Date: Sun, 05 Jan 1997 09:27:44 -0500 (EST) From: wb2oyc@cyberenet.net To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Good buy or not? Message-ID: <XFMail.970105092857.wb2oyc@cyberenet.net>
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I wonder if anyone on the list may have experience with Packard Bell machines, running FreeBSD? The reason for the question is, a local store is selling excess stock that didn't sell during the holiday season at a price that is very, very, tempting. Actually, the price is only a little more than the cost of a decent motherboard, and it is for a complete system, including monitor, 4X CD-ROM, etc. The processor is a 75Mhz Pentium. I don't know the whole story of the Pentium line, but would it be reasonable to assume that the cpu could be readily upgraded? Thats a detail that might depend entirely on the capability of the board in the machine, and I know little about PB, other than the adverse stories of the recent past. Are they still using "refurbished" stuff and selling it as new? Do their machines use standard memory components, so they could be easily upgraded with parts from other vendors, etc? They don't mention the vendor, but the machine includes an video accelerator type of card, and the machine is billed as a "multimedia home PC". The monitor is one of those goofy looking things with speakers glued to its sides. It is a model 4240. Anyone have any comments on its insides, and whether it might be as good a buy as it appears to be? My current machine is an old 486 box, and I need space for an additional HD, etc. Running an AMD 486/133, so this machine would not really be much of an upgrade in itself in terms of performance, but if possible, I would quickly upgrade its cpu and memory. Would this be a decent platform to build on or not? Thanks Paul
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