Running Hard to Keep Up With the Future

I have been posting less because I am crazy busy, and also because my home computer is maxed out, and now barely works. It's an old machine, and I will order a replacement from Dell tomorrow. How old is the old machine? It's only got 80 GB on the hard drive. That used to seem like a lot. Now the minimum is 500 GB.

So how have I been blogging?  Mostly by cell phone. 

I am going to get a new Dell, but why do I need anything more than the econo-box which has 4 GB RAM and 500 GB on the hard?  I do not game, do not watch movies on the computer, and listen to music on Pandora.  I store photos, write, blog, and email.  That's about it.

I am wary of Windows 8, but it's the way of the future it appears.  The whole hardware package is $300. Any cautions out there??