Ian Morris
Ian Morris loves televisions so much he's been banned from wedding chapels in Las Vegas for trying to marry them. When he's not romancing technology, he can be found watching American TV. Ian likes roast potatoes, but he doesn't like digital rights management.
Friday 2 November 2007, 9:21am
Is this the worst PC in the world?
I'd like to introduce you to the source of nearly all my work-related stress. Meet my HP desktop PC. I don't know where this machine came from, but I'd estimate it dates from the early 1980s. It certainly has about the same level of processing power as something from the decade of Lycra and big hair.
On this PC is installed a copy of Windows XP. An operating system that I use at home, and really like. But here at the office it's much like being repeatedly punched in the testicles. After a short period of time, it becomes painful and annoying. When I first started working here, the damn thing only had 512MB of memory, but IT took pity on me and bumped it up to 1GB. Did it make a difference? Yes, but the whole thing is still as slow as a two-legged horse climbing a well-oiled and very steep hill.
So, what am I going to do about it? I'm not really sure. There's every chance I might get so annoyed with it that I end up throwing it down the nearest staircase. Of course, that might get me the sack. But I'm almost tempted to say the satisfaction would be worth going on the dole.
A more sensible idea is probably to install Ubuntu on this machine, but somehow I don't think IT will be keen on that...
Comments on this post
See if you can put a Geforce 8800 Ultra in it.!!!
Posted by W Malik on Sat 10 November, 2007 9:43 AM
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I've got exactly that PC under my desk and got fed up with the poor performance. Funny you should mention Ubuntu as that's exactly what I replaced Windows XP SP2 with. The difference was remarkable!
Posted by Chris Norris on Mon 12 November, 2007 9:54 PM
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Ha! I knew it wasn't just me that hated this computer :D W Malik, good plan but it lacks: a) A PSU capable of powering an 8800 and b) doesn't have a PCI-E socket. Thanks for the replies guys, love reading them.
Posted by Ian Morris (cnet.co.uk) on Tue 13 November, 2007 10:43 AM
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Install XP Lite to make this machine run considerably faster. I do this on all the old machines I work on. litepc.com
Posted by Anonymous on Mon 26 November, 2007 1:58 PM
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Dear god, I knew the name sounded familiar, and then the creepy thing happened. The picture wouldn't load right away, because this computer, and our network, is slow. I happened to glance with anger at the computer so poorly placed in my elbow room.... and realized it's the same computer that was in the picture that finally loaded. Our district just stocked a few labs with those things. It's like tying your ankle to a tractor during a drought and laying down on the rocky ground.
Posted by Bill P. on Mon 26 November, 2007 4:14 PM
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Install a new hard drive and then reinstall XP. Should be pretty fast after that. If that still doesn't please you, stick a Pentium D in there.
Posted by Brian S. on Mon 10 December, 2007 8:29 PM
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Articles by Ian Morris
Adobe launches Photoshop Mobile for Android handsets
Crave If you take a lot of photos on your phone, then you're probably in need of a little extra re-touching help from time-to-time. If you have an Android phone, Adobe can help with its new Photoshop mobile app
Oppo opts not to sell its BDP-831 Blu-ray player in Europe
Crave When Oppo announced that it was making a Blu-ray player we were very excited. Unfortunately, the company recently announced that it won't be coming to Europe so now we're very sad instead
Blu-ray to get managed copy. At last
Crave Years after it first launched, Blu-ray is now set to get managed copy, to allow users to copy their movies to another device or keep a backup copy. But you'll need all-new hardware to do it
Phone love: When an iPhone meets a Hero
Photo He was wildly successful. She was from the wrong side of the tracks. But their passion would not be held back by firmware updates, nor Bluetooth incompatibility. This was true phone love
Digg is dead: Twitter killed it and Google helped bury the corpse
Crave We've checked its pulse, and the link-sharing site is dead. Here's how the rise of social networking -- and Google's ceaseless evolution -- stuck the knife in and twisted
Plug versus Plug
Crave We take a 100 per cent objective look at the plugs of the world, scientifically judging their attributes to decide which will come second to the mighty British plug. Oh, did we give it away?
Moon lands on Blu-ray this November
Crave One of our films of the year -- and one of the most stylish sci-fi films of the last decade -- Moon is soon out on Blu-ray and we're vibrating with excitement
freesat iPlayer beta service imminent
Crave It's not much of a secret that iPlayer was going to turn up on freesat at some point. The good news is, we now know there will be a beta program run at the end of November
