[geeks] can't wait for Vista

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 @ 16:55 +0000, Mike Meredith said:

> Well I thought it was a Precision 690 but the Dell site shows a
> different case (white instead of black) so either I'm mistaken or Dell
> have realised the error of their ways and changed the case.

The Precision *line* did used to have a different case, so maybe that
was it.

> For the record, the case looked ok until you opened the system up when
> you realised that the door that opened was :-
> 
> a) Real flimsy
> 
> b) Was difficult to close again
> 
> c) You are supposed to turn the system on it's side to open the door
>   (when some of the problems would be less painful). For such a large
>   system, turning it on it's side is something to be avoided whenever
>   possible.

Yuck.

> > My argument regarding Apple though is similar: If I'm paying that kind
> > of money for a system, I should have a good selection of video cards
> > and other more flexible hardware options.
> 
> I guess Apple just aren't used to selling systems with so many
> possible choices. I don't know about Apple, but I do know that the Sun
> site doesn't actually list all the possibilities ... by hassling Sun
> directly you have a better choice.

Apple is quite unhelpful if you call them for anything not listed, and
they've been that way for a long time.

Forget trying to get help repairing a machine.

> > For my own machines, I use things like Lian-Li aluminum cases with my
> > own modifications and some third party stuff.
> 
> I'd probably go with Lian-Li if I was into building the thing
> myself, but frankly given that I'm jumping ship from SGI to PCs, I just
> don't have enough parts to make building from scratch worthwhile.

I buy a whole set at once and build it in about 2 hours. Modern PCs
don't need as many odd parts as they used to.

The primary issue is to make sure you don't get feature greedy, or try
to be cheap.  A good PC is not cheap, and you rarely need as many
features as you think you will.

Most pitfalls are avoided by common sense. 

Look at the features offered, and think about if the board's bandwidth,
build quality, and layout can really support it. The answer is no for
most cheap motherboards.

Buy high quality cases, power supplies, and fans. Never cut corners on
those three, it will hurt you in the long run. This is over half of the
equation for building a quality computer, regarless of the type.

If parts fail or need upgrading, can you obtain and install them easily?

Beware false features: like 512MB of a video card that only has enough
bandwidth for 256MB. 

There are exceptions, but if you know about that then you should be able
to figure it out.

Incidentally, the above rules apply just as well to a name-brand machine
from someone like Apple, Dell, or IBM. Don't buy something from them
that doesn't make sense either.

-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["If you tell the truth, you don't have to
remember anything" -- Mark Twain]