Where it all started

COVID-19 drastically changed the IT industry; instead of confined cubicles, we all started working on dining tables or a coffee table at home, or a luxurious Sofa occupied by our daily work essentials. Some companies did send office furniture for day-to-day use, and some did one-time reimbursed the table/chair/monitor expenses. 

Guys like me, pampered with 34inch monitors, Bluetooth headsets, excellent table & chair, etc., started missing the zeal office working environment. I got a good chair, table, and a monitor (24Inch) office reimbursed. Even that did not add the comfort of a 34" inch monitor, so I included my old(2016) 24" all-in-one to the setup. 

This created a large view and efficiently added me to compare sheets, chats in one window, etc.; I felt I got all the comfort. The joy couldn't last long; the all-in-one started complaining of heat issues, disk issues, etc. Thus the Journey started for a new machine.

 Why did I rule out Laptops?

Laptops are lightweight, easy to carry, good form factor, and nowadays, lots of options: Yoga, Flex, XPS, touch, pencil, etc. I wanted a machine which I can turn on in the morning and turn off in the night. A device that could run for almost 14-16 hours ( Not a workaholic guy 😉) 

Comparing all these options, either the device was expensive or couldn't withstand the benchmark tests. I don't want to carry it around as well. All in all, I was not able to decide on one. So moved to All-in-ones or desktop.

 The issue with branded desktops/All-in-one?

All-in-ones have great aesthetics, an excellent form factor, ease to use, and everyday functionality. The major drawback is it's tough to troubleshoot hardware issues. You cannot unscrew it and clean the dust or see under the hood what's going on. With its complex form factor with constant use, this could create heat issues: sometimes no dedicated graphics card. Also, some suitable configurations are too expensive with brands. 

Branded desktops, this is a lovely area to explore, from small form factor to tower builds, these are also very good with configuration and prices, with all the tick boxes checked, it was close to my Eureka moment. Just then, I noticed some weird obstacles, such as you could not increase RAM? SMPS/Power unit wattage was too less for future upgrades. If you think you are not happy with graphics and need an upgrade, no additional space in the box. Even though you could find such a Tower, the price to build was too high. So, I moved to find out something from the assembling PC side.

 Assembled PC's:

I am a 90's kid who always aspired to have an assembled PC AMD/Intel; it doesn't matter. That's how an affair started with Electronics/Computers. In my Hostel/Bachlorete rooms, we always had a CPU on top of a motherboard connected to SMPS, PS2 keyboard, and mouse(ball roller), with a 15inch CRT monitor. Most of the time-poor motherboard didn't have a cabinet as well. The CD-ROM was luxury, and if you had CD Writer with X speed, you were the Jungle King (Hostel). Nostalgic

Let us turn to assemble anyway, and I don't know if this is very popular with the youth these days. But, indeed, with gamers, it's a lot. I started hunting (Youtube/Google). I could see thousands of videos on how to build a gaming PC or build your PC. I surfed most of them and could know one thing, the guys see a lot a bit, and I need to catch up with my little knowledge in gaming (Need for speed, Commando's (I & II), Age of Empire, Roadrash, and that's it). 

When I started surfing to build an Ultimate PC for myself, I felt like Charlie from the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." There are so many peripherals options like CPU Cooler, RGB fans, different sets of cabinets/towers, motherboards, and unlike Charlie, you would like to have every bit in your build. 

Based on this knowledge, I have started building my upcoming PC on paper, comparing both Intel and AMD Ryzen as a processor. And indeed, my next machine would be an assembled one.

Let me know if you are interested in learning further part of the Journey.