[comp.sys.mac.hardware] Buying advice

mvg@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Mitchell Gossman) (01/10/91)

I'd like some advice regarding possible purchase of the following items...

1.  I'm tired of 1200 baud, so it's time for 2400. I'd like to spend in the
neighborhood of $150 - what are some good mail-order choices, of reasonable
quality?

2. As long as I'm getting a new modem, is a fax modem worth it in your
experience? The Dove modem/fax attracts my eye, for example, as a good deal.
Any other good deals? Is a fax practicalwith a Mac? I've only got an SE/IW-II
combination - when a fax is received by me, is a printout at the highest
resolution of the printer, and does this approach the resolution of real
fax machine output? And is there a way to get even better resolution with a
laserwriter?

3.  I need a 19"/8-bit color combo for my Mac ci at the office. What is a good
bargain? The Nutmeg is a remarkable deal - are they any good? What about other
mail-order bargains?

4.  Is the infrared wireles optical mouse any good?

Thanks!

Mitchell Gossman (mvg@pnet52.cts.com)

russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) (01/11/91)

In article <3782@orbit.cts.com> mvg@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Mitchell Gossman) writes:
>I'd like some advice regarding possible purchase of the following items...
>
>
>2. As long as I'm getting a new modem, is a fax modem worth it in your
>experience? The Dove modem/fax attracts my eye, for example, as a good deal.
>Any other good deals? Is a fax practicalwith a Mac? I've only got an SE/IW-II
>combination - when a fax is received by me, is a printout at the highest
>resolution of the printer, and does this approach the resolution of real
>fax machine output? And is there a way to get even better resolution with a
>laserwriter?

The SE takes quite a while doing compression/decompression.  Using the
ImageWriter on Faster mode seems to give an acceptable, errr, facsimilie of
real fax output on low quality mode.  I think a fax is nominally 200 x 100 in
low quality mode, though.  In Best mode, the Imagewriter is 144x144, so the
fax should work nicely even in high quality mode.  A LaserWriter has
higher resolution than both, so it should produce the same quality output
a normal fax machine would produce.
Whether or not the fax is worth it depends on how much you need a fax,
naturally.  Fax modems are best for faxing computer-generated documents-- the
output is far superior to what you get by printing out your document and
running it through a regular fax machine.
--
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
     .sig under construction, like the rest of this campus.