Yes, that’s right, I said “Wicked-cheap” for you guys up in Concord MA.  

I don’t consider myself a sentimental person.  I just don’t get attached to things, but for some reason computers are completely different.  I still have my laptop from college, and I would rather use my 6 year old Dell M60 than someone else’s machine just because it’s mine.  I think the saying is “the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t”. 

It is the little things that makes me think Statler’s days as a “working machine” are numbered, and it’s time to look towards putting him out to pasture as a web surfing machine for looking up recipes in the kitchen.  I also still have Camilla, my PII from college, and Waldorf, my archaic but rock solid file server.  I give Kudos to anyone who can guess my naming convention ;)  For one thing, when I wake him up from hibernation the screen is a bit yellow for about 10 minutes.  My SolidWorks crashing has increased dramatically, and my video card has fallen way off the tested list.  It seems like about once an hour that my windows background creeps over my SolidWorks work space, and as much as I love pictures of my kids, I think they need to stay out of my SolidWorks session.   In the mean time I am hitting “Alt+f”, “s” so often that I’m getting a cramp in my left hand.  

My first place to start is with my VAR’s Hardware recommendations.  Hey, if they have to support it I might as well pick something from their suggested list.  My VAR doesn’t sell hardware, so they have no vested interest in steering me in one direction or another.  I had great success with my Dell, so that’s a high contender but I also want to give the other guys a chance. 

http://trimechsolutions.com/techresources/hardware-recom.pdf

Basically that leaves me with:
•    HPCompaq 8710w
•    Dell Precision M4400 or M6300
•    Lenovo ThinkPad W700

It looks like I can get a refurbished model of each for about $1,400.   Now it’s time to get shopping.  I wonder, do any of them come in pink?