What kind of Computer(s) should I get
by Tom Temple
Jun 9, 12:12 PM
I don’t really keep up with computer hardware evolution, there is just too much going on. Last time (almost exactly two years ago) , I thought the right configuration was two computers, a powerful desktop and an email/internet/texteditor laptop. I’m not sure that’s still right.
Here’s where my cituation differs from then. While it would be nice to keep up with desktop gaming, a new videocard costs pretty much the same as an entire freaking console, and despite their clunky interfaces, console games are my drug of choice these days. Then, a laptop that could handle Simulink was out of my price range, now that certainly isn’t, not only because laptops are better but because my price range has increased. Furthermore, I’ve come to realize that if I want to do something serious I’m going to upload it to a supercomputer, so the additional power of the desktop is even less important.
That said, I still want to be able to tap out a few million small matrix inversions in an afternoon, or multiply a pair of million x 10 matrices in the amount of time it takes me to read an email. My XPS “laptop” at work could perform these feats. Other processes didn’t even slow down since it was dual processor. That isn’t to say you couldn’t tell it was working hard; it had to turn on the extremely loud tertiary fans and the power brick got really hot.
So anyway, I’m just soliciting advice in the hardware department. I had thought that I was going to get a laptop with a 64bit AMD chip and just put linux on it, but now I’m overwhelmed. I just don’t know what’s important anymore. Is on-chip cache of prime importance these days? Should I fork out for the fastest FSB and most, fastest memory I can? Dual-core or dual processor? A lot to think about.
Jun 9, 01:17 PM
You should get a MacBook.
Jun 9, 02:25 PM
I am embarrassed to admit this, but I agree with Jon. There’s a dinky little $1k MacBook which will do everything I need a notebook to do. And boy do I hate Apple, so this is a big admission from me.
I type this comment on a POS $2k Dell notebook. The caps lock light is flashing. I don’t know why. There are stress cracks in the case. Don’t know why.
And for that very $1k pricetag, a decent desktop PC can be had, so long as I recycle my monitor. Our purposes differ, Tom, but I agree completely that the optimal solution is a powerful desktop and a reliable notebook.
As for speed, I think the consensus is that all chips blaze these days, and that the speed of the front side bus is of prime importance.
-joe
Jun 9, 07:26 PM
After reading around, I decided that the Intel dual core chips were probably the best deal in my price range (that is the range that doesn’t include the dual-core Opteron). The MacBook, Inspiron as well as a big handful of contenders from less big sellers all have pretty nice products with that chip in the $900-1500 range. I ended up getting the Dell because it offered a 17” 1920×1200 display with a respectable video card. That had a 2300E chip for about the same price as the macbook with the 2500 chip. 20% faster clock or sweeter screen. At the time I bought it, I had read that the chip in the Dell ran at half the wattage of the one in the Apple. It turns out that was a typo.
BTW, don’t get the memory upgrades. Buy the memory yourself. I saved like $200 by buying the memory on Newegg and this way, I can put the memory that came with the machine in my desktop.
Jun 9, 11:14 PM
Sorry, I linked the wrong one. I got this one.