What to buy? Mac vs. PC
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- Philip Smith
- Sr. Rocketeer
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Well, seriously considering now about biting the bullet and going all out
20" iMac with processor upgrade to 2.3ghz, ram upgrade to 2gb, and video card upgrade to 256mb of ram.
Total - $2359.00 Canadian! Ahhh!
Out of the three upgrades, the ram is really the only one you can do afterwards. And IF you only get 1gb to start, it two sticks of 512mb, which means if you upgrade later you are stuck with extra parts that very few people would be interested in buying.
Aside from that, has anyone heard about iLugger bags? Available at www.ilugger.com , but maybe a bit pricey. I'd like to know if there are any alternatives available out there. - -- ChurchWiz - Easy & Affordable Church Websites
-- www.churchwiz.com
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Get the 24" - 20" is soooo tiny even a 24" seems too small after some time... Size DOES matter
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- Philip Smith
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 102
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I was looking at a series of 19"/22"/24" on display at a retailer last week. On it's own, the 19" didn't look so small, really. But seeing them side by side was eye opening for me. The 24" monitor was just HUGE compared to the 19". So big, that I thought "there's no way I can justify spending the extra money on that" because I felt it was just so big. But it's interesting to have you say that.
However, your comment brought me back to deal that is currently on at Costco (at least its on their .ca website)
It's a Dell 9200 and it looks like a killer system. Side by side with the iMac, it's WAY more bang for the buck:
Processor and Memory:
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor E6300, 1.86 GHz
* 1066 MHz front-side bus
* 2 MB L2 cache
* 2 GB dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667 MHz (2 x 1024 MB), upgradeable to 4 GB (4 x 1024 MB)
Drives:
* 320 GB Serial ATA, 7200 rpm
* DVD-ROM drive
* CD-RW\DVD±RW4 dual-layer combo drive
Write: 16x DVD±RW
Display and Video Card:
* Dell™ 24-in. UltraSharp™ 2407WFP flat-panel TFT active-matrix display
* Max resolution: 1920 x 1200
* Max sync rate (V x H): 76 Hz x 81 kHz
* Brightness: 500 cd/m2
* Contrast ratio: 1000:1
* 256 MB PCI Express™ x16 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7900 GS (DVI/TV-out)
Audio:
* Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Music
* Dell™ A525 speakers with subwoofer
* External ports: line-out, microphone, speakers, headphone
Communication:
* 56K V.92 data/fax modem
* 10/100/1000 integrated Ethernet LAN
Keyboard and Mouse:
* Dell™ multimedia USB keyboard
* Dell™ optical USB mouse
Expandability:
* 4 memory slots (2 available), maximum of 4 GB (4 x 1024 MB)
* 3 PCI slots (1 available)
* 1 PCIe x1 slot (available)
* 1 PCIe x4/x8 slot (available)
* 1 PCIe x16 (video card) slot (used)
* 2 external 5.25-in. bays (used)
* 2 external 3.5-in. bays (1 available)
* 2 internal 3.5-in. bays (1 available)
* 13-in-1 media card reader
Ports:
* 10 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 6 back, 2 internal)
* RJ11
* RJ45 Ethernet
* VGA
* DVI
* S-Video out, 7-pin mini-DIN connector
* S/PDIF digital audio out
Operating System:
* Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Additional Software:
* Microsoft® Works 8
* McAfee® SecurityCenter™: VirusScan, Firewall, Privacy Protection and Spyware Removal (15‑month subscription)
* Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Warranty and Service:
* 3-year in-home/next business day on-site service1
In my mind, the big pluses are the 24" Monitor, a great video card in the 9600GS, and a full 3 year warranty (on-site, too) for only $2099.00 Canadian (plus tax of course)
Does it sound like a good deal? Unfortunately, the deal expires on Jan 21st, before Vista releases. You do get an express upgrade, but it's still an upgrade. - Last Edit: 17 years 10 months ago by Philip Smith.
- -- ChurchWiz - Easy & Affordable Church Websites
-- www.churchwiz.com
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Well I have the Dell monitor and it's really nice - still that would be the only thing I would buy from Dell... monitors..
If you go the normal WinPC way build youre own.. You can def. shave off a little money and get a better piece of machinery and not suddenly discover that some part cant be changed due to some odd Dell specs..
But still you really need to think about the change... WinPC or Mac
The monitor size is def. huge compared to a 19" or similar, but believe me 24" is easy used, and I would not hesitate to buy the Dell 30" if I had the money right now.. - Last Edit: 17 years 10 months ago by .
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- Bob Ateah
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 4521
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Thomas wrote:
Well I have the Dell monitor and it's really nice - still that would be the only thing I would buy from Dell... monitors..
If you go the normal WinPC way build youre own.. You can def. shave off a little money and get a better piece of machinery and not suddenly discover that some part cant be changed due to some odd Dell specs..
But still you really need to think about the change... WinPC or Mac
The monitor size is def. huge compared to a 19" or similar, but believe me 24" is easy used, and I would not hesitate to buy the Dell 30" if I had the money right now..
I tend to agree. Get a custom built PC and you can save $$$. Unless you need the Dell financing, I'd go with a custom built system from a reputable shop - unless you are capable of building your own (which I just did about 3 weeks ago).
Philip Smith wrote:Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor E6300, 1.86 GHz
That will be wicked fast, cheap and very overclockable (somewhat variable depending on the motherboard choice).
I have the Core 2 Duo E 6300 in my machine, it screams.
Imho, you could step down to a Nvidia 7600 GT and be ahead of the game - I use the 7600GT and it is great value for the money.
If you decide to get the Dell deal, you will have a wicked fast system and will enjoy it very much I am sure.
Best of luck and cheers! - The member formerly known as Roland Deschain
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- Philip Smith
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 102
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I have priced out a few custom systems, and it's true you can get more for your money when building a box. I haven't been able to find any shops or smaller companies who have 22-24" monitors at a great price though. FutureShop in Canada has a 24" Gateway monitor, which is very nice looking, but priced at $799. For that price, why not just buy an HDTV.
Is Dell really as sticky on their specs as they used to be? I remember back in the 90's, my parents had problems when trying to upgrade memory because it had to be Kingston Ram or something. I can see potential issues with changing a power supply or something because of specific sizing, but what other parts would there be a problem with?
I've read reviews about the 6300 as well, saying that it is very overclockable. I've never dabbled in that before but it seems like it's not too hard to do. Roland, what are you using for a motherboard/ram combination? - -- ChurchWiz - Easy & Affordable Church Websites
-- www.churchwiz.com
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- Andy Miller
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 9919
- Thanks: 96
- Web Kahuna
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one crucial thing you are neglecting is that the dell won't run os x. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough. After you've used os x for a while and you realize just how much more enjoyable and more importantly, efficient it is, you will wander why you spent so long on pcs. Cheap hardware is probably the #1 reason why pc's are still as popular as they are, but hardware is only a small part of the equation, the software is MUCH more important.
I used to build all my own PC boxes, and I was pretty good at. I always built tricked out systems that were very fast, but you know what, they still ran windows, and every 3 months I had to rebuild the whole machine. it got very tiresome, especially on top of the fact that the software written for pc's is overall of far inferior quality, so although there's more of it, it took much longer testing software to find something that actually did what i needed.
Not so on the mac. I find myself messing with it far less. The hardware just works with everything and there are no driver issues, the software tends to be better looking, less buggy, and overall just better.
Save yourself the hassle and don't get caught up in the cheap pc trap.
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I agree with Andy here - you really need to think about what you want Win or Mac and then decide what hardware to get..
And yes the joy of a new PC and it's speed is always great the first few months, but damn it suddenly get's slow after some software installs.. Both MS and other companies does indeed make some poorly written software from time to time and those are the ones slowing down your machine..
Yesterday I installed a small OFFICIAL Oulook backup program from MS and damn it was crap.. Now backing up data from Outlook in the first place is annoying, but this program made it even worth.. Everytime I quit Outlook I had to answer if I wanted to back up or not. And if I said yes the program would just say "The file could not be written"... No matter what I did it simply wouldnt work. In the end I had to buy a non official solution that did work, but on the other hand was much more than I really needed. On a Mac I believe such tasks are WAY more automated and out of sight.
I read an article about the two OS' compared and what really stroke the author was how much attention Windows needed from the user all the time. No matter if it was WinXp or WinVista it wanted the users attention all the time. Where on a Mac you can focus on the work all the time... I mean how annoying is it when Windows does and update and it ask you if you want to restart now or later..? If I say later it will ask you again and again with only a few minutes pause. After some time you restart not because you want to, but only to get rid of that annoying message..
And I could go on... I mean what's the deal with the message "You got many unused icons on your desktop click here to get help...blabla".. Well when you live at home I understand that ur mom tells you to clean up your room, and getting older I even might accept that your girlfriend ask you to take out the trash - but no way in hell do I want my OS to start nagging me about cleaning up on my desktop... I know such annoying messages can be taken care of with registry hacks, but again that takes focus away from work and again time is wasted on the OS.
Haha I just pursuiaded my self to get a MAC asap!
Stupid Win OS really...
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And I could act like Windows and be even more annoying and keep on posting....
What's with the Windows help section??
If you're new to Windows the help section might be of some help, but then call it what it is "A beginners manual or a faq" - it's not really a help system.
I mean have you ever used it and actually got a good answer? For some Office functions it might be handy, but for questions regarding the OS it simply blows. Reminds me a lot of the first person you meet at any given companys helpdesk...
For instance if some hardware isn't working and you search for help - the first thing it will ask you is something like "Have you plugged it in?".. Ok a new user might go "Ooohh..." when asked such a question but normal users will not get help in any way an all problems always leads to a "The system could not find a solution to your problem call the dealer where you purchased the hardware" - and thats after 10 mins of answering stupid questions...
Aarghhh the pain ;D
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- Bob Ateah
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 4521
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Philip Smith wrote:
I have priced out a few custom systems, and it's true you can get more for your money when building a box. I haven't been able to find any shops or smaller companies who have 22-24" monitors at a great price though. FutureShop in Canada has a 24" Gateway monitor, which is very nice looking, but priced at $799. For that price, why not just buy an HDTV.
Is Dell really as sticky on their specs as they used to be? I remember back in the 90's, my parents had problems when trying to upgrade memory because it had to be Kingston Ram or something. I can see potential issues with changing a power supply or something because of specific sizing, but what other parts would there be a problem with?
I've read reviews about the 6300 as well, saying that it is very overclockable. I've never dabbled in that before but it seems like it's not too hard to do. Roland, what are you using for a motherboard/ram combination?
I used a ECS P4M890T-M2 motherboard (not the best for overclocking) and for RAM I have 1 gig of DDR II 533 mhz RAM pc4200 - I plan on sticking another gig in here when I have the $$ (after I buy my RT Pro membership).
As for your monitor situation, you could always order one through Dell if the price is right!
I cannot say what Dell parts may be problematic - I can give you some info on my old Dell 8200.
Problem hardware:- Power supply - if you need to change it, you must purchase an expensive (and inferior) Dell PSU unless you want to perform case surgery with a Dremel in order to fit an aftermarket PSU in the case - oh, and you may need an adapter cable.
- Sound Card - my soundcard is a Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! - HOWEVER - I found out after I bought the computer that this soundcard is made for Dell and is not the same as an off the shelf SB Live!. It used a special driver and is inferior to the off the shelf part. Lesson learned - watch for proprietary components in Dell's.
- Dell's cooling fans leave something to be desired IMHO - I had quite a few burn out on me. Grrr. Poor quality. Maybe they've changed that now... I don't know. With my Dell, it is a pain in the rear to add an aftermarket fan even - add an aftermarket fan and you must forever live with a Boot message "Previous Fan Failure - Press F1 to Continue or F2 for Configuration". Grrr, no way around this.
Just an FYI, I've had one box here running Win95 since day 1 without ever having been formatted and it runs just fine, I use it as an MP3 server now mainly. I also have my old Dell running Win XP since day 1 without having to format and re-install Win and it runs faster than the day I brought it home because of my tweaking it. As a pc repair guy, I can only recall 1 time that I had to format a PC and re-install Win.
Not to say that Win is the "be all and end all", but when you are able to keep on top of it, Win runs well IMHO.
I do look forward towards owning a Mac one day, but for now I am quite happy on a Win OS.
Best of luck to you! - The member formerly known as Roland Deschain
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