In my previous topic of this Forum, Tech Environment, I reported how I transferred my office equipment of networked computers to my home-office.  I ended up with a powerful, but high maintenance environment.  In selecting a new computer I hope it will spearhead a technology makeover of my overly complex technology environment.

I have a number of criteria for the new computer that will replace the old Dell Dimension 3000 running XP Professional.  It must be compatible with Exchange Server 2003 that is running on an old IBM Series 10 Server.  It will link to the Internet through a Cisco 510 Pix Firewall and two old Netgear WGR614 wireless-G routers and hubs.  It should be part of a network that can communicate with an old IBM T42 laptop through VPN, and the email and calendar must sync with an old Palm Treo phone.

The new computer has to be compatible with me as well.  I am an experienced Windows user who has gone from a button-down career as the Executive Director of a not-for-profit health care consultancy to a jeans and t-shirt stay-home-dad whose main vocation is raising a pre-teen child and managing the household.  On the side I manage some statistical consulting, web design, and movie making. 

In choosing the right system I am weighing different Mac and PC alternatives along with OS 10 Snow Leopard versus Windows 7.  I am only partly swayed by the images of the cool t-shirt Mac users vs. button-down suit-and-tie PC users.  I can’t deny I want to be cool, and I even own black jeans and a black t-shirt.  But I know a lot of incoherent t-shirts and very smart suit-and-ties.  In the final analysis, I want my new computer to help me make and edit movies, crunch through large-scale statistical analysis, connect to friends and colleagues, and keep some order in an otherwise chaotic world. 

In choosing a computer I want to buy something that will meet my most extreme needs rather than my average use and ideally run software that I have used or want to learn.  Here’s the functions it must handle and features I desire.

Functions

• Movie making and animation:  I’ve made movies with Final Cut on a friend’s MacBook and made a number of short movies using Adobe Premiere Elements on my Dell.  I have had a better experience with Final Cut Pro, in part because my Dimension 3000 is slow, but Final Cut it is much more expensive.

• Photo editing and slide show presentations:  I use Adobe Photoshop, Picasa, and Microsoft PhotoDraw for photos and Microsoft PowerPoint for slide shows.

• Statistical analysis:  I use SPSS for statistical analysis and have licensed copy for Windows.  There is version for the Mac but it would be an expensive change.  I sometime use Microsoft Excel. 

• Financial Management – or more commonly known as paying bills and managing a small stock portfolio:  I use Microsoft Excel and QuickBooks.  I have started to use some portfolio tracking through Google.

• List Management: For keeping track of big lists I use Microsoft Access.

• Scheduling and Email:  I have used Microsoft Outlook and have begun to use Google calendar and contacts.

• Web development:  I have used Adobe Dreamweaver and have begun to use Drupal, an open source Content Development System (CMS).

Features

• Speed:  The new computer must be fast and multi-task.  The best choice appears to be a computer with the new Intel i5 or i7 chipset.

• Connectivity: I also want the new computer to be a wiz at connecting to other computers and devices.  It needs to connect to the Web, to the TV, to external disc drives and other computers and servers – both nearby and far away.  It needs to connect to my cell phone, Skype, still and video cameras, speakers, and microphones.  It needs to speak to my Exchange server and my wireless network.  It needs to connect to me whether I am in my home office or at a client’s office across the city, country, or world.  Like Hermes (if you are a Percy Jackson fan or have a 10 year old), it has to run on the ground and in the clouds. I know that:
  • Both Window7 and OS X work with Exchange Server.
  • In the longer term, as I migrate away from the Exchange server and Outlook, the Google calendar, contacts, and tasks look good and they synchronize to the phone using Windows 7 or OS X. 
  • For connecting to broadcast TV, the Mac has Elgalto and the PC has Hauppauge Win TV (among others).  Windows 7 has Windows Media Center.
  • Available Ports are pretty machine specific.  The fastest transfer rates include USB 2.0 (60 MB/s), Fireswire 800 (98 MB/S), eSata 300 (300 MB/s), USB 3.0  (625 MB/s).  USB’s are on everything, Firewire is often on Macs.

• Portability:  Mobility is nice, but I am increasingly using my computer for web design and movie making.  A big high quality monitor would be best.  At a minimum I am looking for a 24” monitor, HD and a d 32” would be great.

•  Expandability and Accessibility:  Expandability is cool.  I want to know that if I need extra storage capacity, better sound, or more computing power I can add disk drives and memory and upgrade soundboards and processors.  But what is expandability without accessibility?  I am a tinkerer.  If some hardware breaks I want to be able to see and touch the culprit, then fix it.  If it is really broken, I carry the outdated philosophy that it is easier to fix or send a component in to be fixed than replace the whole unit.

  On the other hand, I dream about a good warrantee where I call and someone else comes to fix it.  But tinkerers beware!  We can easily invalidate the warrantee.  Experience dictates that I don’t often change the fundamental organs of my computers.  And one goal in my new technology environment is to get less, not more, involved in the inner workings of my computers.

  In choosing a new computer some desktop configuration rather than a laptop would be the best bet for expandability and accessibility.  However, a great warrantee would mitigate the accessibility issue.

• Cost and Value:  While an issue, price is not the primary concern.  I wanted a system that would last for several years and have the most advanced technology I can afford.  I figure the computer will be with me for the next 3 to 5 years, and I wanted one that would meet my needs and come with superior support.  Of course I wanted the greatest value and functionality per dollar!

In the topic we narrow down the choices for the new computer.