Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

talosian

Jun 8, 2004, 1:24 PM

Post #1 of 4 (602 views)

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Can the computer club use this stuff?

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Having been frustrated by computers (not to mention the "fairer sex) for many years, I have ended ujp with a large box of misc. cables (including lots of Eithernet) and sundry parts. It would cost me very little to bring them if the computer club can use them. Yes? No?

I also have mucho transformers so if anyone needs a particular one, tell me and I'll check and if I have it, bring it. I have probably 30+ so don't want to bring them all.

Thanks.

Spock.
"When all logical explanations have failed, we must look to the illogical for the answer.

kirkswig

Jun 9, 2004, 8:50 AM

Post #2 of 4 (558 views)

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Re: [talosian] Can the computer club use this stuff?

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I'd keep 'em. This kind of stuff falls squarely into the category of "Darn, why did I throw that away?" I guarantee you, once you try setting up all your computers and stuff in Mexico there will be some gizmo, some gadget, some wire or cord or adaptor or transformer that you'll discover you absolutely need, and you'll be reduced to going online to replace it. And from I've seen, that's going to be a chore. Assuming you can even identify the gizmo you need, you'll then need to find a store that ships to the U.S., or go through the whole send-it-to-this-address-so-that-they-can-forward-it-to-this-other-address where then somebody you don't even know opens the thing up for you to figure out how much you have to pay in duty. And I can almost guarantee you that the gizmo will end up having been made in China, which to the Mexicans is like getting the triple-word score in Scrabble.

What did the Chinese do to tick off the Mexicans anyways? Anybody know?

FWIW, I was going to put all my computer stuff on eBay and just get a really nice laptop and bring that down, but after reminding myself how eBay works, I'm just going to do the air freight thing after all, so that means *all* my gizmos are coming with me, even the stuff I can't possibly need later but which I know I will. It's going to be one heck of a menage de casa; I'm into building my own computers, so I guess that means every fan, every power supply, every stick of RAM has to go down on the list, with serial numbers and everything.

Those margaritas had better work as advertised.

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.

johanson / Moderator

Jun 9, 2004, 11:03 AM

Post #3 of 4 (549 views)

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Re: [kirkswig] Can the computer club use this stuff?

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Good advice. Here is another option. If it's time to buy another one (what ever that might be) call DELL. They actively support the Latin American market, have parts in Mexico and should you wish will provide English software.

I have a friend who bought a new Dell Server. When a hard drive failed he phoned an 800 # and a repair person came out from Guadalajara to his Ajijic office and replaced the hard drive free of charge (The unit was under warrantee)

Their tel # from Mex is 001-877-384-8979. Their web page is http://www.dell.com.mx And if for some reason you do not speak Spanish :), the folks at the 800 # do. The web page is in Spanish, though.

kirkswig

Jun 10, 2004, 4:42 AM

Post #4 of 4 (520 views)

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Re: [johanson] Can the computer club use this stuff?

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For general-use or business-use, I think DELL is great, and it is really very nice that they are set up in Mexico the way they are. The specs on their machines being sold in Mexico are very close to what is being sold in the U.S., and in some cases it appears you can even get a better deal in Mexico (I'm looking at the dual-processor systems here.)

The thing is, and I think I alluded to this earlier in some other thread, there are some discrepancies however. dell.mx seems to have some issue with not offering more mainstream high-end graphics cards. One of the reason I like to have a fast machine is so I can play the really CPU-hungry games, but to make that worthwhile I need/want not just the latest CPU's but also the latest graphics cards. dell.us is offering the ATI Radeon 9800 XT, which is good (it's not the latest however) whereas dell.mx is offering the QuadroFX, which is a card for CAD and workstation stuff. Not what I want or need.

I'd like to be able to continue building my own PC's. I hope to go all out on my next PC; water-cooling, dual 64-bit AMD processors, DDR2 RAM, PCI-Express, Serial ATA... and a really awesome graphics card, something based on an NVidia Geforce 6800. To be on the cutting edge like that you almost have to build your own system.

I've tried modifying prebuilt computers before, but it's very difficult, and actually dangerous too. They build these things without being concerned about what you might want to put in there later, so expansion is difficult, if even possible, and you also run the risk of cuts and scratches and the like because of all the sharp edges, exposed screws, etc.

I am more or less resigning myself to paying lots of duty when I'm in Mexico as I have the new stuff shipped in. But to minimize the amount of stuff I get, I'm bringing along even stuff that I can't possibly even need or want to use again. Things like SCSI terminators, and even *laugh* a PCI video card.

I'll get along without the new laptop, for now. Just spent $200 refurbishing my old laptop by sticking a new 14.1" TFT LCD screen in there. That way I'll still be able to maybe do some computing on the beach, even if it's not playing DOOM III.

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.