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Solve : I'm Going To Buy A New Computer, I Have Questions And Need Help!? |
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Answer» Alright I'm finally going to buy a new computer, and I need your help. My current computer is a Windows ME, Intel Pentium III, 1 GHZ, 100 FSB, 128 MB RAM, 512 MB, 100 MHz, 40GB. It's safe to say its run its course. Alas I'm not sure what to look for in a new computer. Dual-core, quad-core? AMD? Windows 7? I have no clue. Money wise I'm willing to shell out about 400 or less. But I don't really know what I'm LOOKING for. I'm not a gamer and would just use it for internet, CD burning, DVD burning. Hopefully their is something fast with a large hard drive and memory in my range. When I buy a new computer will my internet speed be faster, downloads faster? What else would be different? I already have a cable modem, but I think because of my old computer it's running a lot slower then it normally would. I hope someone actually read this and is willing to help, and if you are thank you.Are we talking computer only or computer and monitor? I'm not a gamer and would just use it for internet, CD burning, DVD burning.In my opinion you might consider getting a good used computer and save your money for some nice equipment you can enjoy. Microsoft has authorized many dealers to sell legitimate Windows XP PCs that have been reloaded for Windows XP SP3. And they sell them for a lot less that $400. They come one year warranty. You can upgrade the memory and hard drive yourself and have a great general purpose PC. And with the money your save, maybe buy a good video camera and put a video on your tube to show us how you what you got and how up improved it. Google 'refurbished XP desktop' and see what you find.YOU STILL USE WINDOWS ME? CRAZY but gets less because you are buying a new PC. Get the Free Windows 7 Upgrade, a Intel CELERON or Pentium Dual Core CPU or better, at least 2GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive or larger, a DVD burner or better, and a nVidia or ATI graphics card if you need it. Quote from: neelchauhan on October 01, 2009, 02:47:03 PM YOU STILL USE WINDOWS ME? CRAZY but gets less because you are buying a new PC. Get the Free Windows 7 Upgrade, a Intel Celeron or Pentium Dual Core CPU or better, at least 2GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive or larger, a DVD burner or better, and a nVidia or ATI graphics card if you need it. I am SICK and TIRED of seeing random RECCOMENDATIONS. this is NOT what the original poster needs, it's what neelchauhan "thinks" they need, and they obviously have NOT taken ANY of the requirements into account. Quote Get the Free Windows 7 Upgrade, Why? Quote a Intel Celeron or Pentium Dual Core CPU or better Why? Internet, CD Burning, and DVD burning can be done adequately with a K6-2, so I'm not sure how their requirements spawns this "recommendation" Quote at least 2GB of RAM Why do they need 2GB of RAM? Quote 500GB hard drive or larger a DVD burner or better In a rare twist this actually makes sense. but it's probably sheer luck. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Quote and a nVidia or ATI graphics card if you need it. nothing in their requirements requires this. notice the tag "I'm not a gamer". Not to mention that the 400$ price range completely precludes... well whatever you are suggesting (a new build? a new PC? for 400 dollars!? with THOSE specifications? Not freaking likely). I'd have to say that Geek-9pm's advice is excellent here- unlike the gamer kiddies that are oh-so-abundant and oh-so-loud with their "opinions" (which I might add are probably simply gleaned off "what's cool") we don't WANT what's cool. We want WHAT WORKS, and geek-9pm understands this better then any of the other helper posts, which in many cases merely regurgitate redundant information they saw on their alpha-bits boxes. (Also I might add that he has the perfect balance of "thrift" without passing the "miserly" mark. ) Quote from: BC_Programmer on October 01, 2009, 07:09:01 PM Why? Internet, CD Burning, and DVD burning can be done adequately with a K6-2, so I'm not sure how their requirements spawns this "recommendation"Well my main PC (I'm using it right now) has a K6-2 350 Mhz CPU but is a bit SLOW even with simple tasks like the internet. But I completely agree with Geek-9pm and BC_Programmer, you would be best off getting a used PC. The only other option I can think of for someone with your budget is a real cheap Dell (or other brand) PC but a good used PC will probably preform better anyway. Quote from: Cityscape on October 01, 2009, 09:46:33 PM Well my main PC (I'm using it right now) has a K6-2 350 Mhz CPU but is a bit slow even with simple tasks like the internet. Actually, I was speaking from experience too. First joined CH when I had a 350Mhz K6-2 as my fastest machine... it was quite agreeable speed-wise, since I had trimmed out excess services and background applications. (leaving me able to have 5 or 6 application opened and still hover around the 20-process mark). Had a DVD burner- although admittedly I couldn't really get it to burn at higher speeds.Going back to the original post, instead of continuing the off-topic talk, I would recommend getting a prebuilt Dell PC like the Inspiron 546 or the Inspiron 537s http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops/inspndt/ct.aspx?refid=inspndt&s=dhs&cs=19&ref=dthp It would also be a good idea to upgrade the processor to a dual core processor instead of the default Celeron. You can also buy a monitor with it for a reasonable price, if you choose. Without a monitor, the 537s is $269, with a monitor, it is $429.We can still do Dual Core and come in way below $400 Look here: eMachines ET1641-02w Refurbished Desktop Computer This eMachine packs a Celeron Dual Core 2.0GHz processor with 2 cores. Add to that 2GB of DDR2-800 memory and a 320GB, 7200RPM SATA II hard drive and you can have a small library of music and data. It also has a DVD/CD burner you can use to burn your home videos, music, back up important data and play your favorite video games. Enjoy great visuals with the NVIDIA GeForce 7050 graphics. All these components run smoothly with Microsoft® Windows® Vista Home Premium SP1 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp Guess the price! $239.97 (Select this line to reveal the price!) Add $40 for one year warranty. And no, I do not work for them. looks like a pretty good deal, except for the fact that it's E-Machines and it's refurbished. E-Machines consistently gets lower scores in reviews than other brands. Quote from: michaewlewis on October 05, 2009, 09:57:21 AM looks like a pretty good deal, except for the fact that it's E-Machines and it's refurbished. E-Machines consistently gets lower scores in reviews than other brands.Very true! Yet you can get a $40 one year warranty for it. A year from now the prices of everything will be much lower. Right now he wants a mediocre machine under $400. I mentioned earlier that he needs to spend money on other things, Like a really nice printer or camera. Trust me. You can not be happy with any $400 computer. Either you go for something that is new, cool and near $900 or settle for something basic for under $300 used with a warranty. Then spend the rest of the money on something your really want. And this is not just my opinion. It is a fact of life. However the best thing to do with an eMachine is buy a decent PSU and a stik of RAM and swap them in there and you can't beat the price/performance ratio without spending more cabbage... Quote from: Geek-9pm on October 05, 2009, 12:14:41 PM You can not be happy with any $400 computer. Either you go for something that is new, cool and near $900 or settle for something basic for under $300 used with a warranty. Then spend the rest of the money on something your really want.So true. I know some who bought a new $500 Acer desktop 2 years ago and this Emachines PC here is almost twice as good. Computers devalue fast, with the exception of Macs. Quote from: Cityscape on October 01, 2009, 09:46:33 PM Well my main PC has a K6-2 350 Mhz CPU but is a bit slow even with simple tasks like the internet.But I am running XP instead of 98 so that does reduce performance. |
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