Mac son-in-law trying to help PC dad-in-law.

[jdiv]

My father-in-law is looking to buy a new PC in the near future. Being a mac user I know just enough to be dangerous. I'm hoping someone might be able to give me their preference as to whether t go with Dell,Compaq or Gateway. My father-in-law is also in love with his MYM financial program which is DOS only. I suggested he could partition the drive to run Windows ME on one and DOS on the other. Is this feasible?

Thanks

[ixl]

If you are starting from scratch on buying a PC, I can't say much beyond this: http://www.PCGuide.com/buy
Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and ME are all built on top of DOS and include DOS support. That program should run from right within ME without needing any special setup; just try running it from a DOS box. (Unless they changed ME? It will certainly work for 95 and 98. Joe, are you still around?)
Failing that, just boot ME to DOS mode. You shouldn't need a dual partition setup for this.

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Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[bassvax]

Charles, I believe that ME has made it a little tough to get into DOS, but it is still manageable according to Leo & Patrick www.thescreensavers.com (http://www.thescreensavers.com)
jdiv, I have to voice an opinion here...hoping to not start a flame war! If you are interested in a good service provider I would strongly recommend Dell. I personally would not recommend Compaq to anyone...I get several help calls on that brand http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Good Luck
Jerry

[Jerkymom]

Disclaimer: The following represents my opinion only, based on personal experience with a limited number of these systems and purely amateur status as a repair technician!!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

I do not normally recommend proprietary systems for a number of reasons - inflated price, poor tech support, difficulty of repair by any but an "authorized" service center, inflated warranty fees, proprietary software, upgrade limitations, to name a few. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

That said, and because you specifically asked about those 3, I agree with bassvax about the Dell PCs. The ones I've seen from a service standpoint have been well built (no hardware problems whatsoever so far, only third party software issues) and the performance is excellent.

Gateway and Compaq don't even come close, in my opinion, with Compaq tech support being especially lacking. Seems the answer to most every problem with a Compaq that isn't immediately apparent or ridiculously simple involves replacing the motherboard and hard drive! Just because the initial tech support is advertised as free doesn't mean it's useful, and the Gateway and Compaq users I know spend a lot of time taking their PCs to service centers or hosting service personnel in their homes, all of which adds up to a lot of down time when you can't use your computer.

You might want to spend a little time checking out the 3 manufacturer's online tech support. That will give you a feel for what your father-in-law will be facing should he have support issues with his new PC.

Dell Support Forums (http://delltalk.us.dell.com/)
Compaq Support Forums (http://forum.compaq.com:80/mb5/system/login.html) - simple registration required
Gateway FAQs and Tech Support (http://www.gateway.com/support/start/guide/index.shtml) - no support forum available, only online chat with tech support personnel

Hope this gets you started. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif
Kim

[jdiv]

Thanks for the info people.I really appreciate it! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif