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Subject: 
Re: Desktops with SCSI drives (was Re: Desktops with SCSI RAM?)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.geek
Date: 
Sun, 28 May 2000 02:38:35 GMT
Viewed: 
204 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.geek, Mike Stanley writes:
In lugnet.off-topic.geek, Bram Lambrecht writes:
but can I get a workstation with all the other stuff I want (DVD, CD-RW,
etc..)?

Buying from ANY big name company like Dell or Gateway pretty much means you
will not get everything you want the way you want it.  Which is why I never
buy prebuilt computers from places like that for my personal use.

I used to build my own, choosing exactly the components I wanted and putting
them together myself.  I don't enjoy that as much now as I used to although
I'm certainly capable of doing it (it isn't rocket science).  I'm lucky enough
to have a couple of friends who still _do_ enjoy doing it, so this last time I
bought exactly what I wanted, then delivered it all to my friend and he got a
kick out of putting it all together, in addition to a free lunch (with more to
come) and a free USB TV adapter I wasn't using.

Building or having your own machine built is the only way you will ever get
exactly what you want.  Short of that, going with one of the other companies
that Matthew has mentioned may get you closer to getting all the components
you want.

Gateway, in my experience, is much better at giving you wider choices than
Dell.  We buy them both where I work and Gateway is more than happy to work
with us on getting the exact video card or drive we want, whereas Dell drags
their feet and claims they'd lose money on a machine doing that.  Which is
part of the reason that we've bought from Dell the last two times we've bought
desktops, in addition to slightly lower Gateway price and much greater
timeliness on Gateway's part.


If have to agree with Mike you are always much better off if you buy your own
parts and put it together. My current system was designed specifically for 2D
graphics. PIII 500, 128MB PC100 RAM, Tyan board, 2x AGP video, 56K modem (a
real modem), ATA66 drive and a cool new case and I think I ended up paying
about $700 but I know exactly the quality of all of the components. Gateway and
Dell (any mail order computer company for that matter) keeps costs down by
using cheap components.

However I disagree with Mike on Gateway, I think Gateways suck, have had
uniformily bad experiances with them and if forced would choose Dell.

With the system you were describing keep in mind you are paying a severe
premium for the current fastest class of Pentium (e.g. my PIII was a pull and
cost me $150) and the monitor you will get will pretty much suck. My personal
opinion for a graphics workstation is to get the absolute best monitor you can
afford at the expense of the fast processor. Processor speed can be largely
made up with alot of RAM but there is nothing you can do about a bad monitor.

The system you are describing has to be around $3000 so your getting close to
the price of an SGI 320 Workstation.


BTW: Building your own system isnt rocket science but does require special high
precision tools, namely a phillips head screwdriver ;)

Jim
hughesj@one.net



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Desktops with SCSI drives (was Re: Desktops with SCSI RAM?)
 
(...) I didn't say anything about the machines themselves, I just relayed some experiences we'd had with the company at work. As a company Gateway is much easier to deal with when it comes to getting what you want in a desktop machine, in my (...) (24 years ago, 28-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Desktops with SCSI drives (was Re: Desktops with SCSI RAM?)
 
(...) Buying from ANY big name company like Dell or Gateway pretty much means you will not get everything you want the way you want it. Which is why I never buy prebuilt computers from places like that for my personal use. I used to build my own, (...) (24 years ago, 28-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)

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