The future may be bright- but I miss the good old days! 18

[guestgulkan]

Take me back to the 1980's when engineers really were engineers.
Computers were new, and you could still go down to
Maplins for a packet of discrete electronic components.
Assembly language was the thing
Ethernet? About 10 people the world knew what that was.
It was like the pioneering days of the old west.

Now, engineers have been reduced to simple 'black box' changers and any half-wit can become an engineer or programmer.

I suppose it's all in the name of progress, but for me the fun and personal job satisfaction has gone.

 

[chiph]

I recall that a rule-of-thumb for buying a PC (and I think John Dvorak started it) was that the PC of your dreams is always $5000.

That price has come down some - it's probably more like $3500 now.

Chip H.

 

[Tarwn]

I dunno, I think mine is still above the $5000 mark...then again I like the kind that need sealed rooms and AC units

ooOOOoo..could you imagine modding a Cray...I'm thinking with enough plexi, UV Paint, UV Leds, etc you could make a see through Cray that blinds people from 50 paces

And allows you to find your house on satellite images

-Tarwn

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[jad]

btw, the second hand computer place i get my pc's from has sold out of 486's, and P1 systems, so now i get P2 450's for 70 quid, all in (monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables, etc

and they now come with network cards, sound cards and CD-roms, because it would cost money to take them out

 

[Stevehewitt]

70 quid! That is amazing I thought a high end PIII with CD/NIC/Sound/GPU (all on board though! :-() minus a monitor was good at £250 ex vat! How wrong am I!

Christ?! You don't have an address do you?!

Steve Hewitt

 

[ANFPS26]

That makes me wish I lived in the UK!

Jim

 

[manarth]

Steve - a brand new case / mobo / cpu + fan / RAM / CD-ROM will set you back about £150 at Dabs.

(Asus board with onboard NIC, Graphics + Sound, 1100 Duron, 128 MB Ram, + a basic CD-ROM)

even add in £30 for a keyb + mouse and £60 for a small hard-disk. well - that's £230. INC VAT!

I use this setup for my "basic" workstations - no hassles at all; quick + easy setup... bargain!

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please give feedback on what works / what doesn't[/li][li]need some help? how to get a better answer: faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[johnwm]

Don't forget the other £100 for the operating system


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[jad]

you have to collect the stuff, they're in bolton (nr manchester), no OS, but Solaris Intel/Linux(if you really must) is free once you have the media ...

got a PIII 733 base unit with 512Mb ram and 20Gb harddisk for 140 quid recently, just for comparision

if you still want the details contact me at

tektips at saiman dot co dot uk

btw, sysadmin i promise i'm not marketing for them

 

[Grenage]

We use the Asus Ready-mades here. £240 and its all together and ready to rock

 

[jad]

have had a bad experience with Asus ... could just be a bad batch, but they put me off big time.

second hand dells, and compaqs do me well

good job i've got ADSL, this post is almost 1/2Mb ...

 

[Stevehewitt]

Yeah, the second hand/refirbished/factory re-conditioned machines are great value. Most come with everything you need, even a O/S some of the time for £200!!! BARGIN

Steve Hewitt

 

[manarth]

yeh - the number of second hand machines that &quot;include&quot; the o/s aswell... just not the o/s CD or the licence.

I won't comment about using pirated software at home (that's a question for the IT Ethics forum!), but using unlicenced software at work can sometimes be a costly mistake.

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please give feedback on what works / what doesn't[/li][li]need some help? how to get a better answer: faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[greyted]

Hello Stevehewitt,

Picked up a Packard Bell P111 450MHz 64mb Monitor Speakers Keyboard and Mouse. Most importantly all software and OS included for £200.
Had a spare 64mb stick that had never been used as they did not know how to fit it, so it now has 128mb.
Do someone a good turn for that price.
As you say, &quot;Bargain&quot;



Ted

&quot;Democracy is too good to share with just anybody.&quot;
Nigel Rees.

 

[Stevehewitt]

< *** WARNING *** RANT BELOW **** WARNING *** >

I know this is going off point, but when you see that you can get a reasonable (I'd call a PIII with Win2k Pro on it reasonable for off use) PC for £200 (and thats not buying in bulk) I have to wonder what home users are thinking when buying a Time or PCWorld PC new for £1200!!! It has XP Home (or as I pronounce it &quot;XP Groan&quot; ) and everything on board! It sucks. Its such a rip off that stores can take £1200 + for a PC when you can get the IDENTICAL spec from other suppliers online for half that - or like we have said in this forum a lower spec (but it will do the job for all but the most demanding new games) for a few hundered quid!

I HATE PC STORES! ;-)

(Erm... Sorry! Rant over!)

Steve Hewitt

 

[Grenage]

hmm, well a 450mhz PC would pay older games yes, but nothing remotely modern very well. Plus its second hand (which is fine if you don't mind that).

Also when your average joe who knows nothing of computers wants to buy one, he knows that PCWorld or Time are still going to be there if his machine breaks down in 5 months time, and they have support numbers + on-site maintenance.

You get software thrown in (although its generally junk) but I can't see any fault with XP home, its a great operating system. £1200? That does seem a little pricey, Most of the PC world machines about are 800-1k.

Dell actually do some really good deals at the moment.

 

[Stevehewitt]

Yeah, most PC's in shops are about £1k, then you add on the £100 - £200 &quot;extended&quot;/&quot;Advanced&quot;/&quot;Platinium&quot; Support &quot;extra&quot;/warrenty/&quot;expert&quot; etc.

Then of course the delivery at £50 a pop.

And like I said, I can get a low/mid-range PIII for £250/£300 which will play nearly all games other than ones released in the last 5 months or so. Even if you pop on £200 for &quot;support&quot; and £50 delivery its just £500 quid. Thats £700 saving!!!

Steve Hewitt

 

[Grenage]

Your right it's a very good deal, but you're in the know

Average Joe might assume that the newer they are the longer they'll last, or that he won't get the support he knows. It's easier to buy from a big brand I guess

 

[mutant]

Packard Bell - yuck. These NEC machines are sold in Europe, but no longer sold in the US. Gee, I think Europe is still buying DataPoint machines. Wake up people - junk is still junk. Do you buy used underwear? If you are looking for a good deal, I have a used tooth brush for sale.

 

[greyted]

Don't knock the PC stores as I acquire a lot of my business through their incompetence.

Most of my dealings in second hand systems are for family people who require a relatively cheap system for their young children to learn computers at the start of their IT journey.
Being so cheap it does not concern them if the pc gets beaten up as they often do.

Seriously, these older systems can run most software that the parents have on their systems so the kids invariably learn from their parents and start their schooling with a very strong pc environmental ethic as well as substantial knowledge.

That I think is a huge advance from say five to ten years ago.






Ted

&quot;Democracy is too good to share with just anybody.&quot;
Nigel Rees.

 

[Stevehewitt]

Mutant - So: Your department has a never ending budget then?!

I'm sorry I thought we were talking about new PC's at £200 ish - not second hand. But to be honest a £50 PII machine will run Office 2000, Win2k & Terminal Services fine (which is pretty much all I need on a workstation or a basic home PC). I don't care if its 20th hand - if it works at a good price then I'll have it.

But I do agree that NEC machines do suck big time. Custom this - integrated that - on board everything. YUCK! - But don't diss the 2nd hand stuff. Wheres the problem with it? Unfortunatly not everyone has enough cash for 20 PC's at £500 a box, when you can get ones that arn't far off that spec for £150 a box - Its not being tight; its being sensible.

Steve Hewitt