Re: This is best place to get shopping help for new PCs, honest !!!

On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:42:19 GMT, Mark Conrad
<jumpingjack@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <clund-E42E59.09181216082006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, C Lund
<clund@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Need a PC laptop, any size, with these min' features:
(built in, not added via a plug-in card)

1) 512MB ram (would like more, say 2GB, hopefully ECC ram)
2) USB 1.1 and USB 2.0
3) Ethernet 10/100/1000 autosense, full duplex
4) Firewire 400 and 800
5) High speed DVD read _and_ write, plus ordinary CDs
6) At least 120GB fast quiet internal drive
7) A seperate DVD with Windows XP Pro plus SP1 and SP2,
but this DVD _minus_ all the nagware 3rd-party junk
that normally comes with Windows, so I can load up the PC
minus all the 3rd party junk that normally comes with it.

The Intel Mac laptops don't come with these features? (I wouldn't
know, since I've never been interested in laptops)

Oh of course the Mac Intel MacBooks come with these features, that is
the whole point, namely I wanted to buy a PC that "plays nice" with my
existing stable of Macs.

Using shrewd anti-logic, I flipped a coin on a page of various PCs in a
magazine, figuring I would buy whatever PC that the coin landed on.

The coin landed on a Toshiba "Satellite" A105-S4134, so I hopped down
to Office Depot and picked it up.

Man, you must be some rich dude.


Has most all the requirements I listed above, except the darn thing is
loaded with the XP Media Center version of the OS, instead of XP Pro.

Think the app' I want to run on it requires XP Pro, so I picked up a
seperate copy of XP Pro just in case.

...besides, Bill Gates needs the money, he confided to me.

The ram on that model can be increased to 4GB, however Toshiba has an
ominous disclaimer that "When using 4GB, the amount of ram available
for system processes will be considerably less"


Being video shares the ram on that model, I assume they mean that the
added ram will go mainly for video uses.

Anyhow, I intend to max the ram out, disclaimer or no disclaimer.

The "sweet spot" for PCs with XP Pro is 2GB. Any more, and any
expected performance gains don't materialize.



This will be the first modern PC that I have had in years, being I gave
away all my older PCs.

Supposedly, it will run Vista when that finally comes out, we will see.

I doubt that a machine which uses shared video memory will "run
Vista", or at least not at it's best.


Although I am a die-hard Mac guy, I am going to make a concerted
attempt to give this PC box a fair shake, going in as unbiased as
possible.

Only wish there was a "main" PC NG out there, so I could keep any
questions I have out of this NG, for obvious reasons.

Try news://microsoft.public.windowsxp.*
or
news://microsoft.public.windows.vista.*

Many good newsgroups for XP information in those, also many experts
post there. Don't forget, tho, since many hobbyists use XP, many
stupid posts are made there, also.

But on the plus side, there will not be as many arguments as there are
in c.s.m.a, since Wintel users tend to be a democratic lot.

Mark


==

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread
==========================================================
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: This is best place to get shopping help for new PCs, honest !!!
    ... USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ... A seperate DVD with Windows XP Pro plus SP1 and SP2, but this DVD _minus_ all the nagware 3rd-party junk that normally comes with Windows, so I can load up the PC ... ominous disclaimer that "When using 4GB, the amount of ram available ... Anyhow, I intend to max the ram out, disclaimer or no disclaimer. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: This is best place to get shopping help for new PCs, honest !!!
    ... USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ... A seperate DVD with Windows XP Pro plus SP1 and SP2, but this DVD _minus_ all the nagware 3rd-party junk that normally comes with Windows, so I can load up the PC ... ominous disclaimer that "When using 4GB, the amount of ram available ... Anyhow, I intend to max the ram out, disclaimer or no disclaimer. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: This is best place to get shopping help for new PCs, honest !!!
    ... USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ... The Intel Mac laptops don't come with these features? ... ominous disclaimer that "When using 4GB, the amount of ram available ... Anyhow, I intend to max the ram out, disclaimer or no disclaimer. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Before I switch to Mac...
    ... In my comments below I've assumed you are talking about a MacBook Pro, ... is the standard method on Mac OS X as well. ... You can use almost any USB mouse on a Mac. ... There is a user accessible panel, with two RAM slots. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc)
  • Re: WoW On a MacBook
    ... if any of you have run WoW on a macbook (pro) and how well it runs. ... This could be in Mac OS or in Windows through boot camp but please ... I play on a 20" Imac with a 2.0ghz core dua and 2gb RAM, ...
    (alt.games.warcraft)