Preserved Topic: Choosing a new computer

Ok, pro's and con's of what computer to buy next. Your preferences, ideas, even opinions are welcome. Mac and Wintel loonies, sound off please!

Personally, I would get an amd athlon 1.2-1.3 Ghz with WinPro2000 or Whistler (I suppose I should call it Windows XP beta 2), specifically a Dell (unless you want to build your own). I have had absolutely *no* problems (*knock on wood*) with my machine. It's incredibly stable and fast.

On the on the other hand, it depends what you use your computer for. I'm a hardcore gamer as well as photoshop junkie so I pretty much have to have windows. I haven't had too much experience with Macs, but they say Mac's are better for design.

mbridge, what speed motherboard do you have? I'm just curious cause a 200 mhz bus speed will only put out a lil more than 750 mhz from the processor.

Spam is yummy
~babamba

Go with Dell. You can get a nice refurbished system from their website realy cheap. I would go for at least 32 megs video card

I agree with mbridge. Personally I like AMD processors.

mbridge: why do you need windows for PS. Wasn't it created for the mac? I'm unsure so asking

mbridge and duc: have you noticed any problems running software designed for the intel chipset? there used to be some compatibility problems. I've heard some good things about amd but, besides being cheaper, why are they better than intel chips?

You don't need windows to run photoshop. You need windows to play games.

Why is the Athlon superior to the p3/4 you ask? Take a look at any benchmark test out there. AMD is cheaper and outperforms intel across the board. There's absolutely no comparison.

Great! Thanks for the tips guys! Seeing as how I'm becoming a PS junkie, I'll need the speen and capacity

[This message has been edited by Allewyn (edited 03-18-2001).]

Duc,

I visited the Dell refurb "outlet" and was amazed at the quantity of stock they have! A very good idea. Can I buy ya a beer?

baaaa... baaaaaa.... baaaaaa.... lol..


~Vp~

Hi VP!

It's ok to take input from others What's *your* recommendation? I'm perfectly able to make up my own mind and I don't mind hearing from you, my shepherds lol.


~"There's wisdom in a multitude of counsel"~

ok.. pass that beer on brother!

heheh.. glad you liked it.

As for PS running on Windows with Intel. I have a Compaq laptop with 700 PIII processor and I run Photoshop on it too. It runs good together with ImageReady. The only problem is that I would rather have it running from a separate HD and not from the same as my sys files are on. But I am too damn lazy to insert a new hard drive everytime I want to use my laptop.

Other than that I like it. I think Mikey Milker has AMD Pcs?? I am not sure.

Yeah, dell has some good shit there. You can get like PIII11000 for about 700 bucks.

PIII 11000? I didn't know those were out yet...11Ghz cool!

Definately don't get a Mac right now . . . they havn't had a "new" new chip in a while, and the System 9.0 sucks - hopefully 10 will be better . . .

My mom has a NICE dell she got for a wicked low price - great service, practically maintenance free, (expcept she's computer illiterate, and tends to f*&k it up now and then).

Man, I can't wait for 11Ghz! On my wrist even, lol. I know what ya meant Duc.

So system 9 sucks. I think Apple has a make or break situation with OSX. Specially since MS is gearing up for XP. While I don't trust the rapid changes in MS OS lately (I still use 95) I do think the thrust is to knock some of the wind out of Apple's sails (and sales too). Whatever. I can't really afford a Mac anyway, not set up the way I'd like it.

Ok, I know I haven't heard from all 955 of you. What about Gateway, Micron, Nec, Compaq, etc. Any horror stories or info about them?

I have had three GateWay computers over the last five years and have had no problems with any of them.

When I got the first GateWay, I wanted to put five or six hard drives in it and they had filled up all the IDE slots with the peripherals I had ordered. When I asked how to put my extra disk drives into the system they referred me to two after market retailers for IDE cards. When these didn't work because of IRQ conflicts, they suggested that I return the peripherals they had sent me and they replaced them with a SCSI card and equivalent SCSI peripherals. This whole process took some time and patience on my part, but I found the GateWay people to be helpful and friendly.

When I tried to install a new version of Norton Anti-Virus about a year and a half ago and it wiped out my operating system. The support team at GateWay was very helpful in walking me through various procedures to recover the data that remained on my drive and re-install the whole system.

I like GateWay.

I have also worked with Dell computers at various jobs and think they are a good company as well, but, GateWay (to me) seems to put in a small measure of extra effort that has always caused me to pick GateWay over Dell.

http://www.apple.com/powermac/ http://www.apple.com/powermac/processor.html





[This message has been edited by kromaZ (edited 03-20-2001).]

Ok.. here is the thing with Macs. When you buy a PC you have to get windows (well.. you don't have to) but most likely you will. Now, windows has to be compatible with ALL the computer makers. That's why it's bugged out.

You get a MAC you will have a software and computer that were designed just for each other. Therefore, MACs are much smoother running and bit faster. I was talking to one guy that had a mac and he said that his mac is 5 years old and he still can run programs on it that come oout today. Try this with PC.

I don't have a Mac but I would like to get one. The only thing that is stopping me is that I would have to learn the whole OS all over. I have enough to learn alreay ( photoshop, flash, html etc.) so I will just stick with PC>

As for Gateway... I am sorry but I am not the biggest fan of them. I worked for a company that used gateway and we had lots of problems with them. We switched to Dell in a one year period. Dell has a great support reviews and they been voted year after year for a best PC.

But I guess its just a taste. Get whatever suit your needs. Just please.. for God sakes don't buy ACER computers!!!!

HI

My Suggest:

- AMD Athlon TB 1200GHz
- ASUS A7V
- 256 MB RAM (PC-133)
- IBM 60GB IDE HD
- Elsa GeForce II MX (64MB-DDR)
- CD-ROM 52x
- BURNER --> Plextor 1210-32A

--> 2344.- CHF/1 373.36 USD/ 2 985.85 DM

cu
~Xdreamer.ch~

Hey Xdreamer... you tell me where I can get a computer like that for under 1400 bucks and I will buy you one. lol

Ducati, come to Europe...

hehe.......jep come to SWITZERLAND and you will get one.....thats no joke

cu
~Xdreamer.ch~

I am originally from Europe.... came to the States about 7 years ago...

I just bough a new computer.. it's amazing.

I got it from www.mwave.com

Here's what I have:

MSI K7T TURBO-R motherboard
Athlon 1.2 GHZ processor
512 mb RAM
Geforce2 MX 32mb eVGA
NEC Flatscreen 17"
(thats the stuff thats realkly worth mentioning)

-Blitzkrieg

bah.

Buy an apple titanium powerbook, and you'll be happy.

yeah those new powerbooks are awesome.

I am seriously thinking about getting a mac. oh yeah and I want one of those 24" flat studio monitors!!!

Yeah, the TPB is pretty awesome looking and I love the 15.2" screen. It really is something to consider. But so is the Sun desktop line. Flat unix. Maybe a paradigm shift is what I need

side note:
<confuscious say>
a bad workman always blames his tools! or.. more to the point..( imho).. its not what you have got.. but how you use it
</Confuscious say>

".... argue for your limitations, and surely they will be......." ~Richard Bach~

~Vp~


~Vp~

Mac, eww.. and I thought windows was bad.

That was extremely wize VP. Good sources too.
Blitz, what do you mean?

[This message has been edited by Allewyn (edited 03-22-2001).]

Get one of those Sony tablet screen computers. Those rock!

".... argue for your limitations, and surely they will be......." ~Richard Bach~

Coming from the guy who still runs IE 4 and NN 4.

yes the Sony VAIO rocks.............a great computer with a good
performance.....but expensive too :-(

mbridge - couldn't find that on the sony site. Got a url?

As far as what the vaio costs, they can be had for under 900, according to what I saw there. (no monitor)

Has anyone had experience with Sun stations? I think they have one (nearly $8K) called ozone! It's a *gas* anyway! heh heh. :0

ya.. lets all buy Sonys! LOL. nice lolololol.. oooooh.. even better.. lets all buy Hps' or Compaq's.. great.. I cant wait.oooo oooooH.. Dell! yummy.. no no Gateway! LOL.. quick before they run out! ....... .

~Vp~

I'm almost salivating reading all this! I got to get a new comp, but, uh, really REALLY strapped for cash. And what sucks even more, is that I know a national sales rep for Compaq! Lives across the street. Damn. Oh well, when life gives you lemons...


DOG
-----
THE

Dog,

computershopper.com has barebones offers that may fit your budget. I'm considering this alternative too. Buy barebones and use the components from my old system.

"There is wisdom in a multitude of counsel"

I don't know much about Sun systems. Has anybody had experience with them? Are they graphics machines or just for data?

Never mind, they're $16,000! Yikes.

[This message has been edited by Allewyn (edited 03-24-2001).]

I've eliminated Atari, Amiga, (it was close) and Sun. Still loookin at Apple Lisa (ever see one of those?), Dell, Gateway, and buildin my own again. Also considering rebuilding the one I've got with scsi components. Any other feedback?


~There is wisdom in a multitude of counsel~

just buy one already!

I've got 2 Dells, they're fine.

Alright already! I'm buyin a Dell