Re: Good buy or not?
I tend to disagree with the following argument. My Packard Bell is a
Pentium 100 MHz. I bought it with 8Megs memory and a 1 Gig HD. I now
have 32 Megs memory (PNY) and two hard drives (2 Gig and a 1 Gig), also an
IDE CD-ROM. I have had no problem upgrading. You do really have to pull
the computer apart to get to some of the parts, but nothing to tough. I
have been very satisfied with it. It had all good parts inside, nothing
second rate. Seagate hard drive. I would recommend it if you get a good
deal on it. I have had mine for over a year and I have had no problems,
and the thing is on more than it is off.
Tom Veldhouse
veldy@visi.com
On Mon, 6 Jan 1997, Dale Scheetz wrote:
> On Sun, 5 Jan 1997 wb2oyc@cyberenet.net wrote:
>
> > I wonder if anyone on the list may have experience with Packard
> > Bell machines, running Debian ? The reason for the question is, a local
> > store is selling excess stock that didn't sell during the holiday season
> > at a price that is very, very, tempting. Actually, the price is only a
> > little more than the cost of a decent motherboard, and it is for a
> > complete system, including monitor, 4X CD-ROM, etc. The processor is a
> > 75Mhz Pentium. I don't know the whole story of the Pentium line, but
> > would it be reasonable to assume that the cpu could be readily upgraded?
> > Thats a detail that might depend entirely on the capability of the board
> > in the machine, and I know little about PB, other than the adverse stories
> > of the recent past. Are they still using "refurbished" stuff and selling
> > it as new? Do their machines use standard memory components, so they
> > could be easily upgraded with parts from other vendors, etc? They don't
> > mention the vendor, but the machine includes an video accelerator type of
> > card, and the machine is billed as a "multimedia home PC". The monitor is
> > one of those goofy looking things with speakers glued to its sides. It is
> > a model 4240. Anyone have any comments on its insides, and whether it
> > might be as good a buy as it appears to be?
> >
> > My current machine is an old 486 box, and I need space for an
> > additional HD, etc. Running an AMD 486/133, so this machine would not
> > really be much of an upgrade in itself in terms of performance, but if
> > possible, I would quickly upgrade its cpu and memory. Would this be a
> > decent platform to build on or not?
> >
> My experience with Packard-Bell machines is that these folks made a decent
> car an an ok telephone, but their computer stinks worse than a landfill of
> diapers. These machines are almost completely NONE upgradable. They are
> typically incompatable with all other components (memory etc) and in order
> to get their "low profile" design they mount expansion boards horizontaly
> rather than virtically, typically giving only 2 or 3 expansion slots.
> Literally everything is on the mother board, so if the least thing breaks,
> you own a "not so functional" boat anchor.
> If you never need to upgrade or fix them, they are just fine for "limited"
> applications, but my advice would be, upgrade to a pentium mother board
> (PCI) and you will get two ide channels to hang drives on. Spend the rest
> of your money on memory and drives. You will be much happier with the
> results. Remember: You get what you pay for!
>
> Luck,
>
> Dwarf
>
> ------------ --------------
>
> aka Dale Scheetz Phone: 1 (904) 656-9769
> Flexible Software 11000 McCrackin Road
> e-mail: dwarf@polaris.net Tallahassee, FL 32308
>
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