Re: [PLUG] Hardware, acquisition

On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 3:07 PM, JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org> wrote:

John Desmond wrote:
>
> My current computer's hard disk is making 'need replacement' noises.
> Recommondations for preferred manufacturers and good sources for new
> drives (and other parts and pieces) sought. Local vendors preferred,
> mail order places also considered.

+1 for Newegg, usually great prices and fast shipping.
+1 for Provantage.com, similar
+1 for Pricewatch.com, but be prepared to do your homework here, the
"best price" is often flawed in some way, refurb, run out of someone's
garage, etc. Take best price +~10% for a reasonable guess.

Yet another vote for Newegg. While I buy local at any and every opportunity (very small shop at 22nd & Sansom, awesome guy who has great inventory and can order anything!), Newegg is definitely the place to go if you're getting hardware online.

I've used tigerdirect.com and zipzoomfly.com with no problems as well.

+1 for Western Digital, I've had *very* few problems with them.
-1 Seagate
-5 Maxstor

I agree with this assessment, with the distinction that WD internal drives are splendid, but their externals are crap. As for Seagate, the reverse seems to be true; I've had multiple Seagate externals (some branded differently) which are still running after 3 and 5 years, spinning often, but their internals crap out fast.

I just put 4 Samsung 1TBs in a server I built, we'll see how they hold up. (But it's RAID, so I didn't hesitate about buying the cheapest drive, as long as it was quiet.)

> Finally, at some point later this year, may get new computer.
> Recommendations for good vendors?

System76.com, Ubuntu only (no Windows), great stuff, other PLUG members
are also big fans. I will bring a Meerkat (non ION) for show-n-tell to
PLUG West on Monday if you care. Small shop, great support, see:
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=341&order=desc

Not too sound like The Man, but Dell has been offering Ubuntu for years now, and I think buying a machine through them would very much be voting with dollars. Of course, I myself would rather buy from a dedicated Linux vendor such as System76, but if you're looking for familiar decent (i.e. not great, like System76 often has) hardware, then Dell is your place.

Good luck,
JP