Interesting thread. I've been posting in that other one, too, but what the
heck. It seems lately I've been indulging in both the computer AND
woodworking purchasing arenas. I went from having a crapsman table saw and
a few benchtop tools about 2 years ago, to having a Unisaw with 50" Bies, 3
routers, full-size drill press, bandsaw, 6" jointer, 12.5" planer, mortiser,
scroll saw, OSS, etc. etc. etc. I don't think I'll be ALLOWED to buy any
more tools for a LONG time. Good thing to know I won't need to hehe.

As for the PC department. I remember how excited my dad was when he brought
home the Commodore 64 - I can't remember what year that was, I was just a
kid. But, I do remember starting about age 12 or so (probably when we got
that thing), being the ONLY kid to turn in typed reports at school and I'm
sure getting browny points for it. My friends would spend hours at my house
playing games on our BLAZING 286. I remember playing games on 5.25"
floppies, where you had to change discs about every 15 minutes (they came
with like 15 or something). So, what do I do now? Just before Christmas I
got the go ahead and bought a $3300 computer. P4 3.2 Ghz HT processor, 2 Gb
of DDR400 memory, 500 Gb RAID 0 hard drive set up, 8x DVD R/RW drive, 48x
CD-RW drive, 256 Mb Radeon 9800 XT video card, 6.1 THX capable sound card,
surround sound speakers (for my PC!!), TV tuner card & software (who needs
TiVO??), and a 20" LCD flatscreen monitor. The thing is, I still get
impatient when I start the computer hehe. It only takes 8 seconds from the
power button to the desktop. Oh how times have changed.

Mike

"Rick Cox" wrote in message
ink.net...
I am a long time wreck lurker. and a recent post by Jim Laumann "A
'puter
in the shop" got me thinking.

In 1994 when I purchased my first house I wanted to buy a RAS to help with
some of the fix ups needed. My father who lived close by talked me into
getting a tablesaw because he already had a ras and said it would be nice
to
have both between us. So it was off to the local sears and I purchased a
contractors table saw. I purchased the saw for $449.00 and I could not
believe that I spent that much on something I didn't event know how to
use.

About a year later, my wife and I decided to purchase our first computer.
I
am a CAD tech and I did not want anything less than I was using at work at
the time.
So I went to the local computer shop and had one built to try to save
money.
I had to have that new HOTTT Pentium chip. I was really excited to get
the
Pentium 90 that ran so hot it needed its own fan. I paid $150 bucks extra
to double the RAM to 16 megs, and I got a huge 15" svga monitor. Final
price for that computer was $2300 but man was I styling......AOL at a
whopping 14.bps ...... life doesn't get any better....


Now 2004, I have a used $449.00 craftsman table saw that I still
thoroughly
enjoy, and that $2300 computer is darkening some corner in a land fill
right
now..... what I wouldn't give to has that $2300 in tools now,
Funny what we are willing to spend money on.