On Wednesday, 4 September 2013 at 13:11:36 UTC, Wyatt wrote:
On Wednesday, 4 September 2013 at 08:48:52 UTC, Chris wrote:
On Wednesday, 4 September 2013 at 06:47:15 UTC, Jacob Carlborg
wrote:
On 2013-09-03 23:10, Chris wrote:
The machine I was looking at is this one:
https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/gazp9#
A laptop! Buy parts a build your own desktop :)
You are actually right. I should look into that possibility
too, given the pricing policy most companies have. Thanks for
the comment. Do you have any tips or useful links?
Yeah, if you don't need portability AND lots of power, I still
think a desktop is the way to go. For a laptop, I prioritise
battery life and weight above all else, these days; if I need
heavy lifting, I'll just SSH into my desktop. Best part is,
that portable unit only sets you back about the difference
between a high-end laptop and its desktop equivalent.
If this isn't an urgent purchase, definitely watch for sales
and discounts; play your cards right, and you should be able to
get a nice Haswell box for about $600 with a display.
You've more-or-less missed the US Labour Day sales, so the next
big "events" will probably be Halloween, and then Black Friday
(which is completely bonkers). Outside of that, weekly
specials are...well, weekly (though usually weak).
Outside of the big names, pricewatch [0] and slickdeals [1] are
probably still useful for finding low prices, though you'll end
up chasing across a bunch of different retailers on that path.
Another useful tool is the "Camelizer" [2], to see price
history for a potential buy.
If you let up know roughly where in the world you are, someone
else may have some idea of what retailers will let you dodge
overseas shipping costs if it's a pressing concern.
On to matters of part selection, since it sounds like your
first build, some general tips:
- As a rule of thumb, if it's a "generic" brand part, avoid it
like the plague. If there's one lesson I've learned, you tend
to get what you pay for with computer parts (...up to a point.
Those 6-core Xeons aren't really priced to move). If you're
unsure, look up reviews on Newegg and Amazon.
- Don't get _too_ caught up in the numbers. A couple hundred
MHz one way or another on a part won't be world-changing. On
the other hand you're probably not going to buy a new machine
for a few years and my experience is you won't bother upgrading
anything but RAM and maybe GPU.
- Do make sure to get a decent power supply. A crappy PSU will
cause headaches and instability. Pay special attention to the
PFC rating: efficient power delivery is good unless you live in
a state where electricity is dirt cheap. Also keep an eye out
for "Modular" PSUs, which is a nice perk for keeping internal
cable clutter low.
- Get a decent power supply even if one comes with whatever
case you buy (some people don't like their machines to be a
pile of parts on the desk. I call them "uninspired" ;) ). The
pack-in PSU tends to be awful (as a rule of thumb, if it's not
heavier than it looks, it's rubbish).
- I'd avoid motherboards from Foxconn, Biostar, and ECS.
Budget manufacturers, and I've had poor reliability from them
in the past.
- For Linux, particularly pay attention to the network hardware
on the motherboard. Buying something with Broadcom is playing
with fire. Atheros and Intel are your friends.
- If you don't need high-end graphics, the on-die Intel or AMD
solution should serve well. (It's too bad the Iris Pro trim
isn't available on the Haswell desktop parts; that even stacks
up favourably against low-mid tier GPUs).
- The stock cooler that comes with a modern CPU is actually
fairly decent. No need to get an aftermarket version.
- A basic cheapo case is plenty for probably 95% of builds. If
you can get one with a removable motherboard tray, that's a
nice feature, but not essential.
- If you need a discrete GPU and you're using Linux, I'd
personally look for some kind of fanless Radeon. I find the
general driver situation is just better for AMD cards.
- There's a lot of fluctuation in display prices right now, but
getting one for under a hundred bucks is probably doable.
- You probably don't even need an optical device these days.
Just boot from a USB stick.
Hope that helps!
-Wyatt
[0] http://www.pricewatch.com/
[1] http://slickdeals.net/
[2] http://us.camelcamelcamel.com/camelizer
Thanks a million.
PS The location would be Republic of Ireland (UK should be fine
too, shipping wise).
