Buying a new PC

[JesterRT]

Damn - my impression of Macs were rock steady machines that very rarely faultered...

...I'd almost talked myself into an iMac there.  Maybe I still will.  :-/

Cheers for the input fellas   - decisions gonna burn me up till I take the plunge and part with some cash, and then I don't want to think about it again for another few years.

[TheBoy]

Damn - my impression of Macs were rock steady machines that very rarely faultered...

...I'd almost talked myself into an iMac there.  Maybe I still will.  :-/

Cheers for the input fellas   - decisions gonna burn me up till I take the plunge and part with some cash, and then I don't want to think about it again for another few years.

All modern OSes are stable compared to the older stuff.  If you think you will need Windows apps, go for Windows, if you think you will use Mac apps, get a Mac.  I wouldn't recommend Linux for desktop use.

Windows, without doubt, has best app support and hardware support, so if you are looking for an all rounder, or not sure what you want, Windows will likely be most suitable.  Bootcamp looks interesting, but buying a Mac is an expensive way to run Windows...

[tunnie]

Damn - my impression of Macs were rock steady machines that very rarely faultered...

...I'd almost talked myself into an iMac there.  Maybe I still will.  :-/

Cheers for the input fellas   - decisions gonna burn me up till I take the plunge and part with some cash, and then I don't want to think about it again for another few years.

All modern OSes are stable compared to the older stuff.  If you think you will need Windows apps, go for Windows, if you think you will use Mac apps, get a Mac.  I wouldn't recommend Linux for desktop use.

Windows, without doubt, has best app support and hardware support, so if you are looking for an all rounder, or not sure what you want, Windows will likely be most suitable.  Bootcamp looks interesting, but buying a Mac is an expensive way to run Windows...

It runs windows very quickly too, boot camp creates a driver CD so all the wireless bluetooth bits work.

All my assignments and projects have to be mac compatible, so thats why i got one. Runs windows very fast though (effectively 3.8 ghz)

Small too, i have the MacMini... if was getting a new desktop i'd get the MacPro's with the Intel Quad chips, very very, very fast and cheaper than the Dell version  

[Martin_1962]

I am not a Microsoft fan (unlike Jaime) but for home use with commercial packages it is the best bet.

[Martin_1962]

I have no idea what to buy next except it must blow my P4 2.4 into the weeds or it will be a total waste of money

[TheBoy]

I am not a Microsoft fan (unlike Jaime) but for home use with commercial packages it is the best bet.

Err, my main job is Unix support, surely that makes me Unixman, and hence hate MS....  ....except Windows is a better desktop than anything else currently available...

[TheBoy]

I have no idea what to buy next except it must blow my P4 2.4 into the weeds or it will be a total waste of money

What chipset are you currently using?

[Martin_1962]

P4 2.4 state of art when purchased

[TheBoy]

P4 2.4 state of art when purchased

But what chipset (so I can guage its performance)?

[Martin_1962]

P4 2.4 state of art when purchased

But what chipset (so I can guage its performance)?

Intel - not sure of any more from that - what details do you actually need?

All I know is when ordered Intel P4 2.4 and this was pre any 3GB chip

[TheBoy]

P4 2.4 state of art when purchased

But what chipset (so I can guage its performance)?

Intel - not sure of any more from that - what details do you actually need?

All I know is when ordered Intel P4 2.4 and this was pre any 3GB chip

The chipset is the most critical part. A processor can perform well with right chipset, or piss poor with a poor one.

Device mgr will give you a clue to which family - check sys devices > processot to agp bridge...

[Martin_1962]

P4 2.4 state of art when purchased

But what chipset (so I can guage its performance)?

Intel - not sure of any more from that - what details do you actually need?

All I know is when ordered Intel P4 2.4 and this was pre any 3GB chip

The chipset is the most critical part. A processor can perform well with right chipset, or piss poor with a poor one.

Device mgr will give you a clue to which family - check sys devices > processot to agp bridge...

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

SIS Processor to AGP Controller (was replaced under warantee)

Actually lots of SIS stuff

[TheBoy]

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

SIS Processor to AGP Controller (was replaced under warantee)

Actually lots of SIS stuff

Sorry mate, SIS make the worse chipsets. Was poor, even in its day

Intel make best chipset for Intel processors - currently 975 is top dog...

[Martin_1962]

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

SIS Processor to AGP Controller (was replaced under warantee)

Actually lots of SIS stuff

Sorry mate, SIS make the worse chipsets. Was poor, even in its day

Intel make best chipset for Intel processors - currently 975 is top dog...

I know SIS graphics are rubbish - the original MB blew up after a year this was a warrantee replacement.

I suppose I ought to start building a replacement.

Anyway I'm getting a 320GB HDD as I need the disk space (320GB is about 25 hours)

[TheBoy]

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

SIS Processor to AGP Controller (was replaced under warantee)

Actually lots of SIS stuff

Sorry mate, SIS make the worse chipsets. Was poor, even in its day

Intel make best chipset for Intel processors - currently 975 is top dog...

I know SIS graphics are rubbish - the original MB blew up after a year this was a warrantee replacement.

I suppose I ought to start building a replacement.

Anyway I'm getting a 320GB HDD as I need the disk space (320GB is about 25 hours)

The only polite word to say about SIS chipsets is 'budget'

I know the HDD is cheap, but remember that IDE disk you buy for current system won't work in new one (SATA is the current disk interface, most quality motherboard only have one IDE/PATA interface for use with optical drives).

HTH