Well, I finally did it. I bought a new computer. I’ve been talking about doing this for so long. My desktop computer is about 7 years old now I think and although it is still running reasonably well I had been wanting to replace it for a while. I kept putting it off, thinking I’d do it when I sold the house. When that finally happened I didn’t feel that I really ought to be spending money on myself. I had to pay for the move and some repairs to the new place that couldn’t wait. I didn’t have as much spare cash left as I’d hoped and the old girl was still going.

I had more or less decided what I wanted in terms of storage space and RAM. I knew I wanted a “box” rather than an all in one, I wanted a built in card reader and DVD RW tray because I’m old school enough to still want the ability to load a program from a disk if I wanted. Most of all I wanted built in wi fi. The old computer didn’t have it and after several attempts with wi fi adapters I gave up trying to make that work.

The reason that was important was because of the layout of this house. We have wireless NBN which was here when we came and the connection is located downstairs near the front door in what we plan to use as our second kitchen and dining area. Without going into a lot of detail, one of the reasons we wanted this house was that it had two separate living areas, up and down. Naomi and I both have a lot of stuff that we don’t want to get rid of and we’re both used to having our own things around us. Downstairs is where Naomi will have her vintage kitchen furniture and appliances and having me and my computer in the middle of it wasn’t going to work. Also it’s a horrible location for me as there is not much natural daylight downstairs. Good for antiques, not good for someone who likes natural daylight to work in. Since winter started I’ve just been using my laptop in the living room and that’s fine but it is nice to have a decent sized monitor.

I did consider buying a rebuilt computer which I could have got for a few hundred dollars but in the end I decided that I would rather have a new one. I knew I’d probably end up buying online as I can’t easily get to the big stores and I really prefer to buy from a specialist. David and I bought all our brand new computers from small computer shops where we could get a custom build. They were all good computers too. After reading a lot of reviews I kept coming back to Dell. I liked that I could buy directly from them, they had a good range of computers to choose from and I’d heard that they were reliable and had good customer service. In July they were having some good specials due to the end of the financial year so I decided to take the plunge and buy one.

It took two weeks to arrive, shipping takes longer everywhere these days although it was only coming from NSW. I was glad that I had chosen a small form tower as when it arrived at the shop where we collect our mail I knew that I would be able to carry it home. It’s only a few minutes walk. I didn’t buy a monitor. The one I was using was perfectly fine and had inbuilt speakers saving me some space on the desk. I wouldn’t have bothered buying a keyboard and mouse either but they were included in the price as was Windows 10.

I set it all up on the dining room table temporarily while I added my favourite software and made sure everything worked. Then I started arranging my new work area.

I thought about putting it in my room but my room is tiny. I can have a dressing table or a desk, not both. Cindy’s bed takes up a lot of room too. The living room was not really a practical option either. The room is a funny shape and I couldn’t decide where I could put it where I wouldn’t be blocking a traffic lane. To me the logical place seemed to be the upstairs landing. It’s a small area between the stairs and the window. I measured it and my desk would fit. My desk is an old wooden one I bought David for a birthday present probably more than 25 years ago. I wasn’t sure if I could get it upstairs by myself but Naomi wouldn’t be coming for a week or two and I was impatient so I dismantled the old computer took the drawer and everything else out of the desk and literally dragged it out the front door, round the side of the house and up the concrete ramp to the upstairs. Our interior stairs are steep and narrow I didn’t think I would get the desk up them alone. Then I was afraid that it might not fit down the narrow walkway to the spot I wanted but measuring the gap there were two inches to spare so I went ahead. I had to lift my chair over that space to fit it in but I now have a spot that is just big enough for me. I won’t be in anyone’s way and I have two windows to give me daylight. I’m pretty pleased with myself. It’s actually a bit hard to photograph the area because of the stairwell but you get the idea I hope.

For those people who are interested in such things here are the specs.

Dell Inspiron 3671

• 9th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 9400
• Windows 10 Home 64-bit English
• 8GB DDR4 at 2666MHz
• 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive + 1TB 7200 rpm 3.5″ SATA Hard Drive

It’s not the most expensive computer but it was the best one I could afford and I feel that it will be adequate for my needs. As long as I can edit photos and play The Sims occasionally it will do me nicely.