By the way...so far I've loved my Dell. It's working great, and it's really fast compared to my old one. Anyway, thanks again for all of the help and advice on this!

Joe

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Joeninpo

The tyrant custom, most grave Senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down

Yeah, Turk, I sent Tai a blurb I found about Vista, then I deleted it , I guess. It looks like VISTA come in different levels- Starting out similar to XP, and then the more you add, the more it costs and more sophisticated you get?

The important part is they will try to make all before it obsolete. I hear VISTA
is pretty much incompatible with previous boards. They do it on purpose. I'm guessing 3 years before we can't stand it and get rid of our XP's.

I went to an AFCEA meeting at Yongsan last week, and sat at the DELL table. I am now on a first name basis with the DELL Manager in Korea. He said a reason that DELL can undersell others is that they do ZERO Research and Development. As far as I can see, he mainly works the Government stuff.
Don't know if he will pass on our complaints about overseas neglect or not. Seems to me he could make a lot of points if he could tell the big boys in the US that we need only reasonable customer service and a big discount and we might pump up their bottom line! Comments?

Joe;

I am not sure in your comment on not being able to run Windows Vista in future years on the current boards. Are you referring to the transition to 64 bit processing?

My guess is you have been using computers in one capacity or another since at least 386 CPU days.

The 386 was the transitioning from 16 bit to 32 bit. This was around 1988 time frame. That is 20 years ago. In technology years that is a millennium.

Some may remember the extinct ISA technology. This technology was phased out gradually. The mb mfrs started reducing the number of ISA slots on their boards for a couple years until the rest of those using legacy hardware upgraded to PCI. MODEMS are all but obsolete, being replaced by network cards (NIC's). I do not know of anyone still using dial up although I am sure it exist for those resistant to change. These same individuals slow down everyone else attempting to search online. It is unfortunate they do not create a device to determine who is online with a 56k slowing down the traffic and bump them off the network. <LOL> Nothing worse than being stuck behind someone doing 50 MPH in a 70 zone. It is an accident waiting to happen.

I am looking forward to a 64 bit OS. I am sure there will be bugs as with anything new. The users will have a choice to continue with XP until they decide to upgrade. Vista is also reported to be released in a 32 bit version initially.

One other important question everyone should be asking in anything they upgrade to; WHY? What is the ROI (Return On Investment)

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Chill

I guess we will all find out the hard way :) . I haven't worried about checking it all out yet but what I do know is this: Many of the new machines, with the newer processors, (not just the duo core, but other newer processors also), anyway many of them have a new logo in the specs that denotes the machine is 'Vista capable". Just like with any other new system. The one thing I remember hearing a couple years back is that microsoft finally capitulated to the way apple designed its OS. Supposedly, the new Vista OS is designed in the same type of architecture as apple based its OS on all these years. If that is true, I can see it rendering a lot of the current stuff, more obsolete, quicker than all of these windows os releases over the past decade.

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Turk Quid Pro Quo

Those interested in staying abrest of Windows Vista here is a link to a very informative Windows web site. This also appears to be unbiased.

I see where MAC's are advertising the Mac can run Windows apps. Competition is a good thing to keep the companies above board as to market share. The Intel Vs AMD is a good example.

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Chill

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...ta_upgrade.asp

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Chill

Right now it looks to me like their prices are in par with gateway, of course gateway is a blonde hair away from bankruptcy, or so it seems judging from their stock price. Both companies newest machines with the extreme core duo processor tells the tale going forward I think. Dell's is a lot cheaper than gateways. They appear to have the pricing power. The dominant processor, which right now looks like it may swing back in favor of intel, and the new os will drive the prices up. It just might be a good time to invest in tech stocks again.
At any rate, I guess I'll start putting money aside for that new machine I'll be purchasing in the next 2-3 years. Remember when the first pentium processor came out and how expensive the machines were then? Unless a true price war develops between the major manufacturers my guess is that the prices will rise, substantially and come down as the market gets saturated, again. You guys who have been building your own machines all these years should take advantage of the new technology swing and see if you can build a cheaper yet good machine and sell it. remember all those fly by night pc makers that popped up in the mid ninties? Some of them made completely usless stuff but some were good.

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Turk Quid Pro Quo

I am not sure of the Gateways. They had a lot of trouble with their mother boards for a long time. As a computer tech in a 800 user hospital we had a major contract with Gateway. We had some problems with some of the systems maintaining time. We were advised to replace the CMOS batteries, then it was flashing the BIOS, we finally were sent new boards. The tech support in Korea was dismal at best. This was through 1998-2005. We had 4/12 Gateways where the boards went bad. Although the systems were under warranty the systems had to be sent to Okinawa for service. The shipping cost far exceeded the cost of a replacement board. Another systemic problem with the Gateway was their graphic cards. We had to replace 4/12 (different sys) and they all failed after 3 years. It was about this time when the Dell became popular with the government. The support was there and no problems. Gateway was a good system at one time. I had one where the CPU lasted almost 5 years with no problems. I had the monitor (Sony) for 10 years and I only upgraded to get a flat panel.

I seen the Intel duo core mentioned. The CPU's are retailing @ $1k+. This is not too uncommon for new CPU's. I understand you may be able to use some of Intel's current boards to run these. I am not sure who really needs a processor with as much power other than hard core gamers though. The average user should consider upgrading between 4-5 years. There are several factors to consider though.

Yes there were several fly by night business that would custom build junk and sell it to the unaware thinking they were getting a mainstream comparable and saving $$$. I had one guy who thought he would make some extra money on the side selling cheap systems. He was a highly respected member of the community in his profession. The first one he sold came back the next day. The system would not boot. He verified the problem and opened the case. It was not what was advertised. He asked me to look at it. When I booted it I noticed the BIOS was much older than what it was advertised @. I could not surmise it was a salvage built sys and he had been taken. He called the company where he bought it and complained on what he discovered. The 1st q they asked was "How did he know?" Warranty void!

Case in point. Find someone who is knowlegeable,trustworthy and if possible local. Ask them for a recommendation. The customer service horror stories are not something I would want to go through. That is another reason I build my own and for friends. They really are not too difficult after the first experience. You should also be able to troubleshoot easily when there is a problem.

My 2 cents anyway.

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Chill

I bought a Dell thru AAFES..customized it (which I like) and it arrived in a very short time. The only down side of it was they didn't send the Operating System CD's with it. I requested it by email on their website and within a week I had it. I really have not had any problems with it.
I liked the fact that you can customize it when ordering it. I have heard some bad things about it but the only annoying thing I have found was that Dell has their proprietary garbage on it..which I promptly uninstall and put in my own software, ie...antivirus, firewall, etc. For the price I paid, I thought it was a good deal. My parents both have Dell's and have never had any problems with it. I also have an HP Pavillion which has been a good computer as well. I'd have to say as far as performance, with mine, they both are about the same. Hope that helps

Sandi

Would you happen to have the website for the disks? i bought a dell for a new laptop for my mom from ebay (brand new dell) since dell refused to ship a laptop here of there website O.o i don't get it, theytold me th eother way to do it but it was like, $300 more, so i went to ebay.

laptop got here in 4 days.

just want the disks so i can remove the 6 gb partition off the hard drive

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