# Help me buy a computer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-buy-a-computer/264045 "2004-09-11T16:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hightechburrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@hightechburrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hightechburrito)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-buy-a-computer/264045/21 "2004-09-12T22:20:00Z")
> [@SlowMindThinking](#): > > Thank you! This is a very explicit! (I set up a dual boot about 6 years back, using Boot Magic, but I knew XP had some peculiarities that are worth noting.) That’s the best part about this method: XP doesn’t even know that there is a Linux partition. You use wither GRUB of LILO, and you should even be able to have the Windows install be the default OS, so your kids don’t need to make any selections, they just turn it on. ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-buy-a-computer/264045/22 "2004-09-22T03:16:51Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > [Monarch Computer](http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv) has a pretty good reputation. They have a pretty good special out front - an nice Athlon 64 machine for $550, though all it has is integrated video, so for gaming you would have to get a real video card. If you add on a video card & DVD drive, they will give you a free copy of the game Far Cry too. If for example you added in a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT & a basic DVD-Rom, the cost would be $744. I just thought I’d let all you helpful types know that I ordered a system from Monarch. They had a good rating in [resellerratings.com](http://resellerratings.com), which helped. I got pretty much exactly what I was looking for. In fact, what I got isn’t too different from the machine above, although I did go with the two SATA drives. (I will install from DVD’s and CD’s, so the SATA issue raised before won’t rear its head.) ---
**Author:** ![leenmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-buy-a-computer/264045/23 "2004-09-22T04:19:25Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Slightly off-topic…but was this the case with Mandrake 10? I had huge problems with it destroying XP setups, beyond the XP revoery console’s ability. It’d be nice to know what made me abandon Mandrake… 🙂 Sorry for the late response, **GorillaMan**. The issue wasn’t with a specific distribution. The issue was with GRUB and the 2.6 kernel. I’m a little fuzzy on the exact details, but it seems the GRUB folk realized that there was actually a bug in the way Microsoft Windows calculated the size and configuration of the hard drives. The bug has been there for years and everyone just counted the same way. The GRUB folk decided to Windows be damned, they were going to count correctly. And that’s where the problem came in. If everyone does it the same way, no one notices. But count differently and Windows doesn’t boot. It doesn’t always happen. Last I heard, it took the 2.6 kernel with GRUB installed to the MBR. Google will turn up the work around if you are a dual-booting Linux user that just gots to have all three of those things together. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-buy-a-computer/264045.md?page=1)