RE: MIDRANGE-L Digest V4 #419

Used dumb tube maybe fifty bucks, maybe a hundred.  And the nice thing is
they NEVER need an upgrade.  If it talked 5250 in 1980, it'll work perfectly
well today.  Can't say that about PCs.

Joe

> -----Original Message-----
> At one day and age, yes, it would of cost more.  But now...
> We can go out and get an e-machine computer for between $300
> to $400 for the box.  Throw in $60 for 64 megs more memory
> (bringing it up to 96 megs) and $100 to $140 for a monitor
> (17" if you can find them on sale) and throw in $30 for a 10/100
> BaseT Network Card ($12 on sale, the real cheapies).  Your total
> cost is real close to a dumb tube ($500 to $600 last time I priced
> them).
>
> Admittedly, there is a much higher cost of ownership for a PC
> than for a dumb tube.  A dumb tube, once every 6 months or so you
> might have to go fool with the twisted pair wires that someone
> stepped on, or adjust the brightness, or buy a new keyboard.
>
> A PC, you are forever wondering why this PC is stuck in 600x400 mode
> when you just reinstalled the video driver 8 times after trying various
> things, the dumb thing still won't get out of blind man mode!
> (We actually
> have one computer here like that now.  When I get some free time [HA!]
> I'm going to have to wipe it slick and reinstall from scratch, with all
> the software, a 4 to 6 hour job).  Not something you have to worry about
> on a dumb tube.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim Langston

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