pmisra@desire.wright.edu (Pradeep Misra,354A Fawcett,8733663,) (03/08/91)
I would really apprciate some advice from the PC Gurus on the following configuration for a 486/33 PC that I am planning on buying from GATEWAT GATEWAY 2000 33MHz 486 VGA 64 K cache RAM (25 ns) 8 MB RAM (70 ns chips) 1.2 MB 5.25" EPSON floppy drive 1.44 MB 3.5" EPSON floppy drive 300 MB ESDI Hard Drive (18ms) 10 M/Bits DTR ULTRASTOR 32 K CACHE controller Diamond Speedstar 16 BIT VGA board with 1 MB (1024x768) 16" NANAO Monitor (1024x768) (non-interlaced) GATEWAY 2000 101 Key keyboard DOS 4.01 or 3.3 Microsoft Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse PHOENIX BIOS Price: $5945.00 They are also offering 120 MB tape back up for $295.00 (how important is a tape back up --you can tell I am new to this game!) Money is not a concern here. What I would like to know is your opinions on various components that are being used in this configuration. I know that so far GATEWAY folks have had a very satifactory track record. So I am not worried about the company itself but are these components very reliable. If not, which ones should be changed and what will be a better brand name for them!! I thank you in advance and if the information is of general interest, I will certainly post a summary. I read the news group regularly but in the interest of avoiding a clutter on the newsgroup, you can mail to me directly. Pradeep Misra pmisra@eve.wright.edu pmisra@valhalla.cs.wright.edu
am42+@andrew.cmu.edu (Alexander Paul Morris) (03/09/91)
It's a good system the way it is. I just bought their 386/33 version
which is basically the same as what your looking at except 4megs, 135meg
ESDI (I had my own hard disk), and of course the 486 chip. It's
excellent!!! Esp with a 300meg drive, backup (Esp. at $295 for 120meg!)
is definately a good deal! If your drive ever crashes, and you back up
regularly, you really won't have to worry about losing a thing! I
didn't know it was only $295 for 120meg backup. I might consider
getting one from them now! I have a Compaq back home with 550 megs and
a Compaq 135meg backup unit that cost $1000 several years back!!!
Alexander Morris "People die, things change...
Carnegie Mellon It's sad."akcs.gregc@vpnet.chi.il.us (*Greg*) (03/12/91)
Oh, one more thing about Nanao 16" Monitors: Make sure you get the 9070U. Or the one with .28 dot pitch. Much crisper monitor at high resolutions.
akcs.gregc@vpnet.chi.il.us (*Greg*) (03/12/91)
If this machine can only expand to 12 Megs of RAM. I would have Second thoughts if you need 16 Megs in the future. 8 Megs of RAM is ok. But Micronics Motherboards usually hold only 12 megs tops! Everything sounds great. Everybody gets you on the extras. :)
smsmith@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M. Smith) (03/16/91)
akcs.gregc@vpnet.chi.il.us (*Greg*) writes: >If this machine can only expand to 12 Megs of RAM. I would have Second >thoughts if you need 16 Megs in the future. > >8 Megs of RAM is ok. But Micronics Motherboards usually hold only 12 megs >tops! I have a 386-33 from Ultra-Comp. Ultra-Comp uses the same Micronics motherboard as Gateway. It holds 4 MEG on board with an additional 12 MEG on an optional card. This gives 16 MEG total. I believe 16 MEG is the minumum for Micronics 386 and 486 motherboards. You might have been thinking of just the proprietary 12 MEG RAM card. Stephen M. Smith \ + / <smsmith@hpuxa. \+++++/ " #*&<-[89s]*(k#$@-_=//a2$]'+=.(2_&*%>,,@ ircc.ohio-state. \ + / {7%*@,..":27g)-=,#*:.#,/6&1*.4-,l@#9:-) " edu> \ + / BTW, WYSInaWYG \ + / --witty.saying.ARC
feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke,2C-119,7239,ATTBL) (03/18/91)
In article <1991Mar15.193130.5254@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> smsmith@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M. Smith) writes: > >I have a 386-33 from Ultra-Comp. Ultra-Comp uses the same Micronics >motherboard as Gateway. It holds 4 MEG on board with an additional >12 MEG on an optional card. This gives 16 MEG total. I believe >16 MEG is the minumum for Micronics 386 and 486 motherboards. > >You might have been thinking of just the proprietary 12 MEG RAM card. I believe Gateway is currently shipping a system using a different Micronics motherboard which can have up to 8MB ram on it, unlike an earlier board which could only have 4MB on the motherboard. Gateway tends to vary the makeup of their PC's depending upon competitive conditions. If they can find a board or device at less cost which allows them to reduce the price, they just do it. Thus the different Micronics board, the use of a 200MB IDE hard disk, NI monitor and Diamond video board. My PC, purchased from them just three months ago has a different makeup, although I have upgraded to the NI monitor and Diamond board. Someone recently termed this "screwdriver" configuration, although I have found that IBM does the same thing, though perhaps not so often. Forrest Gehrke feg@dodger.att.com