In ALDI from Thu 7th Jan

[PaphosAL]

http://www.medion.com/ms/aldi/md8339/uk/

Shall I buy this? Will it run all my old 8 bit DOS, 16 and 32bit Win Apps accumulated over the last 20 years?. Can I dual boot it to XP Pro if I want to? Would I be able to add an RS232 Comms card?

I'm ever so tempted, at such a bargain price- and Medion IS a quality German-built product. But all this latest technology scares me stiff...

[Satsearching]

Do some googling and see if it has a spare PCI slot so you can add a com port card, I appreciate there are usb to rs232 gizmo's around but I prefer a propper com card (had to add one to mine).

I would deffo dual boot it untill win7 improves.

Compiling under VM should fly on that

Also, as it has VGA and DVI, I would seriously consider running 2 monitors if you have space, would make scripting/developing easier for you (notepad++ on one monitor, a website with code examples on the other monitor, copy and paste across).

Originally Posted by PaphosAL

http://www.medion.com/ms/aldi/md8339/uk/

Shall I buy this? Will it run all my old 8 bit DOS, 16 and 32bit Win Apps accumulated over the last 20 years?. Can I dual boot it to XP Pro if I want to? Would I be able to add an RS232 Comms card?

I'm ever so tempted, at such a bargain price- and Medion IS a quality German-built product. But all this latest technology scares me stiff...

[pt-1]

MEDION® AKOYA® X7330 D (MD 8339)

Does not show Serial Port but USB Adapter should be fine.

[PaphosAL]

Thanks pt-1

What we're trying to find out here, is this unit's expansion capability, m8. Any free PCI slots, for a proper Serial port card? Any free RAM slots, or are there only the two?

Is the massive hdd partitioned, to allow an XP Pro dual-boot setup? If so, would the 4GB RAM blitz XP, or would XP only see it's max of 3GB?

It's from Germany, so you must know, LOL!

[alcaholjunkie]

Originally Posted by PaphosAL

Thanks pt-1

What we're trying to find out here, is this unit's expansion capability, m8. Any free PCI slots, for a proper Serial port card? Any free RAM slots, or are there only the two?

Is the massive hdd partitioned, to allow an XP Pro dual-boot setup? If so, would the 4GB RAM blitz XP, or would XP only see it's max of 3GB?

It's from Germany, so you must know, LOL!

4GB is more than enough to run XP, vista or win7. Also if it's a 32bit version of windows, or any operating system for that matter, there will be a 3GB limit. ^_^ (DDR*-ram works best in pairs, and can't get 1.5GB chips iirc, so manufacturers usually plod in 2x 2GB) 64bit operating systems can use more than 3GB of ram though. ^_^ I run win7 x64 with 4GB ram XD (also on a machine with 2GB ram and that one runs smooth too)

and that's enough of me waffling on in this thread ^_^

[myksterx]

32bit windows will only find 3gb of it mate. But if you have a 64bit installed im aware that it will handle 6gb (maybe more??) my knowledge is also abit rusty with all this new technology on computers.. ive found this deal on hotukdeals ...

and tbh.. i think ill be down to aldi (never thought ide say it) and be purchasing one of these crack of sparrow!

[alcaholjunkie]

Originally Posted by myksterx

32bit windows will only find 3gb of it mate. But if you have a 64bit installed im aware that it will handle 6gb (maybe more??) my knowledge is also abit rusty with all this new technology on computers.. ive found this deal on hotukdeals ...

and tbh.. i think ill be down to aldi (never thought ide say it) and be purchasing one of these crack of sparrow!

Different versions of windows can handle different amounts of RAM, plus different motherboards can only take so much. There are systems with 8+GB ram in them, usually servers mind you, like the 32GB ram machines they installed at my work (think they were 32GB, know they were more than 8GB, lol).

Anyways, Here is a table of max RAM you can have with different windows versions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...8VS.85%29.aspx
(as well as the virtual memory limits which are listed first)

/end waffling part 2, lol. ^_^

[myksterx]

ide like to add as im purchasing this pc on thursday (if they dont get smashed before i get there!)

im wanting to link it to my tv which is approx 3.5 metres away via HDMI cable.

ive come across a 5 metre one here: HDMI 1080p V1.3 Gold Plated 5m 5 meter HD Video Cable for PS3 Blu Ray DVD Sky HDUSB data cables memory cards mobile phone ipod accessories genuine cover case fascia speakers bluetoth battery dvd media external hard drive

so called 1080p... now this might sound stupid but..

i know with speakers- the longer the cables the more money you have to spend on the quality of cable..

is this the same case with HDMI?

i have read that the quality difference in HDMI with cheap leads isnt that noticable..
therefore go for cheap..

however- i dont want to be buying twice, but on the same hand i dont wanna be paying silly prices on a lead..

any lad be good

[alcaholjunkie]

Originally Posted by myksterx

ide like to add as im purchasing this pc on thursday (if they dont get smashed before i get there!)

im wanting to link it to my tv which is approx 3.5 metres away via HDMI cable.

ive come across a 5 metre one here: HDMI 1080p V1.3 Gold Plated 5m 5 meter HD Video Cable for PS3 Blu Ray DVD Sky HDUSB data cables memory cards mobile phone ipod accessories genuine cover case fascia speakers bluetoth battery dvd media external hard drive

so called 1080p... now this might sound stupid but..

i know with speakers- the longer the cables the more money you have to spend on the quality of cable..

is this the same case with HDMI?

i have read that the quality difference in HDMI with cheap leads isnt that noticable..
therefore go for cheap..

however- i dont want to be buying twice, but on the same hand i dont wanna be paying silly prices on a lead..

any lad be good

HDMI is a digital connection, so quality of the cable itself isn't really much of an issue, unlike analogue connections such as audio cables in general.

That being said, go for a cable that has decent, but small connectors on it. (tried out some from argos beofre but the plastic around the connectors were pretty big and weighed it down, they resulted in a crappy fit into the TV)

I've bought various HDMI cables online of various sizes (5, 10 and 20 metres), all of them being basic small black ends like this:

Ones with small connector ends (as in the casings of the connectors) work the best in my own experiences. ^_^ also they're usually under £10 online too XD

edit: the ones you linked looks suspiciously like the crappy argos ones I got before, avoid them like the plague, lol. ^_^

[myksterx]

just to add - went into st.helens earlier at 9am..

to find a young lad looked like a gamer (lol) long hair abit ruff n that.. walking out with the last one i felt like a big kid i really wanted it haha!

supposidly sold out nationwide for 9am (got store manager out & they said there gone nationwide)



better luck next time i suppose!

anyone know any more deals knocking about i desperately need one and in the mood of buying one today!