I finally convinced my wife we need another piece of hardware cluttering up the den so I'm adding a new machine to my stable at home.

Anyway it's going to pull double duty as an Inventor station and all around family email/word doc/browsing etc.. machine...

I certainly know what I want but was wondering if you guys stumbled across any good deals lately. I'm really past the point in my life where I want to build one from scratch (I've done that too many times already) .

Mech sent me some good info on an HP. Just curious if any one else has any shopping suggestions.

_________________
Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
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Dell
Dell
Dell

Lots of people have built some good hardware. Very few have been able to consistently deliver rock solid workstations at an attractive price like Dell has.

Dell support is pathetic but everybody I know that has ever needed it EVENTUALLY got their problem solved.

Compare that to HP/Compaq, I've had a lot of problems with them RECENTLY. The only way to really describe it is incompetent and I mean exactly that, no exaggeration. Some of these people are un-employable and yet...... they are employed.

Yeah, I'm a bid Dell fan too. You do pay for the name however. I am checking into a few of the guys who build machine specifically for Inventor.

What do you all think about 64 bit chips? AMD's looks rather interesting. I know the apps aren;t out yet but XP 64 is due this winter.

_________________
Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
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Phil A. said that the guys in the SW NG have been talking about the AMD 64bit systems - might want to venture over there.

_________________
Ron
http://www.arken.net Engineering and Design
http://www.arkenstudios.com Professional Photography

Will do, thanks...

_________________
Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
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My laptop was a Dell refurb and all I have done is boost the RAM from 512Mb to 1GB. Otherwise it has been flawless.

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Bill Bogan
B2 Design
http://www.b2-design.biz
I'm thinkin' about it....

Thanks Bill. I know Dells are great. I love them. My work machine is a Dell. Flawless is the word that comes to mind as well.

I need a desktop this time. I already have the laptop that gets by OK on Inventor but chokes on big assemblies (ask Mech.. )

The Dell desktop I speced out came in at $3800. I might need to tone it down a bit

_________________
Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
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Since it's for home - I would BIY.

_________________
Ron
http://www.arken.net Engineering and Design
http://www.arkenstudios.com Professional Photography

Sorry, my point was that Dell sells refurbs at very reasonable prices, including a variety of desktop models. I thought it might be a way of getting the machine you want for the price you want....

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Bill Bogan
B2 Design
http://www.b2-design.biz
I'm thinkin' about it....

Right Bill. I understood you.

The price I had there was for a new machine but the refurb I wanted was still $3200.

_________________
Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
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tell me ,how old is a refurb machine? 1 year?

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Frans X LIebenberg
Structural Engineer
Cape Town, South Africa

I would think that a refurb is only about 30 days or so generally. I think that most of these are returns from sales where the customer didn't like it or there was a minor problem with it which was fixed.

_________________
Ron
http://www.arken.net Engineering and Design
http://www.arkenstudios.com Professional Photography

I don't really know that you could go wrong with an AMD 64 bit chip clearly the performance numbers are looking good. http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2004010 ... benchmarks . I doubt it's cheap though!

It kind of depends on when the 64 bit WXP officially comes out I guess. I do not know how much memory the current boards will allow either.

Over here, if there is a minor problem with the pc, they fix it and give it back.
Thats the problem with over the counter pc here. the staff know zero and it might take a few weeks to get it back from the workshop.
I buy from a pc specialist who knows his stuff. he checks it first.

_________________
Frans X LIebenberg
Structural Engineer
Cape Town, South Africa

I would always stick to building one.

That way, you know your machine.
you know your components
you're less likely top get screwed with inferior components, assuming your've done your homework.
You upgrade individual pieces as performance demands.
It's a painful processs, like CAD.

Go to CNN.com/lou...Dell is listed as a major outsourcer of jobs....not my type but I'll be damned if I give 'em any of my business as a result. Not picking on them beyond many others, though I I find myself checking CNN's list on these company's in order to decide whether they are playing straight.