A Check for the Power Difference
Since all I had to do for Cataclysm on my desktop was just add the key to my account, I really had no use for the entire box Amazon shipped to me aside from the sticker found on the instruction manual. However, since I knew that my Shuttle is just barely up to the WoW task, I decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go ahead and upgrade it on my laptop which I’ll be taking down to Dallas with me also. Rather than have to download the close to 5 GB patch file, I figured the DVD could at least be put to good use, so I’m in the process of using it to do the upgrade process on my laptop. After that, I really will have no use for the box, so I can take it down to the basement and leave it with the rest of my Blizzard CE collection.
The plan in my mind had generally been that after I do my desktop upgrade up here next summer, that’s when I’d play the great computer part swap between here and Dallas. If my laptop serves all my computing needs while I’m down there this time, I guess it’s conceivable that I could go ahead and bring my Shuttle back up here with me now. Considering that the process will be easier with a trip where I don’t take a suitcase (which will not be the process this time), perhaps really what the best plan would be is to bring the Shuttle up here in June when I go to Dallas for Spamalot (since I doubt I’ll have done my upgrade by then, and even so, I could hold off taking the parts down there), and then take the new set of parts down there either in September if I get to go on a recruiting trip again or just next Christmas.