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Pastimes : Computer Learning -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jvbig who wrote (17998)	3/25/2001 4:47:56 AM
From: mr.mark	Respond to of 110653

hi jim welcome to the thread. i hope they're saying nice things about us over there on the drbob thread. <g3> regarding your general question, nemer recently posted to shootie ( #reply-15533521 ) along the lines of what to look for in a new pc if you're somewhere between the novice and intermediate skill level. esteban and i posted back and forth a time or two regarding name brand boxmakers, and my personal attraction to dell is noted in this post #reply-15534116 . operating system choice is an entirely new area of personal opinion. <g3> i dual boot win98se and win2000pro and like them both. if i had to live with just one, i'd say goodbye to win98. this is due in large to w2k's stability (i think i hear the word robustness used a lot by the experts). threadster ed forrest, however, is a staunch supporter of winme, and he makes great points for the os. there'll be a learning curve with win2000, and possibly some compatibility issues. factory-installed w2k, however, will leap-frog you past a lot of that chaos. for sure, whatever system you decide upon, make sure it has at least 128mb of ram. that is so becoming the norm today, and the performance difference between 128mb and less mem is pretty noticeable. without getting too scientific (or searching manufacturer's prices), off the top i'd say 600-900mhz cpu will take you where you want to go quite adequately. gigantic hard drives seem to be in fashion nowadays, and as you know the storage is cheap. i have 13gb from the factory (dell, btw <g>) and another 15gb 2nd drive recently installed. i don't even use one third of the 13gb for my operating systems, but i use almost all of the 15gb for multiple backup images. plenty of other members with plenty of other opinions and noteworthy advice for you. i just wanted to start you off with some food for thought. :) mark

To: jvbig who wrote (17998)	3/25/2001 5:41:57 AM
From: mr.mark	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110653

Top 10 Value PCs A new Dell Dimension 4100 replaces another model of the same name in the top spot. From the May 2001 issue of PC World magazine Posted Thursday, March 22, 2001 pcworld.com (printer friendly version) or idg.net

To: jvbig who wrote (17998)	3/25/2001 9:12:49 AM
From: PMS Witch	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 110653

If you have some package you simply cannot do without that won't run on Win 2000, get the Win 9? offered with your system. If you have a choice, get the Win 2000. I've seen the same pattern over the years. Microsoft brings out a new OS; people are slow to change; Microsoft pushes the industry to the newer OS; compelling features become available on the new OS only; migration rates accelerate; the new OS reaches some critical penetration; everyone must adopt or be orphaned. I've been orphaned a few times: It isn't fun. Win 2000 hasn't entered prime time yet, but we can rest assured it will, and soon. One big impediment to adoption is Win 2000 is a more challenging upgrade. You can save yourself a ton of headaches if you get Win 2000 on your new system: Appropriate drivers; Tech support; and you'll be spared the inevitable upgrade. Cheers, PW.

To: jvbig who wrote (17998)	3/25/2001 1:45:42 PM
From: Nemer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110653

J.. This is just to give you an idea ... not telling you to build one on your own, but being an electrician, you could do it MUCH easier than most folks .... I had planned on building this one during spring break with my grandkids, but their plans and mine went in three dif directions ... so perhaps early April they will come up for a weekend visit and we'll construct this one .... or something "close" .... with them, price is NO object, but I'm an elcheapo .....ggg here is my shopping list .... 1- case with at least 3 open bays and at least 250watts ps 2- mother board with NO built in audio OR video 3- mb with front side bus running at least 100mz 4- mb which has ROOM for at least 512megRAM 5- mb which has at least 1AGP, 4PCI, 2USB slots 6- pc133 memory 7- hard drive 20GB 7200rpm 8- 56k modem 9- sound card ... not the cheapest 10- video card ... at least 8mg 11- cpu of at least 600mz 12- CDRom 13- speakers of at least 450watt externally powered 14- 17in CRT of at least .26 at 75mz refresh 15- scroll mouse 16- "adequate" keyboard, floppy drive, surge protector, etc. now here is what I'm spending ... (or close) 1- Ensign case for 35bucks* ... 2- (make and model will depend upon CPU type/speed) for 110 bucks ... 6- 256k mem for 75bucks* ... 7- Western Digital for 100bucks ... 8- any elcheapo for 15bucks ... 9- Creative Sound Blaster (bot as unit with CDRom) so this price is free ... 10- ATI Rage AGP 35bucks* ... 11- unknown right now but price IS 115bucks ... 12- Creative SoundBlaste kit for 60bucks ... 13- speakers with Creative kit price is free ... 14- AOC 7GLR for 150bucks ... 15- logitek scroll 6bucks ... 16 20bucks ... misc and stuff I'll REALLY need at the time ....gggggg 25bucks I'll find a motherboard/CPU combo on sale, either online or at Fry's in Dallas and I won't spend MORE than the 225buck total I've listed... and probably will spend less ... now I'll attempt some comments/answers on your various posts ... Steve is correct bout the DVDs NOT reading ALL CDs ... but MOST of the time there is not a problem ... I'm looking into *(commented on this is one of my previous posts) converting all my building stuff into using DVD players inlieu of CD ROMs .... for MOST practical purposes ... not withstanding all that NICE stuff Steve wrote ... hahahaha .... I can tell a vast dif between 5400 and 7200, but not much dif in 10-12-15-20 GB WesternDigitals .... the best "current sweet spot" is 20GB .... but this too will move ....ggggg I have an advantage over some folks in telling the dif in speed of CPUs ... as I overclock nearly everything I use ... so I'm testing and using them at lots of various speeds in the same circumstances .... and I can't tell a lot of dif in the jumps of 50-66 mz ... as in from 800 to 866 or 750 to 800 but there is considerable dif in, say 150-200 gaps .... so, I just look for the "sweet spot" at the time I buy ... right now it seem, to me at any rate to be 866 on Intel ... but in the COMBO boards/cpu units it is 750 .... and there, I'll let price drive my purchase .... as to software ... I didn't like ME ... used it maybe three or four hours ... but, seemed too primitive BUT not knocking it .... 98SE is what I'm using now and it is ok ... 2000 is going to be left out for me cause I'll wait for that next one .... XP or whatever that MS named it ... as they're doing away with NT, 98, and 2000 ..... 2000 has caused LOTS of hardware incomptibality for nearly all the folks I know who have gone there that tinker with, overclock, soup up, modify, etc .... for "off the shelf" buyers, who are waaaaaaay in the majority, it seem to be top notch .... so I'm NOT doing anything except stating my opinion there .... without having used the product ... Nemer

To: jvbig who wrote (17998)	3/27/2001 4:19:21 PM
From: Shoot1st	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110653

I was really lucky recently with an Ebay "new in box" auction. COmpaq P3 @ 700 with 128, 9gig, ethernet and a few other normal goodies....running on win NT.....and it's a workstation, what ever that is....guess it's better than a normal machine..... paid $535, no tax, but shipping was $30. If you want to try this....I will be happy to give you some tips on winning the auctions.....I get a kick out of playing them....I 've done really well on many deals there.... I know zip about machines...but I know how to play the game.. SHootie