Suggestions to make SysOpt.com better

[SysOpt]

Over the last few months, we haven't had as many articles/reviews as we would have liked. There are many reasons, and a few excuses, but the fact remains. We're gearing up to publish features more frequently very soon, but I wanted to take a minute to ask for your input.

As IT professionals by day, enthusiasts by heart , or enthusiasts all the time , you probably have a good idea of what you want to read about. What types of hardware reviews are you most interested in? If you send me a list of hardware you would like to see reviewed, especially that has not been released yet, we'll get to work on lining up the reviews.

Or how about how to do certain things, like wirelessly network an office/SOHO/home or install/configure certain hardware or applications/OS's. Or, our suggestions for a great biz workstation, a killer gaming system?

Any suggestions you may have for particular hardware, or particular articles/topics, or just general areas you would like to see us cover, please feel free to post it here or drop me a line if it's a really cool idea that you don't want another site to steal .

Thanks,
Scott

[This message has been edited by SysOpt (edited 06-24-2000).]

[Warthog]

As a "beginner" (compared to the rest of you ) I would like to see what your sorta mentioned above. Some hardware suggestions for gaming systems, basic systems and systems inbetween game and basic, graphic design, and others. I mean specifics here. Monitor size/brand, cd-rom/dvd-rom/cd-rw speed/brand, processor brand/speed, video card brand/speed etc. Maybe some of you could expand on these ideas.

Some reviews of certain video cards. Why should I get a 3dfx card and not a Geforce? What are the real differences? Not just benchmark stuff but "real world" tests. Maybe this or that card is good in Quake, but I simply want a card that will still be good in a few years. What card is best for me?

There are so many cards out there, a good idea would be to put a table up with all the video cards listed on the side (Voodoo 3 2000, Geforce 2 32mb, ATI All-in-Wonder) and with various features listed on the top (tv out, what resolution it supports, tv tuner, memory size, PCI/AGP etc.) or something similar. I know that there is no way to review EVERY video card individually, so that's why I suggested the table idea. So many members ask what video card to get. Most of the time, they ask questions about what features it has.

A review of TV tuner cards would be very helpful. It took me forever to find reviews about certain cards. Is it user friendly? What is the quality? How do I hook it up to my tv? Is it worth it?

I like the network "How to" idea. I asked how to set up a phoneline network (like the "Intel Anypoint") a few weeks ago. Not many knew how. The information online is also not too common. Finally one member helped me out and I found an article on the web about it after much searching.

A comparison of the different memory types would be EXTREMELY helpful. This is probably something you could do eventually because right now about the only types to test are SDRAM (PC100 and 133) and RDRAM. But it would still be a good.

Sorry for the length, but these are all questions that I have asked myself recently and those that others have asked at Sysopts message boards. I'll post some more ideas when I think of more.

Warthog

[alondra]

I agree with the above ,but please dont follow the lead of so many auto reviews where they only talk about the cars that few can afford or have even seen. remember us escort drivers

[Junky]

Yes, and keep reviews short and sweet...straight to the point. I hate reading reviews when they go on and on and on and... I just want the meat if'n you know what I mean.

Thanks

[Glynn R Harris]

I'm a fan of the "biggest bang for the buck" club... I want reviews of those goodies I can afford (or at least justify). But then, I also always read good stuff about things I might find harder to afford, but can look forward to in the future.

Incidentally, would like to take this space to thank y'all for the mobo reviews, the firewire articles/reviews, and the SOHO articles, all of which are now in my "budget for this" folder.

Since y'all took on the Onstream 30G tape review, can ya talk Indigita into loaning you one of their SCSI or FireWire DAT-based drives? A shoot-out... yeah, that's what I want! (I like the idea of streaming video directly from the tape drive).

Potential ShootOpts, er, Outs:
* Intel's reference mobo vs. AMD's
* Onstream vs Indigita
* Promise Ultra66 vs. SIIG & MicroFirmware(http://www.firmware.com/sales/atapro/ataudma.htm)
* ATA66 drives by Maxtor/WD/Fujitsu/Quantum/IBM... if they are not all the same company by now
* APC vs CyberPower UPSes

And some reliability and consumable comparisons <<yes I know these are hard to do>> of ink-jet color printers (Epson, HP, Canon, Lexmark, Xerox).

Y'all do such a great job, all I Really ask is: keep doing it!!!

[Richard_Cranium72]

Sysopt is a great place as is, IMO. I happen to be at 499 posts and have quit posting as I do not want to be labeled "Senior" member. My qualifications and abilities do not warrant this honored status. I'm hoping that the bug is fixed in this Community thread and NOT push me to the 500+ level. I have no credible answer to awarding those deserving the Senior status, just it is very sad that so many people post junk posts to get their status up to a higher level. I've tried to get my first alias working to no avail. Here's to all my friends at sysopt,, bye . DrVette

[SysOpt]

Great suggestions, thanks. Keep 'em coming!

[Lacy]

I think a "how-to" section for different areas of computer building is a great idea. Especially for those who are just beginning to get into building, etc. I am definitely not that technical and learned on my own by trial and error. I really enjoy building computers and making them run smoothly.

Another idea is dividing some of the categories into sub-categories? One for Apps with subs like MSOffice for windows, corel for windows, corel for linux? operating systems with subs for the different varieties? might make it easier for those of us who try to solve problems on our own with the help of those more experienced (redundant sounding, I know, but you know what I mean).

[scotter]

here is one take some of the biggest problems and questions from these forums and do walk throughs with them
like this thread
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/For...ML/007995.html

or this one
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/For...ML/008003.html

or this
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/For...ML/003238.html

do a, So and So from the forums had this problem, here is what we did to fix it and how we went about it step by step

maybe even do a hands on with that persons computer ever now and then with the real good problems

just a idea


[This message has been edited by scotter (edited 06-25-2000).]

[chipbgt]

I would love to see some updated "How-to" guides, especially a how to assemble and run your own home network with multiple computers.

Also, the idea of a table that displays the facts about products (videa cards especially) so you can compare and contrast easily would be an excellent idea. So if I wanted to know just exactly how the different GeForces stack up with different ATI's and Voodoo's, it would all be right here at sysopt

[This message has been edited by chipbgt (edited 06-25-2000).]

[Chainsaw]

I like chipbgt's home network guide perhaps with a section on setting up ICS (using either static and dynamic IP address). There is some great information out there on both networking and in setting up ICS, but it would be great to have this information readily available to Sysopt users. It took a lot of research and trial and error to get my network/Internet Sharing set up correctly.
An on site, detailed guide would have helped greatly.

Thanks,
c:::CHNsaw

[plucky duck]

A Preview/Review of the upcoming Matrox G450 lineup would be nice

While you're @ it, ask Matrox if there's going to be a MARVEL G450 coming out too and ask why they've stopped producing the Matrox Marvel G400. They've only manufactured a limiting quantity of those

Also, perhaps a HOW_TO_CHOOSE_A_NOTEBOOK kind of article would be nice too.

On a side note - the white-coloured backdrop is really killing my eyes Oww. Can you change it to gray or some other color that's easy on the eyes? Tried IE but it doesn't provide me with option to change background color Just a suggestion

Later fellas,
Plucky

[SDT]

I would like to see a Network Devices section in the user reviews. I don't mean NICs as that is already there. I am referring to things like hubs, routers, switches, wireless network devices. These things are becoming more common with the coming of age of broadband connections and multi pc in house networks. I know that when I went to buy my linksys router I looked for a user review and couldn't find one.

Steve

edit
DrVette, I happen to disagree with you. ALL of the posts that I have seen from you are intelligent, well thought out and it is very evident that you are not increasing your post count by posting "me too's" and garbage. Just because you don't feel that you are as technically "qualified" (whatever that means) as some other members does not mean that you should stop posting so as to not achieve senior member title. Your opinions and intelligence is valuable to others.

just my $.02


[This message has been edited by SDT (edited 06-25-2000).]

[jl123]

How bout Sysopts version of www.pcguide.com??

I don't mean like just to copy them like some other site did to sysopt. pcguide.com is a very good site and i really like reading stuff on it. But it would be cool for sysopt to have something like that but with more pictures and diagrams. You have to admit a picture is worth a thousand words. Just make it a little bit easier to understand by adding pictures and shorting them up a little bit. What do you people think?

~Joel(jl123)

[This message has been edited by jl123 (edited 06-25-2000).]

[U-96]

I agree with chipbgt.
The existing articles are very solid, but many, such as building a PC, need to be updated with the latest options for mobos/CPUs/slotkets etc.

Video card shoot-outs can be found at millions of other sites, but there are many other pieces of vital kit that don't get a lot of coverage and I think that Sysopt does well to try and cover these and some of the more esoteric new gizmos.

I also agree that any hardware reviews should (continue to) be "real world" tests, not repetition of the marketing hype and manufacturers figures. How it's done is up to the reviewer, but reading subjective and opinionated reviews is as much fun as the objective and unbiased ones!

Finally, this is "System Optimization". As far as I interpret it, that means making the best of what you have got or can get. So more tweaking/ramping/overclocking stuff please! There are lots of profoundly useful tips buried in the bowels of the forums, but they rarely make it into the mainstream content. The Ultra66->FastTrack66 hack article is a good example of this kind of thing. More of this stuff would be good.

U-96