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August 19th, 2001 14:00
Which New Dimension?
I'm about ready to purchase a new computer, but am not sure which Dimension to go with. I definitely don't want the Big Brother Windows XP, so was thinking of Win2000 - but it looks as if that may not be compatible with my 3COM home phoneline network purchased with my current Dimension 4100 (Win98SE, using ICS with my L500C, and my cable modem)?
If that is correct, would WinME be a better option than Win98SE? I would suspect that it would have a longer period of Microsoft support, but otherwise I'm kind of negative toward ME and all the problems people have reported with it.
And of course, is there really any advantage to the P4 that comes with the Dimension 8100? Or is the P3 based 4100 a better option? The only reason I have any thought of not going with Dell is that the Athlon is not an option here.
If that is correct, would WinME be a better option than Win98SE? I would suspect that it would have a longer period of Microsoft support, but otherwise I'm kind of negative toward ME and all the problems people have reported with it.
And of course, is there really any advantage to the P4 that comes with the Dimension 8100? Or is the P3 based 4100 a better option? The only reason I have any thought of not going with Dell is that the Athlon is not an option here.
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Erik1
837 Posts
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August 19th, 2001 18:00
David Hendricks
131 Posts
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August 19th, 2001 18:00
I don't have much information about the phoneline network deal, so I can't really address whether W2K will support the network. However, if we assume that the network uses standard networking protocols, I'm not too sure that W2K wouldn't work just fine.
Another option would be to get one of the newer wireless broadband routers. For example, Linksys has a wireless router that also has a 4 port switch, so you could use regular cat-5 cable for a local machine, while also having a wireless access for remote machines.
I like W2K; can't say that I have strong feelings one way or the other about WinME. I've tried it and it seemed okay, but I haven't used it on a daily basis. I have seen numerous reports of problems but don't have any first hand experience with them. W98SE is a decent OS; I like W2K much more.
At equivalent clock speeds, the P4 doesn't really have much advantage over the P3, unless you are a hard core Quake III player. The P4 and the Q3 engine are extremely well suited for each other. In fact, the P4 may well be slower than a same clock speed P3 on many applications.
On the other hand, you can't get a 1.8 GHz P3, and a 1.8 GHz P4 will certainly be faster than a 1.1 GHz P3.
The other thing to consider is memory.
The 4100 will use PC133 memory, which is dirt cheap. The 8100 uses RDRAM, which is a bit more expensive. The 4100 will only go up to 512 MB though, although having a use for more than 512 MB system memory would greatly depend upon the intended use.
It would indeed be nice if Dell had Athlon systems, but they don't.
Adios!
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Tom McCune
171 Posts
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August 21st, 2001 00:00