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Sorry for not checking in earlier. I was out on the interview trail and taking one of our licensing exams. I just talked with the business owners and got some clarification: owner #1 wants a PC in the office because he feels they need to get modern, and checking a few things online will save...

That's why I love this place! Good conversations, and debates backed with solid facts and well-reasoned opinions, all in a collegial environment. Now, what happens if I ask about buying a cheap HP desktop, with some Sony peripherals with a WD hard drive?

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I guess there are a few reasons I'm leaning towards a Dell: 1. Time - I just don't have a lot of extra time to build a system let alone carefully spec it out 2. Support - I may not be living in the same state as the business come July 3. Blame - if/when anything doesn't work, I don't want the...

I guess there are a few reasons I'm leaning towards a Dell: 1. Time - I just don't have a lot of extra time to build a system let alone carefully spec it out 2. Support - I may not be living in the same state as the business come July 3. Blame - if/when anything doesn't work, I don't want the...

Then how do you explain "Dude, you're getting a dell!"

Oh, a laptop would be fine, but I'm guessing a basic laptop would start ~$600 vs. a desktop around $350.

Hey gang, My parents run a small business. They need a very basic computer for looking up small pieces of information on the internet. Being able to use the Access database I created for them would be nice, maybe a little word, maybe a little excel, but not much. The PC needs to look...

I got the Sceptre delivered today and set it up as an early Christmas gift for my wife. So far she's pretty happy with it. Zero dead pixels to boot! It's not as nice as my Samsung 204B, but it will end up being about $100 cheaper. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112006...

Yes, sorry, I get confused between Raid 0 and 1 all the time. I would never consider a Striped array for anything. Mirrored I would definitely consider.

Newegg now has the Samsung 500 GB drives for $149.99 with free shipping, limit 1 per customer. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152052

is using a PATA-to-SATA adaptor an easy way to install an OS onto a SATA drive that isn't aware of SATA? Just use the adaptor to make the SATA drive look like a PATA drive, install OS, somehow get the OS to load a SATA driver, shutdown and remove adaptor, and viola?

Anyone else think it would be cool to start a charity where geeks collect castoff parts and put them into worthwhile charities? I'm guessing most if not all of us have done this at some point, though usually to impress a chick or 'cause we're college poor or just bored. I think Merc sets a...

What, resorting to proper English? And what, BenQ makes sense? Are you going to tell me is should be BenQu?

Are there any practical speed differences between an external HD connected over USB2 vs. a NAS with 100 mb ethernet? What about gb ethernet?

I'm looking for an LCD for my wife, now that's she's jelous over my new Samsung 204B. I'm looking at the SCEPTRE X20WG-Naga Black 20.1 for $249-$50 rebate vs. the BenQ FP202W for $239. Anybody have experience with either of these? Both are 20.1", 300 cd/m2 and run 1680x1050, a resolution I...

Yup, I ordered a P180B a few weeks back from Newegg for $100 shipped. It was backordered but still came within 2 weeks or so. I have yet to get a chip, motherboard, ram, and graphics card so it's currently unused, but I took it out of the box and went through it. So far I'm pretty impressed...

I would love something that can be plugged into a USB2 port or my network (ethernet) and has two 400GB drives in RAID 0 and some sort of backup program that can pull data off of multiple PCs. From what I can tell I'd need Acronis True Image Corporate for backing up multiple PCs. Any idea on an...

Don't know where to post this question, and I thought a new thread would be a waste, but I figured here would be fine since we're discussing new systems and Core 2 Duo systems... Is this a good power supply? I'm looking for a nice power supply for my Antec P180 and future Core 2 Duo system. I...

What motherboard?

For my wife and 50-something year old mother I had them go with USB drive-based MP3 players that they can just plug into a USB port and drag and drop songs onto (in Windows, at least). In both cases I went with a Creative device, and both work reasonably well. But it sounds like you want...

I've struggled to get my current ATi Radeon working in Linux (Ubuntu) in dual head mode. If I had to, I could do it again, but it would take me at least an hour or two. Maybe more. For my next computer I want a video card that will just work with Linux with minimal hassle. I'm happy to...

Hey all - I'm spec'ing out a new box, and wondering if my assumption that nVidia cards are betters supported in Linux is true. I think I remember that nVidia has provided Linux drivers for longer than ATi. In my new computer I'll be running Linux at least part-time and very much want dual...

Looks like 2*1GB packs of DDR2 800 is coming down in price slightly, now down to just over $200 at Newegg.

Hey guys - I'm building a system around a P180 and am trying to find a PS that won't be a pain in the butt. I would prefer if all the cables were long enough, and I would prefer a power supply with a front and rear fan (push/pull) so air doesn't have to make a 90 degree turn around a...

Is there any evidence that the Raptors are less than reliable?

I'm thinking about getting a 150 GB Raptor for my new computer. The Raptor X and regular 150GB raptor are within $5 of eachother. Is there any benefit of the Raptor X other than looks (which to some might be a disadvantage)? Is it lounder or hotter since it has a polycarbonate window on it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136012&ATT=22-136-012&CMP=OTC-B1zrat3

Raptor 150GB $224.99 - $30 rebate at Newegg as well.

What do people like for power supplies? I guess with the Conroe chips high wattage is less of an issue. Is this Coolermaster a good deal? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007&ATT=17-171-007&CMP=OTC-B1zrat3

IIRC, I went from dual P3 700's to a single Newcastle XP3000 (2.0 GHz), which I'm currently running. It is faster overall, especially when I have a single CPU-hogging application (rare outside of the occasional video game), but I miss the snappiness that comes from a dualie. I hoping that my...

My Antec P180 arrived and I finally had some time to take a look at it. So far I'm very impressed. Great construction, looks like an excellent design. We'll see if I still love it after actually building a computer around it.

Buck, have you had any difficulties with the Intel 965 board? I might happily trade the ability to overclock if I just knew that everything would work. Boy I miss my old Tyan Tiger and dual P3's.

Does anybody have experience with some of the new Intel P645 boards like the Abit AB9Pro, MSI Neo-F, or Asus P5B-E? I'm looking for a solid motherboard for a Core 2 Duo chip. I'm considering the Intel board that Buck uses but I would like the ability to overclock slightly.

Is it me, or was the whole DVD thing rushed to market? Everything I read about DVDs makes me think that DVD burning is an immature technology saddled with stupid DRM issues on the player side.

What on earth would cause the disks to play fine one month, but the next they won't on my DVD player while still playing fine on my computer's DVD player?

The review at Newegg for their only SATA DVD burner mentions difficulty installing Windows from it given that you need to install RAID drivers first. Why would Windows be able to boot from the drive but couldn't install from it?

My wife's family put together a video of a family member. We're making copies on DVD. I burned a bunch of copies onto Ridata DVD+R media a few months ago and tested it on my computer's DVD player and home theater (I use that term loosely) DVD player - a Tivo/DVD combo. In both it played fine...

Can I just get a SATA to PATA adapter to convert a PATA optical drive into a SATA drive? I'm planning a new system and I really don't want any extra PATA cables.

Where are all the SATA optical drives? Newegg caries only 1 SATA DVD drive (Lite-On). Is there any reason not to get a SATA DVD drive? I know I've had issues installing Windows onto a SATA HD who's controller Windows needed drivers for, but shouldn't the BIOS recognize the optical drive an...

I'm spec'ing out a new system, and it would be nice if my new video card would work in Vista with the full Aero crap if/when I installed it. I've heard Aero will require DX10. Is there any easy way to figure out which video cards will support DX10? I've also heard that Nvidia cards will be...

A so-so review from PC World. Comes out pro-Firefox in the end but I found the language in many parts to be biased towards IE, but maybe it's just me. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127309-page,1-c,browsers/article.html

Can I get IE 7 and keep my old IE6? Not that I use it all that often, but occasionally I do. Maybe twice per month.

My wife has no specific feature requests. She'll mostly be using the scanner for photos, both B&W and color. Wow, I didn't realize there were so many laser printers for <$200. Samsung, Lexmark, HP, Brother, Dell. Is there any model or brand people particularly like? I suppose that if I take...

My wife wants a new scanner. Our old printer/scanner (HP PSC750) no longer scans, and while the printer still works it's clearly not the best. My wife's is now our family's historian, and she has hundreds of color photos (no negatives) she wants to scan. We hope not to spend more than a few...

I love the "Birds Eye View" on the maps. Wow. The interface feels clunky compared to Google maps and even Yahoo Maps.

My nearly 3-year old MSI K8T Neo has a mounting bracket with their "D-LED" thingy ("diagnostic" LED) which I think is nice. It mounts in the back where a PCI card would sit (but does not plug into a PCI slot) and gives two USB ports and a 2x2 grid of green/red LEDs. IIRC I needed it once and...

Back around August 24th the OCZ Platinum (Rev 2, I think) memory was selling on Newegg for around $209. Then on September 11th when I posted the above it was $240. Today it's $299.99 minus a $30 mail in rebate. Other DDR2 800 memory seems to have gone up in price as well. Ouch! Is anyone...

Thanks for the recommendation, by the way.

I picked up a Samsung 204B last week, and absolutely love it. 20", 1600x1200. Blue LED in front is to too bright, either.