[Cialug] Buying a new PC

Sun Sep 30 16:23:34 CDT 2007

Yep, fair reasons.   Pick the hardware that works best for you.    I  
don't do my own computer hardware builds and have no desire to....but  
if you do or have a specific hardware requirement of some sort, then  
Macs are not for you.  (Though I did replace the RAM, hard disk -  
twice, and even added a processor upgrade to my PowerBook G3 laptop  
about 6 or 7 years back...those laptops were darn near as nice as  
desktops  because they had so many expansion bays and slots and such,  
and you could get to the whole logic board and drives by simply  
flipping a couple of latches and folding the keyboard back.  I miss  
the G3 PowerBooks, but the world has gone for "thin" instead of  
"expandable" laptops, alas.

Mostly, though, I just pay a few hundred bucks for the 3 year service  
contract (instead of the 1 year warranty) and say "here, fix it" if  
it breaks.   Last time I had to do that was about 10 years and two  
computers ago, though.  Pretty solid stuff from Apple.   I dropped my  
previous PowerBook G4 laptop from about waist hight and it actually  
TORE and dented the metal on the corner of the titanium case, but the  
huge glass screen with the skinny metal bezel DIDN'T break, nor did  
anything else except the case corner.  I used it with no problems for  
almost a year before replacing it when the Intel Mac Book Core 2 Duos  
came out. Solid.

I know what you mean about the kids working in the store.  True of  
most any retail store these days, I guess computer stores aren't  
immune either.  I was using Macs before many of 'em were born, and  
computers in general even longer.  I started programming 'em about  
the same year Apple itself was born, in fact, 1976.  We had one of  
the original Apple // units in high school.  No hard disk even.   Of  
course, I WORKED in a computer store for several years when I was a  
"punk kid" from 1980-84 when I was in college, so I probably  
shouldn't be too hard on 'em. ;-)

By the way, there *IS* another Apple store in town, one without punk  
kids.  Haddock Computers on 73rd Street in Windsor Heights (the big  
old A-Frame building next to the I-235 freeway).

_______________________
Bill Davis
5214 Meredith Drive
Des Moines, IA
50310-2956 USA
bill.davis at gmail.com
+1 (515) 360-0445 cellular
+1 (515) 270-6729 home

On Sep 30, 2007, at 4:00 PM, sthiessen at passitonservices.org wrote:

> Fair reasons. :)
>
> Stuart
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jason at benalto.com
>
> Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:48:38
> To:"Central Iowa Linux Users Group" <cialug at cialug.org>
> Subject: Re: [Cialug] Buying a new PC
>
>
> There are a few reasons for not wanting an Intel Mac and going back  
> to PC
> architecture, the biggest being if something goes terribly wrong  
> with my
> machine I want the ability to rip out the offender and fix it  
> myself. I am
> never going back to a 'genius bar' and have some punk kid tell me  
> I've got
> to blow a few hundred on a new 'logic board'. Less flamewar-riffic;  
> I use
> some very specific hardware for recording music and the OSX drivers  
> for
> the I/O device have been really really buggy...
>
> -Jason
>
>
>> Why not an Intel Mac? Couldn't you set that up three ways even?
>>
>> Stuart
>> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Jason Warden" <jason at benalto.com>
>>
>> Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 14:22:54
>> To:cialug at cialug.org
>> Subject: [Cialug] Buying a new PC
>>
>>
>> Hello Cialug!
>> I have a question. I'm buying a PC for the first time in a few  
>> years after
>> using primarily Macs. This PC will have to have Windows on it as  
>> well as
>> Linux as my wife takes online classes at DMACC. I've just spent a few
>> hours browsing at tigerdirect.com <http://tigerdirect.com>  and  
>> it's quite
>> the different world out there, isn't it?? I have a few questions  
>> (Linux
>> and Windowz related), if anyone wants to take the time to answer:
>> 1) This new SATA transport for drives - Linux doesn't have a  
>> problem with
>> this, does it? Anything I should know?
>> 2) One desktop I really liked on tigerdirect is actually a 64 bit.  
>> I know
>> Linux has had 64 bit support for years, but I've heard iffy things  
>> about
>> using XP with 64 bit systems (and I don't trust Vista yet) Would  
>> it be
>> possible to put a 32 bit XP and a 64 bit *nix on the same  
>> computer? Are
>> those 64 bits backwards compatible to the OS level?? I don't think  
>> this is
>> possible because I think the RAM you buy commits you to your  
>> bitrate; is
>> that correct?
>> 3) In the past (I was a hardcore Linux user from about '97 to '03)  
>> I've
>> always preferred the easy-on-the-user stuff like SuSE and
>> Mandrake/Mandriva. My biggest issues have been with the crazy package
>> management systems (apt-get on SusE 9 worked pretty well but then
>> 'broke'...) What is the easiest distribution in terms of package
>> management going these days? I know this question may start a  
>> flamewar,
>> sorry.
>> 4) Nvdia are still the Linux friendly graphics people, right?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Jason
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