FrozenNorth wrote:

I worked for a "grey" market computer dealer back in the mid to late
eighties
and have built literally hundreds if not thousands of machines. Back
then between the proprietary parts in Compaqs, microchannel stuff in the
IBM boxes, and just the odd assortment of stuff built into the clones
you had to know what you were doing, just to get it to work.

IRQs, I/O addresses, DMA channels etc., now days, if it will fit, it
pretty much is guaranteed to work, not to say there is no research
involved, but the actual technical knowledge required is a lot less.


Yes, I was around computers during those time too. Sun and DEC were
kings of a sort. I've only built 4 systems, but "Guaranteed to work" is
not a suitable standard for a computer for me. I would want to know:

- The manufacturer and rating of the power supply (PSU)
- How well does it run OpenGL (I like SketchUp)
- I need all the processing power I can justify with respect to cost
(to run programs most people don't have or need).
- Is is 64 bit compatible, which OS am I getting (pro?)
- How much noise (db) does each component make, how well does the case
insulate noise (best do your own homework).

"Guaranteed to work" doesn't consider any of the above. Let's not even
get into "monitors" or "mouses" and keyboards--I am sort of particular
about them. I'm currently quite pleased with Dell's "Ultrasharp". I'm
not adequately familiar with the current model/version to comment. I
really, really like MS Natural (shaped) keyboard.

Yes Froze, I agree. Almost anyone can build a computer without knowing
about a single thing I wrote about above, and feel justly proud of the
accomplishment. And I'm sure it will work fine.

Consider Levels 0-5 of drywall finishing. Sometimes level 3 is good
enough. However, in general, I prefer the following quotation: "Good
enough is seldom good enough".

I wonder how much time manufacturers spend sharpening those drill bits
that they sell 160 for $40? I wonder how much time Fry's spends
threading wires through the case to ensure good air flow? I don't know
the answers to either question, but the kid would probably be on break
before I was finished.

Bill