iemasgn@prism.gatech.EDU (Gautham,Nalamada) (01/17/90)
Having decided to go in for a 386 machine, I have been looking around for a good deal and have been surprised (an understatement) at the variation in prices and performances. Finally the best deal I could get was $1850 for a 386sx(20Mhz) with 40mb, 1.2mb drive, 1mb RAM. I will be really grateful, if anyone who has brought a 386 machine recently would e-mail their experinces and the performances of their machines. I will be mainly be programming on this machine and anyone who has any advice or suggestion to make may please do so. I will summarize if there is enough intrest. Please e-mail. Thanks in advance, --Gautham -- ********************************************************************* "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. --Lewis Carrol
kmont@hpindda.HP.COM (Kevin Montgomery) (01/18/90)
sounds kinda expensive. Lowest I've seen was in a Fry's ad for a 20MHz 386 box (not SX) with 1meg, HD/FD controller, 1.2M floppy for $999. Have also seen quite a few others for ~$1200. At these prices, you're paying ~$600-800 for the 40M hard disk, which you should be able to get for much cheaper (hint: I'm getting a SCSI controller/104M disk for ~$800!). Maybe check out a Computer Shopper Mag....
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (01/20/90)
(Lotsd on paying "too much" for your computer deleted) Remember one thing though -- you do (much of the time) get what you pay for. Perhaps that "cheap" system mentioned in the Fry's ads (or anyone else's) will work just fine. But perhaps it won't. That is the time you appreciated (or curse) the quality of the dealer that is behind it. The places that buy cheapest also skimp to some degree on the quality of their products. We've had lots of examples...... from serial ports to motherboards to power supplies, there is nothing that you can't make a little cheaper and sell for less -- if you're willing to give up some of the quality. For some people the risk is worth it. For others it's not. We're one of those who think it's a bad trade-off. If you have a cheapie, and it fails, you're out the system for (n) days/weeks/months getting it fixed. If the company you bought it from goes away, your warranty is likely worthless -- and you will get to pay for the repairs yourself! One motherboard failure will wipe out your savings and then some. Think before you buy, and make sure you're comfortable with the answers you get to the questions you should be asking before purchase (ie: warranty for how long, how do you handle warranty repairs, how long have you been selling systems, etc). Yes, we sell systems. We're >not< the low-price leader. This is deliberate; we sell only high-quality components in our systems, and back it up with an excellent track record and warranty policy. Sure, we make a buck on our systems -- but the customer gets something for that buck. Be careful out there -- a couple of thousand on a bad system purchase is an awful lot of money to waste! -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"
tt3x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (01/21/90)
In article <4935@hydra.gatech.EDU>, iemasgn@prism.gatech.EDU (Gautham,Nalamada) writes: > Having decided to go in for a 386 machine, I have been looking > around for a good deal and have been surprised (an understatement) > at the variation in prices and performances. Finally the best > deal I could get was $1850 for a 386sx(20Mhz) with 40mb, 1.2mb drive, > 1mb RAM. > I will be really grateful, if anyone who has brought a 386 machine > recently would e-mail their experinces and the performances > of their machines. > I will be mainly be programming on this machine and anyone who > has any advice or suggestion to make may please do so. > I will summarize if there is enough intrest. > Please e-mail. > Thanks in advance, > > --Gautham > -- > ********************************************************************* > "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" > "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. > --Lewis Carrol If you look around the mail order computer dealers in Computer Shopper, you will find that there are many companies that sell even 25 megahertz real 386 clones for less than $1850. Although this may sound unbelieveable, it is true due to the introductions of 33 mhz and 486 computers. The only drawback is that these 25 mhz 386 clones aren't as fast as say Everex or ALR 25's, they are indeed true 25 mhz rated 386 processors faster than a 20 mhz SX. Thus, I would recommend that you shop around a little more before deciding to get a 386SX.