NEW SYSTEM PURCHASE

[ED ZOTTI]

The company is Myoda Computers. They have outlets throughout the
Chicago area, half of which are owned by the company and half of which
are owned by a separate concern through some sort of franchise
arrangement. The outlet I dealt with was in Hoffman Estates at 1070 N.
Roselle Rd., 708-885-7337. The place is run by Koreans; the guy who
handled my sale was the buyer, Robin King. He's a nice guy and easy to
deal with.
  I don't know anybody else who's bought from them. My experience has
been pretty good. The power supply failed after about a month, but they
replaced it while I waited, and things have been OK since. (I think you
have to expect at least one big thing to break on any computer; on my
first, an AT&T 6300, the motherboard failed during the first few
weeks.)
  The machine I have is a 386-33 with 4 megs RAM, 80MB HD with 18ms
access time, 1024x768 SVGA monitor with .28 dot pitch, clone 16-bit
SVGA card with 512K, 230W power supply, 1.2 and 1.44 MB FDs. The HD is
a Western Digital Caviar 280 (not sure about number), and the monitor
is a Supercom. I have seen both remarked on favorably on BBSs. The
motherboard uses the OPTI chipset, which is not entirely unknown, and
the quite well known AMI BIOS. The case, incidentally, is a very small
footprint desktop model; towers are also available. There's room for
another half-height drive (for a tape backup, for instance) and also an
internal slot for another small HD.
  I found one writeup of Myoda in PC Mag from early 1990; they found
it about average in benchmark tests, which was good enough for me; my
only concern was that it not be conspicuously below average. (DTK,
another inexpensive but better known brand, _does_ rank well below avg
on benchmarks, for what that's worth.)
  The problems I've had have been minor. I use UltraVision and found
that I was unable to access the 108 column mode; turns out my VGA card
was a clone, but not an _exact_ clone, of the well-known Paradise card.
  They offered various keyboards, but I wanted a Northgate Omnikey and
ordered one through a discount place in California. I've since
discovered another "click" keyboard that's almost as good as the
Northgate for only $30--an unbelievable price.
  The quoted price from Myoda on the system above in November 1990 was
$2650; I got them to give it to me for $2610. Today the price is down
to around $2100 or so, judging from the ads. (I constantly flail myself
with how much I could have saved if only I'd waited.)
  Hope this has been helpful. Let me know if you have more questions.