<<< lisa, (DSG, David, kw, jim + others) OFF TOPIC COMPUTER GEEK STUFF ONLY ...>>> Sheesh, I just sent an email to lisa with specs. Here, I'll post it here. I think it's clean enough. Hey, Richard, good thoughts on the memory --- I've read that stuff, but I sure could not remember it. We agree on some stuff. I guess, I ought to go meet with lisa, so I could understand what she REALLY wants to use this maching for. Here's my email to lisa:
jg seems to have a leg up on me as far as the specs ---
I would go with Window95. Windows NT is a networking system and you
don't need.
I think you want the 64Meg machine with the faster memory, but I don't
even remember which memory is the faster. jg said some stuff which rang a bell, but I don't remember which memory is faster.
get the video card with 8Meg on it. It will make your screen loading
faster which is very important if you are paging thru a LOT of SI posts from your computer's (browser) cache --- like do you load a lot of posts and then scan back and forth thru them using your Browser's BACK and FORWARD buttons? The memory and the video extra memory will help a LOT with this.
The memory would also help if you have lots of windows open --- I
operate during the day with at least 4 Netscape windows open, sometimes 5, plus my email window. Then sometimes, I open up my contact software (ACT is my choice) and may even add MS-Word (or is it Office?). Well, as you can imagine my 16Meg machine gets bogged down. I need to add more memory, but hey, I might just buy a NEW machine.
I would agree with whoever suggested the bigger harddrive. The faster
CD is probably not required a 12x is fine --- you play your music on a
jambox or stereo, right?
Are you going to have this machine at your home for trading? What about your legal work?
Get a decent sound card and get speakers which are "powered". The
speakers will probably have an AC adapter. SPAZ makes some great sound stuff --- I think DELL, CPQ, and Toshiba use SPAZ. I've been in and out of SPAZ.
Do you play games? I'm not a gamer hardly at all. If I'm playing a
game, then that means I am procrastinating about something and that is
not good, so I get up, take a walk and try to clear my head and regain
my focus. If you play games, you will need a joystick. I could repeat a comment on "joysticks" that a past co-employee said, but hey, well, let's just say she was buying one joystick for her man -- he played computer games. She said her man already owned a joystick for the games she liked to play.
I agree about a bigger monitor. You are buying this thing to look at
during the entire trading day, right? And there are all those SI posts and email from Louisville to read. Get the 21" monitor if you can swing it. You will enjoy it, immensely! Mine is a 15" or 17". Passed on the 14" from the start --- just said NO, to the 14 inch monitor.
Concerning JAZ vs. ZIP drives:
Are you going to be exchanging large drives from your maching to someone else's machine. I doubt it. Forget both of these choices. I recommend for you an internal tape drive unit. I like to keep things simple. In PC products, I would buy a tape unit that is big enough to back up my entire Hard drive's capacity. Recognize, that when your PC is new, the hard drive will only be so-so full (?), well, less than half full, so, the drive will be faster and the tape backup procedure will be faster than after it reaches near capacity. With one tape, you start your backup and go out for dinner and when you return in an hour and a half, your entire disk is backed up on one tape.
Power recommendations: American Power Conversion (APC) makes a power
strip with surge and falut protection from both AC and telephone line
sources. Cost is like $21 dollars from your local computer store. Buy one. Fill out the warranty card that guarentees your PC will be
protected from power surges and faults. APC will replace your new PC up to like $3,000 (I'm not for sure what the dollar figure is now), IF your PC fails due to power surges or faults. SECOND thing is buy an American Power Conversion Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). This thing is a back up battery power thingamajigger that will keep your PC running when Indy has those little power interruptions that cause the microwave timer to start flashing all 9's --- those same power interruptions that only last a split of a second will cause your PC to reboot. You have to buy your UPS rated for your PC --- so, buy your PC first and then take the specs on your PC to your local computer store. I would suggest that you think about buying like a 15 minute power reserve. Why 15 minutes? Well, let's say it takes you 5 minutes to close all your windows and to shutdown and turn OFF your PC. That gives you an extra 10 minutes to see if the power is going to come back on. See? Sometimes, I leave the office and go for a walk. I leave my PC on --- I never do this if we are having a lightning storm, though. Well, we aren't suppose to be outside walking under big trees in a lightning storm, anyway, right? My UPS has saved me even on clear days when we have had one of those short power interruptions. It will be you best and most wise investment. Just wait. You will see. Cost will be from $200 to $300, I think.
Oh, do NOT plug your laser printer into the UPS. My PC power cord and
my monitor power cord are the only things plugged into my UPS.
Everything (printer, speakers, boombox, light, AC adapter for Snappy,
etc) else is plugged into my APC Surge protector.
3.5 floppy drive.
Modem recommendation: Is cable modem ISP service available in Indy?
Have you seen a demonstration of 56K? Is that fast enough for you?
400K downloading access to the Internet is available via sateliite dish, but you still need a telephone line to send the request TO the
Internet. You would send email and send requests for web site via the
modem thru the telephone line. You would receive your email and the web site "displays" via sateliite dish. Costs are more per month than
dialup service.
What have I left out? I bought an extra mouse and keyboard. I own a
clone from my local computer store --- sort of a low end Pentinum 100
that is already over a year old, but my original purchase has a 3 year
warranty on it including the keyboard and mouse. It's a return and
repair, so, when I wore out my first keyboard and mouse, I just took
them in for return and repair, bought the new ones, and left the store. Now, I have an extra keyboard & mouse which are essential. Check the details of your warranty. Some places have overnight exchange which is good, just so long as they are not shipping things via the company with the brown trucks.
OH, one more thing. If you purchase a Dell, I would seriously ask Dell for an SI discount. I mean it, too. With Rosemary & I on the Dell thread, and with all the Tech Stock Option people who have been playing Dell, why wouldn't Michael knock off 5-10% for SI members? Think of the promotion he gets from us. I would send an email requesting the discount as either a stockholder or option buyer or as an SI member. Got to use an angle.
Any questions?
--
David Weis
dweis@louisville-i-market.com
Louisville Internet Marketing Service
1210 Garvin Place
Louisville, KY 40203 USA
502-637-7316 (Voice)
502-636-1553 (FAX)
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