From: John Tserkezis 
Reply-To: Fidonet AVtech Echo 

Bob Lawrence wrote:

>  I knew that - what about an ASUS then? Does the all-in-one approach
> work okay?

  Aside from not working with some OSes, yes.  But if you don't care for a 
bleeding edge videocard, or want the modem of your choice, or the sound card of 
your choice, etc...

> JT> , better bundled software.
> 
>  And that's the same, too. All that changes is the HELP file.

  Bullshit.  Some hardware has better software support.  Even if only with the 
drivers.

  The built-in sound card in my machine doesn't work with either windows OR 
linux.  It used to (well, sometimes anyway), so fucked if I know if it became 
faulty, or it's back to its old tricks again.

>  Performance? Does anyone bother with that any more? Even when it was
> the done thing, it struck me as stupid to screw the system for 20%
> when all you had to do was wait three months and it would double
> anyway. It's like dorks who change the ROM in the car's computer... as
> if the Holden engineers are so stupid they didn't think of that.
> Durr...

  Sure, but doesn't stop people from doing it.  There are a couple of guys at 
work who are still doing it.  As it stands, they have something like 20% faster 
machines that what is currently available on the market.

  However, if you talk to them, you'll be left shaking your head.  They're 
continually upgrading, it's one long continuous upgrade path (hold on to 
nothing for longer than six months), and the worst thing-  they never actually 
use their machines for anything _useful_.

  All they have on it is an OS and benchmark software.

  All their real work/net/email/play is done on another _normal_ machine.

>  Yair. An Ace saleman told me years ago that you never sell the
> thing; you sell the IDEA of the thing.

  Numbers portraying an idea is always popular with PCs.  And until a short 
time ago, it was the ONLY thing driving the marketing.  Intel finally learned 
they can't play the numbers game because AMD beat them every time.
  So now they're playing the performance game.  More numbers...  Idiots.
-- 
       -o)
       /\\    Message void if penguin violated
      _\_V    Don't mess with the penguin

Linux Registered User # 302622                         http://counter.li.org>
Fido: 3:712/610  BBS/FAX: +61-2-9716-8310  Internet: jt{at}techniciansyndrome.org
--- ifmail v.2.15