The mighty Asus computer that I took great joy in welcoming into my office nine years ago, has fallen victim to many of the ailments it's owner suffers...It wanders around in a daze much of the time, and its hearing problems are well documented...It's memory seems to be at its limit at times, and like its operator, it teeters under a heavy load...Therefore, after consultation with several specialists, I've decided to put it out to pasture graciously, and welcome a new player at the table...

Best Buy, where the Asus originated, told me if I wanted the latest and greatest with maximum power, speed and storage, I would need a "gaming computer"...The last game I played on a computer was Solitaire, and Win10 took that ability away...Their offering also did not include a CD or DVD device of any kind (they said that was old technology hardly used anymore)...The monitor I now have has speakers built in (which may or may not be functional) so I picked out a Samsung 27" curved screen which has no speakers at all...For an extra $50 they would sell me some plug in speakers...

I checked around online for prices elsewhere with no great luck...The IBuyPower (a brand I never heard of) at Best Buy was comparable to online prices since they had it marked down $150 in a sale...

I then went to a small, local computer shop owned by a former gun store customer, who has had the same technician working for him for a number of years...He has fixed many small hardware problems on my other PC's over the years, and I've never had a problem with any of his work...I showed him what Best Buy offered, and told him exactly what I do with my computers, explaining that as an old hot-rodder I'm happiest with more speed, power and storage room than I can ever actually use...

Later in the day he emailed me with his recommendation...He specced the same CPU: Core i7 9700, an ASRock Z390 motherboard, 32 GB RAM, 500GB PCI-Express Solid State Drive (said to be faster than standard SSD), 1TB HDD, Gold Standard power supply, plus a new DVD writer and Win10 Pro all installed...All this at $200 less than Best Buy, plus he'll transfer all my files over included in the price...His supplier did not have the Samsung monitor I wanted, but he found the same one on Amazon at $70 less than Best Buy (I already ordered it today)...

To sum it up, I get more storage, a little more speed, twice the memory, and a DVD writer for less money...Needless to say, he got the business, especially since it's someone I already know and trust...He ordered the parts saying it would be ready next week, probably when my monitor gets here...To fix my sound problem, I'll first try my Onkyo amp and pre-amp with my Cerwin-Vega speakers (a fix which did not work with the Asus)...If that doesn't work, there are computer-compatible speakers that will...

So maybe soon all you goobers who have been talking about me behind my back because you knew I didn't have sound, and couldn't hear you, better watch out!......Ben