So, whatcha think about this computer.

[showcase 66]

I am on my way to staples to pick up a new computer. My computer I use for cutting, died or is going through a long pianfull death.
Anyway, Called them up to see what they have in stock and I was told they are having an anniversary sale there this weekend and suggested this computer to me. In store normal price is $749 but this weekend with its $499 plus a $50 mail in rebate.

So whatcha think. Looks good to me. Probably will need a better graphics card. Not sure.

Was just going to look into a cheap computer that will run the cutters but, I think I may get this and turn my regular comp into the cutting comp.

 

[VinylLabs.com]

I never really liked HP and AMD, but on paper the specs look good. if you can get it for under 500, that would be great.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

I am not going to comment on this computer in particular, but as with ANY computer you buy off-the-shelf, please make sure that you BACK UP often. Win 7 Home Premium has a built in "imaged based" backup in combination with a "file based" backup utility.

The reason I say this is because off-the-shelf systems are notorious for using cheap hardware, especially hard drives. When that drive goes bad, your life will be much easier if you have a recent backup (image preferably) of the entire system.

Just my $.02.

 

[Si Allen]

+1 on backing up your HD.

Also ........ you would be wise to upgrade to Win 7 Pro ... in order to use some of your older programs in the compatible mode.

 

[showcase 66]

Backup everynight automatically. I think I will upgrade to pro as well. If I get it.

 

[royster13]

Folks buy different computers if they need it right now versus if they can wait for a few days....If you do not have a backup you are often stuck with what you can buy off the shelf somewhere....And often that is not the ideal system....

 

[jiarby]

and SUPER CHEAP powersupplies... which crap out and kill the mobos.

Brand name OEM's sell you specs in a bullet style:

• Processor
• RAM
• Drive Capacity

but they do not talk much about WHAT HDD... What brand is it?? A retail WD HDD has a 3-5 yr warranty. An OEM one is 1yr or less.

What power supply? What wattage? A quality power supply costs $75-100. the kind the OEM's use a no-name chinese ones that cost them less than $5. How good do you think it is? It only has to last 12 months then they are off the hook.

You already have experienced what happens when a $1 el-cheapo component fails and kills your whole PC. They cheap out on cooling fans, cpu fans, and power supplies. They know the cheapies will last a year, and after that they do not care. A good cooling fan costs $10-20. The OEM ones... 50¢. Or less.

Replace all the fans, and add extra if you can. Keep them clean. We get tons of dust here in AZ. I have to shut mine down monthly and blow them out. maintain a good backup system...

 

[Colin]

+1 on backing up your HD.

I'm no computer expert, but isn't a RAID system a good way to go? (Not for backing up just files, but your entire HD and operating system). That way if one HD packs it in, you have no down time; you just instantly run off the mirrored HD.

In addition, always use a separate internal and/or external HD to back-up files.

Also ........ you would be wise to upgrade to Win 7 Pro ... in order to use some of your older programs in the compatible mode.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I'm thinking on getting a new 'puter, and this of course means Windows 7. So I'm wondering about the following:

I got my very old (but loved) ScanVec Inspire 1.6 to run on XP with the HASP patch/fix, and it works great; so I'm wondering if it will still work on Windows 7 in the XP compatible mode?

 

[jiarby]

You still need to use disk imaging and/or file level backups... even if you have a raid. A mirror set only protects you from a specific failure. One HDD fails. You are still vulnerable to lots of failures... especially if you are not using a dedicated hardware raid card with an onboard battery backup.

Scenario #1: You use your mobo raid ports. bzzzzt... your power supply surges and fries your mobo. You lose the raid configuration. Your next PC does not recognize the drives and you lose all your data. The same can be said for almost any raid controller. The controller is a new additional potential point of failure.

Scenario #2: Your shop burns down. Your RAID is no good then... you have to buy a new pc. You need your backups to be up to date... and stored off site. AND.. you need to know how to recover it. The same is true for a theft, or other damage that kills BOTH drives and/or the pc they are in.

Scenario #3: You buy a bunch of those new cheap 2tb hdd's (they are less than $100 now) and make a huge raid 5 array. OOPS>>> one drive fails. But you are safe (RAID 5!! YAY)... You replace the bad drive and the RAID start to rebuild. OOPS>>> It takes 18+ hours to rebuild an 8TB RAID. During the rebuild time (and also any time the extra drive is missing) you are vulnerable to a second disk failure. Since you used those green $79 drives (instead of the $279 RE4 drives) they take too long writing cache. Your raid controller thinks this problem is another drive failure and flags the drive as bad (even though it is probably not) You lose all your data.

My advice:
Design a good backup system. Verify your backups. Do not rely on any RAID as your only backup system. Make an offsite backup. Keep it updated. Practice your recovery scenarios.