Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!ptsfa!ihnp4!tellab5!dpd
From: dpd@tellab5.UUCP (Dan Dietrich)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Do good AT clones really exist??
Message-ID: <813@tellab5.UUCP>
Date: 3 Jan 88 20:24:27 GMT
Reply-To: dpd@tellab5.UUCP (Dan Dietrich)
Organization: Tellabs, Inc., Lisle, Il.
Lines: 37

I'm currently trying to buy an AT clone system and I'm can't seem
to find a "safe" buy.  I *must* have a 10 MHZ, 0 wait state mono system with
a 40 MB fast (40 ms) hard disk.  My goal is to spend no more than $1600 so 
COMPAQ, AST and other brand name clones are out of my financial reach.

Being a EE type, I would prefer a motherboard based on the CHIPS & Technology 
chip set (higher reliability, lower cost, newer technology, etc).
My concern after reviewing an application note from CHIPS & Technology is
that clone designers might be cheating with the chipset.  The application note 
basically says that with great care their chipset will go to 10 MHZ 
1 wait state.  From what I've seen on boards, most of them claim to 
work fine at 10 MHZ / 0 wait states.  Am I missing something or are 
they just trying to sell me a marginal system?
One dealer actually said he'd rather not sell me a motherboard based
the the CHIPS chipset.  He said he's had quite a few returned and they've
been too much trouble for what he makes on them.

From what I have heard, the DTK motherboard is the top of the line
clone board among the dirt cheap systems.  It does not use the CHIPS
chipset but seems to be well established.  Has anybody had/heard of any
problems with this board?

I also believe I should stay away from "baby AT" systems.  My concern here
is that "standard" AT memory cards will not fit into a baby system.
I would hate to have problems expanding the memory if OS/2 ever takes off.
Am I just being paranoid in this area or is this true?

Just for grins, these are some of my favorite lines from clone sales types:
"...and it's got a 32 megahertz hard drive with 28 microsecond access time."
"We use high quality 100 millisecond RAMS in our systems."

Please email any comments, I'll post a summary if enough people are
interested.  Thanks for any help!

Dan Dietrich
...!ihnp4!tellab5!dpd
dpd@tellab5.UUCP