Don’t be fooled.

You’d be amazed how much toothpaste you can squeeze out of an “empty” tube.

And so it is with computers.

I have an entry-level, base-configuration machine with 4GB of RAM. But it’s fucking FLYING.

Currently, half a gig of that is handed over wholesale to a virtual machine (which is running in the same window space as my native OS (which is wrecking my head (and which is also taking me to my third parenthetical level))).

(Parenthetical Level is the name of my new Kraftwerk tribute band.)

My VM is currently running software updates over its Ethernet-but-not-Ethernet connection and chugging away nicely. I might as well be looking at an empty desktop, given how snappily the unit seems to be running. Glancing at my system resources, I note that both CPUs are up to about 80% and hovering there. But everything is running JUST FINE, you guys.

To sum up, here’s what I currently have on the go:

• browser with Flash running
• music software (loud - even though that makes no odds)
• Twitter
• hard disk config client
• calendar
• text editor (yeah, well, yawn, but here for completeness)
• IM
• a terminal
• system resource monitor
• The Legal Obtainer (ahem)
• my notes database
• tasks/to-do database (actively syncing with my smartphone AS WE SPEAK, folks)
• and oh yes, a fucking VIRTUAL MACHINE.

You know what? I spent plenty.