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Domain: newegg.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to newegg.com.
Comments · 4,505
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Re: OEM Windows or OEM Linux
I'm here to help. There are plenty of good wifi cards out there that linux supports out of the box. Here's one that works flawlessly out of the box. Also, if you don't mind telling me which card you have I may be able to help you out. Email me at chuckyb21 at hotmail dot com if you would like a hand.
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Re:Uhh, Price?Not to nitpick, but you're not even close to the price of flash memory with your estimate there. $29 per GB? Newegg lists several 16GB USB key drives for about $130, or $8.12 per GB. And that's retail. It's safe to assume that the actual price per GB for a mass-produced drive would be much lower than that. Even at $8, that hypothetical drive would be about $5120.
Right now, flash RAM prices drop in half every 6 months or so, meaning it won't be that long until this drive isn't outrageously expensive anymore.
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Re:The problem is this: I DONT WANT WINDOWS...Show me a Best Buy, Circuit City, Comp USA, Office Max, Staples, or Office Depot where you can buy a non-windows based PC... They don't exist. So what? Only an idiot buys a computer from one of those stores. All they offer is the ultra-craptastical consumer-level garbage from the likes of Sony, HP, and other odd brands. They're garbage, you dont want them.
I also seem to remember that Wal-Mart was selling Linux boxen for a while, not sure if they still are. Even on the Dell web site, the only machines with no OS at all are certain servers. I did find a couple "open source" latitude models
'open-source' option on EVERY single latitude model except the D4x0? You realize that if you buy a laptop from dell, you dont want anything but a latitude, right? The rest are either consumer-level garbage (inspiron), or workstation-replacements (precision).
Or how about here, where they offer an 'open-source' option on damn near every one of their business class lines, including their new oh-so-confusing vostro small business line?
Or how about the couple of experimental machines they offer with Ubuntu, as you can see here?
... with "freedos" and found the difference to be $30 less than the exact same machine with Windows XP Home (which is interesting considering that Dell pays more for XP home Actually, 30 seconds of research will show you that the upper bound of XP Home for an OEM is ~$80, as seen on NewEgg. You know Dell's price is lower than that, plus the 'marketing incentive' kickbacks, right? So $30 sounds about right, and given their expanded support needs and configuration options, they probably run smaller margins on those in the end. I should NEVER be forced to buy Windows when I buy hardware no matter where I decide to buy it from. Yeah, and I should get magical sprinklings of fairy dust on my food from McDonalds.
Bottom line is that you're NOT forced to buy windows when you buy hardware. You can buy from the business-class lines from all the tier-1 vendors (which is what you want, the consumer-level stuff is terrible), or you can buy from a linux manufacturer, like system76, or you can build the machine yourself with parts from newegg or your locally owned white-box low-end-craptacular parts store.
You should be a happy man/woman/entity. -
Re:The problem is this: I DONT WANT WINDOWS...I want a computer without Windows!! Where can I buy one...?
Answer: I can't. Actually its pretty trivial to do so. Pick from the tier-1 vendors. Whoo, that was hard. Yes, there's some places to get one but they cost the same, or more, as a computer with Windows. No, they dont. They cost anywhere between ~$100 less, and ~$50 more. Product pricing in the computer industry is complex. How can this be when a retail copy of Windows costs {$hundreds}? What does the retail cost of windows have to do with the tier-1 volume oem cost of windows?
It's reasonably well accepted that XP costs between $50-100 for Dell. OEM cost for XP Home at NewEgg is ~$90. XP Pro at NewEgg is ~$140. Vista prices for Home Basic and Business are roughly equivalent.
You know Dell gets better prices than that.
Then it starts to get complex. MS offers 'marketing incentives' back to companies like Dell to the tune of ~$50 per machine that they sell with windows. Then they get some dollar amount from various TrialWare vendors for putting their crap on the system.
Then there's smaller support and configuration costs for supporting fewer OS's.
Given all this, its completely reasonable that a Windows version of a machine from Dell would cost the same, or even very slightly less than a box with Linux. In reality, it usually comes out a little more expensive, which is also reasonable (some lines dont get trialware, they may not offer os support on linux, etc).
Bottom line, you want a computer pre-built with Linux, there are tons of choices to do so. At most, you may have a perceived loss of maybe $50 (Dell's worst case price differential assuming a very simple pricing model).
Unless you're buying a crapola $500 computer, the $50 disappears in the noise, assuming you even paid it in the first place. -
Re:The problem is this: I DONT WANT WINDOWS...I want a computer without Windows!! Where can I buy one...?
Answer: I can't. Actually its pretty trivial to do so. Pick from the tier-1 vendors. Whoo, that was hard. Yes, there's some places to get one but they cost the same, or more, as a computer with Windows. No, they dont. They cost anywhere between ~$100 less, and ~$50 more. Product pricing in the computer industry is complex. How can this be when a retail copy of Windows costs {$hundreds}? What does the retail cost of windows have to do with the tier-1 volume oem cost of windows?
It's reasonably well accepted that XP costs between $50-100 for Dell. OEM cost for XP Home at NewEgg is ~$90. XP Pro at NewEgg is ~$140. Vista prices for Home Basic and Business are roughly equivalent.
You know Dell gets better prices than that.
Then it starts to get complex. MS offers 'marketing incentives' back to companies like Dell to the tune of ~$50 per machine that they sell with windows. Then they get some dollar amount from various TrialWare vendors for putting their crap on the system.
Then there's smaller support and configuration costs for supporting fewer OS's.
Given all this, its completely reasonable that a Windows version of a machine from Dell would cost the same, or even very slightly less than a box with Linux. In reality, it usually comes out a little more expensive, which is also reasonable (some lines dont get trialware, they may not offer os support on linux, etc).
Bottom line, you want a computer pre-built with Linux, there are tons of choices to do so. At most, you may have a perceived loss of maybe $50 (Dell's worst case price differential assuming a very simple pricing model).
Unless you're buying a crapola $500 computer, the $50 disappears in the noise, assuming you even paid it in the first place. -
Re:APPLE should come out with mac osx86 for all...
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Re:Fixed wireless?
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Re:Fixed wireless?
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Re:Fixed wireless?
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Re:Lock-Ins and the All Might Dollar
Note that my comment about "engineered-in obsolescence" was targeted at Wintel machines... the W denoting "Windows". By citing Linux (which I would point out is not an option for many users because of their applications or support requirements) then you've shown you do not really understand the consumer laptop market. We're talking about a consumer laptop here.
I note that in your NewEgg link you've got a good list of machines. OK... but then drill down a little to get the same specs as the Macbook. Intel Core 2 Duo? OK... 3 laptops. Out of the three, you've got one recertified... since we're pricing a NEW Apple I'm afraid I have to discount that from the list. That leaves us with a Gateway with half the hard drive space (40Gb as opposed to 80), and a slower CPU... oh and no Bluetooth, and an Asus with a slower CPU... though many of the options are quite similar. Out of the two, I'd discount the Gateway immediately because it's... well... crap.
If we look at the Asus up against the Macbook then they do look quite similar... except for the 20% slower CPU which might be a big deal to some people. So OK... looking at the specs I see that's a Windows XP box. Oh dear... no modern operating system? OK, I jest a little; XP is a damn good OS but the simple fact remains that despite all its warts Vista is MORE capable. In order to match OSX with Vista you'd need to spend $300 OEM to upgrade to an equivalent Vista platform... then you've spent the same as you would on the laptop and you STILL have a 20% slower CPU.
If I exactly match the specs on the Macbook with what's on NewEgg today, I get this list which has some pretty nice laptops in it that cost 40% MORE than the Macbook. That was just going down through the laptop list and selecting Intel Core 2 Duo, 80Gb drive, 13.3" screen. I can do it a different way and get this list which lists some damned fine machines, but only one of them comes in cheaper than the Macbook. One. It's ALSO got a slower CPU and no Bluetooth... though it does have a nice big 160Gb drive and Vista Home Premium. This at least puts it in the running unless (like me) you use Bluetooth a LOT! I have mice, keyboards, phones... I'm sort of a Bluetooth freak.
Desktops I won't argue with. Apple doesn't really do the desktop market. Their forte is laptops, pro systems and media boxes. They got out of the desktop business years ago... closest they get to the desktop market is the iMac, but even that I would consider a laptop in a rather odd format rather than a true desktop.
I will concede that point, but the point remains that these days your average joe is much more likely to buy a laptop than a desktop even if it never leaves the house. I see this a lot; most of my friends and colleagues are buying laptops. When you look at that market, Apple is right there in the middle of that market making some damn good product at damned competitive prices. They're not the cheapest, but the last cheap laptop I bought has taught me a lesson in buying quality over price any day of the week. Sure, quality is probably relative... and may even be a perception thing rather than an analytical thing, but I can say from my colleagues and friends that those that own Apple computers tend to (a) be a lot happier with them and (b) tend to keep them a lot longer because they don't obsolete at the next service pack. How many people upgraded their computer when the memory minimum doubled with XP SP2?
Me, I'll continue to spend a little more and (in my opinion) get more for my buck. That's why I own a Volvo and a BMW. Sure, a Chevy Cobalt could do the same job, but since I don't want to replace my car every five years I'll buy something that's going to cost a little more but last longer. Plus, I prefer something that can do the job I want in some style -
Re:Lock-Ins and the All Might Dollar
Note that my comment about "engineered-in obsolescence" was targeted at Wintel machines... the W denoting "Windows". By citing Linux (which I would point out is not an option for many users because of their applications or support requirements) then you've shown you do not really understand the consumer laptop market. We're talking about a consumer laptop here.
I note that in your NewEgg link you've got a good list of machines. OK... but then drill down a little to get the same specs as the Macbook. Intel Core 2 Duo? OK... 3 laptops. Out of the three, you've got one recertified... since we're pricing a NEW Apple I'm afraid I have to discount that from the list. That leaves us with a Gateway with half the hard drive space (40Gb as opposed to 80), and a slower CPU... oh and no Bluetooth, and an Asus with a slower CPU... though many of the options are quite similar. Out of the two, I'd discount the Gateway immediately because it's... well... crap.
If we look at the Asus up against the Macbook then they do look quite similar... except for the 20% slower CPU which might be a big deal to some people. So OK... looking at the specs I see that's a Windows XP box. Oh dear... no modern operating system? OK, I jest a little; XP is a damn good OS but the simple fact remains that despite all its warts Vista is MORE capable. In order to match OSX with Vista you'd need to spend $300 OEM to upgrade to an equivalent Vista platform... then you've spent the same as you would on the laptop and you STILL have a 20% slower CPU.
If I exactly match the specs on the Macbook with what's on NewEgg today, I get this list which has some pretty nice laptops in it that cost 40% MORE than the Macbook. That was just going down through the laptop list and selecting Intel Core 2 Duo, 80Gb drive, 13.3" screen. I can do it a different way and get this list which lists some damned fine machines, but only one of them comes in cheaper than the Macbook. One. It's ALSO got a slower CPU and no Bluetooth... though it does have a nice big 160Gb drive and Vista Home Premium. This at least puts it in the running unless (like me) you use Bluetooth a LOT! I have mice, keyboards, phones... I'm sort of a Bluetooth freak.
Desktops I won't argue with. Apple doesn't really do the desktop market. Their forte is laptops, pro systems and media boxes. They got out of the desktop business years ago... closest they get to the desktop market is the iMac, but even that I would consider a laptop in a rather odd format rather than a true desktop.
I will concede that point, but the point remains that these days your average joe is much more likely to buy a laptop than a desktop even if it never leaves the house. I see this a lot; most of my friends and colleagues are buying laptops. When you look at that market, Apple is right there in the middle of that market making some damn good product at damned competitive prices. They're not the cheapest, but the last cheap laptop I bought has taught me a lesson in buying quality over price any day of the week. Sure, quality is probably relative... and may even be a perception thing rather than an analytical thing, but I can say from my colleagues and friends that those that own Apple computers tend to (a) be a lot happier with them and (b) tend to keep them a lot longer because they don't obsolete at the next service pack. How many people upgraded their computer when the memory minimum doubled with XP SP2?
Me, I'll continue to spend a little more and (in my opinion) get more for my buck. That's why I own a Volvo and a BMW. Sure, a Chevy Cobalt could do the same job, but since I don't want to replace my car every five years I'll buy something that's going to cost a little more but last longer. Plus, I prefer something that can do the job I want in some style -
Re:What's worse is..
Cooler Master figured it out. I love this case:
Centurion 532 -
Re:FP: And sometime in 2015...
...a storage device that'll run at bus speed. What use is 4.8GBit if the attached drive bursts at 150MBit? Or is the USB RAID stack waiting in the wings?
2015? I think not. That thing must be unbearably slow w/ USB 2... -
Re:Yay!
At least they went from these with just a couple billion bytes storage (Gig);
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_PH3380A.html
to something like these with a little more room;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144701
That should save a little on the light bill. -
Re:FTFAHow many other people ship software that is barely half-done and filled with known bugs
... many of which seem to be marked as either WILL-NOT-FIX or FEATURE-NOT-BUG? Wow, MS really has an issue status named FEATURE-NOT-BUG? And you've seen this? Can you post a screenshot?
(yes, I know, but the best way to respond to nonsense is with more nonsense) Now, of those, how many are shipping this garbage by forcing it to be installed on nearly ever new PC sold, and doing everything in their power to prevent anyone from getting a copy of the older/functional version? Yeah, cause its so hard to find computers shipping with XP. Or maybe OEM versions of XP is what you prefer?
Not how every one of those from Lenovo, Dell, and HP offers XP as a standard option? In fact, in past month, we've shipped XP machines straight from Dell to a number of clients. These issues are largely intentionally designed into the platform. To mis-quote an old favorite: Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence. There may be fundamental problems in the code, maybe not. But, like Gutmann, you seem to be just making up these problems, assuming them to be true, and then making pronouncements and judgements based on these made-up theories. -
Re:Amd owns the low-end.
Price and performance.
Although I'm speaking with clock speed, not benchmarks, and it doesn't have a shared cache -- not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, performance-wise -- but it's 512k per core, which adds up to 1 meg.
(Pure speculation, but I imagine a shared L2 cache would make it slower for both cores (due to locking issues), with the gain being much easier switching of threads from one core to another, and theoretically better performance if one thread from one core ends up hogging the entire L2 cache. But my understanding at this level is limited.)
I'd have to see some review site with benchmarks to say this with authority, but unofficially, based on the only specs I understand, AMD wins this one, hands down. I remember researching this earlier and finding the motherboard was some $10 cheaper on the AMD side, but I'm not sure. Even so, it saves me $10 on the CPU alone, for 2 ghz instead of 1.6.
Then again, things may have changed. I don't remember finding that $75 option when I looked earlier. Maybe I was only looking for Core2 Duos? -
Re:Amd owns the low-end.
Pentium Dual-Cores start at $75. These are the same as Core 2 Duo E4xxx except with less cache (1 MB shared vs. 2 MB) and a lower clock speed. Still, the low end AMDs will most likely beat this CPU in performance.
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Re:Lock-Ins and the All Might Dollar
My mistake calling it an iBook, they're called MacBooks now apparently. I wasn't aware of the name change. This was the product I was referring to. And there is the cheapest configuration available at 1099 USD. Again, price differential IS NOT MINIMUM. All of these laptops are several hundred dollars cheaper and most with higher specs. The difference in desktops is even more dramatic, and down right hilarious when you build your own system. The numbers game isn't something you can argue here. If you're going to try and make a case for Apple being better it's not going to be about price so don't try. You can say they're nicer to look at or built better, like a "professional" laptop, but that's a matter of opinion and there are just as many examples to prove you wrong as you can bring up to support that position.
"engineered-in obsolescence"? They'll be obsolete only when I can't find a use for them anymore and thanks to Linux pretty much all my old hardware continues to be useful for something. -
Re:The digital TV switch isn't going to happen
It's a good thing that you have been researching these things. It's not like you can get an ATSC tuner for under $100 brand new today, and it's highly unlikely that the price will fall as more competition enters the market and the FCC's vouchers are given to consumers. Right???
There isn't going to be a whole lot of demand for this hardware until the shutdown is almost here. Perhaps a few months before. -
Re:What's the REAL Solution though?
Why make it an all-on-one-card solution? It seems to me that there's some big advantages to having an external, independantly-positional antenna with regards to potential for alleviating reception problems. In the case of a desktop box, getting the antenna out of the snakepit of grounded cabling and expansive sheet metal behind the box is a huge advantage.
So as long as the concept is improved upon by having a separate antenna, why not go even a step beyond that and use whole separate radio?
Newegg, for instance, has a few wireless adapters which connect directly to the Ethernet port of the desired device.
And furthermore, while we're at it, it's pretty easy to turn a Linksys WRT54GL around backwards (using OpenWRT or the much friendlier dd-wrt firmware) to act as a wireless client, with several available Ethernet jacks for whatever random gear you might want to plug into a wireless network.
Or, shoot: Even Windows can associate with an access point, and do a fine job of bridging between wired and wireless network interfaces. I did this the last time I had friends over for a game of Total Annihilation, and it worked splendidly.
So unless I'm missing something, isn't this a solved problem, at least for desktop machines?
For portable gear, I guess it wouldn't be very practical. But then, having an RTL8139-interfaced WiFi adapter in Cardbus or MiniPCI form wouldn't be all that practical, either. By the time you've researched and procured such a special-use (and currently non-existent) product, you could have just as easily researched and procured a conventional 802.11 card that has decent Linux support out of the box. -
Re:AtherosOf course, if you buy Atheros gear to solve your Linux wireless woes, you are rewarding a company for bad behavior. As many people have pointed out, Atheros seems to be deliberately unhelpful, releasing only binary drivers, and no documentation whatsoever. Atheros' bad engineering and refusal to work with the OSS community has lead to workarounds like the following commit in NetBSD: "The Atheros HAL on MIPS uses %s7 as a general purpose register, but the rest of the kernel uses it to store the value of curlwp. Sam won't recompile the HAL for us (fair enough), and we can't modify the HAL to use another register because doing so could put us in breach of the license (v. crappy). So, do a save/set/restore on %s7 in KernIntr() and in the stubs that the HAL uses to call back into the kernel.
"Please note that diffs are not public domain; they are subject to the copyright notices on the relevant files." More info here.
I suggest Ralink-based chipsets as an alternative. I have a couple in OpenBSD-based machines, and one in my girlfriend's Ubuntu laptop. I don't recall how difficult it was to get going in Linux, but it does work fine. The OpenBSD machines, of course, just worked out of the box. Ralink has been open and friendly with their documentation, and the chips are dirt cheap. I like this one in particular. This is the MiniPCI hard I use in my Soekris router. BTW, I am in no way affiliated with Ralink, except that I've purchased a few, and am happy with them. -
Re:Damnit...
SSD is up there with those holographic drives we keep hearing about that are only 2 years away...
How can you even compare the two? Solid State Drives are already on the market. Sure it's expensive, but it's actually on the market, unlike holographic storage. -
Re:Fry's Merely Chose the Wrong Company
Because no online store offers mail-in rebates.
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Re:**Lets chop that price down...the newegg,com wa
You could get rid of those gigabit cards and use a dual head MB @ $87.99ea. : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N
8 2E16813138059 -
**Lets chop that price down...the newegg,com way**Motherboard: MSI K9N6PGM-F MicroATX $62.99 * 4 = $251.96
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2 CPU $67.50 * 4 = $270
Main Memory: Kingston DDR2-667 1GByte RAM $48.49 * 8 + $4.99sh = $392.91
Power Supply: (can't beat price): $76.00
Network adapter (node to switch): (cant beat their price) $164.00
Network adapter (switch to node): (cant beat their price) $15
Switch: Trendware TEG-S80TXE 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch $46.99+$7.04sh = $54.03
Hard drive: Seagate 7200 250GB SATA hard drive $69.99
DVD/CD drive: (can't beat their price): $19
Cooling: (can't beat their price): $32
Fan protective grills: (can't beat their price): $10
KVM: (can't beat their price): $50 Grand total (incl. 15 in hardware): 1416.89 $1000 saved by using Newegg!
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**Lets chop that price down...the newegg,com way**Motherboard: MSI K9N6PGM-F MicroATX $62.99 * 4 = $251.96
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2 CPU $67.50 * 4 = $270
Main Memory: Kingston DDR2-667 1GByte RAM $48.49 * 8 + $4.99sh = $392.91
Power Supply: (can't beat price): $76.00
Network adapter (node to switch): (cant beat their price) $164.00
Network adapter (switch to node): (cant beat their price) $15
Switch: Trendware TEG-S80TXE 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch $46.99+$7.04sh = $54.03
Hard drive: Seagate 7200 250GB SATA hard drive $69.99
DVD/CD drive: (can't beat their price): $19
Cooling: (can't beat their price): $32
Fan protective grills: (can't beat their price): $10
KVM: (can't beat their price): $50 Grand total (incl. 15 in hardware): 1416.89 $1000 saved by using Newegg!
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**Lets chop that price down...the newegg,com way**Motherboard: MSI K9N6PGM-F MicroATX $62.99 * 4 = $251.96
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2 CPU $67.50 * 4 = $270
Main Memory: Kingston DDR2-667 1GByte RAM $48.49 * 8 + $4.99sh = $392.91
Power Supply: (can't beat price): $76.00
Network adapter (node to switch): (cant beat their price) $164.00
Network adapter (switch to node): (cant beat their price) $15
Switch: Trendware TEG-S80TXE 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch $46.99+$7.04sh = $54.03
Hard drive: Seagate 7200 250GB SATA hard drive $69.99
DVD/CD drive: (can't beat their price): $19
Cooling: (can't beat their price): $32
Fan protective grills: (can't beat their price): $10
KVM: (can't beat their price): $50 Grand total (incl. 15 in hardware): 1416.89 $1000 saved by using Newegg!
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**Lets chop that price down...the newegg,com way**Motherboard: MSI K9N6PGM-F MicroATX $62.99 * 4 = $251.96
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2 CPU $67.50 * 4 = $270
Main Memory: Kingston DDR2-667 1GByte RAM $48.49 * 8 + $4.99sh = $392.91
Power Supply: (can't beat price): $76.00
Network adapter (node to switch): (cant beat their price) $164.00
Network adapter (switch to node): (cant beat their price) $15
Switch: Trendware TEG-S80TXE 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch $46.99+$7.04sh = $54.03
Hard drive: Seagate 7200 250GB SATA hard drive $69.99
DVD/CD drive: (can't beat their price): $19
Cooling: (can't beat their price): $32
Fan protective grills: (can't beat their price): $10
KVM: (can't beat their price): $50 Grand total (incl. 15 in hardware): 1416.89 $1000 saved by using Newegg!
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**Lets chop that price down...the newegg,com way**Motherboard: MSI K9N6PGM-F MicroATX $62.99 * 4 = $251.96
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2 CPU $67.50 * 4 = $270
Main Memory: Kingston DDR2-667 1GByte RAM $48.49 * 8 + $4.99sh = $392.91
Power Supply: (can't beat price): $76.00
Network adapter (node to switch): (cant beat their price) $164.00
Network adapter (switch to node): (cant beat their price) $15
Switch: Trendware TEG-S80TXE 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch $46.99+$7.04sh = $54.03
Hard drive: Seagate 7200 250GB SATA hard drive $69.99
DVD/CD drive: (can't beat their price): $19
Cooling: (can't beat their price): $32
Fan protective grills: (can't beat their price): $10
KVM: (can't beat their price): $50 Grand total (incl. 15 in hardware): 1416.89 $1000 saved by using Newegg!
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First with perpendicular recording? No.
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Modded -1, New HereI think there really needs to be a legal framework for people (end users) who own software You don't own software, you license it. Unless you contracted a company to write something for you and you explicitly retained the rights (and the source). Next, growth IMHO for certain industries like the game industry is being held back by not subsidizing the cost of some kind of mid-range performance standard graphics *for everyone*. You can get a DX10 graphics card for US$100. Or are you still using an AGP motherboard? I find it ironic that companies like Nintendo, Sony, and MS can subsidize their consoles, but when it comes to the PC, MS just sit's there. MS doesn't make PCs. I think one of the big reasons PC gaming is flagging was in large part due to the incessant march of the graphics card industry. Are you suggesting that game companies can't handle the increased power of new graphics cards? Starcraft and Diablo 1 & 2 were both 2D games, it makes sense that these games got as widespread as they did because they'd run everywhere. So, basically you just want a line of Cheap Bastard(TM) games? Why not just haunt the used games stores? I'm sure you can find something there that'll run on your 850MHz P-III.
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Re:Here and now
The prices you're quoting are ridiculously expensive though. When 250 GB hard disks are selling for $70 nobody is going to pay $200 per 16GB compact flash card, or $1,250 for a 100GB hard drive. When you start talking about laptops, where CF hard disks would be a big plus, it's still under $100 to get a hard disk that is much bigger than CF available for the price. The only reason you might choose CF over a regular hard disk for a notebook would be in order to lower your power consumption -- but if you were doing an application serious enough for that why wouldn't you just use an embedded system designed for really low consumption? People who just want to be able to work on their powerpoints for more time would be better off just using the extra money to buy a battery.
Bottom line: It's not that you can't use CF for storage, it's just too expensive per GB to do so. -
Re:I wonder what Flash capacity growth
I'm not sure flash drives need to meet and exceed conventional drives in capacity (maybe that's why conventional drives have slowed in growth)? I like to use virtual machines for development, but never had the right medium to work on them, exchange them between developers, etc. They're just to big to swap easily by network, external hard drives are too big and fragile, etc. But now I see 16 GB usb flash drives are available, and only $130 to boot! I'm going to try installing a VM on one and buy a few more if it works well. 16 GB is PLENTY for installing a linux development environment, and I think for XP, too. Vista, I don't know.
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Re:Logical reasons to buy AMDAnd when a product produces similiar results for HALF the price, that seems to be a good reason to buy that product. Let's look at products from each that produce similar results:
AMD X2 5600+ is about equivalent to Core 2 Duo 6420.
AMD X2 5600+ costs $150.
Intel C2D 6420 costs $186.
Looks like AMD costs 80% of Intel for the same performance. Not very close to half, though I'll give you that it is cheaper. Throw in the cheaper Core 2 Duos like the $125 Allendales, and overclock both, and I wouldn't even give you that. -
Re:Logical reasons to buy AMDAnd when a product produces similiar results for HALF the price, that seems to be a good reason to buy that product. Let's look at products from each that produce similar results:
AMD X2 5600+ is about equivalent to Core 2 Duo 6420.
AMD X2 5600+ costs $150.
Intel C2D 6420 costs $186.
Looks like AMD costs 80% of Intel for the same performance. Not very close to half, though I'll give you that it is cheaper. Throw in the cheaper Core 2 Duos like the $125 Allendales, and overclock both, and I wouldn't even give you that. -
Re:Neato!
Don't judge all screwless/toolless designs by what Dell puts out. I've been happy with a few toolless cases, most recently using these.
-
Re:Very true....
No, no, no - you're misunderstanding what I'm saying entirely. Don't ever use the discs that come with the computer. Get your own copy of an OEM disc, whether borrowed or purchased like here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116049
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116056
I have one copy of each and they are most widely used discs as a person who fixes computers for people for a living. The sticker on any OEM computer will work with the appropriate disc, and that's all you need. -
Re:Very true....
No, no, no - you're misunderstanding what I'm saying entirely. Don't ever use the discs that come with the computer. Get your own copy of an OEM disc, whether borrowed or purchased like here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116049
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116056
I have one copy of each and they are most widely used discs as a person who fixes computers for people for a living. The sticker on any OEM computer will work with the appropriate disc, and that's all you need. -
Re:Very true....
No, no, no - you're misunderstanding what I'm saying entirely. Don't ever use the discs that come with the computer. Get your own copy of an OEM disc, whether borrowed or purchased like here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116049
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16832116056
I have one copy of each and they are most widely used discs as a person who fixes computers for people for a living. The sticker on any OEM computer will work with the appropriate disc, and that's all you need. -
Re:price & why not fanless?
I agree about the uselessness of ps2 connectors (unless your integrating into an office KVM)
However, once you ad up the cost of a REQUIRED ide/sate to usb adapter (about $30) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16812119152
I know for a fact you have an optical drive you can use for the OS install
and the cost of any SATA hard drive ($40 and up)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16822210003
(if you RTFA you would know that this board uses a 44 pin IDE connector and it states that even with an adapter a regular IDE hard drive WILL NOT WORK)
and the cost of some So DIMM DDR (which you didn't think needed to be mentioned)
However, if cost as an issue, why the hell are you buying a $300 motherboard?
Oh, thats right, so you can make this a MAC argument. -
Re:price & why not fanless?
I agree about the uselessness of ps2 connectors (unless your integrating into an office KVM)
However, once you ad up the cost of a REQUIRED ide/sate to usb adapter (about $30) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16812119152
I know for a fact you have an optical drive you can use for the OS install
and the cost of any SATA hard drive ($40 and up)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16822210003
(if you RTFA you would know that this board uses a 44 pin IDE connector and it states that even with an adapter a regular IDE hard drive WILL NOT WORK)
and the cost of some So DIMM DDR (which you didn't think needed to be mentioned)
However, if cost as an issue, why the hell are you buying a $300 motherboard?
Oh, thats right, so you can make this a MAC argument. -
Re:A few thoughts
Many places carry RAM for Apple systems:
crucial: http://www.crucial.com/mac/index.aspx
newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCa tegory=551&name=Mac-Memory
welovemacs: http://www.welovemacs.com/apple-memory.html
etc etc -
Re:Down with the Apple monopoly
50% more expensive? It's higher than that $700 for an additional 2GB of RAM (When I specced out the 24" version)? Maybe they need to use 'special' heatsinks like the Mac Pro. Considering this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N
8 2E16820145177 is only $156, I'm guessing it must be something else. -
Re:What?!what makes you think that they can afford the Windows Server + IIS license? Windows Server 2003 +IIS is almost as expensive as a cheap server A couple things.
1. Windows costs money, IIS does not. There is no cost for IIS, never has been. It ships as part of the OS. You can buy the absolute cheapest version of Windows 2003 server and get IIS included.
2. You can get the Windows 2003 web server version for ~$400 from NewEgg. That includes everything you need, and requires no CALs ever.
I'm not sure what kind of servers you buy, but I dont think $400 would even buy a set of redundant power supplies, much less a whole cheap server. $2000-3000 at a minimum yes, $400 no. -
Re:They're not mutually exclusiveOne thing that always bothered me were certain Apple prices, like adding hard drives or memory to a Mac Pro, for instance:
Hard Drive - Bay 1
Your Mac Pro includes four Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive bays, offering up to 3 terabytes of data storage. Configure each drive bay separately.
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250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s [Add $129]
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s [Add $299]
It costs an additional $129 to upgrade the built-in 250GB drive to a 500GB...This seems odd, considering a 500GB Seagate hard drive costs $115 Canadian.Hard Drive - Bay 2
Configure the second hard drive bay with a 500GB or 750GB drive.
None
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s [Add $329]
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s [Add $499]
Now if I want to add a second, third or fourth hard drive, it costs $329 USD for each 500GB hard drive. Meanwhile I can buy a 500GB Seagate for $115 CDN...what gives? $115 CDN vs $329 USD per drive is quite a large difference.
Now look at the ram prices..Memory
Mac Pro systems support up to 16GB of 667MHz DDR2 fully buffered ECC RAM in eight FB-DIMM slots. Choose among a variety of memory amounts and configurations.
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1GB (2 x 512MB)
2GB (4 x 512MB) [Add $299]
4GB (4 x 1GB) [Add $699]
8GB (8 x 1GB) [Add $1699]
8GB (4 x 2GB) [Add $2099]
16GB (8 x 2GB) [Add $4499]
You can get 2x1GB of 667MHz FB-DIMM ECC RAM for $167.49 USD on newegg, compare that to Apple's 2G (4x512MB) for an additional $299 over the standard 1GB (2x512MB). Similarly, 4GB of the same type of ram costs around $300 where as Apple charges an extra $699 ontop of the base price.
My question is, why does Apple charge such large premiums for things like hard drives and RAM? Surely it doesn't cost $100-200 to install each additional hard drive and stick of ram? -
I have been converted as well
I started to get wrist pain when the mouse manufactures started to release ergonomic mice. These new mice are higher then the old style from 5-10years ago.
I have been noticing more and more pain in my wrist during the past year and finally decided to try the Trackball route. I ordered the Logitech TrackMan about 6 months ago and never had any more wrist pain.
I can now navigate my computer faster then with a standard mouse, moving from one side of my wide screen to the other requires a quick spin on the ball. Unfortunately the trackman is not as precise as my Logitech Laser mouse but it is accurate enough for it's price. Sometimes I have problems selecting the exact pixel I want in Gimp but it will work.
I'm not a gamer but when I do play games I fall back on my Lasermouse.
I can now enjoy my computer addiction without wrist pain cause by over engineered mice. -
Try one of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N
8 2E16826141001&Tpk=evoluent
I started using a vertical mouse and its helped a lot.
I've had inflammation in my mouse arm for several years now.
Since I've started using this mouse my symptoms have started to subside.
I also take more breaks, do stretches, etc to help alleviate the symptoms.
The vertical mouse helps by keeping the arm from being twisted when using the mouse.
It does take some getting used to, but its worth the effort.
Also look closely at your work environment from an ergonomic point of view. Most IT professionals I've met don't pay any attention to the ergonomics of their work station, at work or at home. I didn't for years and I've now had bilateral carpal tunnel releases, repeated tendinitis and other problems related to poor ergonomics and repetitive stress issues. I'm only 39.
