What do we expect from our computers?

[Robin Matthysen]

There have been many coments on size of monitors and why so many still use 800 * 600 resolution but my concern is do I have to feel bad about not being able to upgrade?
Four years ago I bought a state of the art IBM Aptiva model s78 with a 17" monitor. It has a 200 mhz Pentium processor with some nice features such as a cordless mouse. I added a Canon BJC-4300ex printer and a HewlettPackard Scanjet5p scanner. In addition I installed an Iomega Zip drive and a graphics accelerator board. This pc currently has 96mb memory and a 3.2 gb hardrive. That seemed like a lot to me but I found out from Winmags analysis that my Aptiva only works at 23% efficiency compared to currently available systems. So I have been thinking about what I use this PC for. It does everything my graphics programs call for including 3D although some rendering takes time. It supports my web site and provides e-mail and ICQ. My modem is still one of the old 33.6bps ones but as I don't download much I am happy with it and havent felt the need to go to 56bps. I don't have cable or a satellite dish but at some point, will look at something that gives me internet access without tying up my phone line.
Now with that said and done, I will stick to 800*600 sreen resolution because this gives me 24 bit true color. If I go to 1024*768 then my colors drop to 16 bit high color. Going to 1280*1024 drops me to 256 colours. I find pictures lose too much definition at 256 colors and icons are also very small. The only time I used the higher resolutions was when I was still working and had to create complex spreadsheets.
So there you have it. I can't afford to keep up with technology especially since I don't really need it. How about you?

------------------
Robin
Maberly and Tayside (http://members.fortuncity.com/mat80)

[Peirce]

Robin,
I agree with you. The race to force upgrades faster than we need has to stop. Not everybody has a need for the latest technology, no matter how great it may be. This is not to say, "stop progress." Let's just keep it affordable. This requires that the majority if computers users should not be forgotten and their hardware and software rendered useless.

My Aptiva is older than yours. It's a 2144-83P, over 5 years old. I will be forced to replace it next year. A five-year cycle of upgrading is more reasonable even though I don't replace my car that often.



------------------
Peirce Behrendt
Southbury, CT
peirce@ibm.net

[bnsffan]

I have a 17" screen, and always ran 600x800, until recently. I swiched to 1024x768, and had to drop to 16 bit colors. Now I can actually see full size photos, and the color change is almost unnoticible. I am much hapier now than I was, and had to upgrade NOTHING.

Matthew

[Alan]

I have a 17" monitor, and use 1024 x 768 res.

I have a 10 Gb hard drive, which is all I will possibly ever need.

My sister builds computer systems to customer's needs, and says that when she completes one, it is almost out of date!

There was a computer programme on the radio recently, when someone said that "if your computer is REALLY old - say 3 years" . . . .

Upgrading for upgrading's sake!!

------------------
Alan

The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale!

www.ac-models.com (http://www.ac-models.com)
Andersley Western Railroad (http://www.trainweb.org/andersleywestern/)
Alan's American Gallery (http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com)

[Colonel]

I upgraded my Pc to a P3 clone last year but still have a 15 inch monitor. to use the net all you need is a basic PC. I recently connected to broadband (cable modem) and this is the biggest advance in technology I have seen. the speeds are so much faster and no more disconections. i feel you only need to upgrade your pc if you are into games.

------------------
Paul Cassar-# Member number 50
ICQ 61198217
http://users.bigpond.net.au/railroad2000

[Gats]

Robin,

You summed up well about your PC needs and it certainly appears you have no immediate need to upgrade running it the way you are. The 23% efficiency rating is benchmarked against what? A PIII 750? I wouldn't worry too much about anything. If you wanted, you could upgrade your video card for minimal cost so you could have 1024x768 24 bit colour on your 17" screen. That would be a minor cost and an improvent over the lower res.
Otherwise, if you're not driving high-horsepower games and are happy...

Mine is a Celeron 300 clocked to 450 with a Riva TNT Detonator 3-D card, 5.1 Gb HD (95% full!), CD-R, CD-RW. I also have a 17" monitor which I run at 1152x864/24, but would really like a 20"/21". Also a secondhand HD of about 5-8 Gig would see me right... for a while. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

Gary.

[virtual-bird]

ok since we are what I have, what I need.
99% of people DONT need more than a P100.. 15 in monitor, 16 meg ram, 2 meg vid card..
I am being generous on some.

Be honest, word processing and surfing, you dont need the latest Athlon 1GHZ 21 in monitor etc like most shops will tell you that is a MUST!

Me, I have 4 PC's... I like to network games. and since I work in IT, I like to try things at home. Gives me a Techno chubby.

My main machine AMD 400over clocked, (yes over the hill) 28 gig, 8.6gig, 8.6gig Hard drives, and a CD burner, scanner, printer, and heaps of stuff.. 200meg ram.. 17 in DELL monitor, that goes to heaps more than the video card will allow!

This is my old main machine..
Surfing machine for the family, Cyrix 266 32 meg ram, 15 in monitor 4 meg non 3d card,
and another Cyrix P266 with more goodies for games...

and one server a P100, with 4x 4.3 gig HDD;s on a switch box using same monitor as other machine.

I only use old machines for what they can do, no need to play the chase the technology game. You cant keep up and unless your rich, dont try. It moves faster than light.

<font face="tahoma" color="red" size=5>
You only need to upgrade if your machine does NOT do what you need.

The End.</font>

------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gats:
Robin,
Also a secondhand HD of about 5-8 Gig would see me right... for a while. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif
Gary.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We can work something out here. I think I have a few 4.3's amd 6.4's here somewhere...

I'll sus it out. ask next time on ICQ.

------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[Gats]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by virtual-bird:
ok since we are what I have, what I need.
99% of people DONT need more than a P100.. 15 in monitor, 16 meg ram, 2 meg vid card..
I am being generous on some.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

16meg? Only if running Win 3.1x or DOS. Anything other than some of the oddball OS's really need at least 32meg, unless you want the HD to thrash itself to death.

I think we might be able to work something out, VB. Leave message or I'll catch you soon. Probably clubbing it Saturday week (yes, I am now a member).

Gary.

[E-8]

What I NEED:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>A laptop with a 15+ inch monitor.
<LI>Clock speed around 1 GHz.
<LI>Hard drive, around 50 gigs (40 gig HD now available in laptop). Too much is NEVER enough.
<LI>CD burner. I hope this is standard fare in laptops soon.
[/list]

Throw in a cable modem or better and I would be set for a while. Remember, "Bigger is better."

Settle for nothing less than the best!

Charlie http://www.trainboard.com/tongue.gif

------------------
http://www.trainboard.com/smiles/066.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[Chessie_SD50_8563]

Okay my current machine
HP 6330 System
AMD K6-2 300MHZ
48 MB of PC66 (YUK!) SDRAM (2MB shared with PCI video)
4 GIG HD (Half Full)
24X CD-rom
56K Modem
Win 98
HP M15 15" monitor
HP 672C printer

My Machine at School
Pentium MMX 200Mhz overclocked to 233Mhz
(That needed one BIG Heatsink/Fan)
DFI 586IBDT Motherboard
64MB of PC66 SDRAM
4MB Trident PCI 3D Acclerator
48X CD-ROM
10Mbit Nic Card
Win 2000 Professional Edition
14" Acer Monitor

MY Machine I am Building
AMD Athlon/Thunderbird 700MHz
ASUS K7M Board
Voodoo 4500 AGP 32MB Graphic Accelerator
128 MB of PC100 SDRAM (I found for some reason if you use PC100 ram in a faster board and configure it correctly your CPU runs cooler)
Western Digital 20 GIG Hard Drive
52X CD-ROM
56K Modem
10Mbit Nic Card (For a Cable Modem)
Win 98SE
17" KDS Monitor

I am a belever in AMD processors And will replace my 586MMX-200 with a K6-266



------------------
Theres no such thing as having to many coal hoppers or GP40-2 when you model Chessie System
LONG LIVE THE KITTEN!!!
LONG LIVE BIG BLUE!!!
I looked at DCC... and stayed DC!

[chessie]

I have to agree with virtual-bird's statement that you only need to upgrade if your current machine does not do what you want (need?) it to do. However, my kids benefit from my upgrades http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif They have my Celeron 466 w/ 96 mb RAM and a 6+GB hard drive, etc. I upgraded to a PIII 600 months ago (yes, we all know, what you buy "today" is obsolete) w/ 128 mb RAM, a CD-RW, CD drive, and a 30GB hard drive and 19" monitor. I upgraded it to 256 mb Ram. Why did I upgrade from my Celeron system? A few reasons: my "old" system (then, the "kids' system") was a PII 233 w/ Win 95 that they had effectively trashed, however, I had a buyer for it. I also had made the leap into digital photography, and wanted to get a larger monitor (from 17" to 19") and the CD burner to back up my pics. Also, the HP model I bought had a built in 10/100 base T network card for the cable modem that I planned to get (yes, I could have installed the card, but since it was already there http://www.trainboard.com/wink.gif)

So am I content with what I have? Yes. Am I looking to upgrade? No, unless the kids need another one http://www.trainboard.com/wink.gif I enjoy being able to burn CD's of not only my digital pics, but also my scanned pics, my other documents, and even my system backup.

Chessie


------------------
Harold Hodnett
Fan of NS, CSX, and their predecessors!
Coming soon: The North Carolina Railfan Web Site
http://www.trainweb.org/ncrail/

[Chessie_SD50_8563]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by virtual-bird:
ok since we are what I have, what I need.
99% of people DONT need more than a P100.. 15 in monitor, 16 meg ram, 2 meg vid card..
I am being generous on some.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

... Pentium 100Mhz???? I'm sorry but Win 98 runs way <font size=50>way</font><font size=100>way</font> to slow for me on one of those... Unless you masively over clock the thing. Also some applications are geting to the point where there starting to need more then 16 MB if ram to run.

My bare bones reqiurement ideas
AMD Duron 600 (or Celeron for you intel people)
32 MB PC100 SDRAM
4 MB AGP accelerator (PCI might work too)
24 CD-ROM
56K Modem
8 GIG HD
ATX case
Win 98 SE
15" Monitor

This is based on whats currently avalble new and upgradeablity




[This message has been edited by Chessie_SD50_8563 (edited 29 September 2000).]

[StickyMonk]

<font color="336633">my current system is:

Intel PIII 450
192MB ram
32mb 3D graphics
128bit sound blaster live with dolby sterio
17 inch monitor running at 1152x864
13.1gb hard disk
40x DVD rom
32x8 CD/RW

im happy enough with this but i will put in a second hard disk soon i think

oh and will all the cooling fans inside it does get a bit noisey sometimes</font>


------------------
Matthew
wheres all the C636's????
stickymonk.com (http://www.stickymonk.com)
Matts Photo gallery (http://monkhome.homestead.com)

[pray59]

I'm always trying to get more from my computer, and the latest toy is RAID.

Thunderbird 850 w/60mm fan o/c 1G
128M pc133
KT7 RAID
Fastest 10G 7200r ATA100 striped drives
16M AIW128 w/tv, capture, and more on CATV
15" LCD
12x4x32 burner
10/100 NIC and a FAT PIPE!
56K for backup access.


OK, So i'm a nerd... hehe, I like trains too!


------------------
Robert Ray
The NP & UP N-Scale Railroad (http://members.home.net/pray59)

[F40PH]

Hey Chessie_SD50_8563,

It sounds like you are planning on building a similar system to what I am planning. I am considering building an Athelon 800, either an Abit or Asus motherboard (I don't really know which to go with), 128 Mb Ram, Voodoo 3 3000 graphics card, 20 Gig WD hard drive, network card (we already have the cable modem service and it rocks), and either Win 98 or Win Me...all on a college student's budget.

This would replace my Gateway G6-266: P2 266, 128 Mb Ram, Voodoo3 3000, 6.4 Gig HD, Win 98. It can't keep up in gaming performance even compared to my roomate's P3 500.

I am defiantely a fan of the AMD processors and will use them from now on.

------------------
Andrew Suerth
University of Minnesota Duluth
Andy's Amtrak Photos (http://www.trainweb.org/asamtrakf40)

[Chessie_SD50_8563]

I heard the ASUS and ABIT are around the same quality. The only problem I have with AMD is you can't overclock the newer chips (like you can the celeron) unless you modify the chip which not only voids the warranty it can distroy the chip. but with todays high speeds and low cost why would you need to overclock. I would love to get a AMD Athlon/Thunderbird 1100MHZ but they are $580 which is way past my budget. So I will probily go with a AMD product in the 750MHZ price range. (Duron looks better every day.)

------------------
Theres no such thing as having to many coal hoppers or GP40-2 when you model Chessie System
LONG LIVE THE KITTEN!!!
LONG LIVE BIG BLUE!!!
I looked at DCC... and stayed DC!

[virtual-bird]

Humourous answer was originally posted by Chessie_SD50_8563:
... Pentium 100Mhz???? I'm sorry but Win 98 runs way <font size=50>way</font><font size=100>way</font> to slow for me on one of those...

<font color="red">
who mentioned 98? fine for 95.... and I have tried it for surfing, that is all you need.. and its all you need for word processing.
</font>

Also some applications are geting to the point where there starting to need more then 16 MB if ram to run.

<font color="red">wasnt I talking about surfing and basic stuff?
yes you are correct. try running AUTOCAD on anything less than 128meg...
</font>
My bare bones reqiurement ideas
AMD Duron 600 (or Celeron for you intel people)
32 MB PC100 SDRAM
4 MB AGP accelerator (PCI might work too)
24 CD-ROM
56K Modem
8 GIG HD
ATX case
Win 98 SE
15" Monitor

This is based on whats currently avalble new and upgradeablity

<font color="red">
sorry.. at first I thought you were serious...

FUNNY!!!!! I got a laugh out of this!!

hey.. why not fo the Duron 750
or the Athlon range...
Available at 1.1GHz (1100MHz), 1000MHz, 950MHz, 900, 850, 800 MHz

</font>

------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chessie_SD50_8563:
The only problem I have with AMD is you can't overclock the newer chips (like you can the celeron) unless you modify the chip which not only voids the warranty it can distroy the chip.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

yes you can... mate has a Athlons and they over clock well.. his main machine is a 800, and its clocked.

he is my ISP support guy and he is the one that showed me how to over clock things back with the Cyrix chips.

over clocking will void warranty on any machine.

did you know you can o'clock a vid card..? well he says he did just now on ICQ.....

------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[Chessie_SD50_8563]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by virtual-bird:
Humourous answer was originally posted by Chessie_SD50_8563:
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wasnt trying to be humorous
The fact is you cant find the older parts you refer to anymore. See with a 600MHz system you can do most anything you will need for the next few years. Yes I know you can overclock a vid card. Overclocking a AMD Athlon can be done easyly though the bios (if you have a clock multiplyer seting) However if you don't (or if you have a machine which auto-detects the chip speed) you will need to remove one of the small resitor chips on the side of the main chip. This is very hard to do and I have never seen this done and I dont not know how to do it.


------------------
Theres no such thing as having to many coal hoppers or GP40-2 when you model Chessie System
LONG LIVE THE KITTEN!!!
LONG LIVE BIG BLUE!!!
I looked at DCC... and stayed DC!
AMD AND PROUD OF IT!!!

[virtual-bird]

A 600 will do for a few yrs. thats what they said about a 300 less than 2 yrs ago and now your saying that they are useless!

As I said, for surfing the net, and word processing, you dont need a new machine. I am at this very moment using a WIN95 P100 machine with 16 meg of ram.. Its the modem that makes a good difference with the net...

You can over clock using jumpers on the mother board... nothing to do with the BIOS...

------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[espee2]

Get a "webtv" ...hehehe, I couldn't resist! Some day, I plan on getting a PC, (when I can afford one, hence the webtv) I'm sure by then all things mentioned here will be "outdated"...

------------------
espee2

Home: www.tunnel13.com (http://www.tunnel13.com)¤
layout: SP's Newberg Branch in N scale (http://tunnel13.com/newberg.html)

[Colonel]

Well guys i bought myself a 17 inch monitor today and i have one word for it "awesome" I don't know why I waited so long the higher resolution and clarity of the screen is worth every cent i paid

------------------
Regards

Paul Cassar-# Member number 50
http://www.iconbazaar.com/people/sleuth.gif SPAD Investigator #1
ICQ 61198217
http://users.bigpond.net.au/railroad2000

[watash]

Well

[This message has been edited by watash (edited 09 November 2000).]

[Alan]

So you couldn't resist the new monitor, Paul http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif What resolution do you use, 1024 x 768?

------------------
Alan

The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale!

www.ac-models.com (http://www.ac-models.com)
Andersley Western Railroad (http://www.trainweb.org/andersleywestern/)
Alan's American Gallery (http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com)

[Colonel]

Yes at first I kept 600 by 800 then i tried 1024 by 768 and WOW. You get too see so much more of the page.

Regards

------------------
Regards

Paul Cassar-# Member number 50
http://www.iconbazaar.com/people/sleuth.gif SPAD Investigator #1
ICQ 61198217
http://users.bigpond.net.au/railroad2000

[Alan]

Welcome to the new millenium http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif
800 x 600 - YUK! http://www.trainboard.com/rolleyes.gif


------------------
Alan

The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale!

www.ac-models.com (http://www.ac-models.com)
Andersley Western Railroad (http://www.trainweb.org/andersleywestern/)
Alan's American Gallery (http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com)

[Gats]

How about 1152x864 True color? http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

Gary.

[Colonel]

No don't think my eyes could see that lol

------------------
Regards

Paul Cassar-# Member number 50
http://www.iconbazaar.com/people/sleuth.gif SPAD Investigator #1
ICQ 61198217
http://users.bigpond.net.au/railroad2000

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Colonel:
No don't think my eyes could see that lol
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

what about 2048 x 1580?
lookin at a vid card that will go to somethin like that!!!!!!!

HOLY HELL!


3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP
Two 166MHz VSA-100 3D processors
350MHz RAMDAC supports up to 2048x1536x32bppx75MHz
AGP 2x/4X support with fast writes

------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[This message has been edited by virtual-bird (edited 02 November 2000).]

[watash]

Well no comment.

[This message has been edited by watash (edited 09 November 2000).]

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by watash:
Well you guys could get:

IBM xSeries 330 High-Density 1U Rack Server
[@server]

up to 2-way Intel Pentium III 1GHz
Light Path Diagnostics up to 4GB memory
hot-swap drives integrated service processor
new cable-chaining Technology
runs Windows 2k, NT and Linux

FOR Special Offers, buy direct, or financing
GO TO: ibm.com/eserver/x330

starts at 4,426 http://www.trainboard.com/cool.gif
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ha.... you couldnt surf the web with that slug... try a mans machine.....

DULL PowerEdge 6450
The PowerEdge 6450 features up to four of the latest Intel® Pentium® III Xeon® processors, up to 8GB ECC SDRAM, 66MHz PCI slots, and up to four hard drives.

Processors
Up to four Intel® Pentium® III Xeon™processors, 700MHz

100MHz front side bus
1MB or 2MB level 2 cache

Memory
8GB ECC SDRAM DIMM memory
16 DIMM sockets
Storage
Hard Drives: 9 GB, 18GB, 36GB Ultra3 (Ultra160) SCSI (7,200 and 10,000 rpm) 1" hard drives

18GB Ultra3 (Ultra160) SCSI (15,000 rpm) 1" hard drive

Price $38k...


------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[This message has been edited by virtual-bird (edited 09 November 2000).]

[E-8]

If we can return some common sense to the discussion .......

I am hoping for a new laptop. I had an IBM 365 XD for several years - 120 MHz Pentium processor and a 1 gig hard drive that I upgraded to a 2 gig.

That finally crapped out and I am presently looking at a Dell laptop. I don't like the "touch pad" style of mouse. People keep telling me that I will "get used to it" but I have been using one daily for over a year and I still don't like it.

But, it appears that I will have to make friends with it. The Dell I am looking at has a 15 inch monitor, 32 gig hard drive (yes, 32), a CD-ROM and internal CD-R, DVD, 32 bit video card, professional sound card (which I need as I produce radio comercials for a living), a 10/100 network card, and a few other bells and whistles. This would run around $4000US. Maybe this could happen within a few weeks if I play my cards right.

I can provide my address if anyone wants to send money. My girlfriends friend won $1000 on a scratch off lottery ticket the other day - of course, it's never me!

Charlie

------------------
http://www.trainboard.com/e-8/jester.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[Robin Matthysen]

Who knew where this would go. I am not in a position to replace my PC and stick with things the way they are. I know that isn't how we should be thinking about new technology but I already have to wear glasses to see my screen properly and higer resolutions just strain my eyes so there you have it. Good luck to all the techies out there

------------------
Robin
Maberly and Tayside (http://members.fortunecity.com/mat80)

[E-8]

I know what you mean Robin. I am not a rich man but you know ... we get to a certain point with computers sometimes and there isn't much that we won't do to get what we need. Hmmm, sounds like drugs! Who would have thought it a few years ago? I find that there are less and less tasks that are not tied to the computer.

I wonder if I can get it to wash clothes and dishes! Probably not far away from that either.

Charlie

------------------
http://www.trainboard.com/e-8/jester.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[This message has been edited by E-8 (edited 11 November 2000).]

[watash]

Charlie, I bet if you talked to it sweet and low in its ear, it would grind up a tree for you! After all, computers are supposed to do anything! Ha.

------------------
Watash http://www.trainboard.com/smiles/092.gif

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by E-8:
If we can return some common sense to the discussion .......

I am hoping for a new laptop. I had an IBM 365 XD for several years - 120 MHz Pentium processor and a 1 gig hard drive that I upgraded to a 2 gig.

That finally crapped out and I am presently looking at a Dell laptop. I don't like the "touch pad" style of mouse. People keep telling me that I will "get used to it" but I have been using one daily for over a year and I still don't like it.
Charlie

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We use DELLS at work.

We have about 8 Dells servers and about 80 Dell workstations all runnin 98 (well 10ish with NT)
the laptops we use are Compaqs as they are cheaper, but I scored 4 DeLL l/ts the other week, excellent to work with, large screen, and nice machines.

The mice are ok, but get a PS2 mouse and plug it in the back!!!!! then its like normal.

Better still grab a dockign station with it.....


You will be happy with it...

------------------
RR:
K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer.
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[E-8]

I ordered it today. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

------------------
http://www.trainboard.com/e-8/jester.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)