Re: Powerbook HDD used as Multia internal?

[Arthur Shaffer <pp01138 ppp kcc edu>]

I hope this doesn't step on anybody's toes, but why is there all this interest
in upgrading MULTIAS?  Last week there was a flurry of excitement because
there were multias available for $99. I checked that website and they had no
memory. That was no better deal than any of the auction boards where they are
available with 16 meg for around $149.

I do know that the 2.5" SCSI comment is correct. The price of external
peripherals is ridiculous. AS 200's are available for $ 225 on many of the
boards. These have 16 meg ram and generally an S3 video card. Any 3.5" or 1/2
height 5" drives will work. They also have excellent cooling, adequate power
supplies and useable expansion slots. In addition, they are 233 mHz machines.
Once the space is available, good factory refurbished 1-2 Gig SCSI drives are
available for $ 60-100. Good SCSI CR-ROMS are even less.

While MULTIAS are good machines, I don't think it is very cost effective to
expand them to any extent. Depending on the upgrade, it is likely that you
could buy an entire AS200 system for about the same amount of money and use
the barebones MULTIA as a second X workstation (its original purpose).

This is not to fault anyone configuring a system in any way they choose.
However, a lot of people considering alphas may read this board for ideas, and
the general impression sometimes is that the MULTIA is the hot ticket to a
bare bones entry level system, when in fact it may be a more expensive route.

Scott Lewis wrote:

> Anybody know if I can rip the HDD out of a dead Powerbook and put it in
> a Multia?  I was looking around at prices for 2.5" SCSI HDD.  If you think
> that 2.5" IDE HDD's are bad, look at the prices on these damn things.  A
> 540MB IDE drive runs for around 130.  A 540 MB SCSI drive costs $260.  A
> 1.2 GB IDE runs for 139, the same in SCSI is $349.  And 1.2GB is the
> biggest I can find.
>
> Scott Lewis
> Computer Support
> Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
> Georgia Institute of Technology
> scott.lewis@ce.gatech.edu   (404) 894-2210
>
> "Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot."
>
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