My family computer died yesterday, which is to be expected, since it was a third-hand el cheapo computer anyway.

Monday morning, my wife told me that the computer “wanted her to add a hardware wizard”. Somehow in dying, Windows had decided there was new hardware around, and had displayed the dialog titled “Add New Hardware Wizard”. Funny how the things we geeks take for granted are subject to new interpretations when all of the geek culture is removed from them.

So I’ve got a computer on order from Dell. I was able to get one with the stuff I needed for $729, which is a good deal. The other inexpensive computers I looked at all seemed to be lacking in one respect or another. Andrew suggested Alienware, which do have very nice computers indeed (Max: “Wow! I’ll save up my own money to get that computer!”). They may be price competitive for machines in their performance range, but I don’t need a machine in that range, so Dell is the way to go.