Dave, I think you're comparing the Dell consumer line to the Gateway professional line. If you're buying a 400 or 450 MHz machine, both Gateway and Dell will have what you're calling non-integrated solutions. About a year ago I purchased a new Dell D300 for $3500 (128 Meg RAM, 8.4 Gbyte hard disk, Internal ZIP drive, graphics acceleration, etc). This same system is now on sale at Dell for $1995. With the high-technology industry in decline, Christmas coming, recent price reductions announced by Intel, it is an excellent time to purchase a new computer if you happen to need one. This past week Intel announced a price reduction on some PII chips from $270 to $190. Gateway and Dell, due to their "build-to-order" philosophy will be the first to be able to take advantage of this price reduction. One thing I would warn everybody about. Gateway systems, and their monitors in particular are not as reliable as Dell, Compaq, HP, etc. My employer purchases Gateway systems. I've been through no less than 4 monitors in the past 5 years. One went up in flames! I would avoid Gateway Crystal Scan monitors with a vengeance. The Vivitron (Trinitron) Gateway monitors are better, but not great. I would also avoid Gateway machines with the Western Digital disk drives. In the electrical engineering department we had 6 out of 17 new systems crash with hard disk failures. Admittedly, engineering CAD programs can be hard on the disk drive, but this is ridiculous. See Consumer's Report latest computer ratings before you buy. Their ratings mirror my experience closely. I could have got a Gateway system through my employer and they would have given me $500 to offset the cost. I bought a Dell instead, because of the problems I've seen with the Gateway machines. Another thing I dislike about Gateway's is the Soundscape sound card. Few of my video games work well with this card, and my MIDI keyboard doesn't like it much either. My Dell system came with a Soundblaster sound card. If you're using the soundcard for something other than beeps, and .WAV files, I suggest you consider an upgrade from the Soundscape card. I have no money invested in either company. I work in the industry. I personally bought a Dell and have been happy. The best "tip" I can give new computer buyer's is to buy more RAM than you think you'll need. RAM is cheap and can partially offset slowness in the processor and disk drive. If there's enough space to keep information in RAM then the computer doesn't have to go and get it off the disk drive. Since most programs a piano technicians uses are not computationally intensive, the biggest time savings comes from not having to go to disk for new information. More memory also allows you to leave a bunch of programs up and running all the time so you can quickly switch between email, the web, word processing, and the football game. I suggest 64 Mbytes as a minimum for a new system. I also believe the new Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a must on a system to intend to keep for 2-5 years. In a few years the serial port, mouse port, parallel port, and such will be gone. One more tip....The new 400 and 450 machines have a 100 MHz internal bus. Older machines, regardless of the processor speed, had a 66 MHz internal bus. This will make a HUGH difference (1/3 increase) in speed. The PII machines of 300 MHz or more have the new Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) interface for your video card. If you enjoy video games you need AGP. Jory _____________________ Larry, I believe in your first post you had mentioned purchasing a Dell computer. I thought I would at least throw another suggestion your way. My wife is the head PC administrator for Seagate (the hard drive company) therefore giving me alot of "insider" information on companies, policies, quality and the like. You may (just a suggestion) want to check out Gateway. The primary difference between these two machines is the use of "integrated" boards. Most of the PC's sold in retail outlets like Compac or HP use integrated boards...meaning that when wanting to upgrade or add peripherials (sp?) it can be a difficult match as a result of the propriatory nature of the systems. In some cases you won't have the luxury of going to a local "Best Buy" and purchasing additional RAM and plugging it in. Gateway uses non-integrated boards allowing for lots of "plug and play" additions such as video cards, soundblaster cards, scanners, etc. The Gateways systems generally are configured with 1 asa slot and 4 pci slots, plus the RAM capabilities are great! My current system is a 300mhz, 64 mg RAM (expandable to 364...that's alot of resident memory), 6.5 hard drive, 56k modem, soundblaster, 8 mg video card, scanner, sound system (extremely modified..JBL), laser printer and Zip drive with CD. This system can be upgraded with many more things as well as 2 more hard drives if desired. Now you can obtain a 400 mhz or 450 mhz with even yet more capabilities for the same price (actually lower than what I paid in March). Like any tool used in our self employment venture, quality remains paramount. Versatility, reliability, and craftsmanship must remain high priority regarding our decisions. Just a thought...I wish you continued success. Dave Swartz, RPT dms2000@majesticpiano.com
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