I'll add two more reasons to think hard before getting integrated audio or
video:

1.  People tend to keep their computers longer than they thought they would.
I've encountered a number of situations where clients brought me computers
whose motherboards had died (out of warranty), requiring replacement.  In
all these cases the original motherboard with the integrated functions had
been long discontinued, requiring replacement with a different brand
(especially if the original motherboard was from a "brand name" system,
rather than a clone).  Not only are these clients having to replace their
motherboard, but they are also having to replace their audio and/or video
functions as well, which necessitates installing either another motherboard
with integrated functions and all of its software drivers, or installing a
motherboard AND a video card AND a sound card. In other words, fixing a unit
with an integrated motherboard and is essentially more time consuming and
expensive than fixing a unit with separate components.

2.  In my experience, systems using motherboards with integrated audio and
video are noticeably slower and less responsive than systems using separate
cards for audio and video. This, I believe, is because the integrated
functions have to use the CPU more than separate cards do.

Having said all that:

If a person is in the market for an inexpensive computer, and they have
limited usage requirements (a little word processing, some email, a little
web browsing, for instance), AND they know that the computer they are
building (or buying) is not readily upgradable, nor will it be state of the
art -- then these new inexpensive units are fine. However, I've encountered
far too many instances where people want to add scanners and video cameras
and play high-end games and do intensive graphics work on a one or two year
old system that can't handle it -- and wasn't designed to. These owners are
very disappointed.

Roxanne Pierce
R2 Systems, San Diego

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ira Wallin Sent: Friday, January 15, 1999 12:35
>
> I have heard I shouldn't buy a PC that uses integrated audio or video.
> Why...or doesn't it matter?
> Thank you,
> Ira Wallin

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