This is a photograph I took earlier today, of Perry de Havilland's new computer.

Two points:

First, it looks very cool, and is (not coincidentally) called "the Alien". And not just by Perry, by the makers of the thing. Look at what it says on the mouse mat.

Second, it is mega mega powerful, and cost a whole lot more than most of us would dream of spending on a computer, no matter how easily we could afford such a beast. I asked Perry why he had paid so much. Answer: he's a computer games freak. And computer games work a whole lot better on mega mega powerful computers. Computer games feature lots of special effects which are a lot more special on a machine like the Alien than on the kind of chugger I happily operate on. What is more, Perry added, it is computer games which are now driving computer hardware along. The gamesters are the ones now buying the latest, biggest and bestest personal computers, and the rest of us are quite content to pay a few hundred quid for their cast-offs. Interesting.