Q & A: Buying a Computer

Buying a computer is, of course, one of the most challenging aspects of computing in general. PC or Mac? Is it powerful enough? Will it become obsolete too soon? Are the components the best choices? There's an old saying (at least, it's old in "computer-years"): "There's Good, Quick and Cheap. You can have any two of the three." In other words, there's always a tradeoff, and a set of choices you'll have to make.

To help you with this often-confusing task, we've prepared some answers to common questions on what to look for when purchasing a computer or peripheral. The recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt. Just because a dealer or manufacturer's product proved suitable for our editors, doesn't mean that you will encounter the same model, price or salesperson. Our overall recommendation is: buy from a helpful dealer, based on the recommendation of a friend.

Common Questions

Q: I'm looking for a computer with lots of memory, that's really fast.  I saw a IBM 54U and I was wondering if that is a good computer to get?

A: Generally, IBM models aren't as inexpensive, nor do they provide as much raw performance as some lesser-known brands. But the company has very good support. Dell and HP and Compaq are other leading brands. If you are planning to play games, be sure to choose a machine with a good graphics card: Voodoo3, TNT2, G400 or Rage 128-based graphics cards are the best. Graphics cards (or worse, "onboard" graphics) based on the older ATI Rage Pro, XPert 98 or "Mach 64" are NOT the best choice for gaming. See the PC Buyer's Guide graphics card reports for details.

Q: I want a modem that is really fast.  Is the Internet on cable any good?

A: Yes, it is the second-best method of Internet access, if ADSL (available in SOME areas from the telephone company) is available in your areas. If ADSL service is not available to you, then cable is my #1 choice. Either one costs about C$39.95/month. Read our report on Cable vs. ADSL for more details.

Q: I also want to get a scanner and printer for producing high-quality photos with my PC. But I don't know what kind to get.

The Epson Stylus Photo 750 or the HP DeskJet 970cse are the two best photo printers on the market. I think the HP is #1, in terms of overall quality.

Is it Good?

Q: How can I check the quality of a computer before I actually bring the computer home from a store?

A: Well, that's the big question, isn't it?  I take a notepad, a pen or pencil, a Philips screwdriver and a flashlight (and of course, copies of The Computer Paper and Vancouver Computes!) with me when I want an answer to that question.

Since you don't want to unnecessarily annoy dealers by wasting their time and/or messing up their displays, do your homework by circling ads that describe systems with high-quality, brand-name components (asking the computer whiz in your office for his or her opinion of what you should get is usually a good idea, too), then visit the stores and work with the salesperson and let them help you determine whether the system seems likely to meet your needs and your budget. Once they feel you are a "qualified" customer, they will be much more likely to approve of you asking to check the manuals, examine the exterior components and so on.

Assuming that you find a machine that looks suitable, the next step is to check the quality of the components. Look for a spot-welded (not pop-riveted!), easy-open case, good heat sinks in the power supply, more than one fan in the case, insulation between the motherboard and the metal case, neatly tied cables, bolts that aren't worn looking, clean edges on the metal port slots at the back, a solid-feeling case, a boxed CPU (the boxed PII has an Intel logo hologram on its integral fan), motherboard manuals, name brand PC100 SDRAM (when applicable), hologram stickers on the Award BIOS chip (when applicable).

Make careful note of the model of motherboard, hard drive, graphics card, sound card, CD-ROM, modem, and other major components. Most PC problems are caused by driver-related issues, so be sure that the components -- both internal and external -- your new PC uses are well-supported brands. Are all the manuals included? What discs are supplied? Warranties? Expansion options?

Then, attach the power cord (etc.) and boot the machine. If it is running Windows, open the System control panel > Device Manager and examine the status and name-brands of the installed components. I'll leave it to your own research to determine what brand names and features to look for, but go for quality and "plug and play" components wherever possible. Of course, dealing with reputable dealers and asking them to help you put together a system with better-quality components is the true solution.

Should I Wait?

Q: I am thinking of buying a PC, but it seems that a better motherboard and/or CPU design is always just around the corner. What's coming up -- and should I wait?

A: Here is Intel's roadmap for 1998/99 and beyond. The old Pentium chips are history, as Intel moved in 1998 to Pentium II-compatible "slot 1" designs for all its product lines, followed by a so-called "Socket 370" form factor for Celeron chips introduced in 1999. 97/98 era Pentium II and 98/99 era Celeron chips used a 66 megahertz bus. However, Intel and its competitors moved to a 100 MHz bus for higher-end chips during 1998 and now, all Pentium II and Pentium III models use this bus speed. Only the Celeron remains at 66 MHz.

Competitors? Of course. Advanced Micro Device is the best known of them and supplies the AMD K6, K6-2 and K6-III family of "Socket 7" processors, that are pin-compatible with the Pentium. In fact, the latest AMD chip, known as the "Athlon," which was the fastest chip on the market for much of 1999, is still not much slower than the just-released "Coppermine" Pentium III, and it is considerably less expensive. Note, however, that this chip does not fit into older Pentium-style motherboards or, for that matter, any other Intel-compatible motherboard design. The Athlon requires an all-new "Slot A" motherboard design. Value conscious buyers may thus wish to consider an Athlon processor as an alternative. However, almost no one will debate that there is less potential for future upgrades with the Athlon, and already, the chip lags behind the latest "Coppermine" Pentium III and its kin in terms of raw performance.

So, what's coming up in the Intel family of processors? At the low end, the Celeron is already helping Intel to regain much of the "Value-conscious" marketshare it lost to AMD, Cyrix and the other Socket-7 chip manufacturers. The Celeron family is technically not able to be used in multiprocessor environments (i.e., computers with more than one CPU), although some manufacturers such as MSI and Abit have developed workarounds; this limitation is also present with the newest FC-PGA Pentium III processors (sometimes referred to as the PIIIB by system builders), of which Intel's web site states: "These processors cannot be used in Dual Processor (DP) applications." Those hoping to upgrade to multi-processor arrays should use the Slot 1 version of the PII or PIII, the high-end Xeon (which can be configured in up to 8-way symmetrical processing arrays), or investigate the non-sanctioned options for the Celeron family.

Note that motherboards based on the Intel 820i chipset that fully exploit these new CPUs are not yet widely available. These motherboards are just starting to hit the market. Because the different chipsets are the source of confusion to many people.

Here is a simplified breakdown of Intel chipsets:

• EX, LX = 66 MHz bus Celeron or "Klamath" PII only, does not fully support recent "Deschutes" PII or PIII models.
• 440BX is for Celeron/PII/PIII with PC100 bus;
• i810 ("Whitney") is for Celeron only, but supports 100 MHz bus.
• i820 (" Camino") is for "Coppermine" PIII with PC133 bus; ATA66 supported.

Most people expect Intel to move its PIII line exclusively to Socket 370 eventually, as the company has already done with high-end Celerons. However, the company has not yet done so and the many Socket 370 to Slot 1 adapters on the market mean that a Slot 1 motherboard makes the most sense for those currently wanting the greatest number of choices.

The chip that replaced the Pentium Pro is the Xeon. This chip is larger than current PII designs and requires motherboards with a special "Slot 2" slot. A new Intel "GX" chipset (which, in its earliest incarnations, has been shown to have some bugs in four-processor configurations) is required to enable four-way multiprocessing with the Xeon. The Xeon family of chips was upgraded in 1999 to support the Pentium III's "Streaming SIMD" instructions that give the PIII an edge for some games and multimedia applications. The Xeon is available with different types of L2 cache, with the high-end models supporting full-speed level 2 cache sizes of 1 and 2 meg. But remember, these are high-end system designs. An 8-way multiprocessing Xeon system costs about $50,000.

Beyond that, yet another Intel chipset is coming early in 2000; code-named "Williamette," it will be the first Intel chipset to support a new type of RAM known as RAMbus memory, and a 133 MHz bus speed. required for 8-way systems.

Beyond that, Intel's "Merced" microprocessor -- its first based on a 64-bit CPU design dubbed IA ("Intel Architecture") 64 -- was announced in 1999, and is expected to ship at some point in 2000. But don't expect 32-bit processors to disappear as soon as the IA64 designs show up. The company says it does not expect Merced to become a volume product initially. Thus, Intel plans a follow-up to the Pentium III in 2000.

At the low end, Intel still uses the Celeron and motherboards based on the 66 MHz EX chipset. Recently updated, the second-generation "Dixon" version of the Celeron, commonly referred to as "Celeron-A," added 128K of cache, the lack of which hampered performance in the original cacheless design. Because the original Celeron lacked the L2 cache of the standard Pentium II design (512K of half-speed cache in the PII or first-generation PIII; 256K of full-speed cache in the "Coppermine" PIII), it was a poor choice as a processor for general office productivity, but its impressive FPU performance (relative to a Pentium-class processor) made it a fairly good choice for 3D applications and other FPU-intensive apps. The current Celerons (333 or faster) all have 128K of cache and are all suitable for general computing tasks.

As Glen Anderson of PrimeTech, in Red Deer, Alberta notes, "The lack of L2 cache on the [original] Celeron makes it an incredibly poor choice for an office machine. Using business Winbench 98 (which tests using standard office applications) the Celeron performs on par with Intel's 200mmx cpu yet costs considerably more. In fact, a Cyrix 6x86PR266 outperforms a Celeron overclocked to 333MHz in this test as does the AMD K6-266. But don't just take my word for it, others have tested this performance and arrived at the same conclusion; the Celeron is a bad choice for office applications, period. On the other hand, the pure FPU power of Intel's PII core gives it 3D scores and high framerates that gamers crave. Checking framerates in games like Quake II and Incoming or checking 3D Studio Max rendering times shows the Celeron to be an exceptional performer for the price in 3D, far outperforming the comparitively priced competition. Certainly it's not quite as fast as the PII - 266, but holds it's own quite well against the PII-233 at the same price. And the Celeron is overclocking-friendly. I don't recommend overclocking, of course, but people do it and will continue to. The lack of any L2 cache makes this currently the most overclocking-friendly CPU in existance. People have the Celeron 266 running at 333 and 350MHz. That's the sort of power gamers like for a cheap, cheap price. Now this doesn't mean I like the Celeron; I don't. I'm not sure what Intel was thinking but I'm sure it was profit motivated. I personally believe offices wanting a 266MHz machine would be much better off with the business-friendly K6-266 system for the same price or even a Pentium 233mmx or K6 - 233 for much lower cost which, by the way, still outperform it (the Celeron). Most gamers who want power don't mind spending the extra $200; Heck, most of them are spending $4000 anyway... $200 is only 5% more for a all-around faster, better processor. But that's just my opinion."

We concur with Mr. Anderson and note that, early in 1998, many midrange PII machines used the LX chipset, with its 66 MHz bus, but as of Q2, the new BX motherboards with 100 MHz bus started to take over in machines designed for the Pentium II 's "slot 1" design. By the end of Q398 (probably Q4), a 450 MHz version of the PII will be available.

Meanwhile, Intel has released a series of improved mobile Pentium II and PIII designs. The original mobile version of the Pentium II was a bit of a power hog, but an improved design for a Pentium II processor minicartridge arrived late in 1998 that was 1/6 the volume and 1/4 the weight of the current Pentium II. It offered much better power savings, as does the newest mobile PIII, released in Oct. 1999. See the CPU section index for more information on these topics.

Bus Speed?

Q: Ads now speak of a 100 MHz. bus; is the 66 MHz outdated?

A: Outdated? Well, that depends. The Celeron is a current Intel chip (in its first incarnation, basically, a low-cost Pentium II design without internal cache, and in current versions, a chip with 128K of cache running at full speed) that does not officially support 100 MHz bus (although "overclockers" have been known to prove that claim false). However,  350MHz and faster Pentium II chips, code-named "Deschutes," are capable of running on a 100 MHz bus, and the newest "Coppermine" Pentium III models can, with a suitable motherboard, support a 133 MHz bus.

As well, recent Socket 7-type CPUs such as the AMD K6-2/300 can run on a 100 MHz bus.  Both types of CPU require special "PC100 SDRAM" to run reliably with this so-called 100 MHz "Front-side bus," or FSB.  The 100 MHz bus boards are known as "Super 7" boards if they use the old Pentium/AMD type Socket 7 CPU socket, and "BX" boards if they use the Pentium II's newer Slot 1 single edge connector, and the Intel 440BX chipset. These boards require a CPU especially designed for the faster bus speed.

Macs in Class

Q: Currently we have Macs in our school (as I gather most elementary schools do), and I have some more classroom money to buy another classroom computer. In reference to your comment on whether the producers of Mac will be around into the next millennium, I would like to know if it is worthwhile to purchase another Mac for my classroom. Much of my software is hybrid, and thus could be used on a PC as well as a Mac. My second question is, if you do recommend buying a Mac, where is a good place to buy one in Vancouver? We will need to order in a French keyboard and a French operating system. Last year I bought one through Byte computer and was rather dissatisfied with their service. Thanks in advance for your consideration to my questions. Joyeux Noel!

Leslie McElwain
Enseignante au programme francophone

A: As for Byte, you're not the only one. They went bankrupt after 20 years in business, and the business was bought by (and now operates as) Westwood Computers, a Calgary-based outfit. The good news is: we've been hearing refreshingly positive reports about Westwood's customer service.

Would I buy a Mac? Yes, I did buy a Mac in 1997. I bought a Umax C600X Mac clone, although if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have. I'd have bought a "genuine Apple" instead -- possibly one of the hot new G3 or G4-based Macs, or one of the many discontinued models that litter the trail behind Apple's recent drive to reduce the number of products it sells.  I often buy six-month-old technology, as I love a good deal and I hate being the first one to discover a serious problem. The Mac clone market, as you've undoubtedly heard, is history, as Umax -- the last Mac cloner -- exited the market. Indeed, the Umax model I chose is now unsupported, and I still suffer from quite a few minor hassles and idiosyncrasies. (Actually, so do some "genuine" Macs, but that's another story.) I've detailed my Umax trials in a report at macbuyersguide.com

Whichever model you decide upon, I'd buy it from any of the still healthy Mac dealerships in BC, such as Westwood, Simply Computing in Surrey/Delta or Vancouver, or MacStation in Burnaby and Maple Ridge. (Disclaimer: I used to work at the company that owns Simply Computing). There are Mac dealerships in the area;  these three are by no means an inclusive list -- they merely happen to be the Mac stores I tend to visit most often. They seem to be doing reasonably well, although this is a very tough time to be a Mac-only dealer, I think.

They may have to special-order the French OS and keyboard(s) you need.

Alternatively, you might consider adding a PC to your Mac mix in the class. PCs and Macs aren't hard to network together and data can easily be shared between the systems. And, what better way to teach your students about how Macs and PCs can work together?

Although some of your students will undoubtedly prefer Macs (or Apple's new iMac) in a side-by-side comparison, I expect some will prefer the familiarity of using the machine they have at home, and there is definitely a lot of good software available for PCs that does not run on the Mac.

Macs & Music

Q: I am in the position of having to upgrade my old Mac IIci. I obviously  have to move into the new designs thereby rendering my old (music)  hardware and software obsolete. (Performer/Protools/Sample Cell/etc.) I would like to know your opinion on the best new Mac for the money. I  need speed first, economy second, and storage third, although I have a  couple of external drives that can handle most of the storage.

Thanks for your help
Lawrence

A:   With the latest generation of music software using the host CPU for DSP effects, you are best off with a fast 604e or 750 (G3) processor. I'm quite a fan of Cubase VST, but I know Mac users who swear by emagic Logic Audio as well (I know others who swear at it, too, but that's another story.)

If you're feeling very wealthy, you might want to go for one of the fastest G3 or G4 Macs. Digital audio really taxes your computer's CPU and storage subsystems, and these Mac models are up to the most demanding tasks. Be sure to refer to sites such as www.macfixit.com and www.macintouch.com to search for the potential problems with the programs you plan to use -- not everything is compatible with the recent Mac OS releases these models use.

If you don't want to splurge on a new Mac, or if you need more than three expansion slots, you might be able to pick up one of the "former" high-end models that have been recently discontinued. for example,  the 8600/250, discontinued in Dec. 1997, is suitable for performing tasks like the ones you mention. It, or a non-discontinued machine of similar or greater power, would be ideal for all but the most demanding audio or video tasks. Hold off on major investments in RAM, though -- it's very expensive right now.

In music applications, as you have undoubtedly noticed, a fast, defragmented Ultra Wide SCSI 3 hard drive, with its input/output speeds of up to 80 Megabytes per second, is actually more important to some tasks than the processor speed. CD quality audio, after all, requires 10MB of storage (per channel) per minute. Today's computers, with a fast UW SCSI drive, are easily capable of recording and playing back several channels of high quality audio -- with the latest Pro Tools supporting true 24-bit audio! Note, however, that digital video sent via "Firewire" from (or to) a digital camera does NOT benefit from a superfast hard drive. In fact, you'll get exactly the same results from the built-in IDE drive in a recent Mac model, as you would with a super-expensive UW SCSI model, when working with FireWire-based digital cameras.

Whichever model of Mac you decide upon, I'd buy it from any of the still healthy Mac dealerships in your area, as opposed to buying mail-order, if you are hoping for a Canadian warranty or ongoing support.

By the way, you should have little trouble selling your old DigiDesign software and hardware. The Mac is still the machine of choice for many musicians (as noted in the Audio Buyer's Guide), and used Macs tend to fit the budgets of those with bigger dreams than budgets.

I would guess that a music store like Annex Hitech (604-68-ANNEX), which has a full-time DigiDesign expert on staff, might be able to find a buyer. Many other hi-tech musical instrument stores have a "digiguy" on staff. It's worth asking around at local studios.

Graeme (also a musician).

Shopping on the Web

Q: Whenever I search for products on the Web, I get about 10,000 "hits." It is very inconvenient to shop this way. Any suggestions?

A: Yes. See our page of tip for Searching the Web. It should help you get (only) the results you want.

As far as shopping goes, price-comparison shopping services are starting to pop up all over the web. For example, check out www.bottomdollar.com or www.uvision.com. If service and support is important to you, we recommend buying from a local source that has been recommended by friends.