Help Bec Get a New Computer

Hi, I’m Bec. You might be more familiar with my cats, Bailey…

…and Riley.

Because my own face does not photograph. I’m queer and disabled—born with cerebral palsy, started working when I was eighteen because I was deemed “not disabled enough” for Disability. Fifteen years later, a combination of the inevitable secondary conditions that develop for adults with cerebral palsy, plus the chronic lower back pain I developed from working (when you’re already disabled, low stress conditions put much more stress on your body) kicked me way over the qualifying bar for Disability. Yay.

Recently the PC I built six years ago back when I had a regular income died. My philosophy with computers is to build the best thing I can at the time and coast off it for as long as possible, so it had a good run. Unfortunately, I’m no longer in a situation where I can drop the same amount of money on a build like before, as my income is extremely limited now. That’s why I’m asking for help.

I’m going by the Sam Vimes principle of boots here: if I get some cheap, barebones prefab thing, it’s not gonna last and I’ll just be replacing it in a year or two, so that’s why my goal is 4k. Good card, good HDD/SSD space, good memory, good staying power. I would source all the parts separately if I could (also like my last build) but since my hands and back are ruined, I’ll be buying a mid-tier prefab PC (high tier are upwards of 8k and I really don’t need THAT much power) so I can just hook it up and go, and that also ups the cost a bit. I’ve thought about this a lot, believe me. I’ve tried getting by with just my old work laptop, but it’s on its last legs and I don’t wanna wait for the next Win 10 update to brick it, too.

Any amount you can contribute helps, and even just sharing helps a lot! Now here’s a rare pic of Bailey and Riley peacefully coexisting. Thank you!