🚀 go-pugleaf

Howdy everyone
I am just getting ready to buy a brand-spanking new IBM clone and have narrowed
the field down to 4 choices.  First, I have a few questions that I would like
the knowledgeable people to answer a few questions.
1.)  Is a VESA LB worth it??  I know that it dramatically speeds up graphix and
hard drive transfers, but not much else about it.
2.)  Are there any incompatabilities with VL-Bus??  Are there any programs that
don't work with VL-Bus, etc.
3.)  Does anyone know about the ET-4000 or Genoa VL-Bus cards, and which would
be the best for BOTH DOS and Windows performance?  I know that the Genoa gets
about 29 WinMarks but have no idea what the ET-4000 gets.  Help here would be
appreciated (a $95 difference for the Genoa).
4.)  Any information on the reliability/reputation of the below companies would
also be appreciated.  :-)

		Comtrade	Santron		Zenon		Maximus
HD sz, Cch, Tr	170, 64, 2MB/s	170,64,??	170,64,10MB/s	170,64,2.2MB/s
HD Brand	Conner		Conner		WD		Conner
GFX chip, WinM	Viper, 32	Genoa, 29	Cirrus, 28	Genoa, 29
Mon:DP,V,E2E	all have .28DP, NI, Vesa standard, edge to edge monitors
Mon. Brand	CTX		Hitachis	CTX		CTX
Ram/Max		all come with 4 and have 32 MEGS max on motherboard
Cache/Max	64/256		256/256		64/256		64/256
FD, brand	all come with 2 drives, TEAC brand
Upgrade?	all can be upgraded to DX2, none to P5, P24T
Mouse, Res.	Z-nix, 400	Santron, 400	A4Tech, 1450	Z-nix, 400
Case, LED	Mini, Yes	Full, Yes	Mid, Yes	Mini, No
Slots/unused	8/5		8/6		8/4		8/5
Bays/unused	5/2		6/3		7/4		5/2
Keyboard	Mitsumi		Focus, 129key	Lite-on		Mitsumi
# fans		1		1		1		1
Software	all come with DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1
Tech, time	Yes, 7-7	Yes, 8-5:30	Yes, 7-7	Yes, 8-6
#days/week	6		6		6		6
24-hr BBS	Yes		Yes		No (in 2 mos.)	Yes
On-site serv.	Yes, 1yr	Yes, 1yr	Yes, 1yr	Yes, 1 yr
Company		All companies' on-site service is from Nationwide
Warranty	P:2yr, L:life	P:1yr, L:3yr	P:2yr, L:2yr	P:2yr, L:life
		P=parts warranty, L=labor warranty
Money-back	All come with 30 day money-back gaurantee and no restocking fee
Arch.		All are VESA local bus systems
Motherboard	All come with UMC chipset and AMI BIOS
Price:		1795		1695		1745		1655
		+50, 32-IDE	+50 170Meg HD	+75 32-IDE	+55 32-IDE
				+75 32-IDE			+79 Genoa Card
Shipping:	70		70		65		76
Total:		$1915		$1890		$1885		$1865

I am leaning toward the Maximus system right now, but would prefer an LED
readout on the case (just for the look  ;-).
All prices are based on the February 1993 issue of Computer Shopper
Anyone who has any of these systems, please tell me how well you like it, how
much support you get, how often it catches on fire, etc.