OK, I'll pull the trigger on a PC, please advise.

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Rick,

Thanks for the input. Personally I would rather have a server but then I am what many would call a "power user." I would use the RAID and everything I have is networked back and forth.

Good to know...

Joe A

Uhhh, we speak english here

[MichiganMat]

It would seem that a Mac is _exactly_ what you're looking for Zeke, why the apprehension? "Some video work", AND you have an iPod. The Mac is the way to go! "Some" will turn into "lots" if you've got the right tools.

Apple tech support has been stomping all over Dell for the past 5 years now, bet you didn't know that. And by the time you're done putting together that Dell with all the goodies you could probably get yourself into a Mac. BTW 95% of the software you need already comes with the Mac, no extras required. Bang for the buck, Dell and XP just can't hang.

[TerryH]

Dell PowerEdge 400SC P4 3.2GHz is what I bought on eBay late in 2003 for basically the price of the cpu. It was bareboned with only the case, cpu, mb, onboard sound, and floppy. I added OS, ram, hd, video, dvd-cd burner, etc.

It may be considered server based because the BIOS is pretty much non existent for any tweaking or overclocking. What this does though, is provide a very stable environment, albeit somewhat subdued for gamer usage.

I've ran some the newest games and really was surprised at how well it performed. I was prepared to toss the motherboard if it wasn't up to my expectations.

[ianc]

BTW 95% of the software you need already comes with the Mac, no extras required. Bang for the buck, Dell and XP just can't hang.

Hey Matt,

Go back and read the very first sentence in this thread. FYI, they're not better, just different.

Funny how the Mac guys always get all desperate when someone says they're buying a PC. You're happy with your Mac, we're happy with our PC's. Let it be.

ianc

[MichiganMat]

{wimper} I didn't mean to hurt anyones feelings. {sniff}

Forgive me?

[JeremyD]

Video is a snap with ms movie maker - really pretty simple process now.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by lendaddy Uhhh, we speak english here

A server is more or less an industrial version of a desktop. Its made to sit there and control a network of other computers. Usually more memory and larger hard drives as well as in the old days servers were the only ones to have a NIC (network) port. Now that everyone and their dog has a NIC for high speed internet its common.

RAID is a collection of two or more independent hard drives that mirror the data on each hard drive. This way when one hard drive goes down or has a problem, the image on the rest of the drives is the same and no data is lost.

I have my house networked. Tivo and other things work on the network as well as have WiFi for taking the laptop around the pool, backyard or garage. Its a sickness...

Joe A

[lendaddy]

Thanks Joe, I knew the server part but not the RAID.

[Jay H]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
I have my house networked. Tivo and other things work on the network as well as have WiFi for taking the laptop around the pool, backyard or garage. Its a sickness...

Joe A

Our house is networked too. My wife and I have a PC each, we have one laptop for either of us (wireless of course) to grab when we need portable internet, my 6 year old has her own PC, my 3 year old has his own laptop... All networked... Man, it's sickening in our house too...we'd hook up the refrigerator to the network if we could...

OT: My 6 year old will be watching her kid's shows on satellite TV. She'll see a website for a game on www.pbskids.com or something like that. She'll pause the TIVO, go grab a pencil or crayon and some paper, write down the web address on the paper, then go to her PC and type in the web address and play her game. When we realized she was doing this, we quick upgraded her PC to XP Pro to limit internet access so she wouldn't mistype a site and get somewhere a 6 year shouldn't get. These kids are smart...

Jay
90 964

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally posted by ianc
Funny how the Mac guys always get all desperate when someone says they're buying a PC. You're happy with your Mac, we're happy with our PC's. Let it be.

No offense to Zeke but he's not a computing guru. I think it's plenty fair that he be aware of the options available to him without the bull***** "there's no software available for the Mac" arguments.

One of those options is a very usable platform that gets great customer support and is extraordinarily unlikely to contract a virus, worm, etc.

[lendaddy]

For what we paid for my wifes Dual Processor G5 (I think north of $4k if I recall) one would think it came with it's on tech rep in the the fukcing box.

FWIW can any of you guys tell us why the fan or hard drive on her G5 has a mind of its own and goes full bore even when idle? It sounds like a real G5 (Gulfstream) is taking off when I get home from work even though the damn thing is hibernating.

P.S. I too am about topull the trigger on a new Dell for work so I appreciate the thread.

What about the 64bit stuff, is it worth the premium from Dell?

[Joeaksa]

Zeke,

What did you end up doing? Hope you got something lots faster and with more room!

Joe A

[SLO-BOB]

I know it may be after the fact, but just in case....the most reliable computer in our house (we have 3) is a cheapy Dell P4 desktop. It always works well. It's faster than our supposedly more powerful office computer, makes less noise, and the support has been pretty good. It even comes with a real Windows OS disk-something that a lot of other companies can't say. I will say I'm not crazy about Dell's laptops. I had one and sent it back. I ended up with an E-machine laptop which has been decent. Based on that I bought an E-machine desktop for our office and I don't like it as much as the laptop or the Dell.

On monitors-spring for at least a 17 inch flat panel.