# New Computer!



## Greg (Mar 21, 2005)

I'm currently configuring our new home PC - A Dell Optiplex GX280, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB hard drive, Windows XP Pro.  8)


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## riverc0il (Mar 21, 2005)

> 1 GB of RAM



 :shock:

i can't even begin to tell you how that blows my computer away.


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## Greg (Mar 21, 2005)

riverc0il said:
			
		

> i can't even begin to tell you how that blows my computer away.


We're coming off an older Dell Dimension, PIII 1 GHz and 256 MB RAM. My wife does some DV stuff and as you can imagine I spend a fair amount of time on the PC, so part of the tax return came in handy...


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## hammer (Mar 21, 2005)

Greg said:
			
		

> I'm currently configuring our new home PC - A Dell Optiplex GX280, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB hard drive, Windows XP Pro.  8)


Congrats on your new toy.

Let's see how it compares to mine...
  - twice the clock speed
  - 4 times the RAM
  - 2 times the HD storage

Does it still have a floppy?  Did you also go with the DVD?

I know that my computer is starting to show its age; my son is now able to get gaming software that it has a hard time keeping up with.  :-?


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## Greg (Mar 21, 2005)

hammer said:
			
		

> Does it still have a floppy?  Did you also go with the DVD?


Yep. Still has a floppy. I didn't get any optical drives in it as we have a DVD-RW and CD-RW in the old PC I'm going to move over. Problem is not being able to install software...  :blink: ...which I have solved by connecting to the new PC from the old via remote desktop, setting up a share from the CD drive on the old PC, and installing software on the new machine currently sitting on the dining room table over the home network. I'm a geek, I know...


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## skijay (Mar 22, 2005)

I had to buy an external floppy drive for my new PC.  I did not realize that is not a standard feature and noticed it when I tried to insert a floppy.  I went to Ebay and purhcased a new USB port/powered IBM branded drive.  I think this is what is sold to ThinkPad consumers as it is very small and portable.

I just plug it in to one of the ports when I need to access a floppy.  It was $18 and for Win XP, did not require any drivers.


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## bvibert (Mar 22, 2005)

Congrats, its always fun to get a new computer!


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## ctenidae (Mar 22, 2005)

Nice one, Greg.
Hammer, I feel your pain. The $10 bargain bin games are too much for my laptop to handle. A single CD has more storage than my entire harddrive.


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## hammer (Mar 22, 2005)

ctenidae said:
			
		

> Nice one, Greg.
> Hammer, I feel your pain. The $10 bargain bin games are too much for my laptop to handle. A single CD has more storage than my entire harddrive.


Fortunately for me, at this point, it's not the basic SW yet (although my 5YO work laptop would struggle with basic stuff).

I remember years ago when I purchased a Gateway 386 system with a 13" monitor for $2500...jeez, I'm getting old...  :-?


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## ctenidae (Mar 22, 2005)

I remember getting our first Commodore 64, and how I was cooler because I had a disk drive, while my freind used a tape drive for a while.How many hours of our youth was wasted waiting for a tape to load up? Then, we got the 128, and it was a whole different ballgame....


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## Greg (Mar 22, 2005)

ctenidae said:
			
		

> I remember getting our first Commodore 64, and how I was cooler because I had a disk drive, while my freind used a tape drive for a while.How many hours of our youth was wasted waiting for a tape to load up? Then, we got the 128, and it was a whole different ballgame....


I got you beat. I had a Commodore VIC-20 with a tape drive. A whopping 5 KB of RAM and a 1 MHz processor...  :lol:


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## Vortex (Mar 22, 2005)

We had a vic 20 couldn't work that either.


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## ctenidae (Mar 22, 2005)

Ah, the Vic-20. Only slightly worse than the Trash-80. Anyone remember the Timex computer that came out? I don't remember what it was called, but I wanted one, just because it looked cool.


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## hammer (Mar 22, 2005)

ctenidae said:
			
		

> Ah, the Vic-20. Only slightly worse than the Trash-80. Anyone remember the Timex computer that came out? I don't remember what it was called, but I wanted one, just because it looked cool.


Sorry I started on the trip down memory lane...I should have figured it was a matter of time before someone would mention a TRS-80.

Next thing we'll have are stories about working with punch cards...


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## ski_resort_observer (Mar 22, 2005)

My first computer was an Apple IIe..circa 1982. The crazy thing about all this is the prices. 

In 1995 my brother bought a  state of the art puter...16mb of RAM..it cost $4,000. In the past 6 months I have bought 2 Dell's(512 RAM, 2.5ghtz processing speed) for about $500 each.

I wish this happens with ski equipment?  :lol:


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## Greg (Mar 22, 2005)

ctenidae said:
			
		

> Anyone remember the Timex computer that came out? I don't remember what it was called, but I wanted one, just because it looked cool.


You must mean the Sinclair. My brother had that before we got the Commodore VIC-20 and then the TRS-80. Here's a cool site for old computers:

http://www.oldcomputers.net/


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## MichaelJ (Mar 22, 2005)

I'm with you right up until that "Windows" word.

I'm either going to upgrade my Linux desktop with just a new motherboard to dual 3GHz processors and 2GB of RAM, buy a PowerMac dual G5, or buy a PowerBook G4. Since I don't have the money yet for any of these options, I have time to think about what I want to do...


Oh, and I programmed the VIC-20 and Atari 800 in school, and had a TI-99/4A at home until our first 8088-2 PC compatible with 256K of memory and dual floppies.


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## SilentCal (Mar 23, 2005)

Whoa    I remember the TRS-80.  I still have the TV that it was hooked up to and it works great.   You couldn't really even do much on that system.  Dungeons of Daggerath was a cool game to play on it though.  Surprised I even remember the name of that one.


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## Greg (Mar 24, 2005)

MichaelJ said:
			
		

> I'm with you right up until that "Windows" word.


Oh brother, here we go...

For the past few years, I would have said Windows 2000 Pro was the best operating system I've ever worked with. However, lately I've learned to love XP Pro. Two primary reasons: Remote Desktop and plug-n-play that actually works. Couple P-n-P with Windows Update device configuration and new devices now seem to install themself!

All hail Microsoft... :beer:


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## Greg (Dec 16, 2007)

Greg said:


> I'm currently configuring our new home PC - A Dell Optiplex GX280, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB hard drive, Windows XP Pro.  8)



Motherboard fried today. Luckily I have 84 days left on my warranty. New MB and power supply coming Tuesday. Opening a support ticket with Dell and dispatching the parts took 5 minutes. This is precisely why I purchase PCs from reputable vendors with good support, vs. building my own or going with some cheesy brand.


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## ALLSKIING (Dec 16, 2007)

Greg said:


> This is precisely why I purchase PCs from reputable vendors with good support, vs. building my own or going with some cheesy brand.


Like my eMachine...:wink:


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## ckofer (Dec 16, 2007)

ctenidae said:


> Ah, the Vic-20. Only slightly worse than the Trash-80. Anyone remember the Timex computer that came out? I don't remember what it was called, but I wanted one, just because it looked cool.



The Timex-Sinclair. I've got one in the attic I think. I may even have the memory upgrade module. I never remember doing anything useful with it. 

Found this on the web:

[SIZE=+1]Timex Sinclair 1000[/SIZE]   *Introduced:*July 1982 *Price:*US $99.95 *How many?*500,000 in first 6 months *Weight:*12 ounces *CPU:*Zilog Z80A, 3.25MHz *RAM:*2K, 64K max *Display:*22 X 32 text 
hooks to TV *Ports:*memory, cassette *Peripherals:*Cassette recorder 
T/S printer *OS:*ROM BASIC 





 [FONT=arial,helvetica] The Timex Sinclair 1000 is the North American version of the Sinclair ZX-81,  from British based Sinclair Research Ltd.  They are nearly identical, except for the name on  the front, and minor motherboard layout differences. 

 The first Sinclair computer was the ZX-80, released in 1980 for $200.00. 
It was still very popular when they came out with the improved ZX-81 in 1981.  
By mid 1982, Timex was selling the ZX-81, renaming it as the 'Timex Sinclair 1000'.  The system shown above has the optional 16K memory expansion unit attached to the back. 





[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica][/FONT]


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## ckofer (Dec 16, 2007)

hammer said:


> Sorry I started on the trip down memory lane...I should have figured it was a matter of time before someone would mention a TRS-80.
> 
> Next thing we'll have are stories about working with punch cards...



*Punch cards!!!

*Freshman year UNH, first half of first semester (1981). You'd send your program out for compiling and wait about 20 minutes to figure out if it worked. No freakin' way I was going to consider computer sciences as a major after that crap.






I even used paper tape on teletype machines in my middle school days....


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## dmc (Dec 17, 2007)

We used to write our cobol programs on punch cards...  Then feed them into a machine a wait for a printout...  Also remember playing with a friends Timex...  It was the shizzle bake then...

I got in big truoble in 1980 for setting a goto loop that displayed "school sucks"  on a printer- over and over again the teacher didn't know how to stop it..

I don't want to hear anyone complain about computing...  

that being said I got my new IMac.... And it screams!!!


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## severine (Dec 17, 2007)

Greg said:


> Motherboard fried today. Luckily I have 84 days left on my warranty. New MB and power supply coming Tuesday. Opening a support ticket with Dell and dispatching the parts took 5 minutes. This is precisely why I purchase PCs from reputable vendors with good support, vs. building my own or going with some cheesy brand.


I'm impressed.  The only Dell I ever owned (briefly) was broken upon arrival and the customer support in India made Brian un-/re-install the operating system even though it was clearly a hardware problem.  After a few phone calls, and fighting for parts that ended up not fixing the problem, that laptop went right back to Dell.  

We've been very happy with our Gateways though.  I did dabble in Mac for a bit... had an iBook and luckily replaced it (with a Gateway) just before the motherboard died this summer.  It was just under 4 years old.


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## dmc (Dec 17, 2007)

riverc0il said:


> :shock:
> 
> i can't even begin to tell you how that blows my computer away.




i have 2 on my IMac...  makes rendering video nice...


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## dmc (Dec 17, 2007)

Greg said:


> All hail Microsoft... :beer:



All that matters is it works for you...


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## hammer (Dec 17, 2007)

Just pulled the trigger on a new PC for the family for Christmas...

HP Pavilion m9000t
Windows Vista
22"W monitor
Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q6600 
3GB DDR2 RAM
320GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce video card (8400GS or 8500GT, don't remember)
LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive

Bought it from Costco of all places...liked their return policy.

Hopefully this will do for the next 5 years...that's how long I usually try to make computers last.


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## Greg (Dec 18, 2007)

Greg said:


> Motherboard fried today. Luckily I have 84 days left on my warranty. New MB and power supply coming Tuesday. Opening a support ticket with Dell and dispatching the parts took 5 minutes. This is precisely why I purchase PCs from reputable vendors with good support, vs. building my own or going with some cheesy brand.



Success! Back in action.


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## Marc (Dec 18, 2007)

Greg said:


> Motherboard fried today. Luckily I have 84 days left on my warranty. New MB and power supply coming Tuesday. Opening a support ticket with Dell and dispatching the parts took 5 minutes. This is precisely why I purchase PCs from reputable vendors with good support, vs. building my own or going with some cheesy brand.



Regarding building your own... most components, if name brand will come with a warranty.  I built mine with an MSI mobo that crapped out a couple months after I put it together, got on the phone with MSI, they stepped me through all the trouble shooting I just did myself, but that's ok, I know the drill.  Sent out a new one before I even shipped out the old one.

I would think, as long as you're going with reputable manufacturers, you'd see similar results (Intel, ASUS, AMD, Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, WD, Sony, Plextor, etc. etc. ad naseum)


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## deadheadskier (Dec 20, 2007)

It is amazing, the drop in prices over the years.

I very much remember my father bringing home a 'Rainbow' computer in the early 80's.  The thing pretty much didn't work out of the box and we spent around 4K on the thing.

My first computer was a MAC Power PC in 1994, 1st or 2nd year you could run windows, I believe it was called 'soft windows' and it ran $2700 with a 13 inch monitor, no printer.

Last computer I bought, ole Wally the HP I called it, was nearing death, but I purchased him at Walmart, hence 'Wally' in 2002 for $450.  I could still fire it up now if I didn't use my work lap top and it worked pretty much fine for 5 years.

Christmas day we'll be testing out the new lap top I got for the girlfriend.  It's a basic Compaq with I suppose and okay amount of memory, but honestly, outside of printing photos and surfing the net, she doesn't need it for anything hi-tech.  Paid $520 for it.

I'm as computarded as they come, so its nice that computers keep getting easier and easier to use while becoming cheaper and cheaper at the same time.  I wish the automotive industry were the same or hell, ski industry for that matter.  I guess skis have gotten more user friendly, but certainly not cheaper.


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## bigbog (Dec 20, 2007)

*...*

...add another couple Gigs when possible Greg, you'll love it...(just my $.02)...especially when you wanna use a DB on the same machine....and browse at the same time...
Saw somewhere lately an external terabyte drive for under $160....:roll: 

$.01


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