Let’s Make a Let’s Play video

In the last post, I went into a brief history of “Let’s Play” videos and why I find them enjoyable.  In this post, I’ll go into how I create them, step by step.

Step 1:  Choosing a Video Game

First, Dragon Maiden and I choose a video game that we would like play and make entertaining commentary about.  So far we have a list of games that we want to eventually make Let’s Plays about.  For our first couple of games, we’re going to be playing Super Mario All Stars which is a collection of the Super Mario Bros games.  We’re starting out with this game because we’re both familiar with it, its fun to play, and there’s stuff to discuss about it.  Plus by time we’re done with the game, we would have ironed out the kinks of creating Let’s Play videos and be comfortable enough to branch out into other games.

Step 2: Setting up a screen recording program

A screen recording program is a program that records video footage of whatever is currently on your computer screen.  Having one is essential because we’ll be playing the video game on the computer.  Currently, I use a program called “BB Flashback Recorder”.  The free version has all the base features I need to reliably record video footage.

The welcome screen for BB FlashBack Express Recorder

Step 3: Downloading the video game ROM and console emulator

In order to play certain video games on the computer,  you’ll need a program called an emulator.  An emulator is a computer program that emulates, or mimics, a video game console, like the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Sony Playstation, etc.  Once you have the emulator for the console of your choice, then you need to download the ROM of the video game you want.  A ROM is a file that contains the code of the video game, that the emulator program can read and play.

Step 4: Play the video game on the emulator, while recording yourself with the screen recorder.

I set up the emulator, start the video game, and then play it until the point where I want to start recording.  From there I pause the game, and use the screen recorder to start recording the emulator.  Then I unpause the game and continue playing until I’m done recording.  When I’m done recording, I stop the screen recorder and save the footage.

Using BB FlashBack Recorder (the tiny icons in the upper right hand corner) to record playing a video game off of ZSNES, a Super Nintendo Emulator

Step 5: Record the audio commentary

Once I have the footage saved, I replay the footage in a regular media player, like Windows Media Player.  But while I’m replaying the footage, Dragon Maiden and I are also talking into a microphone and recording my voice over commentary.  I use another computer program, named “Audacity”, to record this audio.  Audacity is an audio recorder and editor, that lots of musicians, podcasters, and audiophiles use to edit their music/audio files.  Its pretty powerful, but I use it for the simple purpose of recording my commentary.  Once we’re done talking, I save the audio as an mp3 file.

The main screen of Audacity, the audio recorder/editor I use

Step 6: Putting the video and audio commentary together into one file

After the commentary is done, I use Windows Movie Maker to combine the video and audio into one playable file.  Windows Movie Maker is a simple video editor, that comes bundled in most Windows Operating Systems.  It works perfectly for what I need it for now, which is trimming the video file so all the useless footage is cut out, and adding the commentary audio track to the video footage.  But down the road, I want to upgrade to a more powerful video editor like Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere.  But for now, Movie Maker is good enough.

The main screen for Windows Movie Maker

Step 7: Uploading the combined file onto YouTube, so that others can watch and enjoy it.

Once I’m done using Movie Maker, that’s it….I finished the editing the Let’s Play video.  I save the video into a file type that YouTube will accept, such as a WMV file.  Afterwards, I upload the file onto YouTube, which takes FOREVER to do (one 15 minute file takes around 30 minutes).  Once YouTube accepts the file, I’m done with the whole process.  Now people can watch Frozen Diamond Dragon and the Chimeric Muse playing video games 🙂

A screenshot of YouTube uploading a file

So that’s how I create a Let’s Play video.  Check out our YouTube channel here and I hope you enjoy our videos.

Birthday Vow: Brainstorming Styles

Right now I’m still in the process of brainstorming a script together.  I’ve been working on it everyday, as I  definitely feeling the clock ticking as July 22 slowly creeps up.  I’m about halfway done with it now.  I was having some difficulty with it because I had to find a new brainstorming style.

Back when I did the Niece Web series, I used to be able to script a comic as I went along.  I would brainstorm, and write down the character notes, panel notes and dialogue all in one sitting.  Here’s a sample of my old brainstorming style that I used when I worked on a comic 6 years ago.  The comic I’m about to show you was a comic I worked on before Niece Web, called Trailblazers.  It was about a strong boy named Zoan (not shown), a fairy named Kaira and a magical girl of destruction named Trina.  They went on random adventures together.

My notes on a Trailblazers comic

I would sit down a script the comic as I brainstormed the ideas behind it.  In my notes, I was only concerned about dialogue.  The numbers in the margin was the panel number, and I wrote enough dialogue that could naturally fit into the panel.  This was my idea of story writing back then.

My thumbnail sketch of a Trailblazers Comic

After I finished the script, I would turn the page over and draw out a thumbnail sketch.  I took the dialogue and created the art around it.  When I did the thumbnail sketch, all I was concerned about was facial expressions, visual effects, camera angles and speech balloon placement.  Other stuff like body figures and background art, I figured out when I worked on the final artwork.

The finished Trailblazers comic

After the thumbnail sketch (it usually took one, and I was satisfied), I worked on the final artwork.  All the other visual details not addressed in the thumbnail sketch, I worked out along the way as I completed the final artwork.

Right now if I was to try to create a comic using my old brainstorming style, I would immediately run into writers block.  I think I figured out why.  Now when I brainstorm, I’m juggling a lot more topics in my head than just straight dialogue.  Topics such as characterization, visual details, plot, etc.  I find that I can’t start out with doing dialogue anymore.  I have to brainstorm other areas of the story first before I even begin to think about dialogue.

That’s where my current brainstorming style comes into play.  I sit down and write down everything that’s going through my mind about the story, in a stream of consciousness writing style.  For example, I need to figure out Spider’s motivation for doing a certain action….so I write down exactly that, and begin to write down every idea I have on that problem.  This brainstorming style has been very effective for me, and my ideas are flowing onto the page.  The only drawback to this brainstorming style is that it takes up more of my time to do.  Not only that, but now I have to script the comic separately from my notes, which…again…takes up time.  But its the best style I have going for me right now, and its getting results.

Drawing Course: Task 2 (Tone)

***This is a continuation of the lesson learned from the Drawing Course: Task 1 (Form) post***

Task 2: Tone. Draw an object with a single light source, then move the light source to a new position and redraw.

Masking Tape- Light Source 1

My sketch of the above masking tape

Masking Tape- Light Source 2

My Sketch of the other masking tape

How did I do?

Right off the back, I realized that the light sources didn’t create that much of a difference on the masking tape.  Instead of the shadows moving onto different areas of the masking tape, the shadows only got deeper.  I did switch the light sources (1st light source is a lamp on the right, and the second is the outside light coming from the left), but the subject itself doesn’t allow for too many differences in tone.  Maybe I should revisit this task?

I mentioned in past posts that I hate drawing circles.  So when doing these tasks I chose objects that help me to get out of my comfort zone.  So that’s what lead to me choosing masking tape for this task.  An object that requires you to draw a perfect circle.

This was another tough task for me to complete.  Personally I thought the masking tapes came out sucky.  You can see the wobbliness of the lines as I tried to draw the circles and was hesitating a lot.

The tone of the objects came out average, I suppose.  As I mentioned earlier, the shadows on the masking tape weren’t different enough to warrant a second sketch.  I effectively made the tones darker for the second sketch, which they were.

Yea, I anticipate me becoming neurotic as I go through this book and complete these tasks.  My inner critic is going to drive me insane, lol.

Drawing Course: Task 1 (Form)

Its time to do a task from the “Complete Drawing Course” book!  The first section of the book deals with drawing objects, and the first chapter deals with observing objects so you can draw them.  Here’s what I learned from the chapter:

-Objects have 4 properties that are drawn: Form (their solid qualities), Texture (surface quality), Color and Shades of light and dark.

-The chapter stresses that when you’re drawing an object (or anything in reality), you’re not just copying the object onto the paper….you’re giving your interpretation of how you view the object.  Two people drawing the same object will have 2 differing drawings because of their own unique interpretations and views of the object.

The book gives 4 tasks that help to explore the properties of an object.  Here’s the first one:

Task 1: Form:

Draw 2 objects of completely different forms, side by side, on a table.

Here’s my task:

2 objects of different forms, side by side. A spray bottle of All Purpose Cleaner and a can opener

My sketch of the 2 objects

This task was tough!  Let it be known that I HATE drawing still life.  But I’m going through these tasks anyway to hone my drawing skills.

The toughest part of the drawing was measuring proportions and angles.  Many times, I had to erase and redraw because a section of the object was disproportionate to the other sections, or the angle of some lines didn’t match.

Proportions and measurement are the themes I have to tackle if I want to become a better artist.

Doing this task did give my self-confidence a boost, despite my inner critic assassinating me.  I liked how the book said that drawings are interpretations of how you perceive reality as an artist.  No matter how bad I “think” I draw, my drawing is still good because that’s how I interpreted the subject.  You can’t take that from me, its my own unique view.  Of course with practice, my interpretations will become more realistic, but for now they’re fine as they are.  Let’s just say they’re the interpretations of the Chimeric Muse on May 31st, 2011.  Who knows how the future Chimeric Muse will interpret these same objects.

Birthday Vow: Brainstorming Frustration

With less than 2 months before my birthday, I had to get started with working on the Niece Web story I vowed to do.  There’s no way I can get away with doing this last-minute, even if I wanted to.  I need at least a full month and a prayer to just get the final artwork done.  So the first month will be all planning and preparation, and I want to get that done as soon as possible so I can get started with the time-consuming artwork.

My first plan of action is coming up with the plot of the story. So I’m sitting at my computer working on the story. You would think that it would be easy for me since I’m rewriting a story I previously did.  But NOPE, my muse wants me to do a mostly new story that’s based off the old one.  You see, I’ve spent the past few years researching on writing fundamentals, and what it takes to write a story.  This is the first story I’m writing since I finished that research, so my muse is itching to put its knowledge to use.  This reminds me of a person I know who’s enlisted in the army and had to do a tour of duty in Iraq.  I asked him if he was scared or nervous to be going to such a hostile territory for a few months.  His response gave me something to think about.  Was he nervous?  Yea, he was.  But he was also excited too.  Excited because he spent months in combat training learning skills, and he’s FINALLY going to put them to practical use.  I feel the same way too (though writing is MUCH safer than serving in active duty, thank you lord).

So I begin to work on the story.  I have vague, disjointed ideas floating around in my head.  “Spring, Autumn and Uncle Spider should start the story off playing soccer”, “Winter cooks a fabulous dinner”, “Melony is a psychiatrist and Neoma is a social worker”.  The ideas are ok, but they’re mostly details, and I’m looking for ideas that lead to a plot.  And here’s where the frustration sets in.  My muse wants to focus on details of the story, while I want to work on grander ideas that lead to a plot. My muse is stubborn and we’re having an internal battle now with each other, and my muse says “screw me” and shuts down all idea generation.

So now I’m sitting there with a nasty case of writer’s block.  Not only that, but the negative thoughts start to sink in.  “My writing sucks”, “Since coming up with a story is SO HARD, maybe I’m not cut out to be a writer”, “Why bother with this kind of frustration, just don’t bother with it”.  Not only am I frustrated with the writer’s block, but now I’m having an internal battle with even continuing writing period.  It was a tough time.  I’m trying my best to tune out the negative thinking, but it’s so hard because it’s not all just mental.  I suffer from clinical depression, so any negativity manifests itself into physical symptoms like headaches, lethargy, and my brain slowing down.  Ugh.

So how did I work through this.  For one thing, I remember something I posted about earlier on in this blog.  A post called “Blank Page Syndrome”, where just writing random gibberish will help get the creative juices flowing.  So I tried this method.  Because of my depressed brain, it was so hard to even write period, even random gibberish, but I pushed through the layer of mental heaviness.  I started by writing down the detail ideas that my muse came up with, and then I wrote down my desire to come up with ideas for the plot too.  Then something just clicked in my head, and I started coming up with ideas that I can create a plot out of.  “While Spring, Autumn and Spider are playing Soccer, Spider would meet Melony there, the lady he would have a disastrous date with”.  “Summer believes in romance, so she sees an incentive to plan Spider the perfect date, and have it go well”.  “Spring is forced to attend this date against her will, so she decides to play pranks for her own amusement”.

I won’t be spoiling the story I’ll eventually come up with, but that’s just some of the ideas I came up with so far.  I just wanted to detail the hellish battle I had with myself to get to this point.  But I’m committed to completing this vow.  Check back for more updates.

“Complete Drawing Course” Book

One of the reasons why I created this blog was to give myself motivation with producing more art.  I already got the ball rolling with making my birthday vow, but I also have another idea too.

A few months ago I purchased a book called “Complete Drawing Course” by the Diagram Group.

Pretty much my textbook for now. The "Complete Drawing Course" Book

The name says it all.  The book gives lessons on various drawing topics, and then has you do tasks that lets you practice what you learned.  I bought the book with the hopes of completing the tasks, and now that I have my blog, I will complete the tasks and upload my artwork online.  That way, the blog will motivate me to complete the tasks….all 300+ of them, lol.

You may be asking “why bother with going through the book?”.  Well, going through this book will help me to  reinforce my knowledge of the basic fundamentals of drawing.  Its my belief that to be a good artist, you need to have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of your craft.  The basics of your craft have to become like second nature to you.  Once that happens, then you can experiment with your craft and become really creative, while doing so in an intelligent/clever manner because of your knowledge of your craft.

Without a grasp of the fundamentals, not only are you more prone to make mistakes, but your art might look “off” because its missing that certain “something”.  Your art might end up great, but it has a high chance of not reaching its potential.  That’s what I believe anyway.

So in the future, I’ll be posting the lessons that I’ve learned from the book, along with the tasks that I completed.  I’m looking forward to this, as I want to improve my drawing skills.  Should be fun

What Niece Web Story Shall I Rewrite?

My Niece Web birthday vow was to rewrite and redraw a previous Niece Web story.  So now its about time I chose that story that I’ll be rewriting.

Niece Web had 5 stories: Disastrous Date, The More You Know Through Fear, The Chatterbox Technique, The Rainy Day Club, and a series of comics that I’ll nickname “The Egg Bet Story”.  I’ll go through each one, tell you a little about it, and any possible reasons why I’d want to revisit the story.

If you’d like to read the comics for yourself, please visit the Niece Web Gallery on DeviantART: Link.  The relevant comics have the story name in the title.

Disastrous Date

This was the story that kicked off Niece Web, and introduced Spider and the Nieces.  The story’s about Spider having a dinner date with his friends Neoma and Melony.  Melony had recently got reacquainted with Spider and she tries to use this dinner to hook up with him.  But unfortunately for her, Neoma also has feelings for Spider, gets jealous of Melony’s advances toward him, and tries to stop her.  The nieces are at the  dinner too and they stir up trouble for their own amusement.  Spider’s just along for the ride through the drama.

Out of all the stories I did for Niece Web, this one seems like the most fun to rewrite.  There are opportunities to have each of the main characters shine.  There are lots of opportunities for some lol moments.  Plus it’ll be fun to redraw this storyline using my 2011 art skills, and compare it to my 2005 artwork.

The More You Know Through Fear

This was the Halloween storyline.  The Nieces are waiting to attend a costume party.  While they’re waiting, Autumn suggests they play “The Game of Fear”, where you try to guess what the other person is afraid of.  Through this game, the Nieces reveal their deepest fears.  Some funny and some sad.

I could see a possible rewrite with this one.  I could elaborate further with this story.  Like I could keep the stuff dealing with the game of fear, but include some stuff of them actually attending the Halloween party.  Or I could even have the “Game of Fear” take place AT the Halloween party, with other people participating too.  The only downside is that Dark Spider doesn’t heavily feature into this storyline, and I definitely want to write a story with him having a prominent role.  I’d have to work quite a bit to include him into the story.

The Chatterbox Technique

I’m crazy for coming up with this story.  Dark Spider goes on a date with Neoma, and leaves his nieces in the care of Marty.  Marty is a big misogynistic asshole though, so Spider’s other friend Veronica comes to babysit Marty.  Marty treats the nieces like slaves, and they resent him for it.  Seeing this resentment, Veronica teaches the nieces the chatterbox technique, which has the power to turn men into sex crazed lunatics.  Armed with this technique, the nieces make Marty their slave as revenge and shenanigans ensues.

I really don’t want to deal with this storyline again, to be honest.  I’m not a big fan of it.  I made the Marty character too much of a creepy asshole, and he rubs me the wrong way.  The idea of the nieces being taught such a sexual technique rubs me the wrong way too.  Gives me pedophile undertones.  I hate to say all of this about my own storyline, as this was all done for gags and laughs, but it is what it is.

The Rainy Day Club

The LOOONNNGEST of the 5 storylines.  Dark Spider goes to the DMV on monsoon of a day, and the nieces are stuck inside the house.  To pass the time, they each write down an activity, and randomly pick which activity to do.  They start off playing a trivia game, but the whole day soon derails into a dramafest, as the nieces hurt each others feelings and get various acts of revenge on each other.  But through the drama, they get a chance to learn more about themselves and each other.

I consider this storyline the most epic and complete out of the 5 stories, and I can’t really imagine tweaking it in any kind of way.  It’s my favorite storyline.

The Egg Bet

(The first 8 comics, on the first page, in the Niece Web gallery at DA.  It starts with “Prelude to the Egg Bet” and ends with “Shut Up About the Toilet Egg”)

The storyline that ended Niece Web.  Spring bets Winter and Summer that she can convince Autumn that she laid an egg.  Summer thinks this is ridiculous and bets against Spring.  But unfortunately, Spring does convince Autumn that she laid an egg, through a clever prank.

As it stands, the story is complete.  But in reality its incomplete, because I abruptly ended Niece Web before it reached its conclusion.  The last comic just so happens to avoid being a cliffhanger and concludes the story in a way I didn’t intend it to.  This storyline has the most incentive for me to rewrite it, since its incomplete as I originally intended it.

The Final Verdict

It’s a toss-up between Disastrous Date, The More You know Through Fear and The Egg Bet.  I have decided to rewrite the Disastrous Date storyline because like I mentioned before, it seems like the most fun for me to rewrite.  Also it incorporates all the main characters and has the most opportunities for them to shine.  I will throw a bone to the Egg Bet and draw some strips that gives it a proper conclusion.  But that’s for later.
Since the story’s chosen, now its time to rework its plot.  But that’s for another post.  Laters.

Niece Web on DeviantART

Now that I finished the Oshawott Project, I can start work on fulfilling the Niece Web Birthday Vow, I made a few weeks ago.  As a reminder, I vowed to write, draw and color a completed Niece Web story by my birthday this year (July 22).

Link: Niece Web and My Birthday Vow

But since the vast majority of you all have probably never seen Niece Web, I figured it’ll be a good idea to upload the complete series again online.  To do this, I reactivated my old account at DeviantART.com and showcase them there.  DeviantART is a great website where artists can upload their art and have others view them and comment on them.  I plan on going more in-depth about DeviantART later on, but for now here are the links to my old DeviantART page and the link to the Niece Web section of it.  Enjoy:

My DeviantART profile: darkspiderzero.deviantart.com

Link: Niece Web on DeviantART

The comics are organized in reverse chronological order, so go to the last page of the gallery to find the first comic.  All of the comics feature descriptions that tell you when it was originally published and the medium I created the comic on.  Also most of the comics features tidbits of information and stories related to the comic, so make sure to not miss the description section of each comic.

I Needed A Computer and I Got One (Asus Essentio)

While I was writing the last post about my past computer purchases, I was thinking about what I could do not make those same purchasing mistakes again.  I came to the conclusion that I needed to do some research on what kind of performance I would need for my computer.  That way I won’t be so disappointed when my computer doesn’t perform.

So I did my internet research.  I looked up performance requirements for a computer to edit videos reliably, since that’s what I wanted my new computer to be able to do.  After sifting through tons of web pages, it seemed that I would need a computer that had at least 8 gb of RAM, and an Intel Core Duo processor at the MINIMUM.  Armed with that knowledge, I set out to purchase my new computer.

I went to Best Buy, a pretty big chain of computer and electronics stores.  The closest one was in Orange, CT, which I later found out was the best one in the area anyway.

The nearest Best Buy, in Orange, CT

I went into Best Buy and I felt so incredible as I looked around at the latest electronics.  I wish I could go on a shopping spree in that place.  I remember back in the day, Nickelodeon would have these games shows on, like Double Dare and Legends of the Hidden Temple.  And their grand prizes would often be $1000 shopping sprees to places like Toys R Us.  I wished so badly that I could win those shopping sprees and I felt the same exact way as I walked into Best Buy.

I walked into the computer section, and looked around.  Based on my knowledge of what kind of computer performance I was looking for, I immediately noticed that most of their budget offerings were too underpowered.  I’m so glad I did that research ahead of time, or I would’ve most likely ended up with one of those computers.  On the flip side though, I was only willing to spend $800 – $900, and most of their computers that WERE powerful enough was $1000 +.

This Best Buy had a Mac computer section, and I’ve always, ALWAYS wanted a Mac.  They’re reliable, powerful and creative professionals everywhere use Macs as a standard.  But their Macs started at $999, and they quickly got expensive from there.  The cheapest Macs were powerful enough for what I was looking for in a computer, but this Best Buy had more powerful PCs for the same exact price.  I just couldn’t bring myself to buy a Mac this time around.  Maybe a few years down the line when I have the money to splurge and not have to worry about budgets (patiently waiting for that day)

After wandering around aimlessly for a half hour, I came across this one computer that seemed too good to be true, The Asus Essentio CG8350:

Asus Essentio CG8350 Specs:
Processor: 3.40 ghz Intel Core i7
HDD: 1 TB
RAM: 8 GB
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
Price: $899

All that for $899?  A Mac with the same specs cost $1499.

REALLY skeptical, I went on my Droid 1 smart phone and did some on the spot research for this computer.  It was designed to be an entry-level gaming computer and it had a whole list of pros with only 1 real con.  The con was that its video card needed to be upgraded in order to do the maximum amount of gaming possible, and to upgrade the video card you need to upgrade other parts of the machine, like the power supply.  But straight out of the box, it was powerful.  Since I wasn’t a PC gamer, I didn’t care about that con really, so it seemed like a REALLY good deal.

Still a bit skeptical, I decided to consult one of Best Buy’s employees.  I forgot the guy’s name, but boy was this guy charismatic as hell.  While talking to me, he would stop periodically to flirt with his cute boss who would walk by constantly.  He talked about his life, about how he used to be a nightclub promoter.

While it was all interesting and everything, I had to steer him back to talking about the Asus computer.  Amazingly, he regurgitated everything I already read about the Asus computer, including that one big con about it being a pain in the ass to upgrade.  I appreciated him not just selling me this computer as God’s personal desktop computer, but also listing its limitations and flaws.  The gist of what he told me was that this computer could do whatever I wanted it to do, and I was sold.  I purchased the computer.

My Asus Essentio Desktop. Sorry for the pic quality, the iPod Touch doesn't have flash >_>

It looks like a beast, doesn’t it?  And guess what?  It IS a beast.  I put the poor computer through hell its first night, because if I wasn’t satisfied at ALL, I was returning it as soon as possible for a full refund.  I wasn’t playing around this time.  But I had nothing to worry about with this purchase.  Like the salesperson said, it pretty much did whatever I wanted it to do.

I did some quick art with it using Paint.NET.  I transcoded video using MediaCoder.  I edited audio using Audacity.  I played some games using my video game console emulators.  I went on the internet with Firefox and went through a ton of webpages, watched videos and downloaded lots of stuff.  It was an experienced I never ever had with my previous computers.  In fact, the experience was comparable to my university’s overpowered PCs, which I thought was amazing.

In later posts, I’ll go more in-depth about how I use my computer for creativity.  The focus of these past posts was just to tell you the story about buying the computer.

To end this post, I present to you video footage (with commentary) of me using my computer.  I used a program to record my computer screen.  Watch as I show off what my new baby can do.  Enjoy:
YouTube Video: Chimeric Muse Raves about his computer

I Need A New Computer

When it comes to being creative, I do most of my endeavors on my computer.  I write my stories on my computer.  I do my art on my computer using tools like a tablet and a scanner.  I edit photos on my computer.  I go on the internet and do research.  About 80% of my workflow is on my computer.  So I was pretty much hit when my laptop computer got the blue screen of death.

The Dreaded Blue Screen of Death. My poor computer

For those that don’t know, when Microsoft Windows runs into a FATAL error, it’ll show a blue screen telling you that it’s broken and why (it’ll give you an error code for you to look up).  While some blue screen errors are fixable, most aren’t (as far as I know.  I could be wrong).

So yea, I decided that it was time to get a new computer.  No, I was NOT excited about this.  You see, I have a history of buying computers that either suck or just didn’t get the job done, in terms of what I wanted.  Here’s a brief rundown on my past computer purchases.

My HP Omnibook 6000

HP Omnibook 6000
Release Date: Late March  2001
Processor: 600 mhz Intel Pentium III
Hard Drive (HDD): 20 GB
RAM: 256 MB
Operating System: Windows XP (upgraded from Windows 2000)

I bought this laptop back in April 2005 from a dealer on eBay.  It only cost $400, which was a far cry from its original retail price of $1,899 (!!!).  It was an okay laptop.  I was using it for light internet use, watching movies and word processing.  From what I remember, the laptop worked decent enough to do those tasks.  But unfortunately, my laptop stopped working mysteriously about 2 months after purchase.  It wouldn’t recognize the hard drive anymore.  I didn’t even get a blue screen of death, because Windows couldn’t boot up to present it.  I was SO pissed off.  I bought a lemon of a computer that worked “just” long enough so I can’t return it to the dealer (30 day warranty).  I think it was done on purpose because I’m cynical like that, even if it doesn’t make much sense.

My desktop computer: Compaq Presario SR1403WM

Compaq Presario SR1403WM
Release Date: 2/16/05
Processor: AMD Sempron
HDD: 80 GB
RAM: 256 MB
Operating System: Windows XP- Home Edition

I bought this computer in November 2005 from Wal Mart for….I wanna say $700 or so.  It came with monitors and speakers bundled.  Let me tell you, this thing worked like a piece of shit straight out of the box.  Slowest computer I EVER dealt with, I was working with a slow 1998 computer in my workplace at the time.  The computer took 15 minutes to fully boot up and about 3 minutes for a window to pop up (yes, I timed all of this).  Windows XP was FULL of Wal Mart bloatware, the pre-installed software that comes bundled with their new computers.

I felt fully ripped off by Wal Mart, and with their track record, I’m not surprised.  You see the model number in the specs section above.  You see how the last 2 letters of the number, after the dash, is WM.  Take a wild guess what that stands for.  My theory is that Wal Mart commissioned Compaq for their own line of computers to sell.  So Compaq gave WM their own special version of the SR1403 computers.  A watered down, underpowered version so Wal Mart can sell it for cheaper than the normal version, and even bundle it with a monitor and speakers (which isn’t standard).  Well you’re plan worked WM.  Ya got me with your “non deal”.

For an additional $150, I bought 2 gb of RAM for the computer, and it now works in a decent manner.  In fact, the computer still works passably to this day.  I used this computer extensively.  I heavily used the internet, and downloaded gigs and gigs of content.  I created and ran my webcomic Niece Web off of this computer, using resource intense programs like Adobe Photoshop.  I played games.  I watched movies and played music.  I edited audio and video….well actually, that’s where my computer drew the line.  It sucked at editing video, which was a motivating factor in my new computer purchase (read further down for more).  This computer became my reluctant workhorse, but it’s, without question, showing its age (almost 6 years old, and the model line itself is probably older).

My Laptop: Acer Aspire 5100-3357

Acer Aspire 5100-3357
Release Date: Late 2006/Early 2007
Processor: 1.6 ghz AMD Turion
HDD: 120 GB
RAM: 1 GB
Operating System: Windows Vista

I bought this baby as a present for landing my first full-time job back in May 2007.  I bought it for….$700, if I recall correctly.  This laptop performed average at best…about on par with my Compaq desktop, which its supposed to be superior to.  The laptop never made me feel confident in its performance.  I always had the feeling that it was underpowered for the average use I was putting it through.  I wasn’t putting it through any of the hardcore stuff I used my Compaq desktop for.  About 6 months in, the screen broke for no reason at all.  It would black out often, and it would only work if I fiddled with raising and lowering the screen for about a minute or so.

Maybe it wasn’t my laptop hardware at all that was underpowered.  Maybe it was the fact that Windows Vista SUCKS.  The operating system felt so clunky, slow and unpolished.  The laptop wasn’t powerful enough to run the full visual power of Vista, but from what I saw, it was underwhelming anyway.  Programs would frequently freeze, idle or crash with no reason, especially during its final year.  Windows XP on my Compaq wasn’t like this at all.  Months before I got the blue screen of death, my laptop was performing at an all time low and I knew its days were up.

Those were my past computer purchases.  With my new computer, I was so determined not to repeat the same mistake twice.  I wanted a computer that I would be happy with right out of the box.  In terms of performance, I wanted a computer that I could edit videos with, since my previous computers couldn’t reliably get the job done.  If my new computer could do that, then it could do ANY of my creative endeavors, which is the most important thing to me.

Did I succeed? Find out in the next post!