Re: Why I Don't Use Computers for Audio Very Much

On Apr 23, 2:22 pm, "Arny Krueger" <a...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<snip>


Of course there is not even a real version of
the Microsoft operating system.

How so?

You don't get the install disk anymore. Usually there will be a backup
on the hard in a protected partition or a CD that is preloaded with
all of the preinstall junk.


And if you get Vista,
things will be really exciting! There may also be a
problem with nonstandard hardware and how well will plug
and play work. Things are certainly better than earlier
times but incompatibilities still exist.

I've never seen a major brand machine with hardware that was nonstandard,
other than perhaps the case.

The case can be a severe problem if standard motherboards don't fit
and the motherboard fails. I was consulting at one facility where HP
had donated a number of machines. The motherboard failed and HP wanted
$800 for a replacement. Things may not be so bad now but as I noted
earlier, changing the motherboard may also require purchasing a new
copy of the operating system.

I also have encountered custom modems and network cards that are
poorly supported by the OEM. I was upgrading a newer (windows 98) HP
machine to winxp and the modem was not recognized. HP did not have any
XP drivers for the machine. Their solution was to buy a new machine. I
eventually found a driver that worked but it took several hours to
solve the problem. The generic stuff works with XP right out of the
box unless the hardware is brand new. Then, of course, the drivers can
be loaded right from the CD that came with the hardware.


Pure generic PCs are much more likely to avoid or
minimize such problems. They may cost more, especially if
a new version of a Microsoft operating system needs to be
purchased. At least this will avoid the problem of having
to buy a new copy of the OS if the motherboard is changed
as will occur with upgrades to the OEM machines.

The extra cost of a PC built of retail parts is usually very steep - about
1/3 to 1/2 of the price of the machine, for identical or near-identical
hardware.

This is not as steep as the operating system. Microsoft charges 3X or
4X for their retail operating systems compared to the OEM price.

For example, a lot of HP machines come with Asus motherboards that
very strongly resemble similar Asus boards sold at retail.

Its not what is the same in the hardware but what is different. BIOS
"enhancements" can be painful and are not visible. :-)

I do agree that hard compatibility issues are much less severe than
five or ten years ago.

.

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