[SunRescue] RE: starter system (future purchase)

[Ken Hansen]

James,

I left out the Ultra 5/10 machines for a simple reason - I'm not that familiar with them ;^)

They are, I am sure, fine machines, but to my mind they are going to lose out to the Sun Blade 100, at least for personal use. The RAM price difference for the two platforms is non-trivial, and while there may be internal compromises in the Sun Blade 100 that make it a "lesser" machine than, say, an Ultra 5 or 10, for desktop/starter use, the Blade 100 has a brighter future (IMHO).

If a new user has $1000 in their pocket to buy a machine, if they don't get a low-end Ultra 2 (nicely equipped w/plenty of RAM and HD), my advice would be to get a *new* box and start with a current system.

To me, the Ultra 2 stands a reasonable chance of retaining some value going forward 12-18 months, and the upgrade potential for an Ultra 2 is great. I don't think the Ultra 5s and 10s will fare as well. Now an Ultra 5 or 10 for $500 or $600 with lots of RAM (256 Meg?) would change that equation, but that is very unlikely.

Of course, I defer to your actual *experience* with these platforms - my background only includes causal use of some of the platforms mentioned...

Also, anybody got any leads on either a 200 MHz CPU for an Ultra 2 for less than $130 or a great price on a 300 MHz CPU for same (at under $250)? I got this Ultra 2 with one 200 MHz CPU and I think I should either grab an additional 200 MHz CPU or upgrae the box to a 300 MHz CPU... (because I can, that's why... ;^) Sun has offerred a two pack of 300 MHz CPUs for the Ultra 2 on Ebay for $800, but that is a bit much for my needs...

Ken


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Message: 9
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 11:16:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: James Lockwood <james at foonly.com>
To: "'rescue at sunhelp.org'" <rescue at sunhelp.org>
Subject: Re: [SunRescue] RE: starter system (future purchase)
Reply-To: rescue at sunhelp.org

On Tue, 10 Apr 2001, Ken Hansen wrote:

> Up to $750 (not incl. monitor) - start looking for a low-end Ultra 2
> w/200 MHz CPU and 128 Meg RAM - may take some effort, but be
> patient...

I'd like to add the much maligned Ultra 5 to this category.  You'll get a
faster CPU and PCI expansion.  The build quality is definitely not up to
par with the U2, but if you need a cheap fast PCI box it's the way to go.

-James