Thinkpads Forum

I am actually thinking of pickin up a newer 1GHz or faster IBM Desktop PC.. I have been lookin at the Net Vistas.. We use them at work (Best Buy.. THe P3 based systems.. Mine is an older store, lol.. Although we DO have ONE THinkCenter..)

Anyway, I am mainly lookin for feedback, both god and bad.. Just from using them each day, I know they are pretty solid workers.. These things are often on for days.. Weeks.. Months on end.. (Actually there is one, the Best Buy sign making system- That has ben running for over a year and a half!)

My ideal setup is the PC itself obviously.. And at least a 17" ThinkVision LCD, UltraNAV keyboard w/ the TrackPoint, and an IBM Optical mouse (THe GF would go nuts figuring out why the Desktop PC has a "dot" like her ThinkPad has..)

Like I said, I am lookin for some input on this, and I also would be gathering all this over a period of time.. Not all at once.. Plus, I want a 20" THinkVision if possible, and that will be expensive.. lol.. Thanks guys..

I have an IBM PC 300 PL that ran Windows 2000 for four years non-stop. I now have a NetVista A30 (2.4Ghz) that has been running Windows XP non-stop since March, 2003.

Obviously all systems need to restart regularly for software and OS updates and so do mine. I had a couple of blue screens on the older machine (largely due to software and drivers that were still evolving from the 9x days). I have no blue screens or other crashes on the NetVista box.

... JD Hurst

My wife has a very similiar setup to the one you are thinking of except her keyboard is a non-ultra nav model and the LCD is the ThinkVantage 15 inch model (it is height adjustable, etc, a "p" model bought for her desired working screen reolution). We've had zero problems in the year or so since purchasing the unit - highly recommend it. It's a P4 2.4 gigahertz ThinkCentre tower unit.

Good luck...

Nice ot hear I wont be falling into a sub-par qulity hole here like my mother did when she bought a Dell Latitude..

I would run my PC non-stop daily.. THe last one I built I turned on every morning and off each night.. Not this off when Im done each time I use it, lol..

Glad to hear as I said that you guys are happy with them, and as for the non-stop running, I figured they did SOMETHING right.. We at work let them run forever..

I have a NetVista A22p (with a IBM E74 17 inch monitor) that I had since June 2002. It have had no problems with it and I still use it. There are also ThinkCentre's at my school and I have used one and it's cool.

Ony of my friends has a NetVista A22p and it seems like a good enough system. He once paid me to repair it and get all the dust out after the OS crahsed permanently thanks to some faulty RAM chips and I have to say that while the case felt somewhat cheaper than the steel beige box sitting in my room, it was still sturdy, well built and very easy to open up and access the parts inside. The computer is also pretty quiet which I consider to be another plus.

My two complaints about the computer would be that the MicroATX case only gives space for one of those dinky MicroATX power supplies and the 4 expansion slots might not be enough expansion for some users, especially considering that one slot will always be taken by the video card. On the other hand, at least this computer uses a standard AGP video card as opposed to onboard graphics like many other brand name companies.

All in all, the experience with working on my friends NetVista was rather good and for just about all business users and most home users who don't plan to add many expansion cards, the NetVista would be a perfect choice.

I have three PC300GLs, all in good shape, all running late (Tualatin) PIII processors... my "best" one is in my signature. These PIII machines can be set up with enough muscle for just about anything except video editing. I agree that the microATX form factor is not ideal, but I have found that the PC300GL case is OK... it lets you mount two optical drives, and the dinky 165 watt power supply seems to do the job. (I think many aftermarket power supplies are rated at more power than they can actually produce.)

Video Editing.. THats why I want the P4 2.2 I decided.. I figured a 1GHz may not be quite up to the task there..

As for the Power supply, I would try and find one rated higher after the OE one crapped out..

If the OE power supply dies, you might actually be better off buying a new case with power supply and moving your mobo, video card, etc. to that new case. Many "regular" ATX cases will also take a microATX mobo, and these cases can be pretty inexpensive. Also, I have found that microATX power supplies are not all the same physical dimensions... it doesn't appear to be standardized (which really surprised me).