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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (33598)	11/10/1999 11:05:00 AM
From: Gerald Walls	Respond to of 74651

Not quite. In Dellspeak, a "workstation" is dual-processor ready, and has a fast SCSI drive. Then customize the order (see below) so it doesn't come with a SCSI drive at all, then it must not be a workstation. Also, they are predictably overpriced for what you get. That Workstation link on the Dell site showed a system that was $2155, and had: 450Mhz PII <--------------------- P-III 64MB 100Mhz SDRAM <-------- ECC memory, overkill 9GB 7200rpm SCSI 2/WIDE <---- Can make a 13 GB IDE 17" monitor <----- I'd delete and buy elsewhere 32MB video card, top flight there. NT Workstation <----------- can customize to Win98SE or Win95 no speakers no modem <----- free-after-rebate WinModem from CompUSA or BB no network card <-------------- 3com 10/100 built in all in all, pretty basic system. Actually, from a quick glance it doesn't even look like Office or Works is available for this machine. Knock off $109 to go to a standard 3-year warranty. Knock off $274 for no monitor and pick up one elsewhere. Fry's has a 19" for the nearly the same price ($299) as Dell's 17", and I've seen them even less expensive. Knock off $199 for a 13 GB IDE drive (only $30 for a 27 GB IDE). I didn't do the math myself, but clicking "Update Prices" tells me the system is now only $1573. While not one of the most screaming deals on the market that's much more competitively priced. (Most ads don't include the monitor and do include the $400 your-soul-you-sell-to-AOL "discount".) Configuring the DELL system as closely as possible to the one you specified (some things I can't degrade to, such as the smallest IDE drive available is 13 GB and the memory is all ECC, and others aren't available) and picking up a couple of pieces elsewhere, the price would be about $500-600 more than what you paid. But since you keep saying you wanted a Dell but had to settle for a Quantex, I guess you should expect the more valuable (in your mind) Dell system to be more expensive, shouldn't you? Personally, I'd never buy major-brand PC again. All of them (Dell, Packard Bell [thank God they're folding] and Compaq seem to be the worst) use custom parts (motherboards, risers, and cases especially) so that you can only do a major upgrade using their parts. A person is far better off, IMO, building their own machine or going to the corner Mom & Pop Screwdriver Shop and getting a machine built exactly how they'd like it. For modems and other assorted cheap hardware, you can expect to get them free or at least under $10 after rebates. That's one reason that I have such an extensive junk, errrr, "spare parts" collection. You can get a Maxtor 8.7 GB DMA/66 HD for $99 at Fry's right now. My old Dell P100 doesn't get much use anymore, although I bought a network card and CAT-5 wire to network to it. I haven't got that task done yet. Put Linux on it and use it as your Internet Gateway. Easy enough to do if you have some technical leanings. Getting things to work in a heterogeneous network will greatly expand a person's knowledge of how computers and networks work, and will give them an insight as to how much Windows is actually doing for them.