On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Mark Wallace <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Unless you have a heavy need, you could probably buy a system off the > shelf for less money, and the manufacturer has already figured out what > hardware is compatible with what. > Be sure that it is Linux compliant. Most off the shelf systems are > built with Windows in mind, and might create problems putting Linux in > them. > Mark Wallace > It's been a while since I've built my own machine, since I tend to use laptops now and those aren't really build-your-own, so things might have changed, but I'd have to disagree that off the shelf machines are better bang for your buck. If you get the parts through a good outlet (i.e. don't try to buy the components at Best Buy) you can get excellent prices, you don't have to pay for software licenses you don't want, and you can get the exact balance (speed/storage/graphics/sound) that you want. And hardware compatibility just isn't that big a deal with tower-style machines. You need to do a basic check on the RAM, you buy an Nvidia graphics card, and you're done. All mainstream AMD/Intel chipsets have pretty good Linux support nowadays, and since he's looking to spend a thousand it's safe to say he won't be buying some brand new, bleeding edge, seven hundred dollar motherboard. I can go on, but I'm in danger of really taking a hard turn toward rant, so I'll leave it off here. Bottom line, I still think build your own is the best value. Also, it's way more fun. -Jay _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Mar 5 - Wearable Linux Computing Apr 2 - Building a Kernel the Debian / Ubuntu way May 7 - Setting up a platform-independent home/small office network using Linux Jun 4 - TBD Jul 2 - KVM (Tenative)
