RE: Advice pls: buying a new PC

["Tom Robertson" t1r@xxxxxxxx]

Look at building your own system.

Then you know what you have, have some idea of how to fix it, and
can be far more sure of the quality of the components.

The price can be controlled by judicious purchase of components.

TR...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-xywrite@xxxxxxxx
> [mailto:owner-xywrite@xxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
> Eric Van Tassel
> Sent: Saturday, September 18, 1999 10:02 AM
> To: XyWrite List
> Subject: Advice pls: buying a new PC
>
>
> With apologies for exploiting the wisdom of this group
> for my own ends ...
>
> I'm shopping for a new PC, probably a (slowish)
> Pentium III. I need
> reliability, but the price has to be as low as I can
> safely get (because
> PCs here in Europe/U.K. are priced way over their U.S.
> equivalents).
>
> (1) Can anyone point me to the most reliable and
> objective source, either
> Web-based or in print, of up-to-date comparative
> reviews of PCs and
> peripherals? There are a lot of items I can't evaluate
> for myself: e.g. for
> my work, I need a good sound card & speakers but only
> passable video; I
> want the best but also cheapest backup (probably a Zip
> drive) and a really
> good CD-RW; because I live out in the boonies, I
> daren't get stuck with
> unreliable "build quality" (ugly phrase); etc. Where
> do I find the most
> trustworthy ratings?
>
> (2) In the U.K. specifically, can anyone comment on
> Mesh or Evesham PCs?
> >From friends' experience, the only worldwide names
> I'm considering are Dell
> and Gateway; but here both are undercut on price by a
> slew of local
> outfits, of whom the U.K. magazines seem most often to
> praise Mesh &
> Evesham. Any advice?
>
> TIA
> Eric Van Tassel
>