Off-topic discussions about regional news, issues and politics. Pretty much everything goes here, but keep it polite: Flaming and spamming aren't welcome.
User avatar
User

Robin Garr

{ RANK }

Forum host

Posts

22986

Joined

Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:38 pm

Location

Crescent Hill

Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Robin Garr » Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:12 pm

So I get back from a quick trip to Florida to visit my sister on her birthday. We come in late this afternoon, I fire up the desktop computer and, a few seconds later, hear a loud clank like a garbage can full of beer bottles rolling over a cliff. A strong electrical stench fills the room, and the screen goes black. Massive HD failure. I don't need a tech to tell me, "It's dead, Jim."

The good news is that all our important stuff is backed up on laptops and two Web servers, and I've also been making more and more use of "the cloud" (Dropbox, Google Docs, Evernote and Gmail) to store my important docs and email anyway. It's no great loss. And the computer, a cheap Gateway with a large but crappy flat screen, wasn't all that expensive anyway.

But I do need a desktop and I need it soon. And now, oddly, I face a decision that wasn't even in the picture the last time I got a new desktop but is very much an issue now:

PC OR MAC?
User avatar
User

Gayle DeM

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

2002

Joined

Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:42 pm

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Gayle DeM » Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:17 pm

MAC!
"I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian" -Erma Bombeck
User avatar
User

David R. Pierce

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

1732

Joined

Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:02 pm

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by David R. Pierce » Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:45 pm

iMac.
Cheers,
David R. Pierce
The Original BBC Brewmaster
Bluegrass Brewing Co.
St. Matthews branch
Craft Brewing Louisville continuously since 1992
User avatar
User

Robin Garr

{ RANK }

Forum host

Posts

22986

Joined

Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:38 pm

Location

Crescent Hill

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Robin Garr » Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:12 pm

David R. Pierce wrote:iMac.


I'm looking at it long and hard. I actually don't think I need the 27-inch.
no avatar
User

Madeline M

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

516

Joined

Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:17 pm

Location

Greater 'burbs of Detroit

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Madeline M » Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:27 pm

Knowing what Microsoft has on the horizon, PC!
User avatar
User

Christina Firriolo

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

370

Joined

Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:39 pm

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Christina Firriolo » Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:10 am

Everyone has suggestions, and my only thought is "how does Robin know what a garbage can full of beer bottles rolling over a cliff sounds like..."

Hmmm.... :oops:
"Wine is sunlight, held together by water!" ~Galileo Gallilei
User avatar
User

Gary Guss

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

897

Joined

Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:18 pm

Location

Van down by the River

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Gary Guss » Sat Jul 16, 2011 7:36 am

Ubuntu Linux !
User avatar
User

Gary Guss

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

897

Joined

Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:18 pm

Location

Van down by the River

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Gary Guss » Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:32 am

To add a Foodie touch !

Mac and Cheese ! :roll:
User avatar
User

Steve P

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

4848

Joined

Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:18 pm

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Steve P » Sat Jul 16, 2011 7:33 pm

Brushing aside for a moment the question of the O.P....(He's already drank the Apple "Kool Aid", the Apple vs PC question was already answered before it was asked). Anyway, HERE's a dilemma for you.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/07/16/ ... ?hpt=hp_t2

To save anyone with a who is attention span challenged the trouble...Due to an error by a 3rd party vendor, Sears accidentally advertised 16Gb I-pad 2's (retail $744.99) for $69 dollars. OBVIOUSLY to anyone but a freaking moron this was an error...So the the ethical question begs to be asked...Should Sears have to honor the price ? Should you have tried to take advantage of this error and buy an I-pad for $69 dollars ?To chime in with a comment that reveals my own sentiment...at least one moronic mommy thinks so.
Last edited by Steve P on Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Stevie P...The Daddio of the Patio
User avatar
User

Josh A

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

218

Joined

Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:01 pm

Location

Paristown Point/Germantown

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Josh A » Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:55 am

Steve P wrote:To save anyone with a who is attention span challenged the trouble...Due to an error by a 3rd party vendor, Sears accidentally advertised 16Gb I-pad 2's (retail $744.99) for $69 dollars. OBVIOUSLY to anyone but a freaking moron this was an error...So the the ethical question begs to be asked...Should Sears have to honor the price ? Should you have tried to take advantage of this error and buy an I-pad for $69 dollars ?To chime in with a comment that reveals my own sentiment...at least one moronic mommy thinks so.


A while back Best Buy had (at the time) the best video card out there listed on their website for $99 when it should have been something like $499. I went ahead and put an order in for one, but I wasn't expecting to actually get it. I figured if they did honor it, hey, I'm up a nice video card for a great price, and if not, all it cost me was a couple minutes time. They took it down, cancelled all the orders, and sent out $25 gift cards to everyone who ordered one, which was nice enough of them, since they didn't have to do anything at all.

That's a whole lot of words to say I'd probably go in and make an attempt at getting one for cheap, but I wouldn't be expecting it, since it was obviously a mistake.

Edit:And yeah, when Best Buy cancelled all the orders, there were a whole bunch of whiny geeks raging on the internet that they had to honor that price and they were gonna sue and I don't know what all else.
no avatar
User

Jeremy Herrmann

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

37

Joined

Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:51 am

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Jeremy Herrmann » Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:04 pm

Since you already have cloud solutions and other hardware for everything and aren't noticeably tied down by any Apple-specific software, I don't see why you'd pay the extra money for essentially the same hardware by getting a Mac.
User avatar
User

Robin Garr

{ RANK }

Forum host

Posts

22986

Joined

Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:38 pm

Location

Crescent Hill

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Robin Garr » Mon Jul 18, 2011 3:57 pm

Jeremy Herrmann wrote:Since you already have cloud solutions and other hardware for everything and aren't noticeably tied down by any Apple-specific software, I don't see why you'd pay the extra money for essentially the same hardware by getting a Mac.

Actually, the iMac is a pretty good deal. I ended up with the 22-inch flat screen, 1 terabyte HD and an expanded 8 gigs of RAM for about $1,600, and it appears very solid, well engineered and well made.

I don't know that I could get a quality PC desktop similarly equipped for less than I ended up paying for the Mac. One problem with cheap PCs (like my Gateway that just blew up) is that you don't really get solid quality for under a couple of thousand bucks. I've had an excellent PC portable in a pre-Lenovo IBM ThinkPad, and a solid PC desktop in the model before the Gateway, a Sony VAIO desktop. But both those items cost me about twice as much as this iMac. So where's the "extra"?
no avatar
User

Jeremy Herrmann

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

37

Joined

Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:51 am

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Jeremy Herrmann » Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:54 pm

Did you get the 2.7 GHZ Intel i5 + 8 GB Ram + 1 TB Hard Drive?

Just to compare it, I just built a Dell XPS 8300 online (XPS being their highest quality line that uses the nicer components.):

-Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor(8MB Cache, 3.4GHz) - Faster, better, newer, more expensive than the i5 in the Apple.

-Ram: 8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - Same as Apple.

-Hard Drive: 1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache - Same as Apple.

-Optical Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner - vs. 8X on the Apple.

-Video Card: AMD Radeon™ HD 6770 - Same as Apple.

-Monitor: 23" Full HD Widescreen Monitor - larger than the 21.5" on the Apple....same max resolution on both.

-Warranty: 2 Year Premium In-Home Hardware Service - vs. 1 year limited warranty on the Apple.

Price: $1,158.99 (free shipping) vs. $1,699 (free shipping)

I know 500 bucks isn't a TON of money, but when you consider that it's nearly 50% more, I think that's pretty ridiculous. Most of these components are made by the exact same manufacturer. Intel and AMD don't send their better made components to Apple vs. Dell, there's just a perception that people like to perpetuate regarding quality of one over the other to justify the added expense.
no avatar
User

Madeline M

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

516

Joined

Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:17 pm

Location

Greater 'burbs of Detroit

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Madeline M » Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:36 pm

That's a great deal! I've had good luck with Dell but was thinking about going custom for my next gaming machine, but a comparison shows I'd get a tad bit faster memory (1333k vs 1600k) for $500 more...guess I'll need to put Dell back on the list of options!
no avatar
User

Jeremy Herrmann

{ RANK }

Foodie

Posts

37

Joined

Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:51 am

Re: Desktop dies a spectacular death

by Jeremy Herrmann » Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:44 pm

Just for fun, just to see what kind of XPS you can pick up for $1,600-ish:

- Processor: Intel® Core™i7-960 processor(8MB L2 Cache, 3.20GHz)

- Ram: 12GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz

- Hard Drive: 2TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 64MB Cache

- Optical: Blu-ray Combo Drive (8X BD-R, DVD+/-RW) with DVD+R double layer write capability

- Video Card: AMD Radeon™ HD 6770

- Monitor: 24"W Full HD Monitor

Price: $1,638.99.
Next

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign