After spending longer fighting with Windows 11 than should have been needed, I finally have a new PC that is not running Windows 11.
Inspired by Pixy Misas at Ambient Irony (@mixypisa on X) I looked at prebuilt systems. The Microcenter near me had sold out of everything I needed for a build-from-scratch system, and the prices on stuff in stock were insane anyway. I did find one of their house-brand PCs, with a decent specification, and an acceptable GPU, all for a not-horrible price. I don't even hate the case they used, though I'm sure the fans will give me problems in time.
I was speaking with the manager, while the salesman was fetching the system from the back, and he said that the prebuilt systems were priced as when they were built, so they were somewhat insulated from the insanity of current memory pricing. I guess that insanity is soon to hit GPUs as well, though they were already insanely priced.
The fight with Windows was actually not as bad as I expected, given some of the stuff circulating on the intertubes. Then again, I didn't want a dual-boot system; I just wanted to find the Windows 11 product keys. Finally found the license key hiding in a registry entry. In case I ever lose my mind and decide to reinstall Windows, and all of its AI crap, I have a valid license key, which Microsoft will probably not accept...
Things may be a bit quiet, while I get everything reinstalled, and figure out what I've forgotten to install. I had a lot of posts scheduled, so you may not notice anything.
Last year my old laptops finally gave up the ghost. I bought an off-lease Dell Latitude 5420 from Micro-Center and a new SSD. I installed Linux Mint on the new drive. I plan to keep the old drive in case I absolutely need 11 for some unearthly reason but I really don't see that happening.
ReplyDeleteI was worried about needing Windows last year when I first dumped it, but I have done everything - including pay taxes without it. There are some games that won't work under Linux (though I expect that to change, since the anti-cheats will need to be rewritten to work on the new Steam Box). But then I don't really play many games. I might install some on this PC, because why not, but I already spend too much time in front of screens.
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