abc@unh.UUCP (Avinash B Chopde) (07/04/89)
A general 386 PC question. I will be purchasing a 386 machine, and I would be glad if any of the current users of inexpensive machines could e-mail me their experiences regarding the construction, reliability of various brands. For example, ZEOS sells them pretty cheap, but I have heard many cases where their power supply has blown out within two months. Micro Express chassis is said to be "fragile". Is it worth it getting it cheap or should one invest in more established brand names ? Thanks in advance for any replies. I will summarize to the net, if there is any interest.
abc@unh.UUCP (Avinash B Chopde) (07/04/89)
In article <1271@unhd.unh.UUCP>, abc@unh.UUCP (Avinash B Chopde) writes:
A general 386 PC question.
I will be purchasing a 386 machine, and I would be glad if any of the
current users of inexpensive machines could e-mail me their experiences
regarding the construction, reliability of various brands.
For example, ZEOS sells them pretty cheap, but I have heard many cases where
their power supply has blown out within two months.
Micro Express chassis is said to be "fragile".
Is it worth it getting it cheap or should one invest in more established
brand names ?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
I will summarize to the net, if there is any interest.
========
Avinash Chopde (with standard disclaimer)
abc@unhcs.unh.edu, abc@unh.unh.edu {.....}!uunet!unh!abcmbb@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (martin.b.brilliant) (07/04/89)
From article <1271@unhd.unh.UUCP>, by abc@unh.UUCP (Avinash B Chopde): > A general 386 PC question. > I will be purchasing a 386 machine, and I would be glad if any of the > current users of inexpensive machines could e-mail me their experiences > regarding the construction, reliability of various brands. I don't think this is strictly a 386 question. I bought an XTurbo clone at the lowest possible price, and went to the factory to pick it up, and later went back to the factory for "while-you-wait" service. The machines are put together from imported (Far East) parts. The reject rate must be tremendous; I saw long lists of returned parts. Every machine they ship must be thoroughly bench tested. Even so, their machines must contain large numbers of marginal parts waiting for a chance to fail. I have also owned a brand name machine. For both branded and generic machines, I would say the most important factor is to be sure that service is available conveniently close so you don't have to mail it away if something fails. M. B. Brilliant Marty AT&T-BL HO 3D-520 (201) 949-1858 Holmdel, NJ 07733 att!hounx!marty1 or marty1@hounx.ATT.COM Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer explicitly claims them; then I lose all rights to them.
bill@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (William Tsai) (07/16/89)
In article <1271@unhd.unh.UUCP> abc@unh.UUCP (Avinash B Chopde) writes: >A general 386 PC question. >I will be purchasing a 386 machine, and I would be glad if any of the >current users of inexpensive machines could e-mail me their experiences >regarding the construction, reliability of various brands. >For example, ZEOS sells them pretty cheap, but I have heard many cases where >their power supply has blown out within two months. >Micro Express chassis is said to be "fragile". > >Is it worth it getting it cheap or should one invest in more established >brand names ? > >Thanks in advance for any replies. >I will summarize to the net, if there is any interest. I have a Gateway 2000 20Mhz 386 with VGA and their 80Meg SCSI Drive with 2 floppies and 4 meg of 100ns memory. $3670 with shipping to Delaware. A great price when I bought it 3 month ago, and still a great price today with nobody to complete, and you know 3 month is a LONG time for the computer industry. Except when I first received it I had a crack in the tower case, which they promptly (well, took them about a week) replied by sending me a new factplate. My salesperson was Vern... and he was okay because he gave me a multisync montir for the price of VGA and a tower case for $100 (instead of $200). Everything runs fine on it - except Compaq OS/2 (I don't know if it's suppose to run it, but Dell runs it..) and maybe Windows 386 (286 is fine.) I am very satisified. BUT, got to let you know... this is a NO-FRILL 386 - it does not have fancy memory-caching, no page-interleave and stuff like that. But it really doesn't make that much of a difference. Good luck searching and let me know what happens. bill@vax1.udel.edu -- Bill Tsai University of Delaware CIS ARPA: bill@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (302) 478-0953 " The computer doesn't hate everybody - just you... " -- Bill Tsai University of Delaware CIS ARPA: bill@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (302) 738-1716 " The computer doesn't hate everybody - just you... "