Fry's Is A Big Tease.

Fry's is a big tease. She tempts me with those white case with silver accents, or maybe the silver case and white accents. Then another tempts me with her piano black case with a deep lacquer finish. I can no longer look at my 6 year old beige case the same way. All have huge 400+ watt power supplies with large quiet exhaust fans that whisper. I know they're silicone enhanced, but that stuff keeps the hard drives from vibrating as bad and the silence is gold so I forgive their enhancements. All have easy access panels requiring only my fingers to take off. They're all tease sluts really.

Those motherboards with all the latest bells and whistles. Built-in Ethernet connection, built-in 6 - 8 channel soundchip, front mounted Firewire and USB 2.0 ports. I have to pull out my desk to reach my 2 rear mounted USB 1.0 ports. That reach around isn't fun. I love the motherboards that are friendly with AMD processors. AMD is so superior to Intel. Intel can blow me. I crave the processors with X2 technology. It has two brains so backgrounds tasks like running antivirus software won't slow me down. Intelligent temptress that are capable multitaskers are so hard to ignore. I know I'll need to get a large cooling fan with delicate copper fins to keep such white-hotness in a more comfortable temperature.

Hard to believe ample 300 GB hard drives are so common now. So spacious they can hold ever file I ever want to install or create. If I choose the right motherboard I could get two huge drives to have RAID. Why not protect all those files if you have the ability to.

This is some evil plot to take me away from my beige box of 6 years. I built you myself like I always do. For the most part we've had a good relationship, but we've had some stormy times. I need to backup my important files and reinstall Windows XP soon so maybe you'll behave better. For years the only thing I disliked was the speed of the internet, yet once I gave up the free dial-up from school and spent the cash on DSL that problem was fixed. The 384 MB of RAM seemed brainy enough. The 40 GB hard drive isn't half full yet. Your 800 MHz Athlon has served me well. Able to run any program I desired at least until now.

I know it isn't your fault. Software programmers see all the new hardware and become lazy. They write huge programs that test the limits of all that new found horsepower. Older machines eventually become less capable no matter how faithful they've been. One day I'll want to install Civilization IV or even that newer version of Axis & Allies or perhaps Hearts of Iron II that my friends rave about. I can't find my old copy of Axis & Allies. That is so annoying as I want to see if having England spend nothing in the first round and purchasing a aircraft carrier in the second round is good strategy. I have a copy of Civilization III that I haven't even installed yet. That would let me create worlds for months easily.

Yet it doesn't make sense to upgrade you my beige box. The money spent would be better invested in the newest hardware. It was easy to ignore your faults when I only see you, but Fry's showed me our relationship will come to an end sooner or later. I hate betrayal, but it is the nature of the beast. I like shiny new things. Don't think of me badly please.