Re: FN-FORUM: To Quark or not to Quark...

date posted 8th August 2004 22:28

on 8/8/04 10:24 pm, Daren Halfpenny at [EMAIL REMOVED] wrote:

>=20
> Can't put it off any longer and am boldly entering into G5/OSX territory.
> Just putting together specs on a new system to include on of the new (now
> mid-range) dual 2GHz G5 and have a couple of queries I'd like your opinio=
ns
> on before I torment the dealer with techno-babble even I don't understand=
...

Nah ... You need a water cooled Pentium V running at 27 Ghz, 37 PCI slots
and my brother can knock one together for you for =A3199 complete with
lifetime warranty (he gets to pick whose lifetime though) and it's 34 times
faster than Apple's cheese grater according to the benchmark utility
designed by my other brother who once almost choked on an Apple and has bee=
n
emotionally traumatised by the experience ever since. Though you should
understand he doesn't let this compromise his professional integrity ...
>=20
> 1. Rather than go for one of the cool new 23" displays, I think I'm going=
to
> go for two of the older style 20" displays side-by-side which gives me 3.=
5
> million pixels to play with as opposed to *just* 2.3 million - Jigsaw are
> doing them at =A3775 apiece. Will the new DVI-equipped G5 (which I believe =
has
> one ADC socket as well) handle TWO ADC connectors at once - ie is there a
> DVI -> ADC connector that will allow the out-of-the-box G5 to handle the =
two
> screens? If not, what do I need?

As Luke said, 2 video cards.
>=20
> 2. =A3849 =3D Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Acrobat=
,
> etc) or Quark Xpress 6.1. Do I REALLY need Quark these days? I'm majorly
> upset as those who do use six these day are now even having trouble just
> OPENING files I've supplied in 4.1 format. I am not paying for an upgrade
> Just to open 5.0 files and if any printer these days can accept PDF files=
,
> then what really is the point of Quark in the first place? Your thoughts
> please.

Friends don't let friends do Quark, get on an Adobe InDesign program today.
>=20
> 3. Just an observation - memory prices seem to fluctuate wildly. I've bee=
n
> looking for memory over the past couple of days and managed to go from an
> initial 512mb upgrade for my G4 powerbook for =A3170 at one dealer, to =A3141=
.60
> for a full 1Gb upgrade (smcdirect.com). Also from =A3150 for a 512Mb upgrad=
e
> for the G5 to a 1Gb upgrade (to 1.5Gb) for =A3125.08 (also smcdirect.com).
> Kingston, too!

There's always someone able to flock you a stick of RAM for less ... Here
follows tonight's sermon:

A Real Life Story.=20

Last Christmas (2003), a client of mine ordered an iBook from Computer
Warehouse with an additional 512Mb of RAM installed. It was =8CDOA=B9 (dead on
arrival) and it was determined that the extra RAM was the cause. It took 6
weeks to turn this problem around and receive replacement RAM. The RAM was
=8Cunmarked=B9 - that is to say without a manufacturer=B9s name. Computer
Warehouse insist that all calls for support and repair go through their
premium rate 0900 line =AD which is invariably engaged for hours at a time. I
actually resolved the issue via sending them the RAM via registered mail an=
d
following up with email.

In January 2004, another client ordered an item (an Airport card) from
Jigsaw. It was the wrong model. When Jigsaw were called on their regular
sales line, I was put through immediately to someone who apologised,
arranged for the correct product to be sent out immediately and arranged to
have the incorrect item picked up at the same time. Which happened as
expected. But the I expect that of jigsaw.

It is interesting to note that Jigsaw (a company that seems to actually car=
e
about service) only sells Kingston RAM (renowned for quality) whereas
Computer Warehouse sells whatever it can lay its hands on at the best price
and apparently doesn=B9t test the RAM they=B9ve installed in the computers they
sell!=20

The moral of the story is that all vendors make mistakes but what separates
the good from the not so good is how they go about correcting them.

BTW - Jigsaw sell only Kingston RAM. Wonder why?

There ends today's sermon.




anything and everything to do with apple macintosh computers
http://www.m4mac.com
07958 773472
020 8778 2446