Greetings Whil! I picked up a Dell c521 PC for Lynda a few months ago. It has an AMD 64 bit CPU with XP Media O/S, and actually runs very well (I was expecting some grief, mixing a 64 bit CPU with a 32 bit O/S). Of course, I bumped her from 1Gb to 2Gb RAM when I found a 1Gb chip laying around from a project from last year <g>. I noticed a measurable performance difference, but Lynda says she noticed nothing significant. The point is with 1Gb RAM, XP Media did a decent job (despite my best efforts to slow things down with SAV Corporate cranked down real tight to keep her out of trouble).
That said, I do have some Dell Servers with Dual Core P4 CPUs, all with 1Gb RAM and running Win2k3 Server. Same thing, they run plenty darned quick. You brought back a few memories with the mention of your wife having an 8 Mg (did you mean Gb?) HDD on her P-II machine. I recall having a home built AMD 40Mhz CPU with a whopping 8Mg RAM in it, and dual 120Mg HDD units. I thought I had a great setup when I later upgraded the 120Mg HDD units for a single 1Gb unit (I was using DR-DOS, with disk compression, and I could see the entire HDD as a single partition)! The price back then? How about $800.00! Within a few weeks the price had dropped to $400, but I did not need anything larger for a while - so I hung in there with that setup for a few years. I still have that little beast in the Server Room (ranch house, full basement, 1/2 of the basement is the Server Room.) I also have 2 of 4 bedrooms set up as computer rooms, and at times take over the dining room as an adjunct computer room). I still have my original IBM AT PC. Unfortunately, I no longer have my first PC (loaned it to a family member who later mistakenly assumed it was okay to give it away.) It was an IBM PC I had upgraded from 256k to 640k, then later a 4Mg RAM Board ($$$), and added a 10Mg HDD, color CGA monitor and an internal Hayes 1200b modem! Hot dang, I had one smoking machine back then! I believe those ran at 4.77Mhz or so. Ah, the memories... Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Whil Hentzen (Pro*) > Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 3:07 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [NF] Computer, schomputer > > > I'm gonna buy me a real-life computer this week. > > None of these girly-man notebooklaptopportable dainty things, but a real > computer, a manly one, one that sits on your desk and takes up all sorts > of room. > > I haven't bought a desktop machine in... 9 years. Gosh, the landscape > has changed. > > Well, actually, it's for my wife. The box she's using is a PII, 256 MB > RAM, 8 MB hard disk, yes, it was state of the art back in 1996.... she's > suffered enough, it's time to get her something a bit more modern. > > In pink. > > HP has a couple of small bid-ness boxes that look like they'll make her > heart glad. 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, DVD writeable, gigabit Ethernet. > The only real question is... AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz) 65W or > Intel® Core 2 Duo E4300 Processor. The difference is $150 ($600 vs $750). > > (Ed. note: HP now offers boxes with 'FreeDOS', which means, well, you > know. Finally!) I'll throw FC6 or ubu (ha!) on it. > > Given that her current machine is nearly adequate (Web, email, word > processing, spreadsheets), I'm not sure that she'd notice the difference > between one or the other. Kinda like going from a Schwinn to a Corvette > or a Ferrari. Yeah, there's a difference between the two cars, but if > you're used to a bicycle, are you really going to care? > > Any comments from the peanut gallery? > > Whil > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
