Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!chaph.usc.edu!alcor.usc.edu!dwu
From: dwu@alcor.usc.edu (Daniel Wu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: PC Magazine's evaluation of Northgate
Summary: Does Northgate really suffer from compatibility/reliability problems?
Keywords: northgate reliablity compatibility pc magazine
Message-ID: <9871@chaph.usc.edu>
Date: 25 May 90 02:31:43 GMT
Sender: news@chaph.usc.edu
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 36



I've been in the market for a 386 machine, and was seriously considering 
Northgate.  I looked through some past isssues of PC Magazine, and found
an article titled "Endurance Tests: 386 and portables" in the Jan 16, 1990
issue (Technical Excellence).  I was favorably considering Northgate, 
because I heard some very nice comments about their construction and service
from the net, but the article contained a few negative comments.  They were
reviewing the Elegance 386/25 with 256K of read/write cache:

	While this machine can hardly be touched for sheer performance,
	the Elegance is usually dependable but plagued by a few hiccups when 
	it comes to reliability and compatilibity.

	For instance if you choose to bypass the power-up self test (POST),
	the 600 MB hard disk doesn't have a chane ro come up to operational
	speed and will not boot the system. The solution: don't bypass the
	memory test.

	[Next paragraph about machine failing to boot until memory chips
	were firmly re-seated...]

	Compatibility testing also revealed some bugaboos.  I was unable to get
	a QMS JetScript add-in board to work. Lotus Express locked up the
	system every time I attempted to load it.  While I was unable to
	come up with a solution to the former problem, the latter was solved
	by running Express in a window under Microsoft Windows/386.

Has anybody out there experienced these kinds of problems?  I would have 
settled on Northgate if it were not for this single unfavorable review.
Comments anyone?  I'd like to hear other people's experiences with this
machine.

Thank you

Daniel