pcb@cacs.usl.edu (Peter C. Bahrs) (12/06/90)
I have used ps2s and compaqs but now have a chance to get the following: Gateway 2000 386 33mhz, 4mb memory, 65mb hd, 2serial, 2parallel, 1.4 3 1/2" and 1/2 5 1/4" diskette drives, northgate omni keyboard, ati 512 vga graphics card, nec 3d multisync monitor. Do you know if this is a stable environment for windows 3.0 usage and development? How (if available) are the high res drivers for the ati? Is this worth $2900.0 ? Thanks for your input. /*----------- Thanks in advance... --------------------------------------+ | Peter C. Bahrs | | The USL-NASA Project | | Center For Advanced Computer Studies INET: pcb@swamp.cacs.usl.edu | | 2 Rex Street | | University of Southwestern Louisiana ...!uunet!dalsqnt!gator!pcb | | Lafayette, LA 70504 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------*/
c60c-3fz@web-3h.berkeley.edu (In Sik Rhee) (12/08/90)
In article <20143@rouge.usl.edu> pcb@cacs.usl.edu (Peter C. Bahrs) writes: >I have used ps2s and compaqs but now have a chance to get the following: > >Gateway 2000 386 33mhz, 4mb memory, 65mb hd, 2serial, 2parallel, >1.4 3 1/2" and 1/2 5 1/4" diskette drives, northgate omni keyboard, >ati 512 vga graphics card, nec 3d multisync monitor. > Wow. pretty loaded, except for the 65MB (probably RLL 40MB) HD, you will want to toss that puppy out, if you are seriously wanting to develop for Windows environment (My Programming partition is 40MB alone right now) >Do you know if this is a stable environment for windows 3.0 usage and >development? How (if available) are the high res drivers for the ati? > stable? sure... as for higi-res... The last I checked, Gateway's shipped with ATI VGA Wonder cards (512K)... an okay card, I guess.. havent seen its performance at 800x600x256, but I'm sure it'd be a bit sluggish >Is this worth $2900.0 ? > $2900... let me give you something to compare this against... 386-33 (no-name clone) 64k Cache 4MB 70ns SIMM's (bought separately) 2 serial, 2 parallel, 1.2, 1.44, 101 key 2400 internal smartmodem Sony 1304 (.25 dot pitch 1024x768 non-interlace) (also bought separate) Orchid Pro Designer II with 1MB RAM (1024x768x256 non-int) Conner 100MB IDE drive with card choice of small footprint or standard big AT case... total price... $3200 Now after I bought this system (for a friend), I realized I could have saved $50 on the HD (paid $500 for the conner) and some more on the modem and other stuff... wait, oh yeah, a Logitech Mouse was also included in the package... but at any rate, the system I described is far better Sony <-> Nec 3D The 1304 is the most highly-regarded 14" monitor out. Pro Designer II <-> ATI The Pro Designer II is the fastest SVGA card without a coprocessor Conner <-> 65MB (seagate) The Conner is a 3.5" slim, and SUPER-QUIET.. very fast, also... definately a better deal. but, what you are getting that I am not is the Gateway name, symbol, and service... that means if your computer breaks down for some reason, you don't have to deal with it, they do. In my case, I'm my own technician, so if my computer breaks, I fiddle with it... usually fixable... if it fries on me, I still have the standard 1 yr manu- facturer's warranty... For me, I don't care... I figure I'll keep the 33Mhz until the 486's become affordable, and bam, I switch motherboards... Anyway, I hope this helps... good luck
bill@polygen.uucp (Bill Poitras) (12/11/90)
In article <20143@rouge.usl.edu> pcb@cacs.usl.edu (Peter C. Bahrs) writes: >I have used ps2s and compaqs but now have a chance to get the following: > >Gateway 2000 386 33mhz, 4mb memory, 65mb hd, 2serial, 2parallel, >1.4 3 1/2" and 1/2 5 1/4" diskette drives, northgate omni keyboard, >ati 512 vga graphics card, nec 3d multisync monitor. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, If you haven't ordered it yet, Gateway recently replaced this card with a souped up Tseng 4000 1Meg card called the Diamond Speestar (?). This is the fastest VGA card I know of. IMHO you have made a good choice. > >Do you know if this is a stable environment for windows 3.0 usage and >development? How (if available) are the high res drivers for the ati? The newer card has drivers for ALL res, 1024x768x256 included!!!! > >Is this worth $2900.0 ? Yes. You might want to call Gateway again. They recently lowered thier prices about $200. Your price may/may not include this, so I suggest you check it out. > >Thanks for your input. Your welcome. +-----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+ | Bill Poitras | Polygen Corporation | {princeton mit-eddie | | (bill) | Waltham, MA USA | bu sunne}!polygen!bill | | | | bill@polygen.com | +-----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+