Re: Good Grief! - This Old Lombard PPC Sprung Back to Life!

Mark Conrad wrote:
In article <1188159489.931667@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Yugo
<yugo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


I run this plain good old PC that I built with parts from my 486 in 2001.

Nothing wrong with that, provided you enjoy building your own PC.

There really isn't much to it. After you've read the little BIOS booklet that comes with the motherboard, you're an expert... for your computer. If any problem then arises, instead of bringing the whole computer back to the store and wait for it a week or so, you just buy the broken part and, an hour or two later, you're back to work. The little lesson you give yourself by building your computer is really worth it.

Seems like most off-the-rack "good" PCs _and_ Macs run about $1,000
nowadays, when one factors in the final price.

What is "factors in the final price" supposed to mean?

Add about 50$ to double the capacity of the HD and get a fasterer CPU here:

VISTA AM2 @ 439.00 2007-08-22
AMD64 AM2 MSI K9VGM-V K8M890 PCIE
AMD ATHLON64 3200+ 2.00G/1600/512K/AM2 CW
CRUCIAL REND 667MHZ DDR2 NO-ECC 1024MB
SATA2 80.0 SEAGATE 7200.10 8M ST380815AS
CASE ATX STD BLACK NOPS
450W POWER ATX ALPHA RAIDMAX
DVD DRIVE 16X LG IDE GDR-8164BB OEM BLK
BLACK FLOPPY
KB STD BIL USB/PS2 BLACK
MOUSE LOGITECH OPTICAL WHEEL PS2 BLK OEM
MOUSE PAD
MS-WIN VISTA HOME BASIC DVD OEM FR
1 YEAR GUARANTY

<http://www.microbytes.com/computer/ordinateur/ordinateur.php?cPath=1100000>

and you've got a pretty decent computer. Add $250 for a Viewsonic 8ms 19" monitor, and that's $760 (CAN) altogether. Microbytes has a good reputation, they respect their warranty and don't send your computer away for 3 months before you get it back. They fix it at shop. Though the casing is black instead of beige, it's not a fly by night store.

The MSI mobo is an industry standard. The specs are here:

<http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K9VGM-V&class=mb>

What do you get for $760 (CAN), Mac-wise?

The home built PCs are much less than that, however a lot of people
have neither the time nor desire to build their own from scratch.

The first time you built a PC, it might take half a working day. Next time, 2 hours. Then, it's going to save you an AWFUL lot of time AND you'll keep your computer home all the time.

Modern Macs will run Windows and Mac software, so not much point in
buying a PC anymore, because that limits one to running $MS software.

IBM PCs run Windows, God knows how many versions of Linux and the 3 BSDs.

Linux freeware generally sucks, does not have the polish, features, and
support that commercial software enjoys.

Really? I'm learning a lot with you. I've been using Linux software exclusively for 6 years and never noticed it sucks. Certainly it doesn't delete your files without prior permission like IWeb does. That's a feature I can do without.

Why would anyone run Linux only, when they can easily run Linux
software directly from a Mac, which has enough Unix underpinnings to
run most all Linux software.

I would rather run Linux on a computer that doesn't have all the proprietary Mac gizmutry.

> Figure average lifespan of most computers at 7 years or 2,556 days.
>
> That is approx' 40 cents a day cost for a "decent" off-the-rack
> computer.

:) Mac users spend much more than 40¢ a day on computers. They spend more than that on software alone!

I can recoup that easily just for the money it saves me for general
shopping bargains, compared to my friends who do not own a computer.

I can recoup my PC faster because it costs less in the first place.

Your milage may differ, of course.

It really does.

.

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