Fast Forward: Cheap Desktops

Rob Pegoraro
Washington Post Personal Technology Columnist
Monday, June 7, 2004 2:00 PM

Personal tech columnist Rob Pegoraro was online to talk about his recent review of the Shuttle XPC desktop PC. He also discussed Sunday's column on the two newest releases in the office-suite market and other personal tech topics. A transcript follows.

Fast Forward E-letter:

Want to know what upcoming topics are being covered? Sign up for Fast Forward e-letter -- get updated information on personal technology news and product demos. Read past editions of Rob's e-letter online here.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Rob Pegoraro: Welcome back to another installment of the busiest hour-and-change of my job... we've got a lot of things to discuss today, from Sony's Clie handheld organizers to new office suites that I've reviewed.

I'll start things off with a question of my own: Of all the things you do on your computer, what kinds of programs or activities make the computer feel slow? What sort of applications really put the processor to work?

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washingtonpost.com: Fast Forward E-letter: Farewell to Sony's Clie (June 7, 2004)

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Falls Church, Va.: Timely review of Office 2004 for Mac which forces my decision to upgrade to OS X. Just wondering, however, if you prefer Entourage or Mail in OS X. I really never liked Entourage in Office 2001 and continued to sync my Palm with the included software. Lack of integration with the Address Book seems like a real negative, but Entourage offers more than just mail.

By the way, do you have a preference between Safari and Opera?

Rob Pegoraro: I liked Entourage more than I thought; the ability to use it to track projects in Office is really handy. I could have used something like that when my wife and I were planning our wedding a year ago!

However, on a day to day basis I think the Address Book integration that Mail offers puts it above Entourage. Apple's iCal itself integrates fairly nicely with other programs, and it has one big advantage over Entourage: It can subscribe to "webcal" files on Web sites (see www.icalshare.com for examples of this).

I'd use Safari over Opera any day of the week. No competition there at all.

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Oak Hill, Va.: Would you assume that with the withdrawal of Sony from PDAs that the existing unit prices would drop quickly, and if so, would you recommend buying or staying away?

Rob Pegoraro: I'd stay away except for the WiFi-equipped Clies, which have no real equivalent in the Palm world (aside from the pretty-much-obsolete Tungsten C). But that's mainly because, compared to Palm handhelds of equivalent price, I don't think they match up well--especially at the cheaper end of the scale.

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Laurel, Md.: To be perfectly honest, Rob, the slowest thing on my computer these days is waiting for a WP.com story to load while an animated ad plays.

Rob Pegoraro: Um, no comment...

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Boondocks, Va.: OK, stupid question time: Does Office 2004, Word 2005, Excel 2004, etc., software run only on the Mac?

As I write this I guess the answer is yes - and that the Windows version is called "Office for Windows?"

Rob Pegoraro: Office 2004 only runs on the Mac; Office 2003 only runs on Windows. The formal name of the latter is just "Microsoft Office 2003," I think

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Fairfax, Va.: Well, I finally entered the enlightened era and upgraded to Cox high speed internet. As much as I REALLY hated Media General (and so far, after just 48 hours, Cox does not seem to be any better), the dish buyback program that provided just about every cable channel AND HSI for $65 until January was too good to pass up.

I realized, however, that I probably should make some upgrades that will allow me to see the benefit of all of this speed. Our main computer is a 128MB G3 iMac DV running OS 9.2.2. I just ordered two 256MB memory chips with the hope that this will be sufficient to run Jaguar. Should this be enough? Is an AirPort card the only choice for WiFi on this machine? Will AirPort work with my NetGear 54Mhz 802.11g wireless router? Right now it is directly connected, but I may be moving it to another room in the house.

Finally, I would like to get a new printer, preferably an all-in-one, and was looking at the HP PSC 2510 with built-in WiFi. Do you have any thoughts regarding this product? I really like the way that it handles memory cards for photo printing, but the reviews are lackluster at best. If I were to go with another printer would I need to get a print server, too?

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, 512 megs should be plenty for Jaguar (or Panther, should you upgrade).

AirPort is the only way to add WiFi, AFAIK. But if you can, just keep the iMac next to the WiFi router, so you can connect them with regular Ethernet cable.

If you want to keep the printer separate from a computer, that HP seems like a good choice (I haven't tried it myself, tho). But if you can keep the printer next to the computer, upgrading to Panther might let you share the printer and the scanner parts of that HP (one of the little-known features of 10.3 is the way it lets you share image-capture devices over a local network, via a nifty little Web interface).

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D.C.: Rob -- Love your chats and have learned much from them this year. I have an iPod 15 gig that I'm very happy with except for one problem. I'm a regular jogger and almost always on my jogs the iPod freaks out after 10 minutes, jumping ahead through songs in my playlist until I either reset it or it corrects itself and starts replaying after skipping over 5-10 songs. Interestingly, this didn't happen today when I was listening to a book on tape on my jog. Have you heard of this problem before? Is there any fix?

Rob Pegoraro: No. I'd guess that the problem is in listening to the iPod while running--it has a buffer to cache the next bunch of songs, but if it's subjected to continuous motion you'll exhaust the buffer, and then the next jitter will cause a skip or stutter in playback. I would guess that the Audible spoken-word recordings don't suffer from this problem because they take up much less space, so you'd have to jog for a lot longer to, er, run into skipping problems.

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Chicago: Rob:

Enjoying your technology romp it occurred that a problem that came up Friday might be easy for you. I cannot click through with links on any link that ends in a number, and many http items in subscriptions such as the Post and ZDNet.

We click the little hand on the link, but no filling in of the blue line below takes place. The cursor just sits there.

What might have happened, and how to get active again?

Thank you, Rob.

Don in Chicago

Rob Pegoraro: I have no idea. This--from your description of the progress bar, you're using Safari, right?--is something I've never come across before. Any suggestions for Chicago?

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Treo 600 Review: Just wanted to drop a short note giving a 6 month review of the Treo 600. Was conflicted whether or not to buy at first (Sprint) because Verizon kept teasing their own CDMA version. Unfortunately, or fortunately, they are the worst company in terms of keeping on top of the most recent phones. Anyway, after 6 months I give this phone a 5 star review. I really have no shortcomings at all to note about this phone. The PDA functions exactly like my old Palm did, Sprint has great coverage in this area so the phone works great, and all the apps work for the most part as intended. A large developer base responsible for programs like Snappermail make this device a pleasure to own. Sorry VZW, you guys really dropped the ball on this one.

Rob Pegoraro: Since I know the Verizon folks do lurk in this chat occasionally, I'll post your review/rant and see if I get any sort of response...

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Washington, D.C.: I have been considering buying Sony's mid-level Clie (the T-37, I think), because my old Clie is getting battered, and I'm a bit of a gadget-head. If I hold out for a month or so, am I likely to see substantial discounts on this item? I'm not worried about owning a discontinued item, as Sony kept changing their model lineup all the time anyway.

Also, the T-37 offers Wi-Fi internet access. How does that work? Would I have to pay a separate monthly fee? Or can I just walk into Starbuck's with it?

Rob Pegoraro: I think you will see discounts, but not as soon as a month from now.

The WiFi capability of the TJ37 is just that--it has a receiver that will accept whatever signal is around. Some of those signals (the WiFi network you maintain at home, one at your office, the freebie services some coffee shops give away) won't cost you money, and some (T-Mobile at Starbucks) do require paying, either by day or by month.

FYI, my review of the TJ37

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Laurel, Md.: I suspect there are really two cheap desktop markets: those who want a second PC for specialized functions (like the guy mentioned in your column who uses in his home theatre system); and those who want just the functionality "necesarry" for modern home use.

I suspect the latter need:

Dial-up internet

A productivity suite that can read in documents in the most popular formats

Strategy games

Photo editing and organizing

And, perhaps most importantly, hardware compatibility with the mass of the market so that problems are easily diagnosed and parts obtainable

Have you written a column in the last couple of years about cheap desktops for minimum necessary household functionality as the only PC?

Rob Pegoraro: This is a regular topic in the columns I write each year introducing our annual reviews of home desktop and laptop computers. Here's the one I wrote last November.

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Bethesda, Md.: Sony's withdrawal from the Palm market is upsetting to me, a dyed-in-the-wool PalmOS fanatic.

But both PalmOne and Sony have failed to provide wireless connectivity to the extent that the Windows CE devices (or whatever they're called these days) have. For $350 or so you can buy a Dell Axim with 802.11b and Bluetooth support, and there are lots of other Windows CE devices which support both. The only PalmOS device that I now of that supports both standards is the Sony UX50, which of course will now be discontinued and has a street price of around $510. Sony compounded this problem with their TH55 by releasing a European version with both Wifi and Bluetooth, but left the Bluetooth off their American model.

There are no Palms made by PalmOne which support both standards, although PalmOne and its third-party partners have been promising a Wifi SD card for well over a year.

Personally, I'm about ready to jump ship. And if people like me switch, what will newer less fanatical users do?

Rob Pegoraro: I'd suspect the "less fanatical" users don't care about wireless access that much in the first place--at least not yet.

I do, however, agree that it's dumb for PalmOne and Sony to force this either-or choice. PalmOne, in particular, has some explaining to do for its late, weak support for WiFi.

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Arlington, Va.: I just installed Verizon DSL in my Crystal City home and my signal continually cuts out (about every 2-3 minutes). VZ says that the problem is on their end and they are investigating.

VZ has been very helpful, but here's my Q: if they come back and say "DSL is not going to work for you". Should I keep the Linksys wifi system and wireless network cards I bought from them or return them and buy something else when I get cable? The wifi laptop cards were $59 each and the wifi router (though it will be "free after rebate" if I stay with DSL) will cost me $99. Thoughts?

Rob Pegoraro: If Verizon can't get DSL to work for you in a place as densely populated as Crystal City, I'll eat the first page of your bill.

If you're going to be able to get that WiFi router for free, keep it. $59 is a little high for a WiFi card, but not by much.

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PSC 2510 question: To your inquirer:

I never believed in all-in-ones. But after a few months with the PSC 2510, I can't find the compromises. The WiFi works as you'd expect. Only two recurring issues: The driver software likes to reinstall itself on a regular basis, and it has problems releasing the phone line (which is, I suspect, related to my phone setup rather than the printer.) But as both a scanner and a printer, the 2510 works just as well as if it were wired.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the review!

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Fairfax, VA: Followup to iMac G3 w/HP WiFi printer...

The HP PSC 2410 is identical to the 2510, but without the built-in WiFi and Ethernet port. Does your answer mean that I can connect a printer like the 2410 via USB to the iMac and then share the device to other computers on my home network without a print server? What if the other computers in my house are running Windows XP? It is probably worth the extra $80-100 for the 2510, but is good to know that I have choices.

Rob Pegoraro: The way you'd share that device would be to, first, upgrade to Panther (that's a $130 expense), then set up Windows file and printer sharing, then set up Image Capture sharing as well (which might require you to disable some of the HP drivers so Apple's Image Capture application can run the scanner). Not the simplest thing overall--although printer sharing alone *is* a piece of cake--and the cost outstrips what the 2510 would cost. So unless you want to upgrade to Panther for other capabilities, I'd get the 2510.

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Washington DC: Airport Express - Rob - Did you have any advance knowledge of Apples new Airport Express - I am not shilling for Steve J but this seems like a great idea - I was looking at buying a wireless print server from Linksys but this appears to be the silver bullet for me!; Plus you can stream music from your PC (yes a PC for me) to your stereo system - talk about nirvana!;

Rob Pegoraro: Not really. One of my PR contacts with Apple called me this morning to say they'd have some kind of hardware announcement at 2:30, but he--in that usual inscrutable Apple fashion--wouldn't say what it was.

Now that I see the announcement (it's on Apple's home page), I am rather curious, esp. since iTunes streaming to a stereo is something I've been kvetching about for many months now.

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washingtonpost.com: Airport Express Information is online at apple.com.

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Hanover, N.H.: Rob, as the delighted owner of an NX-60 (who needs a cheap-o camera when you have a PowerShot?) and an NX-80 (ok, so it has a camera but the price was HALF what I paid for the '60!), I met the news of Sony's withdrawal from the market with great distress.

Once I saw the UX-50, I waited with barely suppressed anticipation the release of a Psion-like device running PalmOS6 -- it seemed Sony was the company best-positioned/most likely to produce a device with an incredible screen AND a useful keyboard. Now, I mourn and wonder where to go next. The Treo600 is a nice convergent device, but if what we want is data entry (Clie + Belkin keyboard = I'm writing a book on something I keep in my pocket!) or to read a novel, no phone is going to satisfy.

So now, without Sony pushing the design window (Palm's R&D, you called it), who's going to return us to the clamshell?

This looks like a Jobs for... Jonathon Ivey!

Rob Pegoraro: I had to read your question twice before I figured out what you were looking for--you want a mini-laptop sort of device, with a real keyboard as well as a big screen. And you're right, I don't see PalmOne heading in that direction anytime soon.

For those who didn't recognize the name at the bottom: Jonathan Ives is Apple's industrial-design guru.

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Arlington, Va.: I read an article recently in the tech session of the Washington Post (may have been yours, maybe someone else's) about buying Google-style web crawlers and search engines for a company's intranet. The price tag for Google and other high end competitors is WAY too high for small companies. Are there more reasonably priced (i.e., under $10,000) applications that a small company can use?

Thanks,
Mary

washingtonpost.com: Google Releases Faster Search System for Organizations (Post, June 2, 2004)

Rob Pegoraro: I don't know--I review things from the home-use perspective, so this isn't something I'd cover. Sorry...

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob -

Your column on Mac suites was right on time for us. Am buying a new emac and wondering about this very issue. Do you know if Star Office (from Sun) is available for the mac and, if so, how does it perform with respect to handling Word and Excel documents? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: StarOffice and its free, open-source sibling, OpenOffice, do really well at opening Word and Excel documents. After trying out WordPerfect Office and Evermore Office, I'd say that OpenOffice is still the reining champ in this department.

Unfortunately, you can't run OpenOffice on the Mac except using an alternate, un-Mac-like, Unix-based "X11" interface layer. I'd shell out the $150 for Office 2004 instead--the integration with the Mac system is far better, and it's a great office suite in its own right.

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Arlington, Va.: Interesting article about the Shuttle XPC. It's nice to see manufacturers trying to break out of the dominant design strategy.

Your article may prompt a bunch of posts from chat readers suggesting that you write an article about building a PC oneself. If so, you might point out that the various PC magazines (PC World, Computer Shopper, Maximum PC) tend to run articles on "How to Build Your Own Computer" every few months. It's the computer-topic equivalent of Cosmo or Glamour constantly rerunning articles on how to "Surprise Him in the Bedroom."

Rob Pegoraro: I'll also note that the good people at the Capital PC User Group regularly put on a seminar on this topic: http://www.cpcug.org/user/comm/free-sem.html

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McLean, Va.: I bought Office for Mac after January 5. How can I get the free upgrade to Office 2004?

Rob Pegoraro: Print out this coupon and mail it in: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=office2004tg

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Texas: Mr. Pegoraro,

After sticking with dialup access for ages, I finally signed up for DSL with SBC/Yahoo a couple weeks ago. I'm disappointed so far. Obviously it's way faster than dialup when it's working, but it starts and stops constantly. A web page will load halfway and then it will just sit there, sometimes for a couple of seconds. Often longer. So the overall web-surfing experience is not all that different from dialup.

I contacted the ISP and was taken through the first series of steps to resolve the problem. (Deleting temporary internet files, etc.) It didn't help. I will be contacting them again.

I'm pretty unhappy, and I'm not a very demanding customer. (I don't have or want cable tv; hence the DSL choice.)

I enjoy your columns and chats.

Rob Pegoraro: DSL's not supposed to work like that, I can assure you that much. Try this: Download a really big file from a known reliable source (say, Microsoft's Web site). You should see the download immediately accelerate up to your connection's maximum speed--at least 50 kilobytes a second--and stay at that rate, barring any malfunction at the download site.

If that doesn't work then it's definitely some kind of bug with your connection that SBC should fix.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: I was wondering, what government agency is empowered to shut down a domain when it is obviously used for fraudulent purposes? I always get these fake emails from a bank (the most recent being www.citi-accountonline.com) asking to verify my information. A quick whois check in this case shows that someone in England registered this domain. I once contacted the registrar about this, and they said they don't have the authority to yank the domain. So who does?

Rob Pegoraro: What registrar gave you that kind of BS? Any registrar--any Internet provider, period--will write and enforce terms of service that prohibit their customers from spamming, committing fraud or engaging in other obviously illegal or grossly unethical acts. Violating the ToS will mean not only losing your account but getting a large bill to cover the ISP's costs (for instance, the customers it loses for being known, even if briefly, as a haven for spammers).

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A cheapskate in Northern Virginia: Here is my review of 2 dirtcheap pc.

Emachines T1120- a good machine to surf the web and do some light word processing. It comes with Microsoft Works. If want to play 3d games. Just add a pci gpu( Geforce 2 mx400 recommended and additional 128 mb of ram) It has enough graphic processing power to smoke xbox console.

Powerspecs 6243- a budget machine to take on any future dx9 games with the assistance of geforce fx 5200. This power machine also makes a good video processor. Convert all your VHS videos into VCDs. So far, my reliability with this machine is below average. It crashed on me twice and unable to recover.

With any budget machines, you need a cheap videocard such geforce mx200 to handle the graphic interface of xp. This price of this videocard is $50.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, cheapskate! Notice the emphasis on graphics cards (gpu = "graphics processing unit"), which, more so than the processor, are often the primary limit on a PC's perceived performance.

Sorry, didn't mean to cram that much alliteration in the last sentence :)

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College Park, Md.: This is an unrelated question and I hope you can answer it. The entire Kobe Bryant text-messaging "evidence" has caught my attention. The issue is that telecom companies may have the ability to store text messages for extended periods of time (in this case, four months).

I wonder, is this also the case for instant messaging on the computer? Moreover, AOL and YAHOO offer JAVA enabled "web messengers" which doesn't need the software installed on the computer. I wonder if these messages can be stored ad infinitum as well.

Rob Pegoraro: They could, but think about how many IMs fly across the AOL, Yahoo or MSN networks. Why would these companies want to invest in the massive storage capacity that would entail? What's the customer benefit there?

Then again, I'd ask the same thing about phone companies storing text messages.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob -

You're article today mentions a steep discount on MS Office for students and teachers. How does this work in practice -- what sort of 'credentials' are needed? As a student of life, do I qualify? I teach my kids many things, every day (even weekends!).

Rob Pegoraro: The credentials needed are $150 in U.S. currency, or a credit card that can cough up the same amount. This edition is sold at retail, usually next to the regular-price edition, and there is no attempt to check for any credentials when you check out besides your willingness to fork over the aforementioned funds.

Strange, huh? The best way to describe it is that this edition represents a way for Microsoft to cut the price of Office to a level that home users can be comfortable with--without giving up the profits it makes by selling the full edition to offices that can't afford to be caught breaking software licenses. (Ask any IT manager you know if he or she looks forward to a BSA audit of the computers in the workplace.)

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Annandale, Va.: I'd like to buy my husband a DVD player for Father's Day. Any recommendations, either as to model or as to features to look for? We don't have a sophisticated TV (our newest one is more than 10 years old). A unit combined with a VCR would probably be a plus.

Rob Pegoraro: As long as your TV includes a composite-video or S-Video connection, you're fine (both kinds are simple round plugs; composite has a yellow yack, while S-Video is black). Get a DVD player/VCR that supports MP3 playback and progressive-scan output, and you should be able to keep that player for as long as you've had your current TV around.

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Oakland, Calif.: btown_99

Hey Rob, my question is (excuse me for lack of tech terms so I'll explain this as clear as possible) when I"m surfing the web sometimes a page might not load all the way, like almost everything will load up but maybe a ad won't or a graphic and I'll hit refresh and the page still won't load up. Now I notice (I'm running OS X 10.3.4) that when something that won't show up, in it's place is a little block with a questionmark on it. It kind of looks like a little lego piece or something. Now my question is (whew!) Is there a way to prevent this from happening? Is there something that I need to download? I have the first flat panel iMac and love it, but just little questions like that have me wondering is it just my Mac or is it everybody else. I'm still a novice at computers but willing to learn.

Thanks,

btown_99 A.K.A. confused

Rob Pegoraro: That block with a question mark simply represents an image that hasn't loaded, for whatever reason. Reloading the page should bring the image up for you, but sometimes a photo will be hosted on a different site that's not working, in which case there's nothing you can do from home.

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Pasco, Wash.: Thanks for taking my question. I have been thinking about a projector system instead of an HDTV. Two questions--what, if any, is the difference between DLP and LCD projectors and is this technology mature enough to set-up a reliable home system?

Rob Pegoraro: What I hear from videophiles and other folks who follow the industry is that, basically, LCD costs less, but you pay for that with weaker colors (black can look more like dark gray) and, by some reports, shorter lifespan.

While we're on the subject: After we reviewed a set of three HDTV-compatible DLP projectors two weeks ago, a reader in the know wrote to say that they weren't really HD-compatible.

We've done some investigation and it seems that this issue is a lot fuzzier than we'd thought; the maximum resolutions those projectors delivered were done through image scaling and processing. That means they don't meet the strict definition of HDTV--notwithstanding the pictures they delivered, which my reviewer found looked every bit as good as HDTV on a regular set, and their manufacturers' claims of "HDTV compatibility."

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Bethesda, Md.: AirPort Express looks pretty cool, but not really useful for hooking up to your stereo. To hook something up to your stereo, you need some sort of feedback as to what songs you are queuing up, and what is currently playing.

I guess that the Slimp3 is one of the best at this. There are other gadgets by RokuLabs and others that do this.

Of course, if there were an optional Wifi attachment for the iPod, that could talk to the Airport Express and you'd be in business. I guess that's what's coming next ...

Rob Pegoraro: Not just feedback, but control--if you want to skip to the next song, wouldn't you rather not have to walk over to the Mac to do that?

FYI, I've got a SlimDevices Squeezebox on the way for me to try out, along with a Prismiq MediaPlayer; I hope to get Roku SoundBridge as well. Look for a column on this in the next few weeks.

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Vienna, Va.: In terms of things that slow down...I love listening to streaming radio broadcasts (BBC radio 4 is fantastic audio site) when cleaning around the house. Inevitably--despite the glory of DSL--it gets hung up on some file and starts repeating repeating repeating, then crashing. Is there anything short of getting a T1 to improve the streaming?

Rob Pegoraro: Twiddling with your media-player settings can help. If you've got RealPlayer assuming a connection speed that's as fast, or faster, than your DSL's actual performance, it's going to run into this problem quite often. Switch that connection speed to the next level below your DSL, and you should get a much steadier connection (usually without any real loss in quality)

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St. Louis: My Sony Vaio desktop came with 80GB hard drive. Now, after two years, I seem to have used almost 40GB. How do I access the other 40GB? I think there is a partition there, but I did not put it there. Can you help? Thanks much

Rob Pegoraro: This is one of Sony's odd habits--it ships its computers with a partitioned hard drive for no real reason. Undoing this partition, unless you tackle the chore at the start, is difficult or expensive.

The second partition should be right in My Computer (or whatever you've renamed it) as the D: drive, with a hard-drive icon just like your C: drive.

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Inwood, W.V.: Hi Rob - love your columns and live online.

No question today-just sharing something from the "Langa Letter" since you are talking alot about office programs. Someone posted information about the OpenOffice.Org suite of open source programs. It is free to download (huge) or you can buy for a small price. The link is openoffice.org to check it out! What more could you want?

Rob Pegoraro: That's kinda what I said when I reviewed OpenOffice 1.0 two years ago :)

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Alexandria, Va.: Re: Looking for a DVD Player...

Not sure what type of budget you have, but with a little shopping you should be able to find 27" TV sets with a built-in DVD player and VCR. I saw one of these over the weekend at Costco for $279 or $299. Not as flexible as a stand-alone unit, but it gives you the benefit of a new TV and a DVD player that meets the specs that Rob mentioned.

Rob Pegoraro: Another option for low-cost DVD viewing...

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Carlsbad, Calif.: I have an antiquated VCR and I would like to replace it with a DVD recorder. Can you recommend one to be used, primarily for recording from TV. I do not want to pay a monthly fee for a TIVO service.

Rob Pegoraro: Get a recorder that uses DVD+RW discs (they offer the best combination of recording flexibility and compatibility with existing players). Gateway sells a DVD+RW box for about $300 that I've heard good things about; Philips also sells a pretty broad lineup, and I expect to see many more companies offering products in this category over the rest of the year.

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Silver Spring, MD: Re: cheap desktops
It figures. Our home PC died a couple weeks ago and we just bought a new desktop on Friday.

We bought it at Costco for $999.
Compaq, AMD-2.16 GHz, 512MB RAM. 260GB hard drive. CDRW, DVD-ROM. 7 in 1 media reader (very handy) and 17-inch LCD monitor.

How'd we do?

Rob Pegoraro: Very, very well. I'd have a hard time putting together a machine that would beat those specs; spending money on a lot of RAM and hard drive space instead of processor speed is a good idea these days. Is the "260GB" in the hard drive space a typo? :)

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Ashburn, Va.: In answer to your question - I play several first person shooters, which definitely taxes my machine. Also, I'm convinced after 8 years of use that no PC will EVER be created that Photoshop can't bring to its knees. I currently have an AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (overclocked to a 3200+) and 1 GB of Dual channel DDR400 ram.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for sharing your experience!

We're a few minutes late, but I see a bunch of questions I don't want to skip, so I'll stick around for a bit more

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Clifton, Va.: I have DirecTV. A couple of months ago I called DirecTV customer service and asked what they could do for me to keep as a customer since I could get a better deal with Cox or Dish. They lowered my bill by $10.00 a month. Still cheaper than Cox whose picture quality is awful on my new Sony front projector with SQXd or whatever it is called.

Rob Pegoraro: Excellent bargaining by you, and excellent responsiveness to the customer by DirecTV.

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Alexandria, Va.: Rob --

Your review of the Shuttle brings to mind a question: Is therre any reason for desktop computers anymore? It used to be that laptops ccouldn't handle some peripherals because of the needed cards, but with USB 2.0 (or FireWire), that limitation seems irrelevant. So is there a good reason why we shouldn't just have laptops and docking stations?

Rob Pegoraro: Two reasons:

1) Desktop cases are always going to be cheaper than laptops, since they don't need to include batteries or use miniaturized components.

2) Desktop keyboards and screens are always going to be bigger and/or more comfortable than what you get with a laptop.

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Bethesda, Md.: Slow tasks: Logging onto my dialup account is slow particularly if I need to disconnect and then reconnect more than once-- Also, I'm getting tired of that modem connection sequence (the sound of a duck swallowing a kazoo, according to Dave Barry).

Rob Pegoraro: This, IMHO, is the single biggest advantage of broadband over dialup--having an always-on connection instead of waiting for each connection.

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AirPort Express: The Apple announcement says AirPort Express is compatible only with iTunes 4.6 -- but the latest available for download is 4.5. Any idea whether you have to buy AirPort Express to get 4.6?

Rob Pegoraro: I'd guess that some software gnomes at Apple are uploading 4.6 to the download servers as we speak.

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Bowie, Md.: Is there a latest version of Internet Explorer, or patch for earlier versions, to defeat "phishing" in the address window (making it look like you're at http://www.ebay.com when really you've been link-directed to some conman's look-alike site)?

Rob Pegoraro: Try out SpoofStick, a free toolbar add-on we reviewed yesterday: www.corestreet.com/spoofstick/

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Baltimore: Rob, is the software barrier really an adequate explanation for the lack of wintel->Mac switching in the face of the malware onslaught?

As background to the Q, my recent experience: I temporarily needed a wintel laptop to hook up to a scientific device for which the mac driver is still under development (I have an otherwise all mac lab). Literally a few seconds after hooking it up to the network, in spite of it's installed antiviral SW, it became unusably slow due to viral infestation (this is BEHIND the university firewall) and it took the IT guy 2 afternoons to get it back to a functional state.

Why anyone would put up with this without a gun to his/her head is beyond me, but that the reality for 95% of the market. How does this make any sense?

Rob Pegoraro: Good question. A lot of people use their computers for tasks that can be capably handled by any OS, Windows, Mac or Linux; not a thing they do requires using a program that only runs on one of those platforms. Yet people seem to buy Windows out of habit.

Or maybe it's just because the price of entry to computing is so much cheaper in Windows (never mind the costs you may pay later on).

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Arlington, Va.: I'd been debating buying a Sony Clie for the Wi-Fi access, but now my cell phone is dying, too. Am I a perfect candidate for a Treo? Or is the Treo still too much of a work in progress?

Rob Pegoraro: If your wireless carrier *isn't* Verizon or Nextel, yes, you might be a Treo candidate. But realize that the wireless access you'd get with any cellular connection is nothing compared to WiFi; it's fast compared to dialup, but pokey next to WiFi. It may also come with a substantial monthly bill.

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Midland, Texas: Do you foresee multiple processors becoming the norm in home PCs in the near future? And will they increase performance noticeably? or be used for special purposes like antivirus or spam protection?

Rob Pegoraro: Intel is planning to adopt something like this--what are called dual-core processors, which basically put two CPUs on one chip. The idea is to increase performance across the board, not to have one core detailed to some particular set of tasks.

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Arlington, Va.: Airport Express looks great. (Ironic that I just ran a wire through my floor and my basement to connect an iBook to my stereo yesterday.) With the iTunes "party shuffle," it's been really nice to listen to great music all day long, rediscovering songs I'd forgotten I had.

I've found this to be more convenient than the other options -- I walk over to the computer instead of the stereo now to change songs or volume. Having a full screen means it's easy to see the next couple dozen songs that are coming up and edit them, etc.

I bet this is going to be a huge hit. I'm already reconsidering plans to wire our kitchen and back porch to the stereo. Now, why bother?

Rob Pegoraro: I think you might be right, although I want to see what kind of answer Apple has to that control/feedback issue.

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Suitland, Md.: Is there a source that you can refer me to compares that the different PDA and Phone combinations? Elaine

Rob Pegoraro: The "product advisor" Brighthand, one of the better handheld-info sites, just put up looks like it might do the trick: http://www.brighthand.com/article/advisor?site=SmartPhone

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Washington, D.C.: This is in response to btown_99's question: the little lego-block that you see means that the page you are loading is trying to use a plugin that you don't have installed. Probably either Flash or RealPlayer.

Rob Pegoraro: Oh, right, good point. Visit www.macromedia.com for the first one (although it should already be loaded on your computer) and www.real.com for the second (make sure you click on the link for the free player, not the trial release of the plus version).

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Rob Pegoraro: Well, that's all folks... thanks for a great set of questions today. I'll see you here again in a couple of weeks.

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