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Microcap & Penny Stocks : FRANKLIN TELECOM (FTEL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jack Sman who wrote (22508)	12/3/1997 11:04:00 AM
From: Pat Garaffa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41046

Jack: That computer is a real smoker! Based on the hardware and software track records of the past, you should be able to get 8-9 months out of this system before some new technology development renders it obsolete! Just kidding of course - everthing in that box is cutting edge. The DVD is an up and coming standard. Not much out there now in the way of apps but 98 will bring in a wave of development. If you're buying the system strickly for work than you could pass on the DVD and install a standard CD. You can always add it later at a much lower hardware cost. Unfortunetely, there will be a cost associated with the installation and reconfiguration of the system (if you wait) unless your savy enough to deal with that issue. Another thing to consider: The DVD's I've seen do not have "write" capabilities. Waiting another 6-12 months may buy you a writer at less than you would presently pay for a reader. Remember CD-ROM writers about 3 years ago?? Somewhere in the $900-1200 range. You can pick up a cheap one now for well under $400 and their still dropping. If you plan on playing games, watching video, etc then you may want to have it (the DVD)installed now and eat the higher cost. It's probably worth every penny! If you want to be able to use it as another medium capable of storage, (writing) then you should wait. One thing you should absolutely consider now is the upgrade of the video card. STB makes a decent product but its a far cry from some of the other products available today. The 4mb will give you the resolution you need but the quality is not there. Ask the Dell folks if there is an upgrade available, maybe ATI or some other manufacturer. Your probably only adding about 50 bucks. Everything else in that box looks fine. Should be alot of fun! I would have emailed this info to you but I thought it would be best to dump it on this board and hopefully get some differing opinions. Good Luck! - Pat

To: Jack Sman who wrote (22508)	12/3/1997 11:28:00 AM
From: Bill France	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41046

Sounds like a big machine you buying there. I bought top of the line about a year ago. Now completely or near obsolete. You might want to check out Gateway 2000 machines. My son has a new one and likes it immesnsely. I would recommend that you purchase the 3 year extended warranty for whichever computer you buy....with all those bells and whistles, the $99.00 is a great investment. I agree what is being said about DVD...it will come down soon. Best to you and let us know what you buy. Bill

To: Jack Sman who wrote (22508)	12/3/1997 11:50:00 AM
From: Gary E Stein	Respond to of 41046

This note is OFF TOPIC and LONG ! Jack.....First thing...Dell ...Excellent choice ! I just took delivery of my second Dell machine.I sent the first one back last week, not because of any defects but because I crave the need for ULTIMATE SPEED. Going with the Pent II 300 Mhz is a good choice although it is only a very little faster than the 266. I also got the 300. First let's start with the motherboard.It is an ATX form Intel Atlanta board.It has the "LX" chipset which supports the new EIDE Ultra ATA Hard Drives.You ordered that Hard Drive. Which is good. I only say "good" because my first machine had that.I since returned it and went with all SCSI.Got the Western Digital Ultra Wide SCSI-3 with an Adaptec 2940 Ultra Wide controller. Super Fast ! Up to 40 M/sec. Don't get me wrong, the ATA Ultra's are very good, but SCSI is Fastest.I also went with a NEC 24X SCSI CD-Rom. Another thing about SCSI, if you plan on adding other devices,you might want to consider it. I added a CD-Rom Rewriter, a flat bed scanner and an iomega JAZ drive.All SCSI. You could add all of these too if you wanted but your onboard motherboard controllers are for your Hard Drive (Primary) and your CD-Rom (Secondary). You can master and slave them but the CD-Rom would take away from your Hard Drive and you don't want to slow your Hard Drive down.You would have to add a SCSI controller card anyway so why not go with all SCSI.Thats what I did. Also the "LX" chipset supports the new AGP video cards, which you ordered. More on that later. Good choice on your memory.Make sure it is the new ECC( Error Correcting) all on one DIMM.I see you went with 128. I went with 64 ECC SDRam on one DIMM. I know some charting software like Supercharts need that kind of memory.Can never have enough ! Also it is super fast. 10 ns(I think). I got the same video card- 128 bit Velocity ! Very nice card. We will see nothing right now that uses the advanced features of AGP. But we will be ready when it comes out !Sometime in '98. Another thing the motherboard has 2 new USB ports. Universal Serial Bus ports. I'm not really sure about these. I know you can add devices like printers and scanners etc but I'm not sure about the speed. I think that an external SCSI (on the back of the Adaptrec 2940) is still faster than USB. I am still researching that. All in all you will be very happy with DELL. They even paid for the shipping on sending my first machine back. You might want to go with Encarta or Bookshelf. I heard the Entertainment pack isn't really that great. Don't forget to keep an eye on your price up to 30 days after the sale.If it goes down, they will send you a refund. Good Luck ! I hope this helps. Gary