So I picked up a new monitor, yesterday -- HP w2408h if anyone might like to look for the same -- 24" piece of flat-panel fun. Seriously, HP put this thing together really well. It has a really convenient swivel-and-dual-hinge base on it. I don't suppose that I myself would need to put it into portrait mode, unless I was setting the phasers on stun with a few of these things all linked together, set up in portrait mode, edge-to-edge big big display, or something. I figure I'd want a monitor with smaller physical edge-borders though, if I was going to seriously set up a panoramic multi-head display, as such -- as serious as it could be, granted, because that would most certainly be some fun. Pricey fun, but fun nonetheless. Impressive, visually stunning fun, even -- but hey, I'll save writing up the budget proposal for when I've got a co. to send it to.

So that coves the monitor, to some extent. It's really great to have this full-screen fun, for everything comp related and that -- as such -- such that I'd be able to take care of, reasonably well, at my own comp. The colors on this thing are stunning. With a decent pair of speakers and some tunes one would be satisfied with, it does make for a great computing experience.

The next part of this proverbial ad-hoc multimedia setup is the mouse -- I already picked up a good one made by Logitech, I'm fully impressed with it. Next to that, there's the keyboard/mouse combo I picked up yesterday -- Logitech MX3200 -- really great keyboard, decent mouse but I like the one I've got already. The keyboard, now, this thing is super -- just in the multimedia control keys, all correctly configured through Logitech's SetPoint software -- activatable from the system tray, it works for many Logitech devices, mice and keyboards (and probabaly force-feedback joysticks) included. This keyboard, it earns its own simply on the multimedia control stuff, it's a very convenient piece of tech.

I'll admit that I'm not all pleased with the default functionality of the "dynamic search and zoom" widget at the edge of the keyboard -- can't disable it, either. This is really minor though. I just have to be careful to not drag nor place a finger, hat, sleeve, or a portion of my hand over that small touch-sensitive strip on the item.  Some paint might do the trick, too.

"For once, at the least." a tech manufacturer's got a piece of peripheral hardware all put together right and well. I guess this is good. I know that I'm satisfied with the keyboard and the monitor.

So I'm guessing that there must be a bunch of 14-year-old ideas, working in the design bureaus of a whole lot of {insert qualifying adjective here} desktop computer case manufacturers. I can't believe the ridiculous silly junk these guys come up with. You really can't find a decent looking pre-assembled case, it appears, with any of the see-through tricks on it. Do those supposed product designers think there is no aesthetic sense in their target market, or are they just missing the boat about it, themselves? There's a tough question.


Update

As opposed to paying $3000 for a Gucci or Tommy Hilfiger case* .... the widest most of those cases still come across as looking like some cheap, kiddy looking junk -- and that, in what is, fundamentally, a decidedly serious domain -- serious, outside of all the gaming and other methods of entertainment, and all the tricks of simple style, as occur in coincidence with computers and the internet.

I found a case that looks like it'll do. It has a clear side panel, stretching across the whole side  -- not one of those funny little "port hole" windows that must be useful for letting LED light out of the case, and not really useful for looking into the case, unless one happens to resemble one of those funny-looking little Troll dolls, in height if not all details of appearance and demeanor. The case I'm looking at, for the "plan for the next computer", it doesn't cost a ridiculous amount of money, and it does not have any ridiculous quirks built into the visual and physical design of it. I can't remember the manufacturer's name, offhand, but the model name is Aztec. It looks good enough -- better than worse, anyhow --  and it looks like it could be a go, for the parameters of the item.

So, why the clear side panel? I think it's darned nifty, to be able to look at the hardware comprising a computer, while the computer is operating, and to be able to do so, -- "courtesy of the wonders of modern materials and manufacturing", and due to simple science and industry, all told -- and that, without having the case all opened up. I've selected a power supply and a CPU fan that, each, looks like it's built solid, and which have received some good reviews, over at NewEgg. Both of those items have the little blue LED tricks, on 'em, in a decent visual design, and they look to be solidly constructed -- so, they look good overall. The other components for the computer would be less colorful to talk about, of course.

I'll be saving this plan for a later budget of dollars and time. The idea struck me, I had the time for it, now, and it seemed like it could be fun, so I got it out of the way, now. If I need to upgrade the plan, later, that'll be awful easy to do.

The motherboard I've selected looks great, will run great, and I want to give it some show space -- an EVGA X58 board, looks great even on the bottom of it, where all the solder points are -- all black and silver, throughout. The item also has some considerate accents, showcasing the EVGA name. 

Starting from there, it's simply a matter of making the most out of the investment. That motherboard should be a very good motherboard, regardless of its looks and the really-only-slighly-more-costly price of it, as compared to some other board.

That is has the stylish looks it does, I see no sense in letting those design-workers' time go to waste, about it. In my day, as it were, I have seen enough functional-not-stylish stuff. I'll inevitably see more such stuff, such that is designed for function regardless of appearance, and maybe if I won't "just see it" -- more than enough said about it. So, I don't mind the opportunity to put together something that would look good, as a computer and secondly as a fixture for my noticeably office-like room.


* That was a joke, of course. As of yet, neither Gucci nor Tommy Hilfiger, and not Nike or Rebok or even New Balance Shoes have been found to have branded any computer cases, of their corporate brand names -- such that I am aware of. Give 'em time, though, and we'll see what happens.

I wouldn't put it past Nike's marketing designers, to brand a computer case "Nike", as a plain matter of fact.


Update II

Maybe, just maybe, I'd get distracted with the looks of that computer case, and would then proceed to forget about what the job of software programming is about? Maybe not, too.

I sure would like to think that I'm reasonable enough to stay focused about it -- about the point of a computer, which is namely and in short, to compute  -- if I simply don't let myself loose focus about it, in the first place -- plain and simple.

Computer programming is such as it is, it can tend to be some non-fun and non-pretty work, but there are some industrial gains to the work -- regardless of nature or quality of paycheck, or of half-assed economy.

Oops, I sure said that out loud, didn't I: The half-assed economy. Hey, maybe that's part of the problem too -- half-assedness, overall, and that means also in the half-assed board room.

It ain't half-assed, in every corner of the economy, to be darned sure.


Back to the running thread, at hand -- but come to think of it, it really is immaterial, if my computer case looks "like that" or not -- I mean, looks like as it would, with such-and-such a non-conventional case on it.

Some simple facts, to illustrate:

• I would understand what that computer would be for -- the computer contained in the flipping case, sitting on the floor, in my shop/workhouse/office/room/space.
  
• The look of it, beyond if it looked good -- supposing it would, the case of the thing and what the case would contain -- beyond if it looked good, or at least didn't look actually bad, the looks of it would be otherwise immaterial.

Given that it's a plan for some later time, as I'd said -- my pointing out that I'd said so, as in case that a reader would forget that the writer had said that, and might think that oneself had credit for coming up with it, as most certainly wasn't the case, until after the fact -- while getting all epistemological here, in the illustration, and touching on issues of plagiarism, indeed -- well, hell, it ain't a thing for now, that computer layout. There's time to work it out finally, later, and without any "well intended" and completely needless, or otherwise completely obnoxious attention, from anyone. Period, comma, exclamation point.

The following comprises a rule of thumb, such that myself and a friend have learned, in such a way as a lesson is learned most well -- the hard way. One of the first things to do after buying a used car would be to check the spark plugs.

I'll not hazard a comment about the quality of the pre-sale inspection on the used car I purchased. It didn't include a proper inspection of the spark plugs -- that's just a matter of fact. Consequent to this, then, those old, old Champion plugs were left in the thing, to the point that it began to cause serious engine trouble for the new owner, viz a viz myself. My being a new owner, I didn't know if the initial poor performance of the car was natural for it, or what else it could be, offhand. I wasn't as proactive as I certainly could've been, towards replacing the spark plugs, at the outset of my term of ownership on the vehicle.

By the time of this week, the engine trouble was so bad that the engine nearly died, on the way for my to buy the replacement spark plugs -- the spark-plug wires were, indeed, in good condition, and may have even been new, for all I know.  I wouldn't put it past the previous mechanic to have not replaced the spark plugs, though having replaced the spark plug wires. Perhaps it was a little while ago, though, and maybe that guy really did replace the spark plugs -- using some brand new lawnmower-grade plugs from Champion.

I bought some Bosch two-prong plugs from Autzone, and happened to meet an old friend, while I was there. Leaving my life outside of the blogs space, as ever: I was furthermore impressed by AutoZone's complete quality of service.

I replaced the plugs on my car, and the friend replaced those on his own. On both our cars, the old plugs were well past their useful lifetimes.

During the test drive, my friend reported that he was indeed getting a noticeable performance gain from the new plugs -- got some Bosch two-prongs, he did, as well.

In regards to the test drive on my own car, it actually ran, and ran a good deal better than how it had, in those few weeks ago, as at the time when I had originally bought the thing, used.

Come to think of it, I might still pick up one of Scantool's OBD-II kits and take my laptop for a spin -- just some icing on the cake, plain and fun -- to get a solid performance read-out on the engine, recorded and plotted while I drive, and to see if there are any other error codes coming up, now. There shouldn't be any more of the code that indicated a misfiring piston.


Listening to: People of Earth, Dr Steel