[Hidden-tech] Does this sound like a good computer deal?

[Jan Werner]

Sorry, but times have changed and this is simply no longer true. PCs 
today store a lot more than a few applications, documents and maybe some 
source code. Large hard disks not only allow for storage of multimedia, 
but also large files like backup images and virtual machines.

- For software development and testing, I now usually work in a virtual 
machine and make backup copies at critical points. Each XP or Linux VM 
typically takes about 2-5 GB of space without much data loaded in it.

- Frequently used software or data CDs can easily be converted to iso 
files and run from a hard disk using a CD emulator. That saves time, 
space and aggravation from misplaced CDs, but uses plenty of HD space.

- I probably have 300GB of MP3 files on one drive, and over 1,000 GB 
backed up in lossless files on DVD-R, which accounts for a fraction of 
the contents of the some 5,000 CDs and LPs I have accumulated over the 
years. And I don't even use my PCs for video recording.

- Personal Video Recording is fast becoming a major use for home PCs, 
replacing VCRs, which will probably disappear completely in a few years. 
  Even highly compressed, low quality video eats GBs of storage quickly 
today, let alone when HDTV starts to be the norm. 300GB is probably the 
minimum you want today for a system that will be used as a PVR.

Fortunately, hard drive storage prices keep falling, from about $1/GB a 
few years ago to under $.30/GB today. Large manufacturers pay much less, 
but mark up storage a lot to make up for competitive pricing on basic 
systems, which is why you will usually come out ahead by upgrading the 
hard disk and optical drives yourself, if you are at all handy.

Jan Werner
___________

Robert Heller wrote:
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> 
> At Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:12:25 -0800 Tom Adams / Reelife <reelifeproductions at mac.com> wrote:
> 
>>    ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee.
>>    ** You too can help the group
>>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>>
>>
>> never enjoyed the apple vs. windows debate but i can't resist throwing in a little fodder for the fire...
>>
>>
>> Frank wrote:
>> re: The fact is, they're both valid platforms and you just have to be comfortable with what you need to work .
>>> good point.  sometimes I like to wear ripped jeans, other times i like khakis.
>> re:Frankly, I think that the claims made by Apple are somewhat  overblown
>>> disagree.  I've never said "wow" to a new microsoft application...whereas, I literally was flabergasted by some of the new stuff I've seen in the latest apple keynote address (http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/).  I agree these keynote addresses are a sickening display of apple geeks gawking at their faithful leader adorned in a black turtleneck and jeans... but all that aside, I think the apple product is quite an astonishing value.
>> re:...check out the top of the line Mac Mini.  It tends to be light on disk space (A question for the Mac Apostles:  Why would that be?!) 
>>> the top of the line mac mini has an 80GB hard drive...that's not "light"...that's plenty of space for the average user (especially for $800)
> 
> I agree here.  *I* have never understood the reason for a putting a
> 300gb SATA drive on a *PC*.  Unless one is downloading (in a wholesale
> manor) complete feature films in digital form (eg pirated DVDs) or
> something, what do you really need 300gb for?  I do software
> development and have come nowhere near filling up my 36gig disk. The
> current breed of iPods have on 30gig, so 300gig would be enough for 10
> iPods worth of music. At roughly 1 meg/1 minute, this is about 300*1024
> minutes or aboout 300,000 minutes or 5000 hours or 208 *days* of music.
> 
> So, unless one is doing things involving image understanding research (I
> worked for awhile at UMass at the Computer Vision Reearch Lab) 300gb is
> a truely excesive amount of disk space.  Really.  Sort of like using a
> 40' tractor trailler to get a week's worth of groceries for a family of
> four... 
> 
>> re: A good reason to stick with Windows:  Office 2007
>>> Not really. If you use the "Parallels" application, you can run Windows at the same time you're running Mac OS.  Doesn't matter if they EVER release it on the MAc platform...you can run it immediately if you use the "Parallels" application.
>>
>> -Tom
>>
>>
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>