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Computer Equipment

Microtek ScanMaster E3 (Coming Soon)

IBM Aptiva 2176-C31 Review
This P133 IBM computer seems to be working ok at the moment but, as you may have guessed, that wasn't always the case. If my experience is typical of IBM engineering and technical support, I would avoid their products like I avoid the ebola virus when I have an open wound.

From Day One, I had problems with this computer, and they continued until about Day One Hundred and Fifty.

I had a bunch of weird, semi-reoccurring problems with this thing. It would freeze up if I used Rapid Resume and Suspend and I would get modem errors a lot. "Modem is busy or could not be found" was my regular greeting. Once I was told there might be a conflict between the IBM Home Director hardware (some Home Director circuitry is built into every IBM Aptiva even if, like my model, it's not usable) and the circuit protector. So I changed circuit protector brands and I still had problems, but some of the problems were now different. Bizarre. The modem errors and the trouble getting online continued unabated.

I eventually spoke with one of the girls with the cute accents at the IBM Help Center in Ireland, and this one actually had an idea which worked. She suggested moving the modem board to a different slot. I tried this and it worked. Don't know why, but it did. Bad slot, maybe? That only took 5 months.

There are still some problems; it tends to freeze up a lot. I just "save" constantly. When the computer "suspends" itself, it's impossible to log back online without closing the browser and starting over again.

There's just some design or manufacturing flaws there somewhere. IBM was spending all their money trying to beat the human in the chess match and not enough on their lowly PC division.

One more bad design example and I'll shut up: There's a "riser card," which inexplicably sits right on top of the motherboard and covers about 1 inch of the memory slots. So in order to install extra memory, you must first remove the riser card and any cards in the slots. (This kills at least 10 minutes.) If they had shifted the postition of the riser card or the memory slots slightly this hassle would be unnessessary. (There's more than enough room.) The Motherboard Team and the Riser Card Team weren't communicating, probably.

And don't tell me I should have gotten a Mac. I don't want to hear it.

Legend 16mb Memory Upgrade (CompUSA generic)

I just installed a 16Mb EDO memory upgrade--it's made by Legend and it's American-made (including the chips) and it's dirt-cheap. Only $70 bucks at my local CompUSA--it's their "generic" memory module. It's memory--it works fine. The heavily-advertised PNY Memory is soldered together in the US, but the chips are Korean.

Samsung SyncMaster 15GLi Monitor Review
This Samsung was the highest-rated 15in monitor around, and I really didn't have room for anything larger. When I received the 1st monitor (mail-order, Computability) it was defective. The left side of the screen was really dark and it had a buzz in the back of the cabinet. They sent me out another one. I plugged it in and it, too, was defective, but it wasn't nearly as bad. The buzz was less noticable and the left portion of the screen was only slightly darker. There's nothing more satisfying then buying neww equipment and not having it perfect.

Microtek ScanMaster E3 Scanner

I just went out to buy one of these scanners. It's been the highest-rated of all the scanners in it's price range. But now it seems to have been discontinued. That's timely--the new Consumer Reports came out and it was #1 there, too. Good marketing move, Microtek.

I am going to try to track one down before they all disappear. I did find a good user guide to this scanner. Click here.

IBM PS/1 type #2011-M01 Computer & Monitor

When I first started working on this site, my computer was hooked up to the fuzzy 10 inch Black & White monitor section of one of these old all-in-one PS/1 CPU/monitors which IBM foisted upon the American public back in about 1990. This thing is ancient--it's a 286 with no hard drive--but the tiny monitor was actually not that bad, for what it was.