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(OT) Survey...What new Computer to get??

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Jamooche

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I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop. I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using? Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
 
I build my own, and have done so for years. Most "store" computers are so proprietary that it's hard to do much with them. Of course if you're not interested in getting in and messing with the innards, this might not be the way to go. Dell isn't a store computer, of course, and has a fine reputation.
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
--Joe Hawblitzel
 
Like Joe, I build my own. I've had bad experiences with Gateway in the past and do not trust them. Go with Dell.

Joo
Joe Hawblitzel said:
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
--
Joe Hawblitzel
Click to expand...
--- Canon D-30 & PowerShot S100- Maybe one day I'll take a decent picture. In the meantime, I'll blame the equipment. :)
 
I always had pc's. For many years. A few weeks back I make the move to a new PowerMac G4 867. No regrets. Best move I've made in awhile. It rocks! Stable, reliable, easy to use, great support, etc., etc. I doubt I'll ever buy another pc.

Mike
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
--Mike Flaherty http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
 
Jamil Abbasy wrote:
I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
Jamooche said:
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac?
Click to expand...
Hi! I am sure you'll get a zillion responses. Two years ago I purchased my first computer (prior to that my employer provided me with an always up-to-the-minute Toshiba laptop, what a perk!). Exactly 2 years after paying $2000+ for my first one, it went into hibernation mode and never came out of it. Toshiba want $650 to replace the mother board. For a little bit more I can buy a new Compaq laptop that's better than my Toshiba. Moral of the story, IMHO, buy the cheapest laptop you can get by with (eg you can continue with your current laptop). The depreciation is ridiculous and buying a high-end one you are just making things worse for yourself. If you need a high-end PC (those 16 bit tif files are HUGE) get a desktop in addition. This is much cheaper than a high end laptop. The depreciation will still clobber you, but on a smaller total cash layout. I got a desktop assembled at our local store for $1900 with a 1.8 GHz processor, 1 Gbyte ram, 80 Gb hard disk, 19" flat screen CRT, etc, etc. You should do better in the States.
 
Samir Kharusi said:
Exactly 2 years after paying $2000+ for my first one, it went into
hibernation mode and never came out of it. Toshiba want $650 to
replace the mother board. For a little bit more I can buy a new
Compaq laptop that's better than my Toshiba. Moral of the story,
IMHO, buy the cheapest laptop you can get by with (eg you can
continue with your current laptop). The depreciation is ridiculous
and buying a high-end one you are just making things worse for
yourself.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the path of upgrades many are making from D30 to D60/1D.

:)--jason: http://www.jcwphoto.net
 
Mine is a custom computer. Much cheaper than any of the Gateways, Dells, HP's etc in bang for the buck.

My wife has an HP 2 gigahertz, I an Athlon 2000+, (1.67 gigahertz), which is cheaper processor but converts raws in Breezebrowser faster. In fact everything multimedia is faster on the Athlon, given equal everything else.

Recommend you check out http://www.neocomputers.com where you can have them build to your specs if u don't want to build yourself.
Les
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
 
now with that come on - I can change the subject

I'm in the computer business and we build and test all manner of computers. My son is a graphics art major and their department is all macs. The best overal processor for all types of use right now is the Athlon 1900 or 2000 xp. These are the fastest in real life. If your doing a lot photoshop work then consider a small 2nd scratch drive and reset your "temp" environment variable and move your windows swap file to that drive. Really speeds things up.

Anyway - we raced this against the macs and it blew them away in real apples to apples photoshop tests. But you'll never convince a mac user of this even with hard numbers in front of their face. (if you don't believe me just watch the flames that head my way now)

Also - in regards to the Athlon - you can now get dual athlon motherboards from Tyan for under 200 dollars. What many people don't realize you can use the XP processors and not the impossible to find MP processors these motherboards say they require. These machines really rock. They use DDR memory as well.

On the hard drives - spend the little extra and get the 7200 rpm drives. It is totally annoying how the dell's and gateways of the world will plunk in a 5400 rpm drive losing nearly 50 percent in speed and save 30 bucks in the cost of building their pc.

SCSI drives will not give you a benefit to justify their cost for this type of work.

So - dream machine:

1. dual processor Athlon XP 2000+ processors with tyan motherboard
2. promise controller with dual 100 meg 7200 rpm drives for fault tolerance
3. extra scratch 7200 rpm 30 meg drive for windows swap file and temp directory
4. Geforce 3 Ti 500 or Geforce 4 (but not mx series)
5. good burner for backing up all your raw files

6. windows xp pro - required for multiple monitors and dual processor support - xp home won't do it
8. Case with extra fan in front and back (front blows in - back blows out)
9. gig of pc2100 ddr ram - use 512 meg chips so you can still go up if you want

if you want to cut cost - drop the promise controller and one 100mb drive and go to single processor and use non-dual motherboard. Keep the extra 30 meg drive (their only 130 dollars anyway)

--John Mason - Lafayette, IN
 
Sounds like a great system.

Sign me up!
John Mason said:
now with that come on - I can change the subject

I'm in the computer business and we build and test all manner of
computers. My son is a graphics art major and their department is
all macs. The best overal processor for all types of use right now
is the Athlon 1900 or 2000 xp. These are the fastest in real life.
If your doing a lot photoshop work then consider a small 2nd
scratch drive and reset your "temp" environment variable and move
your windows swap file to that drive. Really speeds things up.

Anyway - we raced this against the macs and it blew them away in
real apples to apples photoshop tests. But you'll never convince a
mac user of this even with hard numbers in front of their face. (if
you don't believe me just watch the flames that head my way now)

Also - in regards to the Athlon - you can now get dual athlon
motherboards from Tyan for under 200 dollars. What many people
don't realize you can use the XP processors and not the impossible
to find MP processors these motherboards say they require. These
machines really rock. They use DDR memory as well.

On the hard drives - spend the little extra and get the 7200 rpm
drives. It is totally annoying how the dell's and gateways of the
world will plunk in a 5400 rpm drive losing nearly 50 percent in
speed and save 30 bucks in the cost of building their pc.

SCSI drives will not give you a benefit to justify their cost for
this type of work.

So - dream machine:

1. dual processor Athlon XP 2000+ processors with tyan motherboard
2. promise controller with dual 100 meg 7200 rpm drives for fault
tolerance
3. extra scratch 7200 rpm 30 meg drive for windows swap file and
temp directory
4. Geforce 3 Ti 500 or Geforce 4 (but not mx series)
5. good burner for backing up all your raw files
6. windows xp pro - required for multiple monitors and dual
processor support - xp home won't do it
8. Case with extra fan in front and back (front blows in - back
blows out)
9. gig of pc2100 ddr ram - use 512 meg chips so you can still go up
if you want

if you want to cut cost - drop the promise controller and one 100mb
drive and go to single processor and use non-dual motherboard.
Keep the extra 30 meg drive (their only 130 dollars anyway)

--
John Mason - Lafayette, IN
Click to expand...
--Peter SillsDigital Focus.netwww.digitalfocus.net
 
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
 
I just bought an HP 1.8 GHz P4 with 512MB of DDR-SDRAM. Until now I always built my own but I just wasn't in the mood to do it again. My day job is to develop new firmware algorithms to improve disc drive performance and I am very aware of system performance as a result.

As for the drives, if you buy an already built system, watch out for the 5400 RPM AT drives. They really are significantly poorer performance wise than the 7200 and better (I have a 15K RPM drive in my system at work and it smokes!)

Make sure that you don't get stuck with straight SDRAM. DDR-SDRAM is a must.

Other then the NIC, avoid integrated.

Make sure that you have at LEAST 1 PCI slot available.

If you do build your own, look for an ABIT motherboard. The ones with I believe what they call "softkeys" are incredible. NO jumpers and there are an overclockers dream. I have tried so many other brands that I can't remember them all but ABIT was definitely my favorite.

If you build your own, get at least a 300W power supply. You'll appreciate it in the long run.

Whether you buy it or build, don't get hung upon CD-R write speed as long is at 16X or greater. It seems that most media is only good to 16X writes anyway.

My two cents.......

Scott
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
 
Building your own is the way to go. Many local dealers will built it for you for $50-$75.

I'd agree with the following, except I'd stay away from AMD. It's not so much the AMD cpus, but the chipset that runs them on the motherboard---mostly made by VIA. A poor buggy chipset.

Instead I'd go for the new ASUS p4b266 motherboard with the Intel 845D chipset. A little more money, but with PC2100 or even PC2700 RAM just as fast or faster in some rendering applications and.......a hell of a lot more stable.

Depending on the Operating system (Windows 98,98SE, 2K, xp)---512 RAM is plenty. In fact more will not help unless you use (I think) Windows 2000, maybe not. I'd buy 512 Meg of PC 2700 (Micronics or Crucial)

I'd have two hard drives-------great option. Forget SCSI, the 7200 RPM ATA 100 drives will be fine for the money. Go for IBM the fastest drives in the world.

For the video card, the GE Force cards mentioned are very good cards, but make sure you get one from a company that will support them with the necessary drivers. A real issue with the little distributors and companies.

Monitor: Viewsonic 17" or better
Member said:
Member said:
I'm in the computer business and we build and test all manner of
computers. My son is a graphics art major and their department is
all macs. The best overal processor for all types of use right now
is the Athlon 1900 or 2000 xp. These are the fastest in real life.
If your doing a lot photoshop work then consider a small 2nd
scratch drive and reset your "temp" environment variable and move
your windows swap file to that drive. Really speeds things up.

Anyway - we raced this against the macs and it blew them away in
real apples to apples photoshop tests. But you'll never convince a
mac user of this even with hard numbers in front of their face. (if
you don't believe me just watch the flames that head my way now)

Also - in regards to the Athlon - you can now get dual athlon
motherboards from Tyan for under 200 dollars. What many people
don't realize you can use the XP processors and not the impossible
to find MP processors these motherboards say they require. These
machines really rock. They use DDR memory as well.

On the hard drives - spend the little extra and get the 7200 rpm
drives. It is totally annoying how the dell's and gateways of the
world will plunk in a 5400 rpm drive losing nearly 50 percent in
speed and save 30 bucks in the cost of building their pc.

SCSI drives will not give you a benefit to justify their cost for
this type of work.

So - dream machine:

1. dual processor Athlon XP 2000+ processors with tyan motherboard
2. promise controller with dual 100 meg 7200 rpm drives for fault
tolerance
3. extra scratch 7200 rpm 30 meg drive for windows swap file and
temp directory
4. Geforce 3 Ti 500 or Geforce 4 (but not mx series)
5. good burner for backing up all your raw files
6. windows xp pro - required for multiple monitors and dual
processor support - xp home won't do it
8. Case with extra fan in front and back (front blows in - back
blows out)
9. gig of pc2100 ddr ram - use 512 meg chips so you can still go up
if you want

if you want to cut cost - drop the promise controller and one 100mb
drive and go to single processor and use non-dual motherboard.
Keep the extra 30 meg drive (their only 130 dollars anyway)

--
John Mason - Lafayette, IN
Click to expand...
--
Peter Sills
Digital Focus.net
http://www.digitalfocus.net
Click to expand...
 
My recommendation is the iMac with the superdrive and 1g of memory or the G4 with 2 processors and 2G memory. (24 GIGAFlops - ask Dell for that)

Why?

i have had Mac's for 16 years. in all these years I have bought a total of 4 machines. I use Microsoft and Adobe software and 'fractal painter".

I HAVE NEVER had a problem in loading software or configuring my MACS I have never found that when I get a new version of software that I need a new computer, I buy a new machine every 4 or 5 years WHEN I WANT TO.

MacosX is UNIX, it is a workstation, the Imac is also beautiful it will grace any studio and if you are a right brainer with artistic talent then the IMac will inspire!
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
--Pips
 
there's a REAL good deal on a dell system described here...
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.cfm?start=0&catid=18&threadid=73105

you can use it as base, and add things like cdrw from somewhere else, and still have a great and cheap system...
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
 
hi,

well i dont wont to get into the pc or mac thing, i do have one thing to say though that is really important for photos.

try to calibrate a pc system running windows whatever. it says it is automatic, if you trust that then ok.

if not, get a mac...these kinds of things have been built into the system for a long time and are industry standards now. funny to say, but if you wont real control of what you see on the monitor, there is no choice.

i have a g4/500 at home with scsi2 drives and 1gig ram, and a dual 1ghz g4 with 1gig ram at work, they both keep up with my thoughts and i can trust what i see.

just a thought.--W.
 
Being a long time Mac user I would of course recommend these computers to anyone who is interested in ease of use and quality products. You will notice that almost all the posts talking about pcs were from people building their own machines who seemed to enjoy the tinkering that is necessary to keep pcs living up to their specs. If you just want to use a machine that works, that you don't have to worry about becoming a computer expert to keep running, then I would get a Mac and concentrate on your photography. If you are interested in what Macs can do just email me and I will send you some links that will give you all the info you need.
Cheers,
Craig
 
I agree completely with the comments below....

I'm the New Media Manager at a "large publishing company", and most people in my department have both PCs and Macs on their desktops, (needed for cross-platform testing). Many people who came into the department as Windows users switched and have bought Macs for home use. The graphics capibilities, ease of use, ease of maintenence and especially the new built in media apps (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and iTunes) make the Mac a great digital hub (as Jobs would say).

The high-end iMac is a great computer.. or if you can afford it, the dual gig PowerMac is awesome.

good luck with whatever choice you make.

robert
Pips said:
Why?

i have had Mac's for 16 years. in all these years I have bought a
total of 4 machines. I use Microsoft and Adobe software and
'fractal painter".

I HAVE NEVER had a problem in loading software or configuring my
MACS I have never found that when I get a new version of software
that I need a new computer, I buy a new machine every 4 or 5 years
WHEN I WANT TO.

MacosX is UNIX, it is a workstation, the Imac is also beautiful it
will grace any studio and if you are a right brainer with artistic
talent then the IMac will inspire!
Jamil Abbasy said:
I am interested in getting a new computer desktop since I only have
a laptop right now. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.
I like the features and price point of the new Gateways. Since we
all do the same thing, I was wondering what most people are using?
Dell? Gateway? or Mac? and maybe some info on why you chose that
system. I hope you find this question interesting as I do.

Thanks,
Jamil
Click to expand...
--
Pips
Click to expand...
 
Needs 2 fans? You could also fry eggs on the heat sink too! and the noise.

Oh well, My Macs are quiet, and plenty fast in our all Digital studio.

Frank
Mike Miles said:
I'd agree with the following, except I'd stay away from AMD. It's
not so much the AMD cpus, but the chipset that runs them on the
motherboard---mostly made by VIA. A poor buggy chipset.

Instead I'd go for the new ASUS p4b266 motherboard with the Intel
845D chipset. A little more money, but with PC2100 or even PC2700
RAM just as fast or faster in some rendering applications
and.......a hell of a lot more stable.

Depending on the Operating system (Windows 98,98SE, 2K, xp)---512
RAM is plenty. In fact more will not help unless you use (I think)
Windows 2000, maybe not. I'd buy 512 Meg of PC 2700 (Micronics or
Crucial)

I'd have two hard drives-------great option. Forget SCSI, the 7200
RPM ATA 100 drives will be fine for the money. Go for IBM the
fastest drives in the world.

For the video card, the GE Force cards mentioned are very good
cards, but make sure you get one from a company that will support
them with the necessary drivers. A real issue with the little
distributors and companies.

Monitor: Viewsonic 17" or better
user73443 said:
user73443 said:
I'm in the computer business and we build and test all manner of
computers. My son is a graphics art major and their department is
all macs. The best overal processor for all types of use right now
is the Athlon 1900 or 2000 xp. These are the fastest in real life.
If your doing a lot photoshop work then consider a small 2nd
scratch drive and reset your "temp" environment variable and move
your windows swap file to that drive. Really speeds things up.

Anyway - we raced this against the macs and it blew them away in
real apples to apples photoshop tests. But you'll never convince a
mac user of this even with hard numbers in front of their face. (if
you don't believe me just watch the flames that head my way now)

Also - in regards to the Athlon - you can now get dual athlon
motherboards from Tyan for under 200 dollars. What many people
don't realize you can use the XP processors and not the impossible
to find MP processors these motherboards say they require. These
machines really rock. They use DDR memory as well.

On the hard drives - spend the little extra and get the 7200 rpm
drives. It is totally annoying how the dell's and gateways of the
world will plunk in a 5400 rpm drive losing nearly 50 percent in
speed and save 30 bucks in the cost of building their pc.

SCSI drives will not give you a benefit to justify their cost for
this type of work.

So - dream machine:

1. dual processor Athlon XP 2000+ processors with tyan motherboard
2. promise controller with dual 100 meg 7200 rpm drives for fault
tolerance
3. extra scratch 7200 rpm 30 meg drive for windows swap file and
temp directory
4. Geforce 3 Ti 500 or Geforce 4 (but not mx series)
5. good burner for backing up all your raw files
6. windows xp pro - required for multiple monitors and dual
processor support - xp home won't do it
8. Case with extra fan in front and back (front blows in - back
blows out)
9. gig of pc2100 ddr ram - use 512 meg chips so you can still go up
if you want

if you want to cut cost - drop the promise controller and one 100mb
drive and go to single processor and use non-dual motherboard.
Keep the extra 30 meg drive (their only 130 dollars anyway)

--
John Mason - Lafayette, IN
Click to expand...
--
Peter Sills
Digital Focus.net
http://www.digitalfocus.net
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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