I'm sorry

[FaRuvius]

I must apologize for my recent blindness.

I recently posted a thread entitled "The sad state of Mac upgradability". You can read the thread here:http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthr...threadid=13009

It is now, a week later, and I have just been through hell and back.

The point of my previous thread was that I was able to upgrade my aging PC for less than $350. New processor, new motherboard. My cost of upgrading has ended up being significantly more.

A week after I started, I finally have a stable PC. Here is a list of all the fun things I had to play with:

3 OS's : windows 98, windows 98 SE, and windows XP.
3 different harddrives
A new case
3 different NIC's
Too much RAM
2 floppy drives
2 video cards.

I couldn't use my old case, because the motherboard didn't like the power supply. Solution? Buy a new case.

Neither windows 98 nor windows 98SE liked my 1.2 GB of ram. XP didn't like it either until I switched the slots they were in. Solution? Install windows with 256 MB of ram on the motherboard.

98 or 98SE had the proper drivers for any of my NIC's. Everytime windows would "find" my new hardware, it would request drivers from my win98 CD. of course the drivers weren't on the cd. go figure. Installing the drivers from the manufacturer provided disk did nothing to end Windows requesting specific ones from the windows CD.

It took about 12 different times formatting and reformatting 3 different hard disks to find one that windows would work with. Final solution? New Harddrive.

Window 98 refused to recognize my floppy drives, even though i could access and use it through DOS. Final solution? Only XP would recognize it.

I decided to install windows XP to hopefully rid myself of 98 wierdness. The XP install process was a nightmare. It would go through all the proper procedures, start installing, and then black screen. Did this about 10 times. Then I said, maybe it is installing, and just not showing anything on the screen. Left it on overnight, still black screen. I resorted to looking in newsgroups. Do a search on "windows XP install black screen" on google's usenet archive. You will get about 5 billion hits. It seems that Windows XP Install and geforce2 video cards are incompatible. Funny, Windows XP is incompatible with only the most popular video card in the market. Way to go, M$. The solution? Install with any NON GEFORCE2 card. After install, just replace the geforce2, and it will work flawlessly.

So in the end, this is what it cost me to "upgrade" my PC:

new proc and motherboard: $316
new atx case: $130
new 17gb HD: $80
new NIC: $10
windows XP: $115
Hours spent obtaining a stable system: 25+

Total cost: $600 + 25 hours of my time.

The additional cost of a Mac is well worth not having to deal with the pain that is PC hardware maintenance.

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry.

I had forgotten the joy of having computers "just work". Without requiring blood, sweat, and tears.

Bravo Apple for removing from the Mac everything that makes me hate computers.

Go on and say "I told you so". I'll be bowing my head in shame.

FaRuvius

[Click]

then there are still people that say that it´s worth it because its so fun to play with system.
My friend uses to say that Pc users like jerking off with the computer.
Ok. If your living with your mum and your time dosent cost any it could maybe be worth it but if your time costs money....

[dlookus]

And then on top of all that, you have to run Windows instead of OSX.

I have a friend who came to the conclusion that PCs are for people who like to fix things. I don't think that statement could be much more accurate.

[simX]

I know that someone on these forums had the tagline, "Computers are like air conditioners: they stop working when you open Windows."

I'd say that's pretty accurate.

[dlookus]

Ha

[serpicolugnut]

you have the funniest Windows catch phrases!

[simX]

No, I just remember the ones I like the best.

How about this: There's Windows CE, Windows ME, Windows NT, and Windows XP. Put them all together and you get:

Windows CEMENT XP

Catch phrase: "As hard as a rock and as dumb as a brick."



Go here for a picture!:

http://www.vidbay.com/pics/windowscement.htm

Hehehe I love that one. I still think my phrase in my sig takes the cake, though.

[voice-]

Originally posted by simX
I know that someone on these forums had the tagline, "Computers are like air conditioners: they stop working when you open Windows."

Yup, and I'm the someone. That was my signature when I first came here...like yours better though.