More PC Vendor Suggestions 2004-07-27 - By Scott Kissinger
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Dave-
Not sure about other folks' experience with Gateways, but working at a large
facility with over 350 of them running (most of them around the clock) we've
had good luck with them. There are only a couple of P3's that we had trouble
with over a year ago that wound up being an issue with the hard drive that was
in them being from a bad batch from Western Digital.
They're pretty friendly and forgiving on most of the hardware we've installed
in them, and the two that I've got running in my office have been going without
a hitch for over a year now. One is running Windows 2000 Server and the other
Win2K Pro that I use as a test system for graphics, CBT and web development.
They're comparable to Dell and in our experience more reliable than HP / Compaq.
Something to think about while you're pondering...
Scott K.
-- --Original Message-- --
From: Dave Angelini [mailto:dpangelini@(protected)]
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 9:12 PM
To: truespace@(protected)
Subject: Re: [TSML] More PC Vendor Suggestions
Matt,
I have yet to hear very good things about Gateways. Among the very bad
things are that they have a habit of customizing their components and/or
drivers. As such it makes user-repairs very difficult. I am sure that all
the other big vendors do this also (Dell, Hp), but I have heard that it is a
bigger problem with Gateway.
Also, I can get a 10% discount with Gateway through work (as well as Hp and
Compaq), but I still find them more expensive than most for the mainstream
PC market.
In general, I am leaning towards Cyberpower, Dell, MPC, and Monarch
Computer. If Cyberpower started to carry PC Express motherboards and 3.6
GHz processors, they are by far the cheapest and would win the day.
Alienware is a close second...mostly because they know how to build a fast
system, but are still on high side as far as cost.
If I had won the lottery, I would buy MachL (they come with their own
refrigerator ;-). Boxx and Core are also just too expensive. If the
exchange rates were more favorable, I would definitely look harder at NCIX.
Hp, Sony, IKon, Compaq and Gateway failed to make the cut.
Time will tell (the waiting is better than the having). In the meantime, I
would like to shop at more PC vendors. Basically, I am looking for the
following:
1) 3.6 or 3.4 Ghz Intel processor (HT technology and 1Mb cache)
2) PCI Express Motherboard
3) 2Gb Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x1Gb)
4) 256Mb PCI Express graphics card (either the ATI Radeon X800 XT or the
nVidia GeForce Ultra 6800)
5) Somewhere between an 80 to 160 Gb Serial ATA Hard drive with at 7200 RPM
and 8mb cache . Still debating whether to pay for another drive and
mirroring the data. I had a hard-drive go once and it was a painful
experience.
6) The usual extras (optical drives, NIC card, etc).
The search continues. I hope to make a purchase decision before February
2005 (I am serious...the waiting is better than the having...and besides, I
really need to save my pennies for this baby ;-).
Dave Angelini
-- -- Original Message -- --
From: "Matt Geier" <matt_g_geier@(protected)>
To: <truespace@(protected)>
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 5:51 AM
Subject: Re: [TSML] More PC Vendor Suggestions
> I don't see Gateway. Did you try there ?
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