Speedsterbeast
New Member
Just upgraded my PET 3000 to a VIC 20. Saving my money for a Commodore 64.
Now I'm going to go play some combat on my Atari!
Now I'm going to go play some combat on my Atari!
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What computer should I get?
- Thread starter Flyndutchman
- Start date
SignBurst PCs
New Member
Richard G
New Member
Just a note to Donny 7833, Tiger Direct or as we know it down here in Florida Comp USA will put together the machine you want for $75.00, just tell them all you want on it and they will set it up the way you ask them to. I have had a lot of Dell Machines and theone thing that i couldn't get from them was a machine just the way I wanted it, not with Dells packages loaded etc. plus for the same (or somewhat the same machine) from Dell it would of cost me about $1000 more for the computer, I got a Samsung 24" monitor as well. Don't get me wrong Dell has it's place. Just not in my office anymore.
SignBurst PCs
New Member
Ken,
What RIP? Versaworks?
How about to plot to the Graphtec?
What RIP? Versaworks?
How about to plot to the Graphtec?
I don't know Richard it was pretty easy to get exactly what I wanted. Start with a base machine and add what you. I just added components in Tiger to match what I bought in the Dell. Take away the extended warranty from Dell and there's less than $100 difference. If you can figure out a way to save a grand on that system, I'm all ears.
choucove
New Member
When you are going to be buying a computer system for design work and your business, invest your money wisely! I am a Dell reseller, and I've talked multiple times with their staff about Dell's place in the business and they directly have iterated to me that Dell consumer computers are NOT recommended or intended in any way for a business environment. They're just not built with that kind of quality or utility in mind. If you're going to buy any computer pre-built by a big brand name, like Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. you really should look at the business line of their products only.
Like Casey from Signburst, I also own a computer business and I can't tell you how many computers (especially laptops) we get in that are very new yet experiencing abnormally high failure rates because of poor quality hardware. In the end, a quality system may cost you more but it is going to have a much lower chance of failure!
Talk with Casey at Signburst. I've had the chance to meet with him and talk with him on several occasions and he really knows his stuff! Their custom systems utilize high quality hardware and are fine tuned specifically for your software.
There's some questions that you should ask yourself, though, and will help all of us in giving you some good answers. First, what is your ideal budget for this computer? You're going to be looking at a big difference in recommended computers if you have $600 or if you have $1,600 to spend. Second, are you specifically wanting a laptop, or would you also accept a desktop? I can tell you that going the route of a laptop for business design work has some MAJOR disadvantages over a desktop.
First is going to be price, where performance in a desktop is going to be much cheaper than a similar performance laptop. Second is upgradability: Once you get a laptop sent to you, about the only two things that can be upgraded is to add a little more RAM (still quite limited compared to a desktop) and possibly upgrade the hard drive (can't add more of them usually.) Third is hardware quality. Because of its size constraints, heat, and travel, hardware within a laptop in general is not as high quality as the hardware that can be found in a GOOD production computer. I've seen more laptop hard drives fail within the first two years of usage than I have seen any desktop hard drive failures. Along this same line, if you do have hardware fail in a laptop, it's going to be much more difficult and costly to replace. In a desktop replacing a failed motherboard can be as cheap as $100 or perhaps less. In a laptop, returning the system to the manufacturer for replacement after your 1 year standard warranty has expired will be a minimum of $250 to $350 for a motherboard or any other component in the computer.
Like Casey from Signburst, I also own a computer business and I can't tell you how many computers (especially laptops) we get in that are very new yet experiencing abnormally high failure rates because of poor quality hardware. In the end, a quality system may cost you more but it is going to have a much lower chance of failure!
Talk with Casey at Signburst. I've had the chance to meet with him and talk with him on several occasions and he really knows his stuff! Their custom systems utilize high quality hardware and are fine tuned specifically for your software.
There's some questions that you should ask yourself, though, and will help all of us in giving you some good answers. First, what is your ideal budget for this computer? You're going to be looking at a big difference in recommended computers if you have $600 or if you have $1,600 to spend. Second, are you specifically wanting a laptop, or would you also accept a desktop? I can tell you that going the route of a laptop for business design work has some MAJOR disadvantages over a desktop.
First is going to be price, where performance in a desktop is going to be much cheaper than a similar performance laptop. Second is upgradability: Once you get a laptop sent to you, about the only two things that can be upgraded is to add a little more RAM (still quite limited compared to a desktop) and possibly upgrade the hard drive (can't add more of them usually.) Third is hardware quality. Because of its size constraints, heat, and travel, hardware within a laptop in general is not as high quality as the hardware that can be found in a GOOD production computer. I've seen more laptop hard drives fail within the first two years of usage than I have seen any desktop hard drive failures. Along this same line, if you do have hardware fail in a laptop, it's going to be much more difficult and costly to replace. In a desktop replacing a failed motherboard can be as cheap as $100 or perhaps less. In a laptop, returning the system to the manufacturer for replacement after your 1 year standard warranty has expired will be a minimum of $250 to $350 for a motherboard or any other component in the computer.
Custom_Grafx
New Member
I wish we had a Signburst or a Choucove in Sydney.
smdgrfx
New Member
The new AMD chips will be coming out next month. They will be reasonably priced. Check this link http://www.guru3d.com/article/pcbuyer-guide-summer-2011/ for a jump off point if you want to build something yourself in the Intel lineup. As others have said, a lot depends on your budget. I just spent $1600 on building a modest AMD build. 990FX board with AMD 975 quad core (upgradeable to new chips coming out). 16gb ram, 2gb ram video card, 800w power supply. Would have been a couple of hundred more if I went with Intel. But I put money where it's going to count. Two SSD drives (120gb Patriot Wilfire) in Raid 0 on a PCI express caddy. Stupid fast. 950 mb/s read - 650 mb/s write. NOTHING feels slow on my computer.
Check the link for lots of information....
Check the link for lots of information....
SightLine
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I wholeheartedly agree!! If you are going to go with a mainstream brand like Dell or HP their professional workstations are the way to go. Signburst is your best option for custom built. Both will give you the support and quality you need to keep your business running. I like knowing that if a part dies on one of our Dell Precisions - I can call Dell, have a real human in a minute, and have a replacement part in under 24 hours at our doorstep. I'm absolutley certain Casey would give the same level of service as would HP on their professional workstation line.
The customer service from Dell on a Precision Workstation is NOT the same customer service you will get on any of their home user systems. Computers built for professional use are created with beefier power supplies, higher end components, much higher end cooling, etc with long term reliability and high level rapid support in mind. Professional workstations generally also still include hardware legacy serial, parallel, keyboard, and mouse ports because the makers know that the machines will often be used to drive expensive and professional equipment that need these sort of connections. This is much preferred to hacking away and fooling your equipment to work over some sort of usb to whatever port converter that may or may not work reliably since it is having to convert one data/signal type to another on the fly and back again. I promise your equipment will always do it's best when connected the way it was intended to be, not via some cobbled together converter.
I'd imagine that if Casey's system do not have legacy ports that he would happily install a true hardware based card to add whatever port you might need and guarantee it to work as it should. You are not going to get that level of support from a DIY build or from any consumer intended system. On the DIY side - you can build your own sure. But have you already tested, and tested, and tested the RAM, motherboard, power supply, video card, drives, etc many times to guarantee they works perfect together. I built systems for years as well - sometimes 2 different models of RAM with identical specifications - one might not play well with a particular motherboard. It happens.
If your Acers power supply dies, you going to take the lifeblood of your business to the Geek Squad and drop it off for 2 weeks? LMAO
I've made this rant before and sorry for going over it again. You spend tens of thousands on your machines and RIP then want to cheap out on what you are going to run them with. For me - these desktops are what keep this company running. While I run all Dell Precisions here I'd dnot hesitate to buy a machine from Signburst, another Dell Precision, or even an HP Z series professional workstation. Any of these are built with professional business use in mind and with the idea that the machine is critical to a business's life. While they might cost a little more you DO get what you pay for.
The customer service from Dell on a Precision Workstation is NOT the same customer service you will get on any of their home user systems. Computers built for professional use are created with beefier power supplies, higher end components, much higher end cooling, etc with long term reliability and high level rapid support in mind. Professional workstations generally also still include hardware legacy serial, parallel, keyboard, and mouse ports because the makers know that the machines will often be used to drive expensive and professional equipment that need these sort of connections. This is much preferred to hacking away and fooling your equipment to work over some sort of usb to whatever port converter that may or may not work reliably since it is having to convert one data/signal type to another on the fly and back again. I promise your equipment will always do it's best when connected the way it was intended to be, not via some cobbled together converter.
I'd imagine that if Casey's system do not have legacy ports that he would happily install a true hardware based card to add whatever port you might need and guarantee it to work as it should. You are not going to get that level of support from a DIY build or from any consumer intended system. On the DIY side - you can build your own sure. But have you already tested, and tested, and tested the RAM, motherboard, power supply, video card, drives, etc many times to guarantee they works perfect together. I built systems for years as well - sometimes 2 different models of RAM with identical specifications - one might not play well with a particular motherboard. It happens.
If your Acers power supply dies, you going to take the lifeblood of your business to the Geek Squad and drop it off for 2 weeks? LMAO
I've made this rant before and sorry for going over it again. You spend tens of thousands on your machines and RIP then want to cheap out on what you are going to run them with. For me - these desktops are what keep this company running. While I run all Dell Precisions here I'd dnot hesitate to buy a machine from Signburst, another Dell Precision, or even an HP Z series professional workstation. Any of these are built with professional business use in mind and with the idea that the machine is critical to a business's life. While they might cost a little more you DO get what you pay for.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
It can even get a little trickier then that. You might have one video card that doesn't matter what order you put the ram in, but if you upgrade that video card for something else the ram might then have to put in a certain order for it to work properly.
signmeup
New Member
If my acer's power supply goes down I'll install a new one.
I don't think the OP has a printer from looking at his profile. He won't need a very powerful machine to run his plotter and a few programs.
SightLine
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Probably..... as long as it is a standard ATX and uses standard ATX pinout. It "probably" is standard but I know for fact Acer, some Dell consumer systems, and some HP/Compaqs use non-standard power supplies.... I've seen them with non-standard physical size, seem them with standard ATX size but non-standard connectors, non-standard pinouts. I remember one that used standard ATX physical size and connector but changed around pinouts - plug a standard one in and it instantly frys the motherboard and new power supply. Just sayin' to google the model of the machine and power supply to see if anyone has maybe run into problems if it does come to need replacing is all.
bob
It's better to have two hands than one glove.
Knowing full well the cries of 'Philistene', "Heretic', 'Unclean', etc that this will evoke from the hardware weenies adrift in these waters, the answer to your question is most any PC with a GB or so of RAM will do just fine.
The difference in complete start to finish speed for any job you're likely to do between the wet dreams of the hardware obsessed and most anything that runs will be measured in seconds.
Case in point: The machine in the shop that runs the plotter and printer, Flexi, Corel, whatever, is an 10 year old Dell antique. It lopes along at its own pace and it has never given me cause to curse it or obsess over something bigger, better, or newer.
