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David,<br>
With the advent of USB 3.0, Firewire not so much.<br>
<br>
Mobile devices are mostly relegated to take the place of the
old-fashioned terminals of the past<br>
while mainframe computers have become a network of servers and
virtual servers called clouds.<br>
<br>
Still there is a need for performance and local storage which the
traditional architecture cannot<br>
provide. This is provided for gamers as you have indicated but also
for the financial industry<br>
in which individuals manipulate their stock portfolios and for
certain competitive small businesses.<br>
Other markets include individuals who value privacy, and illicit
activity which desires to keep<br>
data secure and off the grid. The market is small but the demand is
fierce.<br>
<br>
This has also created and will continue to create for some time, a
large surplus of used desktops<br>
and workstations which may be had cheaply. 10-year old PowerMac G5
towers and and Dell Precision<br>
workstations and early MacPro Towers can be had for almost 10% of
original cost and are quite <br>
capable desktops for many tasks not demanding the latest technology.<br>
<br>
Note that DDR2 DRAM has become more expensive than DDR3 even though
very few DDR2 machines are still<br>
being manufactured or sold.<br>
<br>
Jon<br>
-------------------------------(I'll fix that indenting soon.
sorry)<br>
<br>
Desktops seem to be fading fast.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Mostly you find all-in-one computers these days, plus
laptops/notebooks and tablets.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Seems the only people interested in discrete computers are
gamers who want to be able to constantly upgrade individual
components.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thats not to say there isnt a ton of hardware around. Just
that the market is shrinking fast.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>These days, everything is connected by SATA, USB, Firewire,
HDMI, and WiFi, rather than backplanes and ribbon cables.</div>
<div><br>
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<div>-David </div>
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<br>
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<div>On Oct 19, 2014, at 1:35 PM, Stephen M <<a
href="mailto:smelheim85@gmail.com">smelheim85@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
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<div>
<div>I'm trying to diversify myself so I can add things on
my resume. I have never been into hardware but trying
to understand it. I was planning on getting a computer
or two from goodwell, break it apart and reassemble it.
And I am looking for volunteering like at a library to
help non-techie ppl.<br>
<br>
</div>
Does anyone else have suggestions on hardware to know.
I'm not looking for something specific but a general
understanding of computer hardware.<br>
<br>
</div>
Thanks to all in advance.<br clear="all">
<div><br>
-- <br>
Stephen Melheim <br>
602-400-7707<br>
<a href="mailto:SMelheim85@gmail.com">SMelheim85@gmail.com</a>
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