did I buy a PC? Or more specifically, why did I buy three PCs? Or why didn't I buy another Mac? Or why did I buy another computer at all, given that we had four in the house already? The whole thing started out with wanting to buy a computer that the whole family could use. We have a Macbook, but it always just seems to float around the house and not get used. I have my studio computer, but I hate doing anything with that machine that isn't studio related for fear of screwing up the delicate ecosystem I've got going there, so around Xmas I started shopping around for a PC.

Why not get another Mac, you might ask? I've been a lifelong Mac guy. I've owned many over the years and I've always liked them a ton more than the PCs in my life. But as I started looking around at computers I realized I wanted more of a Mac than I was willing to spend money on. I wanted a machine that would be good for the family to use, but I also wanted a machine that would be fun for me to use, and it was becoming clear to me as I did the research that that meant a computer to play games. I love to play games, even though I don't have as much time to play as I used to, and my daughter loves to play games. So I went in search of a PC that would play modern games.

First I bought an HP TouchSmart PC. I thought this would be a good solution. The touchscreen interface was pretty darn cool. But after getting it home and having it for a week, it was clear that none of us were going to use the touchscreen technology. Why is that? I have no idea. I have no problem using the touchscreen on my phone or iPad. I thought the same paradigm would be great for the PC, but no. I just used it like a regular computer, and so did the rest of the family. And to make matters a little more complicated, the PC was designed to sit a lot  closer to the user on the desk than most computers (in case you did want to interact with the screen) so all available desk space was taken  away. And finally, I decided to slake my urge to start playing World of Warcraft again. I loaded WoW onto the HP and started to play, but the performance was way subpar. This just didn't seem right in a brand new computer. I started doing some research and this is where I began to discover the wiles of a land hither-to unknown to me: The land of the underpowered video card.

I fretted over what to do for a few days. I liked the all-in-oneness of the TouchSmart. I really liked Windows 7 (more on that later). It was a cute little computer. Not as slick as an iMac, but different enough that I wanted to keep it. So I slogged away for a couple days playing WoW at less than 10 frames per second and then I decided to take it back.

I still couldn't afford to spend $1200-$1500 on another iMac, so I kept looking at the PCs. I decided on an HP tower that the Best Buy kid who helped me swore would run WoW the way I wanted. I got it home, I set it up, and no dice. Still single digit FPS. The culprit this time: Integrated video card. Who knew?

Now I was on a mission. I wanted to play games at the best possible framerates. I deserved it (so I told myself) and if I was going to spend money on a PC I was going to get something that I wouldn't be dissatisfied with. So I took the second HP back to Best Buy (By this time, the local BB had opened an express return lane explicitly for my use) and I went back to the PC section to continue my search.

I cornered another BB kid and told him in no uncertain terms that I wasn't leaving that store until I had a machine that would run WoW at 60 FPS on Ultra. And I wasn't going to spend more than $1000. )I hadn't yet told the wife about the $1000 yet).

My young helper convened a quorum of the best computer minds in the Best Buy and they identified two computers that would satisfied my jones for high framerates, or at least come close. One option was to go with a Mac Mini (cruel irony!) and almost get there or to go with a Gateway FX 6840. Now, I'm not going to bore you with the specs of either computer. I'll provide a link and you can look them up and I know that there are those among you who are chiding me for looking for an off-the-shelf- solution for my gaming PC needs, and I should just build one myself, but I say to you, life is short and I have took many hobbies as it is. I wasn't about to add gaming computer home spinner to the list.

The long and short of it was that the Mac Mini would do a pretty good job at playing the game (and most others) and it was a couple hundred dollars cheaper that the Gateway. The Gateway would definitely get me to the homeland, but I'd have to pay for it. That's where the thought of why spend the money if you're not really getting what you want? So I bought the Gateway and brought it home and I've been extremely happy with it.

This is where I want to extol the virtues of Windows 7. I have been a longtime hater of Windows. I've found it clunky and obstinate as a work tool and never would I have called it sexy. But Windows 7 is a different story. The interface has a lot of little nuances that I'm sure Apple will include in some form in their next version of OS10. The dock is better, the window configurations are better. The library system is better than Apple's and Windows does a pretty good job of understanding what you're trying to do and helping. This was not always the case. In the past, when I migrated from an Apple to a Windows PC, I felt like I was going from Whole Foods to Aldi, but now they are on a really even playing field. I enjoy the Windows 7 experience and find that I enjoy the Apple experience less. Talk about a turn around. I have to tip my hat to the folks in Redmond for pulling this one out of their a-holes after the Vista disaster.

So now I'm a computer user who lives in two worlds. I make music on a Mac and I listen to music and play games and do other life things on a PC. I really like my Gateway FX. It's slick in a way Macs are not and it's so powerful that it sometimes take my breath away (I know, sad, right?).