Tuesday, December 6th, 2022 The best four chocolates of my life =================================== It's quite amusing: the total cost of my current desktop computer was around $3500. I got my current laptop in exchange for 4 chocolates, and I'm equally happy using both of them. Yes, the desktop is fully open-source hardware based on an 8C/32T POWER9 CPU, probably just a few hundred of these are running around the globe. On the other hand the laptop is an old 2C/2T Core2-based ThinkPad x200s, but I'm as productive using the former as the latter. Even the fact that the first one has 64 GB of RAM and the second one has just 6 GB doesn't matter. Because it's all about the software I'm using: simple WM, shell, editor, cross-assembler, emulators, browser, music player, etc. I don't fancy watching UltraHD movies or playing modern games, so I'm good with almost any hardware. So I make do with what is available. When I'm at home, I power on the mighty desktop beast; elsewhere I use the ThinkPad. No big difference whatsoever. These simply were the best four chocolates of my life, worth almost $3500 in hardware for most tasks.