What do I do now?

[pax anglia]

My venerable PC of indeterminate ancestry is about to give up the ghost and will need replacing very soon.I am keen to avoid deals that include "extras" that I neither want nor need-low quality web cams,scanners etc,and huge bundles of software for which I will have no use and will probably be out of date anyway.So,can anyone help me decide how to proceed?I only use a PC on the Internet and for CD-ROM's so I imagine a fairly basic spec would suffice.I think that having a machine built to order may be the way forward but I would have difficulty drawing up a spec for even the simplest of PC's as I am not a computer buff but only an appliance operator.I use the Net to access Aerial & Satellite photography,charts,maps etc so a good monitor is vital.Similarly an excellent printer is needed.I have the UK AIP on CD-ROM and use Windows 98 but wonder if it would work with Windows ME ? Your thoughts and advice would be gratefully received.

[R O Tiree]

pax anglia - To answer your last question first, UK Mil AIP uses Internet Explorer v5, Acrobat Reader v4, Map Explorer 2 and MDAC v2.1 (Microsoft Data Access Control). If they are not installed, the CD will install them for you. These last 2 are utilised by the Bird Concentration Areas software although, IMHO, it's pants. There is, however, no reason why you should not use this package on any Windows OS PC.

OK. What sort of computer should you buy? Do not, whatever you do, go to a box mover. I can't name names of companies whose PCs I have had experience of that have been utter rubbish, as they'd sue me. Suffice to say they have widespread advertising campaigns, hint, hint. They pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap. The reason they can afford to do this is not just volume leading to savings, they install cr@p components.

See my post on this thread for a rant about box movers and why you will pay so much: http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum35/HTML/000544.html

Next Question, do you have or are likely to have in the future, kids? If so, you might like to thinkabout decent video and sound cards. For that matter, why hamstring your PC by not getting decent kit? When it says in the advert "16-bit sound card" MOST sound cards are 16-bit but if you go for the cheap, un-named one the MIDI music will make your ears bleed. £100 is not much extra to pay for a SoundBlaster Platinum Live! that has instrument sounds that sound about right.

OK, here's my recommended spec:

Processor - Pentium III or AMD. Don't touch anything else with a barge pole

Motherboard - 100 or (better) 133 Mhz Bus

RAM - at least 128 MB (your existing RAM is likely to have too slow an access time and will need to be replaced to work with the new, fast motherboards)

Video Card - 32 Mb at least. You appear to need high resolution for your satellite imagery, therefore a good card is required. Go for anything from ATi, Creative, Guillemot, Matrox of the order of £160 plus.

Sound Card - Creative SoundBlaster Live! (Platinum version costs a bit more, but then I like music)

Modem - Buy from Rockwell, US Robotics or another "named" brand. Don't touch HSP. Don't be tempted to go for anything that, for example, says it has the Rockwell chipset if it doesn't say "Rockwell" in large friendly letters on the box. These "clones" are difficult to install and configure. If you want to go ISDN, that's a whole different ballgame.

Monitor - CTX are good and reasonably priced to boot.

Hard drive - Western Digital, Fujitsu, Seagate (had a bad rep 2 years ago, but I gather they're better now), in excess of 20 Gb. Sounds like you have large graphics files to play with.

CD drive - Go for something like a Panasonic, Mitsumi or other named brand CD writer/re-writer, at least 24x/4x/4x. This last means 24 speed read, 4 speed write, 4 speed re-write. You might wish to archive some of your large graphics files and CD is a cheap, fast and roomy storage medium.

DVD drive - go on, you know you want to!

Printer - Personally, I'd go for a late model Epson. The downside is that you only have 2 ink cartridges, 1 black, the other with 3 ink reservoirs for magenta, cyan and yellow in one package. Sounds to me that, if you are dealing with colour satelltie imagery, you will be using a lot of blue, so 2 of your 3 colour inks are going to run out "prematurely". You might be better going for a 4 cartridge system, ie 1 black, 1 cyan, 1 magenta and 1 yellow cartridge. These cartridges are more expensive, but you might save in the long run. Then again, once you have a good printer, you will probably find there are lots of other things you want to print, in which case you are likely to be using all 3 colours at the same rate.

Scanner - get one. Scan a document in, send it to the modem, instant fax. You've just saved yourself £200.

If you elect to build this monster yourself, be not afraid - it's just a large Lego set. If you get one from a retailer, you'll pay a bit extra, but you will get the peace of mind of a guarantee if it all goes Pete Tong. Make sure that it's an "On-Site Repair" warranty, else you'll have to pay carriage costs to and from the repair centre - not cheap.

Try this site:
http://www.computerprices.co.uk

They have up to date catalogues from (at last count) 26 hardware and software suppliers. Search for the component(s) you are looking for and the site displays the cheapest quotes from the databases. It has a shopping cart, so you can see just how much you are likely to have to spend. It also provides links for all the companies with phone numbers, on-line stores, addresses, etc.

If you want more info, why don't we arrange to meet in PPRuNe chat tonight, go private, and talk some more? Post back here if that suits you.

[This message has been edited by R O Tiree (edited 12 November 2000).]

[pax anglia]

R O Tiree-Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to respond to my posting.Ever thought of going into IT consulting? You've certainly given me food for thought and prompted me to consider options that would not otherwise have occurred to me.As regards your references to whom to avoid:-early middle age has few compensations but an increased ability to read between the lines is one of them.Message received.
Thanks again,
PA



------------------
Time flies like the wind,but fruit flies like a Banana.

[R O Tiree]

No worries - you're welcome

[Anon-x]

Go and look at the Dell Factory Outlet http://www.euro.dell.com/countries/uk/enu/dfo/default.htm Just recently purchased a P111 600 128Mb RAM 15GB HD 17" Screen CD Drive 56K Modem Sound Card Speakers lots of software Three year service first year 24hrs on site. £622 incl VAT and delivery. Just been offered another all of the above except a 733Mhz for £700.

[pax anglia]

Anon-x,
Thanks for your response.I've had a quick look at the Dell site and some of the offers certainly warrant further scrutiny.I wasn't aware that deals of that nature were available.
Thanks again,
Pax Anglia

------------------
Time flies like the wind,but fruit flies like a Banana.

[Anon-x]

No probs PA. As for the printer go for an Epsom Stylus. PC World are just starting to sell the latest 1400x1400 DPI for just over £100. They have been for sale in the USA for sometime and produce excellent colour photographs.

[R O Tiree]

That Dell sounds like a good deal. As I said above, find out exactly what the other components on board are. If you've never heard of them, chances are they are cheapo components to keep costs down.

We have some Dell computers at work and the sound cards, video cards and modems are, shall we say, "not of the best". I have no end of trouble with them and the sounds make your ears hurt!

Rgds, R O

[criticalmass]

Pax Anglia,

I have always had SCSI-based machines, currently using very staid 233Mhz Pentium with Fast SCSI-2 devices (HDD, CD-ROM, Jaz backup drive etc) and will go ultra-fast ultra-wide SCSI on the next machine. This works well on Windows and Linux. Modem is USRobotics Courier Dual Standard, works very well. SCSI is fast!

Current machine actually doing rather nicely so not in hurry to upgrade. Only problem with SCSI is initial expense of hardware but very fast and usually no problems with conflicts between hardware.

Suggest 256Mb RAM for your machine, and AGP video card with 64Mb RAM, more if available.

As for remaining bits, get the best your wallet can afford and definitely stick to well-known name brands. Generics are a pain in the b*tt! (R O Tiree gives sound advice!)

Suggest get 15" wide printer...you can always put narrow paper in it but you can't put wide paper in a narrow printer!