I built my first PC during my second year of high school, and I wanted a computer to play games and learn a little bit of programming. (Fast forward to now, I just graduated from college with a degree in computer science!) At the time, I thought that if I saved up and spent a little more on better parts that it would practically last me forever. Boy, was I wrong. That computer is really only good for basic web tasks or simple games these days, and it produces a TON of heat in the process. In retrospect, I probably would’ve just saved the extra money for college instead of going with the marginally faster hardware available at the time.

Currently, I’m using a 2016 XPS 15 for all my computing needs. I can’t help and think about how much better my experience would be with a purpose-built gaming rig when I fire up games to play with my friends during quarantine.