wordproc@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU (wordproc) (02/17/90)
/* ---------- "PC SURVEY RESULTS" ---------- */ > the 386, but I wouldn't be in the market for a 286 machine at all. > -- Mike Van Pelt >> If I had to spend my money on it, and for home use, I would >> buy the 286-20. I consider this the best value for the money >> given the power I need at home. I heartily agree. I have a PC BRAND 286/20 system at home with SVGA controller and NEC-2A SVGA monitor; 110MB Toshiba hard drive; 2MB RAM with the upper meg set up for SMARTDRIVE (except for 64K for HIMEM.SYS to keep Windows/286 happy); 1.2MB and 1.44MB floppies, which have no trouble reading and writing to lower densities from other machines.... This has been an outstanding home machine, and for DOS-only use you just can't beat it, especially since the benchmark tests prove that you have to go to at least a 25-MHz 386 machine to begin to out-run the 286/20. I bought this machine a year ago, when the price differential was more significant, but buying one today I might go for the 386/25, just because it's probably a better investment. I don't foresee ever using anything but MSDOS 4.01+, so the 386/25 probably would be a waste for me. I use the machine for programming in C, Ada (Janus/ADA), Modula-2 (using a dynamite Modula-2 shareware package); paper work with Pagemaker and Ventura, Harvard Graphics, Splash! paint program and lots more that the machine all handles with literally *flying* colors. No glitches, no incompatibility, no problems, although.... it did somehow survive a surge that came through the house, taking out three stereos in other rooms as well as the I/O board in the computer. PC BRAND replaced the I/O card free of charge under their five-year warranty. When I sent it in, I forgot to mention the part about the stereos -- I just said the board quit working. I forget things like that, sometimes.... ___________________________________________________________________ _________ / Marcus Clenney, WD4GQM ___ ___ /___ ___/ ________ / U. of Central Florida / | / | / / / ______/ / Dept. of Computer Science / /| | / /| | / / / / / Orlando, FL 32816 / / | |/ / | | / / / /_____ / wordproc@ucf-cs.ucf.edu /_/ |___/ |_| /_/ /_______/ / ____________________________________________________________/
cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) (02/27/90)
In article <1533@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU> wordproc@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU (wordproc) writes:
$1.2MB and 1.44MB floppies, which have no trouble reading and writing to
$lower densities from other machines....
There should not be a problem with high-density drives of either
size reading and writing lower-density diskettes ... the problem is
that once you've written to a 360K diskette with a 1.2M drive, other
360K drives may not be able to read it reliably.
$ I don't foresee ever using anything but MSDOS 4.01+,
$so the 386/25 probably would be a waste for me.
But how far do you foresee? I don't mean this to sound like an
insult, but when it comes to what one will be using one's computer for
more than a year or two into the future, one's expectations are often
significantly different from what the truth will be.
In any case, some people will find one computer adequate for what
they do with it, while others will invariably find it very inadequate.
A 4.77 MHz XT is fine if all you're doing is word processing 2-page letters;
anything less than a 25 MHz 386 may be underpowered for a software
developer.
--
Stephen M. Dunn cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
<std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n";
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