Is This Computer Worth $226?

Chas821 said:
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!

I caved and just bought one. Hope mine is in good shape. I ALWAYS hate being late to the party! I plan to use this with my 12" T/S monitor and Netremote. I'll ditch my (gasp) CF-01.

Chuck
Chase,
Where did you get your 12" touch screen?
 
Rupp said:
OK,
I must be getting old. What does a DVI connection by me?
DVI is a purely digital connection between your computer and monitor. In order to use it, both the computer and monitor need to support it.

With an LCD connected to a normal VGA output, the computer is converting digital information to analog, it's sent to the monitor, and them monitor converts it back to digital. The DVI connection eliminates these conversions.

The information is essentially sent pixel by pixel. You don't have to worry about things like timing (synching) as much. In practice, DVI usually leads to a better picture. With a VGA connection to an LCD, you can sometimes see pixels shift color (or look like they are moving back and forth). Most newer monitors do a pretty good job even with the analog signal.

It also tends to become more important at higher resolutions. I use 20" LCDs at home and work (1600x1200 resolution). At home I have a DVI connection. At work, it's VGA. I can tell the difference, but the analog connection to the monitor still gives me a very good picture.
 
Rupp,

www.surpluscomputers.com. If you go to the HS board and do a search for Planar touchscreens it'll show the thread that led me to the buy. You were in the discussion (are there any you aren't in?). There is a fairly recent post (Aug) about some being available on eBay.

The screen is just OK. The backlight is a little weak so the screen is a little dark when it first powers up from standby but otherwise it's fine.


Chuck
 
Chas821 said:
Rupp,

www.surpluscomputers.com. If you go to the HS board and do a search for Planar touchscreens it'll show the thread that led me to the buy. You were in the discussion (are there any you aren't in?). There is a fairly recent post (Aug) about some being available on eBay.

The screen is just OK. The backlight is a little weak so the screen is a little dark when it first powers up from standby but otherwise it's fine.


Chuck
Off topic comment:

I heard somewhere that the displays are dark and "yellow" because there's a sheet of paper (of some sort) between the display and backlight to act as a diffuser. If you remove the paper, the display is apparently much brighter (and less yellow).
 
smee,

Hmmmm.......might have to crack it open tonight and see if this is the case. Never heard of this before. Thanks for the tip!


Chuck
 
My system just arrived! As the others have said, "B grade" seems to be a worst-case statement. Mine looks new!
 
Well, now that I'm home and have fully unpacked it, it's not completely unscathed. The large "bottom" has a number of scratches, there is one on the side, and I'm missing one of the eight rubber feet. All in all, not bad.
 
Mine seems pretty good. A few scratches, but works great so far. I'm tempted to buy another one.

I will probably want to upgrade the memory. More is always better, right? But does anyone know how much it will support? Can I go with 2 at 512?

Mark
 
Memory is something I don't screw around with, I always get Crucial memory, because they really do have the best lifetime warranty program out there. If you look around, you might find some coupons for crucial.com, or even vendors such as NewEgg.com used to carry Crucial. Try froogle as well.
 
I just ordered a second one today!

Note: Geeks has free ground shipping (saved me $18.00) today and tomorrow on all orders, but today is the last day on this 'puter special.


Edit: Looks like Hotwire posted the free shipping while I was typing!
 
I did it. I have no idea what I am going to use it for, but it got the best of me when I saw that they had free shipping.
 
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