Post #338,093
1/4/11 11:08:23 PM
1/5/11 12:12:14 AM
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Do you want to risk a second-hand Dell?
Business class, of course. IME, they tend to be very solid hardware, but a little oddly specced; I bought a GX520s for Dad and it came with a 40Gb HDD, for instance. That was huge for him, but if I was buying it for myself, I'd replace that.
If you were in Oz, I'd direct you to Greys Online; they sell a lot of ex-lease corporate stuff.
Wade.
Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Edited by static
Jan. 5, 2011, 12:12:14 AM EST
Do you want to risk a second-hand Dell?
Business class, of course. IME, they tend to be very solid hardware, but a little oddly specced; I bought a GX520s for Dad and it came with a 40Gb HDD, for instance. That was huge for him, but if I was buying it for myself, I'd replace that.
If you were in Oz, I'd direct you to Greys Online; they sell a lot of ex-lease rental stuff.
Wade.
Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
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Post #338,095
1/4/11 11:10:46 PM
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storage isn't that much an issue...open bays though...
are a good thing...as I wouldn't mind just swapping drives over.
Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
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Post #338,129
1/5/11 8:48:58 PM
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watch out for leaking capacitors on the motherboard
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #338,144
1/6/11 12:25:30 AM
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Re: watch out for leaking capacitors on the motherboard
Easy to spot - touch the top of all electrolytic capacitors - if they are warm, they're not long for this world.
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Post #338,187
1/6/11 8:53:55 PM
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But by then he's already bought it
no chance for a refund, and Dell still uses propriety motherboards, so bying one from someone like Asus and sticking it into the case may work, but it won't be easy.
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #338,194
1/6/11 10:49:48 PM
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The problem with replacing a Dell motherboard . . .
. . (in recent desktop machines and light servers - their expensive servers are quite proprietary) is Windows. The Windows that came with the Dell can't be used because it needs to see a Dell BIOS on the motherboard to install. at best it will install but fail Activation. Motherboard has been standard for quite some time.
I've heard there are ways around this BIOS thing but I haven't been interested enough to learn about them.
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Post #338,198
1/7/11 6:34:22 AM
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Don't they use BTX motherboards?
(Wikipedia days they do.)
Wade.
Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
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Post #338,202
1/7/11 10:02:41 AM
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On the slimline machines they probably do . . .
. . but I've got a brand new desktop Inspiron sitting on my bench right now and it has a standard micro-ATX motherboard, and it even seems to have a standard aperture plate. Again, the problem is that the Dell Windows won't install unless it sees a Dell BIOS on the board.
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