I’m a Geek – My Dream Computer Setup
Click here to read the follow up to this blog post: Part Deux
So if you read the “About” section of the site you will see that one way I describe myself is as a “technology addict”, but, as of yet, that is one thing I haven’t blogged about. So today I figured I’d show my extreme geekocity (that needs to be a word) by talking about the grand master of all things geek – computer setups.
Current Setup
20″ Apple iMac
- 2.66 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
- 4GB 800 MHz DDR2 Ram
- 320 GB Hard Drive
- Leopard 10.5.8 Operating System
This machine is my baby. I’ve had it for almost a year now and it runs pretty much the same as it did the day I took it out of the box… Gotta love Mac’s.
With this setup I do all of my graphic design (I use the open source application GIMP), video editing (Final Cut Express and iMovie ’08), and more. While the machine does all of this quite well, it lacks the processing power to render video efficiently. Making the jump to 1080 HD actually scares me considering how basic DV video can make it lag. And burning a full DVD? Sheeeesh is it slow.
The other issue is the somewhat small hard drive. Though 320 GB is a lot by normal standards, that’s NOTHING when you begin working with video. I have tried to keep everything backed up on an external, but unfortunately the 1TB one I received as a gift was a PC/Mac hard drive and after partitioning I only had 32GB usable by my Mac, which is almost full. Hopefully a 1TB Mac exclusive external is in my future, especially when/if I make the jump to HD.
You can’t talk about computer setups without talking about your dream setup, and as of now I have two. The first is actually somewhat feasible for the near(ish) future.
(Reasonable) Dream Setup
13″ Macbook Pro (in addition to my current iMac)
- 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
- 2 GB Ram
- 160 GB Hard Drive
- Nvidia G Force 9400M Graphics
My idea is to get myself a Macbook Pro to use as my everyday computer. All of my main files would be on it, my web surfing would be done on it, my IM, everything. This way I can make the iMac fully devoted to video and photo production, which would actually help greatly as the processor would have one function, and the hard drive would be devoted to just my video work and some photo’s.
This idea is actually somewhat possible or, in the least, far more possible than my full dream setup.
Full Dream Setup
(2) Apple 30″ HD Cinema Displays
Apple Mac Pro
- (2) 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xenon Processors
- 16 GB Ram
- (2) 1TB Hard Drives
- ATI Radeon HD 4870 Graphics
This would be the Mac Daddy (puns… har-har), end-all-be-all, insano (also should be a word) setup. With a machine like this I would make the jump to Final Cut Pro, not to mention full HD and just about anything else I wanted to do. Only problem is that I would have no where to put this monstrosity… hmm.
Thats my current setup and dreams setup(s). What’s yours?
Current set up:
System Model: HP Pavillion dv6000
Processor: Genuine Intel(R) dual core; ~1.60GHz
Memory: 2GB
Operating System: Windows Vista, Home Premium
Graphics: Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family
Monitor: Generic PnP Moniter
–PIECE OF SHIT HAND-ME-DOWN LAPTOP! (*Shhhh* I didn’t mean it baby I love you) = )
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Ideal set up:
Model: Doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s the latest model from whatever company I choose to purchase from–preferably Gateway, Dell, or HP.
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory–as many as is economical, and reasonable. = )
Operating System: Windows Seven, and Ubuntu – dual boot.
Graphics: HIS Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported – Turbo OC Edition.
Moniter: Hanns·G Black 28″ 3ms Widescreen LCD HDMI Monitor 500 cd/m2 800:1 with Built-in Speakers.
Hard drive: One internal TB hard drive, and one external TB hard drive. Hardware model will preferably be Western Digital.
—DESKTOP OF THE GODS! (Hopefully it will be mine soon)
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I love Macs but I’m a programmer, and a pirate, thus PCs are the way to go for me. I wouldn’t mind getting a Mac book pro that’s for sure. They are so sexy.
Sorry this is so long, I got a little carried away.
= D
Haha that’s a great setup, man. Not often you run into Ubuntu folks!
I used nothing but PC’s ever since I began on Windows 95, but when Vista came along (and royally screwed me) I decided I was done with PC’s. I got this iMac almost exactly a year ago (like, 11 months and 2 weeks… but who’s counting…) and have not had one single major issue with it. Also, with the amount of video I edit, Mac is really the only way to go.
I was looking at a 1TB external earlier online… I need it so badly. I produced several gigs of video just in the past few hours… haha