Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Buying a computer in 1994

Here is something I wrote in 1994 for work for when people would ask us what computer to buy. It's obviously dated, but some of its points still hold true.

From 1994

When Is a good time to buy a personal computer and which one should I buy ?

I want to by a computer, but is this a good time to buy?
Who should I buy from?
How much should I spend?

In order to answer these questions you need to understand how the trends of price/performance ratio works across time. Lets say that in 1992 you bought a computer for $2000 and its performance was average for computers available on the market. In 1993 that same computer that you bought in 1992 will now cost only $1400, with the average performance computer will still be around $2000 with a great increase in performance. Computers keep getting faster and faster and software requirements keeps going up and up. Each fueling each other. Without the faster computers no one could use the latest software, and without the latest software no one would need faster computers. So why do we need the latest software? The trends in the software industry have been to make software more functional, easier to use and have the ability to share data with other applications. What does this mean to you ? For example lets say you wanted to take a spreadsheet, take a graph and table from that spreadsheet, put it into a word processing document and print a form letter. Wow! If you were using DOS applications you could do it, but it might take you all day and you need to be quite proficient in all the software products you would be using. If you did that in windows it might take you an hour and it would be easy. So why not use windows? Well here's the catch, you could use an old 386SX/16 with 1 Mb of RAM (Random Access Memory) to do it in DOS, but you would need a minimum of a 386DX/33 with 8 MB of Ram to do it in windows. What's the difference between these Machines? - MONEY.

To illustrate the trends in computers we have graphed the average price Vs. performance over time for Gateway 2000 Computers From July 1992 - January 1994. For the performance rating we used our own grading systems taking into account speed, size of the hard drive, amount of RAM, video speed and video screen size. We graphed the lowest , mid range, and top of the line system available at six month intervals. Higher marks on the graph represent higher performance per dollar.



The graphs are evidence that amount of performance you get for the money you spend will always goes up over time. It also shows that your best value is usually in your Mid End System

When to buy a computers really depends on your needs. The longer you wait the better the computer you will get, but using that approach you will never buy one. Although this may sound strange the best time to buy a computer is when you really need it.

Our recommendation is a Mid Range system. If you buy a low end system you might save some money, but in six months they won't be making computers at your level and software manufactures will quickly write software that will be to slow to run on your system. If you buy a top of the line system your computer will stay useful for the longest period of time, but your paying for the development costs of the latest technology and the extra mark up associated with cutting edge. If you buy from the middle range of what's available you end up with a good buy. Your computer will stay effective longer then if you bought low level, but not with the price tag associated with top of the line.

As to who you should by from; It depends mostly on the current pricing, but look for a company with a good reputation. Overall mail order computers are a priced lower then the ones that you buy in a store, but can take anywhere from a week to 3 months till you get your computer. Remember just because you by a computer from a local store it doesn't mean that the store will be in business in six months.

The warranty of the computer is something that you should take into serious consideration. Try to avoid warranties that require you to send your computer back to the manufacturer. Also check to see what the guarantied response time is. If you depend on your computer don't get a warranty that will have you without your computer for weeks while you wait for them to fix it. If you buy a laptop the warranty is more important then if you buy a desktop because they tend to break easier.

At the this moment we would recommend Gateway 2000 for a desktop computer and Dell for laptops. Please bear in mind that by the time you read this the pricing will have changed, but if you require access to periodicals with computer information or adds please contact the systems dept.

end of 1994 article

A couple of quick observations

Hardware has now greatly exceeded software needs. Unless you are a gamer or do video processing most low end computers have more then enough power for you (until Vista arrives).

I find the references to mail order and periodicals amusing (we did exist without the web).

Friday, March 24, 2006

Castro's Favorite Color

Castro's Favorite Color

If you are looking for something far more interesting to read go here.

HDTV

I did this research for someone about 6 months ago, but I think it still stands. When I post new research I will provide more links. This is from memory.

I personally own a 2 ½ year old 42” Sony rear projection LCD. I love the TV, but this generation of the RP LCD had slight problems with shadows especially with non HD sources. You can really see it when you can’t make out all of the details of an African American’s face in a dark scene.

TV TYPES:

Regular rear projection HDTV- They are cheaper, but they are huge, suffer from burning in and don’t have the best picture quality.

RP LCD and rear projection DLP- They are a nice size, don’t suffer from burning in and have great picture quality. It used to be that DLP had a better picture, but they also had some issues. Now from what I have seen the quality on the Sony LCDs is as good as the DLPs and Samsung seems to have solve the earlier issues that DLPs had. One thing you should look at is that on many series the smallest model will have the same bulb as the bigger screens in that series so it will actually have a brighter picture.

Note: If someone tells you that DLP is better because that’s what they use in Digital movie theaters they are wrong. The DLP technology used in theaters is better then the ones in the TVs (3 DLP chips in the theater only one in the TV).

Plasma - Flat screen, best picture, but have burn in.

LCD – Flat screen, best picture, no burn in.


Recommendations:

Unless you have a space issue or want the look of a flat screen I would go with RP LCD or RP DLP. From what I saw I prefer Sony (RP LCD) and Samsung (RP DLP). If want to spend the extra money on a flat screen go with LCD. You don’t want to spend all that money on plasma just to watch all your 4:3 television stretched. I would not spend the extra money on the 1080P models unless you are going to hook your computer to the TV, because that the only thing that can provide that level of resolution.

Sony 42" - KDF-E42A10 , 50" - KDF-E50A10
Samsung 42" - HL-R4266W, 46" - HL-R4667W, 56" - HL-R5667W and If you want a cool looking one for a little extra money the 50" HL-R5087W.

Things to know:

4:3 and 16:9 – It is the ratio of width to height of the screen. 4:3 is a regular TV screen and 16:9 is a wide screen.
480i - 480 interlaced - regular TV quality
480p - 480 progressive - DVD resolution - EDTV
720p - 720 progressive - HDTV
1080i - 1080 interlaced – HDTV
(720p and 1080i are both HD some networks broadcast in one others in the other)
1080p – 1080 progressive – Digital theater quality, some TVs now have this, but there is no source material available.
Burn in- When a static image is leaves a permanent mark on a television screen regardless of whether or not the television is on or off. If you are watching 4:3 shows on a 16:9 TV that is subject to burn in , you need to stretch the 4:3 image to 16:9 to avoid it.

Things to look out for:

EDTV is not HDTV (it’s not as good)

Cable companies suck at setting up your HDTV. Almost every time I go over someones house that just got a HDTV cable box from Comcast it is set up wrong. The technicians usually set the box to 16:9, but leave it on 480i. I get a lot of wows when I switch the box to 1080i.

You can still have black lines on the top and bottom of a wide screen TV. Some movies are recorded wider then 16:9