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From: dwu@castor.usc.edu (Daniel Wu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: PC Magazine's evaluation of Northgate
Keywords: northgate reliablity compatibility pc magazine
Message-ID: <10035@chaph.usc.edu>
Date: 4 Jun 90 09:42:30 GMT
References: <9871@chaph.usc.edu> <402@beartrk.beartrack.com>
Sender: news@chaph.usc.edu
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 50

In article <402@beartrk.beartrack.com> cjp@beartrk.beartrack.com (CJ Pilzer) writes:
>
>I have a Northgate 486 25i.  It is the same Elegance machine as the 386.
>Before buying it I did a lot of research.  
>
>The machine got top rating in InfoWorld Nov 27, 1989 pg 90 and Computer-
>World Jan 22 1990 pg 59.  I don't know what artical you read in PC mag.,
>but it was an Editor's choice in PC Mag. October 31, 1989 pg 97 among
>22 machines. 

My original article may have been overlooked by now, but I noted the issue
and article in PC Magazine:

] 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). 

]	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.
]
]	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.

>Well, as you can see, I really like the machine and think that you 
>can't go wrong with it.  Also, the chairman of the company hangs out
>on the IBMHW forum section 7 of Compuserve.  Any complaint gets
>immediate attention from him.  Lots of recommendations of the Northgate
>machines on that forum.  
>
>Charles Jay Pilzer  cjp@beartrk.beartrack.com

All the responses I have received so far have indicated no compatibility
problems.  I don't think, though, that anybody has tried to duplicate the
the above scenario.  

I don't have access to CompuServe, but perhaps someone who has may 
want to forward these concerns to the IBMHW forum.

Daniel
dwu@castor.usc.edu