After yesterday having my computer crash twice just as I was about to finish a recording project I went out today to buy a new computer. I figured it would be quite easy “Hello, what’s the best computer you have?”, “Here you go sir, how about this?”. But oh no!

It is just so strange that compared with 6 months ago computer prices have actually gone up, whilst performance and features have actually gone down!! My notebook is ultra slim line with 512Meg of memory and a 1Ghz Mobile Pentium chip, but you can’t even buy one like this anymore! You either have to have a bulkier machine or one with only a touch more power for a lot more money.

So I started looking at desktops. They aren’t that much cheaper, but after trying a couple of machines at Applied and having them crash – great – they let me try a machine with a top of the range graphics card. Now that makes a huge difference! Oh, fantastic! But there were basically 4 different ranges of machine all with the same specs but vastly different prices, so I asked the guy “What’s the difference?”, “Err, well, hmmm, not sure really” was the answer! After 3 hours of research I ended up having a headache so left! But if I can’t buy a new computer having a degree in physics and the experience of buying a new machine ever year, then I feel sorry for the average person who walks in off the street! When I used to work for NEC, it was always a case of “make the customer happy”, here it’s a case of “leave the customer with a big headache and let them walk out of the shop”. How do they ever sell anything?

So anyway, I went to Yodabashi camera. Here I asked “Right, I want a top of the range machine and I want to ask lots of technical questions”. “No problem” was the answer (all of this is in Japanese of course). But they were hopeless as well! After explaining I wanted a machine for multitrack music recording and video editing with fast graphics capabilities, she showed me a machine “because it has a pretty screen!”!!!! Arghh!!! Anyway I eventually found a new Sony, with a 3.4Ghz chip and a nice graphics card. Now I wasn’t going to buy a Sony anyway as I bought 2 of them 3 years ago and ended up giving them away because they crashed too much. But for the price, 40man, I figured that’s the same price as the Mac G5.

So I went to have a look at that and the guy was actually quite helpful ( I guess having less choice makes it easy!). But without software and without a monitor it came out at 41 man. Now that is quite a bit of money! If it did really work, all seamlessly and reliably then it maybe worth the investment i.e. if it let’s me work twice as fast I can get twice as much work done. But it always seems like the Mac is a bit “airy fairy” with lots of pretty pictures and nice words, but not much substance. It did feel fast, but not as “instant” as I feel a brand new computer should!

So then I passed by the Dell shop. They had a very nice new machine, which easily felt as fast as the Mac. Hmm, nice! If I got that it would also mean I wouldn’t have to replace all my software and it’s half the price at only 25 man! Yeah! But… it takes “around” 2 weeks for delivery. Which according to the guy could mean two weeks, but for a top spec machine could mean months!!!

So I gave up!! Ideally I’d love a nice portable NEC or Sharp as I’ve had those in the past and they were fantastic. Even if I could just buy the same notebook as I have now I’d be happy, but you can’t get them and the one I have now is just tired from overuse……. The Dell’s the best bet, but I can’t trust the delivery time. And the Macs they have in stock, but 50 man plus is a lotta, lotta money!

Hmmm……not a very productive day! Any ideas?