A Self Built Masterpiece (if I do say so myself)
I used notepad to create the HTML for this site. I learned what little HTML I know from "Creating Web Pages For Dummies". I also picked up a little from looking at source on a few of my favorite sites.
Images used on this site were created by me using Microsoft Draw and Paintbrush.
*UPDATE* I used Microsoft Photo Editor (part of MS Office) to choose a transparent color for the .GIF files when I updated the site.
- Photos were taken with a Sipix Stylecam Blink, they aren't bad for a $40 camera.
A Self Built Masterpiece (if I do say so myself)
I had a lot of fun building this computer, but also a lot of frustration. I'd only suggest building your own computer if you really enjoy computers. Otherwise, stick with pre-built. I did learn a lot by building it though. I highly recommend dual monitors to anyone who does more than surf the web. If you're using your computer for research, writing, any sort of content creation, or multitasking the extra screen space comes in very handy. Unfortunately the extra desk space needed for two monitors isn't always availiable. You also need a video card capable of supporting dual monitors (or two video cards that can play nice), something that isn't availiable in all pre-built systems. ATI's Radeon 7500 is a great card, though prices have dropped since I bought and an 8500 is probably a better value now.
I'd also highly suggest an optical mouse. While their advantages might not be readily apparent, if you've ever had to clean a mouse ball then you'll appreciate the convinience of never having to clean one again. The Logitech iFeel Mouseman is a great mouse, but I don't think it's made anymore. iFeel and the Immersion Desktop was mostly a flop as far as I can tell. I miss it when I don't have it, but not for long. It doesn't really add enough to a computing experience to buy a new mouse for it. Though I don't regret having spent $10 extra to get the feature on a mouse model/type I was getting anyway.
I love my slot-loading DVD drive. No more waiting for the tray to pop out, no forgetting to slide it back in after removing a CD. One of those little convience things I could live without, but wouldn't want to. I do use it for watching movies on my PC, but if it weren't for that, it might as well be a CD-ROM drive. Still not much software on DVD.
Most people probably won't want to bother with 512MB of RAM. The difference is hardly noticable, though I can tell that programs open a fair bit faster, especially when you've already got many open. Plus switching between is marginally faster. Going for a soundcard like the Audigy is probably overkill as well, but it does sound better than my old computer's card, which was a decent card. I plan to move up from a 2-channel sound setup to a 5.1 channel set-up eventually, but there just aren't many options out there yet.
My printer has waterproof ink, a definite plus. My current el-cheapo modem sucks, but the biggest difference between it and my old high-quality modem is only in the 30-seconds longer it takes to connect to the internet, so I'm going to wait for high-speed access. I could probably ramble on for pages about what I like and don't like in a computer.
Dell makes pretty good computers. I'm really happy with mine and would recomend Dell to anyone who wants a virtually trouble free computer. I'd also recommend the Logitech Mouseman Wheel, it is by far the best mouse I've used. Its a large mouse (which I like) and its well shaped. Its got three buttons plus the scroll wheel is clickable for a total of four, which helps a lot more than I thought it would. Setting the thumb button to double-click is something I thought would be of dubious use, but now I get annoyed when I'm on another computer and can't use it. Speaking of things about my mouse I miss when I'm on another computer, once you've used a scroll wheel I'll bet you don't want to go back. I know I miss every second without mine, it makes browsing any document so much easier.
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