🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <418191308wnr@hardings.demon.co.uk>, Simon Harding
<Simon@hardings.demon.co.uk> writes

>I eam considering buying a pentium early next year.  I'm not going to 
>upgrade my current machine but get an additional computer.

Sensible.  There comes a time when it makes more sense to scrap what
you've got and start again.  I have decided to do exactly this.

>My question is  - Is it worth buying a P75?  I currently have a 486DX2 
>66, so how much faster will a P75 be?

It should be 1.5-3 times quicker, depending on what you do.  You will
also get a PCI bus, which is generally slightly faster than VESA, and is
beginning to become common on non-Intel platforms (so you can switch
perpiherals to a PowerPC...)

>Is there a lot of speed difference between a more expensive P75 and a 
>cheap one (say from Tiny) ?

In pure processing speed, not a lot.  Some manufacturers are now using
EDO-RAM which cuts down on wait-states and will speed up processing.  A
top-end motherboard will also use burst pipeline cache, which again cuts
down waitstates.

After that, it's down to peripheral speed.  Graphics cards probably have
the most impact on speed; both Tiny and Escom use tatty cards, and I'm
willing to bet my ISA-bus ET4000-W32i card is quicker than their PCI
cards :)

And a tip to help your decision - DON'T BUY A TINY COMPUTER!  They break
down, use cheap components and their tech-support is abysmal.  On of our
Tiny PCs at work has been back for 1) a new power supply, 2) a new
monitor and 3) a new motherboard.  This last return saw Tiny keep the PC
for 5 weeks!

>Is it worth networking the machines to share resources?  One machine 
>will be used for software development and the other(my current machine 
>for DTP, word processing, games etc etc.  Is networking a viable 
>alternative to buying another CD-rom, sound card etc ?

Definitely, providing both machines run Windows for Workgroups, Win95 or
Linux or something which supports networking and one of them is able to
act as a server.  You can get two NE2000 cards for fifty quid, but you
will not be able to network your soundcard :)

>Finally if I asked nicely would people I buy the computer from chuck in 
>a Zip drive highly discounted (or even better free!).

Unlikely.  The profit margin on a budget PC can sometimes be negative.

FWIW, I've just made the decision to get a P120 from Escom (the buy now,
pay April offer has something to do with this...) and upgrade a few bits
as and when.  It works out cheaper then just about any other place I can
find.  Plus they're local to a lot of towns and you can usually walk out
of the shop with a PC.  Sometimes you have to pay, though :-)

-- 
Marcus Bainbridge      http://uptown.turnpike.net/~marcus/
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