Re: packard bell ?

greg wrote: 
thanks dion_b, that was very informative.  I think I'll stay away from
PB.

Maybe you can help me out. I do pretty heavy computing (number
crunching under Linux) and need something reliable, and with a dual
AMD.  I don´t know  much about hardware etc. so I'm not inclined to
build my own machine.

Fair enough - if you need something reliable and aren't too sure of your ability to build one yourself, a complete system is probably a better bet. I'd also recommend playing around with some old stuff to become more familiar with the innards of a PC for the next time round, giving you DIY as a serious option - but that is the future, this is now.

A dual core AMD is a sensible choice for heavy number crunching (two of these old Alpha-inspired FPUs are pretty hard to beat)

So the alternatives are

1) Buy a  ready made computer. I saw the Presario 1677 that fits my
needs. How good are Presarios?  any other brand to recommend?

HP/Compaq Presarios are good-quality machines, but suffer from the usual OEM idiosyncrasies. Basically they are great as long as you do wat the vendor wants you to do, but if you want other things they can be problematical (nothing insurmountable, but the whole reason to buy a complete PC is *not* to have to bugger about with them). I was unable to find exact specs for the Presario 1677 you mention, but one thing most Presario-line systems seem to have is integrated graphics. Avoid this (or Hypermemory/Turbocache hybrid designs) like the proverbial plague. If you want to do number crunching, the last thing you need is to castrate your CPU's I/O by having to share memory bandwidth with the video controller. Make sure you have a seperate video card with its own dedicated memory. Exactly what kind of card it is, is pretty irrelevant - so long as it does not share system memory bandwidth.

2) Have one built by a computer store.  Where I'm based  there is a
store that does that,  but they use their own standard set of
components and I don´t know how good they are.   What things should I
look out  for?

The best way to gauge the competence of the shop personell is to have a chat with them about a new system - and to mention you are intending to run Linux on it. If they keep hammering on CPU speed (ignoring motherboard/chipset considerations), they are probably ... er ... "ill informed" - i.e. useless. If however they stress a balanced system, they know their stuff and can probably offer a better solution than an OEM vendor like HP. The Linux question is important for support. If it freaks them out, expect a hard time getting in-warranty support on the system (bad news), if they take it matter-of-factly and say something like "Oh, that saves you the Windows license", they are probably comfortable with it - not that they can automatically help you with software issues, but at least they won't blame hardware issues on Linux (it happens... :X)

So if the shop sounds like they know the importance of a balanced system and aren't scared by Linux, they are probably the way to go. Regarding quality of components, these days the differences are so small (with the notable exception of power supplies - make sure you pay at least EUR 40 / USD 50 for yours, any less and it is likely to be substandard - and make sure it is *heavy* (amazingly, weight is the best indication of quality)) it's pretty pointless to be too worried about it. Even PC Chips is a reliable vendor now...

Last point (simple but important) - if you're dependent on a dialup POTS modem (i.e. no ADSL or Cable), make sure it runs under Linux. See www.linmodems.org for hints & tips. Having had the luxury of a broadband connection for over 6 years, I cannot give any up-to-date suggestions myself.
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