The Hardware Food Chain For those unsure of which brand to buy

[QUAS_HPDarkman 0]

Hard Drives: Seagate < Hitatchi < Western Digital < MaxtorVideo Cards: ATI = Nvidia < PNY < OtherMotherboards: Intel/AMD < Asus < otherLAN Cards: 3Com < Cisco < Lynksis < otherRouters: Cisco < Netgear < D-Link < Airlink < otherKeyboards/mice: Logitech < Microsoft < otherCPU: Intel < AMDDVD R drives: Pioneer < Samsung < Yamaha < otherDVR ROM drives: HP < Sony < otherSpeakers: Creative < LogitechHeadphones: Bose = Sennheiser < ALLMP3 players: Creative = Apple (although iPods are hideously overpriced) < Rio < RCA < otherPrinters: HP < Epson < Canon < otherDigital Cameras: Canon < Kodak < Sony < HP < Vivitar < otherRAM: Kingston < Mushkin < otherHope it helps. (I'll update it when nessesary) :PEDIT: BTW, when a brand has a < before it, that means the one before it is better.

[Hercco 0]

EDIT: BTW, when a brand has a < before it, that means the one before it is better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Shouldn't that be the other way? A>B means A is greater than B.

 

 

 

You did quite bold choices there... Especially sayig that Intel processors are better than AMD. Prepare to get flamed

 

And to hand drive you could have mentioned popular brands as IBM and Samsung.

 

And I don't think Intel and AMD manufacture motherboards. However MSI, Epox, VIA and Abit, to name a few, do.

 

LAN cards or NICs. How have you compared these? I'd say that all well known manufactuers do about as equally good job as possible on NICs. That is unless we go to the very high end performance cards or non ethernet cards.

 

RAM. Where's Corsair? I'd dare to say that their high end models are better than Kingstons.

 

Digital cameras. Pentax, Olympus, Nikon...

 

 

I don't want to sound like an *bottom* but are you 100% sure that advertisements of these companies hasn't affected your picks?

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

You say that intel and amd MBs are better than 3rd party MBs?? What about nVidia's nForce boards? Those are some of the best on the market. Or Via? Both third party manufacturers thrive on the fact that their boards are better than reference boards.As for speakers, I suppose if you are talking about generic computer speakers, you are close. But there are 'audiophile' manufacturers who sell stuff you won't find at best buy. I use a pair of paradigm atom v3s for my computer speakers. Those blow the pants off anything from creative or logitech(and are priced similarly). Similarly, for headphones, while Bose makes some damn nifty ones, I understand Sennheiser has a higher top end. But, it all depends on budget there. I will do some reasearch and figure out which I acutally like better at 'reasonable' prices, since I would like to get a set of nice headphones at some point in the future.

[Hercco 0]

<quick notice>nForce is not a motherboard, it's a chipset</quicknotice>

[ouachiski 0]

Keyboards, you can go very plain and non name brand and get one of the best ones out there for about $6 US. Just look for a plain Mitsumi keyboard. I have had mine for 4 years now with nothing but joy . Printers, I would have to out lexmark on the top of the list for one reason. For the fact that they now have the Z605. The disposable printer. It costs $30 US so whenever you need new ink cartridge you go buy a new printer, and it prints verry good quality to boot. Now on to speakers. There are just too many to name here. I personaly use a home sterio for my speakers and it is beter than any of those, but as far as specificly designed for computers what about klipsch.Last but not least digital cameras. You have got to put Nikon on the top. Allso Olympus and Sony are in the same groupe.Well that is my two cents worth.

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

<quick notice>nForce is not a motherboard, it's a chipset</quicknotice>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Point, though so are the intel and Amd 'motherboards' simply motherboards with intel/amd chipsets also manufactured by intel/amd. I thought chipset was the obvious point of comparison, since saying ASUS or something of the sort strikes me as silly, since they are all just variants of a chipset.

[whafizi 0]

hey, i've heard they are selling earphones that can give you 5.1 surround quality. is it possible with earphones?

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

I don't see why not. With 5.1 or headphones, in the end, its all pressure waves hitting your eardrums. I know with my Audigy, the soundcard can use my 2 front speakers and still make it sound like something is behind me. I doubt it would be hard to adapt such a technique to headphones. It might even be easier, since in this case you know precisely where the speakers are relative to the person listening to them.

[the empty calorie 0]

You forgot one little thing...In the real world:CPU: IBM PowerPC = MIPS R16000A > AMD > Intel.Have a nice day

[intelboy 0]

You say that intel and amd MBs are better than 3rd party MBs??

My firend ONLY INTEL make mobos AMD CPU depends on VIA, SYS or Nvidia Chipsets.So AMD doesn't make chipsets. Nvidia works only for AMD because NV Owns part of AMD, so ATI make only for intel because intel gives ATI the technology to "fight" with NV.
That is why Intel CPU are Better, you can have an intel CPU with and intel Chipset or mobo. with AMD is impossible.
I'm AGREE with A>B>C. not A<B<C.

In the real world:CPU: IBM PowerPC = MIPS R16000A > AMD > Intel.

Please don't forget Itanium and XEON from Intel.. MIPS = more than u can imagine.

[kevlar557 0]

I think that your "food chain" is a little biased. For one for your MP3 players, u put Creative at the top? I have had nothing but trouble with my Creative Zen, and I went out and bought a iRiver, which has given me no problems so far. Secondly, The Nikon digital Rebel is argueably the best digital camera on the market today. They have excellent customer service, and I know many professional photographers who will not use a Canon camera.I could keep going on, but I wont. If you are looking to buy a piece of technology, research it, ask someone who has the product, and take every aspect of the product into consideration before you buy. I have done this, and I have not been disapointed with my descision.

[JimBeam1405241475 0]

If you are looking to buy a piece of technology, research it, ask someone who has the product, and take every aspect of the product into consideration before you buy. I have done this, and I have not been disapointed with my descision.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You obviously forgot to do that with your Creative Zen then, didn't you

But seriously, I completely agree with your post... his "food chain" did seem to be a little biased, although you could argue the reasons he placed those items in that order. This is just his opinion though, and I don't think his too far off the mark. He's just posted his own opinion, after doing some research... you can't flame the guy for posting his preferences.

Btw,

AMD > Intel

[lasto i glemyr 0]

A note on the headphones...I use a pair of Bose Triport headphones. The sound quality is outstanding, and the bass capability is enough to rattle your head. Some might think that I'm crazy to spend $150 on a set of headphones, but in retrospect it was one of the best purchases I've made.While listening to these headphones, I wonder how the integrity could get much better. You could spend an exponential amount of money on headphones to get less and less of a noticeable difference in sound quality.Before I bought, I also looked into Sennheiser. It is true that their top-end is better than Bose, and they have some very good headphones in the range of $70-$150 as well.And if you're wondering about Sennheiser's top-end headphones, check out their Orpheus headsets on their website. These headphones come with their own extremely-low distortion amplifier (only 0.01% THD or something like that!), super-high-grade oxygen-free copper cable, etc. The price? $15000. And no, I did not put in an extra zero. I know I am an audiophile, but that is ridiculous. Why not buy a car instead?!But anyway, both Bose and Sennheiser probably offer the best headphones on the market.

[Brian1405241474 0]

Okay this is so confusing with everyone using there own method for saying "greater than". It would be nice if everyone just did it right: [better > Worse], but anyway:I really have to disagree with you on AMD < Intel (AMD less than Intel). I haven't used AMD much, but everyone I know who has used AMD says that it is much better and I know from my own experience that Intel is not cool. There clock speeds are always too high to make meaningful comparisons (ex: 2 GHz PowerPC is about the same speed as a 3 GHz Intel) I personally (since I'm a Mac Addict, so yes, biased) would say:PowerPC > AMD > Intel (of course using the correct use of > and < )