Possesed PC?

[lendaddy]

The CPU may not be three years old, I'm just guessing. I run Win2K pro and like it lots. I think a new P/S makes alot of sense. Plus I use it at work, not home. I would however LOVE to have two panel displays to replace my single HUGE 19" standard that covers my desk.

[Joeaksa]

Len,

You can replace the PS and possibly get another year out of the machine but before you do this either pull the old PS out and measure it or get the name of the machine and PS and find someone who makes one just like it but more power.

Bet that you have a PS that is 150-180 watts? Get something that is 300 watts or so if you upgrade to give you some cushion for the future.

I am using 3 flat panel monitors on one computer. Had one 21" View Sonic tube type monitor and it took up 80% of the desk in front of me. Now I have one 15", one 17" and one 21" flat panel and the working space is excellent. They lie flat against the wall and I have a card and negative scanner where the old monitor used to sit. Its easy to set up using W2000 (and XP) and you just have to add one or two more video cards to your MB then plug them in.

After working with multiple screens I could NEVER go back. Its so much easier and you get work done a lot faster. I put my email program on one screen, a browser window on a second and what I am working on a third, so multitasking is very quick and easy.

Dan, the latest, greatest stuff is 3.5 or 4 ghz stuff these days. You can get something that runs 70% that speed for a very reasonable price. I can open 15-20 browser windows (remember I have three screens to work with) when I am looking for something on the net and work seamlessly like this. My old computer locked up with more than 5 things running. I built a P2-200 in Berlin in 1994 and used it as a backup up to 1999. Fast for its day with dual SCSI drives and good memory.

The question is how long do you want to wait for something to happen after you press the enter key? I do not need the latest and greatest machine but all of our time is worth something and I would rather waste it working on the car or on Pelican, and not waiting for the computer screen to finally do something. I can make money, but have not figured out how to make time...

JoeA

[id10t]

You don't need a new machine as long as it runs whatever you want fast enough. More important is keeping up with operating system updates and patches, especially if you run windows. Format your drive and reinstall everything from scratch every 6 months to a year - windows tends to get "crufty" with normal long term use, and is measurably faster with a fresh install on the exact same machine.

[Neilk]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
I can open 15-20 browser windows (remember I have three screens to work with) when I am looking for something on the net and work seamlessly like this.
JoeA

Come on Joe, get with the times. With 3 monitors, there is no need to have more than 3 browser windows with Firefox's tabbed browsing. Give it a try.

[Joeaksa]

id10t,

Totally agree with the "format" ever 6 months idea. I have two hard drives (or partition a single drive) and format the drive my OS is located on every so often to clean it up. Would not believe how much better it runs as Windows does accumulate crap.

The second hard drive or "d" partition holds all my "data" and is retained when the other drive is formatted. As well I do a complete copy of the storage drive for backup and an image copy of it to an older computer as a backup.

Neil, have tried Firefox and while its nice there are times I need to work with a minimum of 10 things open at once. Try doing international flight planning on a 30 day trip around the world, with at least two separate Word documents, three Excel spreadsheets, and a browser window open for each destination as well as at least one for each hotel chain you will be using. Firefox cannot help that and this is why I have a reasonably fast computer and 3 monitors. Would put a fourth on if I had another slot available!

Joe A

[MichiganMat]

sorry dude, I was being a dick. I've had wonderful success with Macs over the past few years of daily use. Very rarely do I ever have a problem with the hardware or software.

Bryan is right (never thought Id say that), Apple does quality control to the extreme. Honestly, with Macs, you get what you pay for, and then some...

And I don't think its far from the lefty thinking either, its quite liberal if you ask me. Apple gives a fair trade, quality for cost, and gears their product to artists and musicians. The pro tools (FinalCutPro, Logic) cost a fraction of what other tools cost and are twice as powerful in most cases. They also haven't layed off a single person through the recession. Ok, ok, Im done! Beyond politics, Apple as a company is damn-cool.

But back the point: a bad power supply could kill a mac just as easily as it could a PC, but you're guaranteed that the supply was tested with the Mac, where as the PC supply could have been assembled by monkeys using generous amounts of duct-tape...

Originally posted by rcecale
"Lucy (Mat) you got some 'splainin ta do..."

Okay, I'll bite. Please explain this one to me. I have literally no experience with Macs. I mean, I've turned a few on or off at times, but that's about it. Again, please explain how you can have a bad power supply and not have your Mac die.

Enquiring minds wanna know!

Randy

[Neilk]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Would put a fourth on if I had another slot available!

Joe A

Well Joe, if you can do 4 monitors with Windows, then you just might need a different video card that has an analogue and DVI output. I have one video card driving two lcd monitors, so try a new video card.

[Saintly]

Originally posted by id10t
Format your drive and reinstall everything from scratch every 6 months to a year - windows tends to get "crufty" with normal long term use, and is measurably faster with a fresh install on the exact same machine.

I agree with this.. especially when on a home / games computer. what I do is get my PC set up with all the core programs and all available updates. then I make a ghost image of the drive to my data drive (makes a file of about 1.5 to 2Gb in size). then 6 to 12 months later when I want to refresh my PC I load the ghost image in about 10 mins. then I load any new updates and take a new ghost image for the future.

[id10t]

Ghost is quite nice (we have an enterprise copy at work), and the various *nix utils like dd are fantastic too. You can really shrink down the size of a ghost if you boot with a linux cd (a "live" distro like knoppix or dsl) and use dd to fill the drive with zeros, then install windows, etc. as normal. You can also use dd to create an image of your harddrive, or cdrom/dvdrom ISOs from discs, etc.

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
Apple does quality control to the extreme. Honestly, with Macs, you get what you pay for, and then some...

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I see statements like this. Obviously there are a few folks such as yourself who have had excellent results with their Apple product. I do not count myself as one of those fortunate few.

My ibook (actually I had two) sucked huge. Quality control was non existent. I went through 6 logic boards in 6 months-yes-you're going to have to listen to me say that EVERY time a thread comes up on this.

It was overpriced and over rated. Even a lowely Celeron laptop works just as well as my ibook did and will outlast it ten-fold. Just me? Nope. The so called "Apple Genius" at the store finally fessed up that his ibook did the same thing.

Let's talk compatibility-try to download at Kazaa. Lots of other issues too. Maybe there are ways to get around that, but why? My Intel based computers just do it.

Oh-and on assembly. Just where do you think macs are assembled? Mine said China.

[island911]

ouch!

. . . took a big ol' bite out of the apple, there.

[MichiganMat]

the ibooks had problems, you're absolutely correct.

sorry you had a bad experience, my 6 macs have been humming along under daily use for 3 years now without issue, and I'll never go back...

What keeps me using them is the software (use Limewire in place of Kazaa, check http://www.versiontracker.com/ for Mac software) and the OS which I believe, as a practicing computer engineer, to be the finest, most well engineered, OS on the face of the planet.

[Mule]

Granny Smith is making more money selling apples than the folks at Apple computer. Apple=irrelevent

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
and the OS which I believe, as a practicing computer engineer, to be the finest, most well engineered, OS on the face of the planet.

And you're not the only one. I bought my ibook based on the advice given me by a number of very knowledgeable computer people. They feel the way you do. They were, of course, using high end desktops, not ibooks.

I will say that I was also pissed when the so called uncrashable Apple crashed numerous times. I would be right in the middle of something and one of two things would happen-a warning that the program had "unexpectedly" quit, or the window just closed to a blank desktop-all data lost in both cases.

I will say this about Apple-The case design, ergonomics, materials quality, are all top notch. Even the keyboard design was far superior to my Dell laptop's keyboard. I wish I could find an Intel laptop that was designed by Apple's product engineers.

[MichiganMat]

ok ok ok, everybody has a gripe about something...

Did Len ever figure out what his problem was?

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
ok ok ok, everybody has a gripe about something...

Did Len ever figure out what his problem was?

Not yet, I think I'll order up a PS and throw it in.

[SLO-BOB]

Problem? Oh that.

[Joeaksa]

Len,

Figured out your power supply problem. Critters inside!

This is a photo from someone whose computer died. They turned it around to see what the noise was and found this.

JoeA