Are "system[76]" Ubuntu Desktop Computers Good?

[Sandy Harris]

On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 3:45 PM, Robert Spanjaard <spamtrap at arumes.com> wrote:

>>> > My current main desktop computer is getting old. (3.5+ year old Dell
>>> > XPS - custom modified)
>>> >
>>> > I DO NOT want to build a new computer from parts. (done above before
>>> > with mixed results)

>> That or find someone local to build a custom machine for you. When I had
>> mine built, he did the job about as cheap as I could have. ...
>
> I always buy the parts and build it myself. But, like most (internet-)
> shops around here (NL), the shop I order the parts from also offers the
> service of assembling those parts. So you can 'build' your own system
> without actually building it yourself. And that alse means you can order
> any kind of complete system without paying for Windows.

Also consider using two machines as "your PC". One runs X, the
other the actual processes. Your current machine might fit either
role.

With the load spread, two modest machines may give remarkable
performance. Years back, a penniless friend had a system that
used two Sparc ii's (40 MHz RISC chip, 128 meg RAM), one
with the X server and one the window manager, with a 486
being the main computer. Performance on most tasks was at
least as good as my machine at the time, a Pentium III 800
with a good graphics card and 512 megs, more than his three
systems combined. Compiling a kernel was an overnight job
for him, though.

If you are putting together parts, please don't become the
pet peeve from my days in a computer shop.

Guy buys every part at the cheapest place, saves $20 or so
on a $600 motherboard/CPU/RAM/fan combination. CPU
from me, RAM across the street, board across town. Puts
it all together and no joy. He then wastes some of his own
time coming back to me and some of mine hearing about
it. Then some of our technician's time, remove the CPU
and test it in another board -- works fine.

Now what? He did not damage the CPU, so we do not
need to argue about whether he's blown the warranty.
Our technician will make the machine work if he likes,
but his time will cost more than the 20 bucks our hero
saved on the deal. He is not happy with that, goes
off to bother the guys who sold him the board.

Any of the three shops he dealt with would happily
have sold him an assembled and tested setup,
board, RAM, CPU & fan, for a few bucks more
than he actually spent. If there were problems
with it, he'd have less travel and better service
in dealing with them.