Should I buy a new computer?

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:00 pm

frank wrote:I know I know I was never blaming Linux, the newer versions might support my modem, I just don't know. I also have a USB modem but I think it too is a WinModem. Trust me if anything other than dial up was available I would be right on it, but all of the money hungry corporations in this country find it too uneconomically friendly to allow me to have anything more than dial up, ie I can't get anything else.

Not even the 10$ AT+T DSL?

It's awesome how they don't advertise it.

On the modems, I found that some (most?) US Robotics Modems work with with Linux. The one I bought even had Linux listed as a Compatible OS.

frank · Post by **frank** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:12 pm

Alboin wrote:
frank wrote:I know I know I was never blaming Linux, the newer versions might support my modem, I just don't know. I also have a USB modem but I think it too is a WinModem. Trust me if anything other than dial up was available I would be right on it, but all of the money hungry corporations in this country find it too uneconomically friendly to allow me to have anything more than dial up, ie I can't get anything else.
Not even the 10$ AT+T DSL? It's awesome how they don't advertise it.

On the modems, I found that some (most?) US Robotics Modems work with with Linux. The one I bought even had Linux listed as a Compatible OS.

Well where I live has a population density of 12/km^2. Not enough people for dsl I guess. If you get lucky and live on one of the 2 or 3 main roads then you might be able to get DSL otherwise no luck. About the modem thing I haven't tried a version of linux that is newer than 2005 so I don't know too much about the capability. I'm about to order a couple of distros though, maybe I'll get lucky and one of them will support the modem (ubuntu, fedora, and OpenSuse)

jerryleecooper · Post by **jerryleecooper** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:09 pm

I have a question, should I buy a computer from scratch( board, processor etc) or should I buy a brand name (ha, dell, compaq, etc) ?
My hesitation, hp amd x2, or amd x2 no name, more or less the same price, but the hp will be 300 $ higher because of the hd I will buy to put linux on.

frank · Post by **frank** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:15 am

jerryleecooper wrote:I have a question, should I buy a computer from scratch( board, processor etc) or should I buy a brand name (ha, dell, compaq, etc) ?
My hesitation, hp amd x2, or amd x2 no name, more or less the same price, but the hp will be 300 $ higher because of the hd I will buy to put linux on.

Well it all really depends on which is cheaper. I would go with a core 2 duo. Right now they are the fastest on the market. So my opinion is if you can find a good deal on the parts separately build it yourself, if you know what you are doing, otherwise buy it brand name.

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:13 pm

What difference does the brandname make, all they do is print the circuit board and mold the plastic case, everything else is bought from amd or intel (cpu), toshiba, western digital, or seagate (drives), via or intel (chipsets), and the small componets are bought from the cheapest producer in china at the date it was manufactured.
You can swap components from 1 pc with another regardless of the brand name (I do it alot as I fix pc's with used parts as a discounted alternative to new parts).

When someone ask's me what brand my pc is, I say its my brand.

pcmattman · Post by **pcmattman** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:05 am

Buy a cheap laptop and see how long it lasts. Buy an expensive laptop and see how long it lasts.

The cheap laptop is probably a no-name brand, the expensive one is probably a big brand.

Which one lasts longer? Which one would you prefer, a no-name brand or a brand-name?

SpooK · Post by **SpooK** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:07 am

pcmattman wrote:Buy a cheap laptop and see how long it lasts. Buy an expensive laptop and see how long it lasts.

The cheap laptop is probably a no-name brand, the expensive one is probably a big brand.

Which one lasts longer? Which one would you prefer, a no-name brand or a brand-name?

Depends. I've seen quite a few name-brand laptops mysteriously fail shortly after their warranty period.

pcmattman · Post by **pcmattman** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:11 am

Depends. I've seen quite a few name-brand laptops mysteriously fail shortly after their warranty period.

Marketing tactic?

Zacariaz · Post by **Zacariaz** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:26 am

Why not build your own laptop? via has just released a nifty little pici-itx board

frank · Post by **frank** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:09 am

pcmattman wrote:
Depends. I've seen quite a few name-brand laptops mysteriously fail shortly after their warranty period.
Marketing tactic?

Yeah and some of them fail way before the warranty period is over. The disk drive in my Toshiba failed after only having it for 4 or 5 months.

JAAman · Post by **JAAman** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:58 am

What difference does the brandname make, all they do is print the circuit board and mold the plastic case,

almost

the only thing the big companies do is sell it -- they do not print the circuit board, nor do they mold the plastic case, they buy both of those things from other companies -- whichever ones they can get cheapest usually

asking which brand computer you should get is like asking whether you should buy a new tv from best buy or a local electronics store -- your getting the same things, made by the same companies, your just getting much better quality if you build it yourself or buy from a local builder (since i am a local builder, i have to include that option

)

but they get cheap parts

the companies (component manufacturers) will test all the part coming off the assembly line, and any parts which fail those tests, are sold at cheap discount to companies like HP, DELL, and lenovo

Pirogoeth · Post by **Pirogoeth** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:04 pm

Most consumer products like Dell are crap. I'd probably build it myself or go out and buy a cheap HP and upgrade it. And if that's not the way you swing, there's always Apple

My old G3 iMacs are real workhorses

Kevin McGuire · Post by **Kevin McGuire** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:12 pm

You know laptops can get really hot. I know a lot of people _like_ to buy the really bulked up ones. When I say bulked up I mean come with all sorts of things packed into it including a fast processor.

I think all these components might generate some serious heat, and speaking purely from a unprofessional (and with out any evidence) point of view, that might cause these components to fail prematurely?

My laptop was the cheapest and slowest. It has only two-hundred-fifty-six megabytes of memory:

Code: Select all

vendor_id       : Intel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 13
model name      : Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor         1.40GHz
stepping        : 8
cpu MHz         : 1400.000
cache size      : 1024 KB
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe nx up
bogomips        : 2795.44
clflush size    : 64

It did have a really nice ultra bright display which I think is the best feature. It is Intel, but I also prefer AMD so I am not saying that Intel is better than AMD in any way by posting the information.

I have had this laptop for a little over one year with out any problems. It gets really hot every once in a while when the temperature in the house gets up above 100F (while I am work) -- and the laptop is idle running. I also keep it propped up so it gets good ventilation underneath the body.

So maybe a lot of the problems come from buying really new and bulked laptops that are more like a miniature desktop than really being a small laptop -- also to mention new chipsets and such (heat generating devices crammed into a small space)?

Pirogoeth · Post by **Pirogoeth** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:34 am

Kevin McGuire wrote:So maybe a lot of the problems come from buying really new and bulked laptops that are more like a miniature desktop than really being a small laptop -- also to mention new chipsets and such (heat generating devices crammed into a small space)?

Companies are packing lots of unnecessary bloat into laptops. Most of the components run a lot hotter than they're advertised and when they're crammed in close vicinity they wear out faster. There's lots of demand for portable gaming machines, and laptops aren't really built to handle the kind of stress that gets put on them. Also most of them run windblows right out of the box, and m$ has yet to include useful software for dynamic frequency scaling and hard disk sleep.

jerryleecooper · Post by **jerryleecooper** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:14 pm

My laptop is working well enough for me. But my battery's not so well. It was at 95% ~ charging discharging, I dont' know why. So I removed it.

My laptop gets hot, but not that hot like devil hot

I think if you pay a bit more for a laptop that has a bit lower specifications, you get a good laptop. Of course the Acer laptops at 600$ with core 2 duo and is as fast as the more expensive hp is tempting, but you get what your paying for.

OF course a laptop is not like a "real"computer, it's fragile, hotter, nearly not upgradable. But it's transportable and it's for this reason you should buy it, not because it looks more modern than Jean-Luc Picard's desk's monitor.