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How many people who watch movies away from home do it on single-use portable DVD players and how many do it with their laptops?

Rather a lot more of the former than the latter.

Base iBook: $1000
Portable DVD: $250

I see the suckers all the time on Amtrak. It's the best portable kid-distraction device ever made, and if your little bundle of joy spills cola all over it, you're not out a week's paycheck.

"And it's definitely a redflag that the board was made by Corner-Cutters-R-Us. In the 12 years or so that I've been building PCs, I've seen NO exceptions.
"

for the most part I agree but there is something to be said for cheap boards. Here is an example.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16813121261
It is an Intel Motherboard with integrated video. Historicaly Intel motherboards are of good quality and stability. So for $54 you can pick up an all in one solution for a cheap system that is good enough for Homework, surfing the web, and email. While you or I may not want such a machine there are people that something like this would be just fine. I will freely admit I do not know of any AMD integrated solution that I would trust as much as this Intel one. This board does come close. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16813130488
It is a nice little board from MSI and uses an Nvidia chipset and a low end nVidia graphics solution. It would make a good board for a low end Linux box.

"And it's definitely a redflag that the board was made by Corner-Cutters-R-Us. In the 12 years or so that I've been building PCs, I've seen NO exceptions.
"

for the most part I agree but there is something to be said for cheap boards. Here is an example.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16813121261
It is an Intel Motherboard with integrated video. Historicaly Intel motherboards are of good quality and stability. So for $54 you can pick up an all in one solution for a cheap system that is good enough for Homework, surfing the web, and email. While you or I may not want such a machine there are people that something like this would be just fine. I will freely admit I do not know of any AMD integrated solution that I would trust as much as this Intel one. This board does come close. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16813130488
It is a nice little board from MSI and uses an Nvidia chipset and a low end nVidia graphics solution. It would make a good board for a low end Linux box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=13- 138-234&depa=0

Cheap, and has all kinds of things onboard. I've never heard anything bad about these.

Model
Brand BIOSTAR
Model M7NCG 400
Supported CPU
CPU Socket Type Socket A (Socket 462)
CPU Type Athlon XP/Athlon/Duron
FSB 400/333MHz
Chipsets
North Bridge NVIDIA nForce2 IGP
South Bridge NVIDIA nForce2 MCP
Memory
Number of DDR Slots 3x 184pin DDR
DDR Standard DDR 333 (PC 2700)
Maximum Memory Supported 3GB
Dual Channel Supported Yes
Expansion Slots
AGP Slots 1x AGP 8X/4X
PCI Slots 3
Other Slots 1x CNR
Storage Devices
PATA 2 x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
Onboard Video
Integrated Video Yes
Integrated Video Chipset nVIDIA GeForce4 MX
Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset AC97 Codec
Audio Channels 6 Channels
Onboard LAN
LAN Chipset Realtek 8201BL PHY
LAN Speed 10/100Mbps
Max LAN Speed 10/100Mbps
Rear Panel Ports
PS/2 2
COM 1
LPT 1
VGA 1
USB 2x USB2.0
Game/MIDI Port 1
Audio Ports 3 jacks
Onboard USB
Onboard USB Connectors 2x USB2.0 (1x header)
Physical Spec
Form Factor Micro ATX
Dimensions 9.6" x 9.6"

Newegg.com

I realize that ponying up the extra $16 bucks to get a $56 dollar motherboard from your typical $40 dollar motherboard is quite a strech but if you get this board, you'll be able to play virtually every game made before 2003 and, if your patient, some stuff afterwards.

Not to sound like a snot, but if you become a u83r 1337 g4m3r, you can always give the system to your sister.

In other words, the prerelease beta has a few rough edges but costs $334.95 less.

Yeah, that actually does sound like an Office killer for 99% of potential users. Basically, if you still fork over serious money for an only slightly better office suite without any substantial reasons (like you require VBA support for legacy reasons), you're an idiot and deserve what you get. OpenOffice.org is what pretty much every home or small office should be using, and it looks like people are starting to realize that.

"You can almost get a whole Dell PC for less than the cost of a "valid" copy of Windows."

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8 2E16837102151

Please tell me where you can get the $93 Dell PC.

Guess what? Dell and HP get Windows at a lower cost because *they buy more copies*.

They get Intel and AMD CPUs for less, too.

Wal-Mart gets better deals on the stuff they buy, too.

When you buy a lot, you get a cheaper price. That's just economics.

Take a look at the Asus Terminator C3 - $112 and they throw in a CD-ROM and floppy as well. Toss in a 512MB DIMM and a 40GB 7200RPM drive and you've got a system for around $200.

Take a look at the Asus Terminator C3 - $112 and they throw in a CD-ROM and floppy as well. Toss in a 512MB DIMM and a 40GB 7200RPM drive and you've got a system for around $200.

Take a look at the Asus Terminator C3 - $112 and they throw in a CD-ROM and floppy as well. Toss in a 512MB DIMM and a 40GB 7200RPM drive and you've got a system for around $200.

I dont mean to be an ASS but HD's are incredibly cheap and you're saying you can't afford one? You can get an 80 gig drive for 58 dollars, and a good one at that. I almost want to send you my extra 60 gig drive I have just lying around because I feel sorry for you. :)

This is the best thing I've seen for that purpose. What's funny is, Newegg used to offer this "free with the purchase of any Microsoft software." So, free hardware that satasfied the hardware requirement. Looks like someone told them to stop.

Yeah right.

And yes, Windows XP Pro should have been included in that price. Easily adds another $150 to the cost.

You must be kidding me. newegg currently only lists 2 Venice core A64s: 3200+(2.0GHz) at $209 and 3500+ (2.2GHz) at $315. Where did you come up with the 4000+ at $643?
AMD's own listed price for bulk here is only $482 for 4000+, which will likely keep it quite a bit below $643 (for comparison, 3500+ is $272 in bulk)

Although this is a dramatic step in the right direction, the industry needs to use this technology to reduce cpu power consumption for the mainstream cpu's being sold to the average PC buyer.

I say PC buyer, but I don't want to ignore Apple here, and their nifty little Mac Mini. That thing does not look like it consumes much power.

You can put together a dual opteron pretty cheaply. Opteron 250's (2.4ghz smp) are $700 ea. and a good dual opteron mobo will run you $300. If you're willing to do with Opteron 244's (1.8ghz smp) those are $200 ea.

A case + PS will run you $100 max. The rest you get to blow on memory/disks/etc.

It's pretty easy to see you can make a rather hefty machine for $2500 with dual 1800 opterons.

Check out newegg. As a mac user you're simply not used to reasonable prices for hardware. :-)

Yes, and Newegg trumps them hands down nearly every time. Especially with Newegg's *gasp* reasonable shipping fees that have always led to my packages reaching me one or two days before expected delivery.

Fuck Tiger Direct, and fuck the four-legged animal they rode in on.

Don't fool yourself -- you get what you pay for. TigerDirect is cheap because their service sucks the big one.

They've always seemed a bit worse than Newegg, both in cost and in service. I have friends who use Newegg often and vouch for it, and Newegg is usually 5-15% cheaper than TigerDirect, even on items like CPU's that don't usually vary.

Did you know that they make drives that can be plugged into a computer from the outside? Or, if you already have an internal drive you want to use, you can make it an external one fairly cheaply. As an added bonus, it's super-simple to move them between computers if you have multiple workstations (or laptops, without expansion bays at all!), so you don't have to buy multiple drives for all of them!

Did you know that they make drives that can be plugged into a computer from the outside? Or, if you already have an internal drive you want to use, you can make it an external one fairly cheaply. As an added bonus, it's super-simple to move them between computers if you have multiple workstations (or laptops, without expansion bays at all!), so you don't have to buy multiple drives for all of them!

This will take care of the Superdrive.

This is a solid upgrade: faster CPUs, dual-layer 16X Superdrives, higher base RAM, same prices. But what does everybody say? "They're not dual core."

Uh...no offense, but what the fuck is so "solid" about

• $60 worth of memory (http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N 82E16820146898)
• $60 superdrive (http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N 82E16827106966)

Ooh! They didn't raise the price to accommodate that $120 worth of hardware. Thank you Jesus! Ooh!

Sorry -- I love Macs, but calling this a solid upgrade is like saying power locks put a Ford Focus SE in a whole different class of luxury.

IronChefMorimoto

This is a solid upgrade: faster CPUs, dual-layer 16X Superdrives, higher base RAM, same prices. But what does everybody say? "They're not dual core."

Uh...no offense, but what the fuck is so "solid" about

• $60 worth of memory (http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N 82E16820146898)
• $60 superdrive (http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N 82E16827106966)

Ooh! They didn't raise the price to accommodate that $120 worth of hardware. Thank you Jesus! Ooh!

Sorry -- I love Macs, but calling this a solid upgrade is like saying power locks put a Ford Focus SE in a whole different class of luxury.

IronChefMorimoto

Listen, you Apple masturbator! He didn't ask how much your shitty iPlayer costs... Why don't you go and be a salesman somewhere else, ehh... say, the Apple store!

"all you would-be 4Gb USB key buyers."
"my iPod has 10x that amount of storage"
"and it only cost $399."

Ohhh lookie here...
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8 2E16855102123

More space, cheaper price, and better quality!!!

STFU dumbass...

Whoops...apparently what I should have said was "a MacMini is better with a KVM switch", like this. That would have been less typing. Live & learn :-)

So then everyone who doesn't need that KVM ability still has to pay for it? Great idea!

If you're too cheap to buy a USB KVM and a couple cables (and you're running XP Pro), why don't you just set up your PC so you can operate it via RDC, and use the Mac RDC client? Then you can leave the Mac connected to your keyboard, mouse and video, and still use the PC normally. This would work perfectly for pretty much everything except gaming.

I used to do all sorts of this stuff. Extra fans, zip tied to the side of video cards, cutting holes in my case and mounting blowers...

Then I got smart. I bought a nice light aluminum Antec Case, with 2 120mm fans (front and back), and a very quiet PS with 1 big fan. I yanked out my SCSI RAID array and bought a 10K rpm SATA disk. I would have been happier with a bit less bling on the case, but it works.

Losing the RAID array didn't slow anything down, since it's a workstation, not a server. But I can hear myself think again. The loudest part of my PC is now the video card cooler.

I used to do all sorts of this stuff. Extra fans, zip tied to the side of video cards, cutting holes in my case and mounting blowers...

Then I got smart. I bought a nice light aluminum Antec Case, with 2 120mm fans (front and back), and a very quiet PS with 1 big fan. I yanked out my SCSI RAID array and bought a 10K rpm SATA disk. I would have been happier with a bit less bling on the case, but it works.

Losing the RAID array didn't slow anything down, since it's a workstation, not a server. But I can hear myself think again. The loudest part of my PC is now the video card cooler.

Don't be so sure ;)

"If you have a lot of money. this is a great board for gameing if you set it up right using to dual operations and full all the banks with 8 Gbs of pc 3200. Best board ever."

Rich gamer,12/15/2004 2:07:24 PM

(from a review of a TYAN Thunder K8SR Dual Opteron board on Newegg)

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc ription=13-151-134&depa=0

tyan 2-way boards do 8 sticks. you need 2 opteron mem controllers to do 8 sticks, and the timings suffer somewhat. a 4/8-way board might give you more. opterons are limited to 4 sticks per cpu for the most part, the price of onboard controllers.

you said amd, but intel can do 32gb with 1 cpu, and ddr2 scales better than ddr.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc ription=15-124-020&depa=0

Syba 4 port cart based on the SiI3114 - $30. Supported by libata... I'm using one right now in my big storage server.

Why not a rocketraid 1640? They support 4 SATA drives and support (so they claim) Linux. I've run a Highpoint card under FreeBSD with no problems whatsoever...well, the management software won't work, but, hey, I can check things with the command line....

If you are willing to go slightly larger you can avoid the whole yucky slow VIA C3 platform, and go with an Athlon.

There are the shuttle cube type systems which have dropped drasticly in price.
Or if you want really cheap you can still find FlexATX motherboards like this:

PCCHIPS "M851G V1.5" VIA KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU - $44
AMD 1.8Ghz Duron - $50
512mb PC3200 - $40
Samsung 80gb 7200RPM Harddrive - $59
Slimline InWin case - $55
LG 16X DVD-ROM - $28

Total $276

That's all from one vendor, and no savings on shipping (NewEgg does not combine shipping cost).

If you are willing to go slightly larger you can avoid the whole yucky slow VIA C3 platform, and go with an Athlon.

There are the shuttle cube type systems which have dropped drasticly in price.
Or if you want really cheap you can still find FlexATX motherboards like this:

PCCHIPS "M851G V1.5" VIA KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU - $44
AMD 1.8Ghz Duron - $50
512mb PC3200 - $40
Samsung 80gb 7200RPM Harddrive - $59
Slimline InWin case - $55
LG 16X DVD-ROM - $28

Total $276

That's all from one vendor, and no savings on shipping (NewEgg does not combine shipping cost).

If you are willing to go slightly larger you can avoid the whole yucky slow VIA C3 platform, and go with an Athlon.

There are the shuttle cube type systems which have dropped drasticly in price.
Or if you want really cheap you can still find FlexATX motherboards like this:

PCCHIPS "M851G V1.5" VIA KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU - $44
AMD 1.8Ghz Duron - $50
512mb PC3200 - $40
Samsung 80gb 7200RPM Harddrive - $59
Slimline InWin case - $55
LG 16X DVD-ROM - $28

Total $276

That's all from one vendor, and no savings on shipping (NewEgg does not combine shipping cost).

If you are willing to go slightly larger you can avoid the whole yucky slow VIA C3 platform, and go with an Athlon.

There are the shuttle cube type systems which have dropped drasticly in price.
Or if you want really cheap you can still find FlexATX motherboards like this:

PCCHIPS "M851G V1.5" VIA KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU - $44
AMD 1.8Ghz Duron - $50
512mb PC3200 - $40
Samsung 80gb 7200RPM Harddrive - $59
Slimline InWin case - $55
LG 16X DVD-ROM - $28

Total $276

That's all from one vendor, and no savings on shipping (NewEgg does not combine shipping cost).

If you are willing to go slightly larger you can avoid the whole yucky slow VIA C3 platform, and go with an Athlon.

There are the shuttle cube type systems which have dropped drasticly in price.
Or if you want really cheap you can still find FlexATX motherboards like this:

PCCHIPS "M851G V1.5" VIA KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU - $44
AMD 1.8Ghz Duron - $50
512mb PC3200 - $40
Samsung 80gb 7200RPM Harddrive - $59
Slimline InWin case - $55
LG 16X DVD-ROM - $28

Total $276

That's all from one vendor, and no savings on shipping (NewEgg does not combine shipping cost).

If you are willing to go slightly larger you can avoid the whole yucky slow VIA C3 platform, and go with an Athlon.

There are the shuttle cube type systems which have dropped drasticly in price.
Or if you want really cheap you can still find FlexATX motherboards like this:

PCCHIPS "M851G V1.5" VIA KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU - $44
AMD 1.8Ghz Duron - $50
512mb PC3200 - $40
Samsung 80gb 7200RPM Harddrive - $59
Slimline InWin case - $55
LG 16X DVD-ROM - $28

Total $276

That's all from one vendor, and no savings on shipping (NewEgg does not combine shipping cost).

This article basically confirmed my findings.

I got a Samsung SyncMaster 910T for under $400 after rebate (pretty decent for a 19 inch LCD).

The quality is really very good. I don't do photoshop or graphic design, so it's "good enough". I honestly don't see a difference between a CRT and this display.

It's got VGA and DVI input.

Oh yea, I'm posting this experience based on hooking up via VGA through a KVM switch. I'm not even using DVI.

IMHO I consider it a "great buy". It's a solid display and it's very affordable.

It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500.

1. Asus T2-P Deluxe Barebones ($158)
2. Celeron D 320 ($73)
3. Western Digital WD80JD 80GB HDD ($61)
4. Kingston 512M PC3200 RAM($46)
5. NEC 16X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ($52)
6. Hauppauge WinTV150 ($72)
7. ASUS GE-Force MX4000 64M w/ SVideo Out ($35)

It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500.

1. Asus T2-P Deluxe Barebones ($158)
2. Celeron D 320 ($73)
3. Western Digital WD80JD 80GB HDD ($61)
4. Kingston 512M PC3200 RAM($46)
5. NEC 16X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ($52)
6. Hauppauge WinTV150 ($72)
7. ASUS GE-Force MX4000 64M w/ SVideo Out ($35)

It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500.

1. Asus T2-P Deluxe Barebones ($158)
2. Celeron D 320 ($73)
3. Western Digital WD80JD 80GB HDD ($61)
4. Kingston 512M PC3200 RAM($46)
5. NEC 16X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ($52)
6. Hauppauge WinTV150 ($72)
7. ASUS GE-Force MX4000 64M w/ SVideo Out ($35)

It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500.

1. Asus T2-P Deluxe Barebones ($158)
2. Celeron D 320 ($73)
3. Western Digital WD80JD 80GB HDD ($61)
4. Kingston 512M PC3200 RAM($46)
5. NEC 16X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ($52)
6. Hauppauge WinTV150 ($72)
7. ASUS GE-Force MX4000 64M w/ SVideo Out ($35)

It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500.

1. Asus T2-P Deluxe Barebones ($158)
2. Celeron D 320 ($73)
3. Western Digital WD80JD 80GB HDD ($61)
4. Kingston 512M PC3200 RAM($46)
5. NEC 16X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ($52)
6. Hauppauge WinTV150 ($72)
7. ASUS GE-Force MX4000 64M w/ SVideo Out ($35)

It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500.

1. Asus T2-P Deluxe Barebones ($158)
2. Celeron D 320 ($73)
3. Western Digital WD80JD 80GB HDD ($61)
4. Kingston 512M PC3200 RAM($46)
5. NEC 16X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ($52)
6. Hauppauge WinTV150 ($72)
7. ASUS GE-Force MX4000 64M w/ SVideo Out ($35)

It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500.

1. Asus T2-P Deluxe Barebones ($158)
2. Celeron D 320 ($73)
3. Western Digital WD80JD 80GB HDD ($61)
4. Kingston 512M PC3200 RAM($46)
5. NEC 16X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ($52)
6. Hauppauge WinTV150 ($72)
7. ASUS GE-Force MX4000 64M w/ SVideo Out ($35)

You can replace the mobo, case+ps, and video card with a slick-looking ASUS Pundit for the same price.

Well an Asus Pundit would work very well. it includes TV out. A microATX system can be used as well. There are many microATX boxes that are about the size of a Stereo Receiver.

Here is one specced out with a Pundit for $463. A Different one with MicroATX and an Athlon64 for $508. The Pundit is actually $10 more expensive but the other system has higher end features. Add $10 for a Serial IR receiver/Transmitter if you need that. Some TV capture cards have remotes that work in Linux and some don't. Cheaper than your estimates- about the same as a Tivo+DVDrecorder. If you build yourself.

If someone really wants me to build them a MythTV box, email me and we can work something out.