[SunRescue] OT: PC recommendations

[Kurt Mosiejczuk]

On Tue, 26 Sep 2000, Mike Hebel wrote:

> Gateway seems to have very good deals if you're wanting a complete
> out-of-the-box solution.  So does Dell.  Personally I would trust Gateway
> support over Dell.  They've been the more responsive of the two.  Believe me
> when I tell you that unless you like futzing with your system when you get
> home from work then having support available is a Good Thing(tm).  (Even if
> you know more than the other guy on the phone. ;-) )  That's also why i
> suggest "large" suppliers instead of smaller ones.  You may pay just a hair
> more overall but it will be worth it.

I'll weigh in on an Anti-Gateway note here.  I got a Pentium 2 450Mhz box
at my last job (from Gateway).  128M memory, 7200rpm IBM drive (sweet), and
a Riva TNT based video card.  About 6 months later the motherboard DIED.
Open the bastard up (per their request for diagnosing and replacing it) 
and there was only ONE fan in the WHOLE box!  On the power supply.  NO
CPU fan, just a big heatsink.  So, I had a high-heat processor, high-heat
hard drive, and high-heat (ever touch a TNT card?) video card.  And only
one fan in the case.  They even bolted a steel plate over the grill in
the case that would usually have a fan.

AND they only put a 200W power supply in.  Good thing I didn't need to add
anything to it =(

I placed a second fan in the case after replacing the motherboard, and
didn't have another failure, but I was VERY disappointed in Gateway.

--Kurt