"It what Elf's tribe does..."

[elfs]

A few days ago, I was having lunch with my boss and the graphic artist over at IndieFlix, and I mentioned that I had bought a new computer. The last one I bought was in 2003, an Ars Technica Hot Rod with extra IDE drives. This one is the same, only, well, the 2010 edition: The four-core i5-768 2.8GHz, 4GB of DDR3-133 RAM, an Nvidia GTX 460. Instead of the Antec Solo, I went with the Antec Dark Fleet, which is kinda sexy and very glowly blue.

My boss said she'd never heard of the brand "Ars Technica." I explained that it wasn't a brand, but a geek website (now, very sadly owned by Conde Nast), and they regularly posted the specifications for three computers: A $600 "budget box," a $1200 standard high-performance "Hot Rod" (mine came in less than that because I already had a very nice screen and mouse. Need a wireless keyboard, tho...), and the $10,000+ "God Box".

She said, "You mean it comes in parts? You have to put it together yourself? For that much money, I could buy a machine almost as good and I wouldn't have to put it together afterward."

The graphic artist came to my defense. "No, no, you have it wrong. This is what Elf's tribe does. Every few years they have to build their own machine. That way, they know everything about it."

That's about right.

Comments

[norincraft.livejournal.com]

With the other part being they then have to install a number of operating systems on it and then customize beyond what mortals understand. At the point where the computer can stand up and do the funky chicken on command, they then smile and say that it is good.