Buying a New Computer?

[Morgbug]

Well, my new pet has arrived.  

Quick like a bunny she is.  And unlike a certain someone, I thought it best to actually set it up and use it

I must confess, being able to read all the threads here without them freezing is quite the treat.  

[Scott]

Here's a suggestion Matt...go buy a monitor

Welcome to the mid years of the first decade of the 2000's (BTW...WTF is E! and VH1 going to do when they do their craptacular I Love the 80's, 90's etc...what the hell do people call this decade???)

[Brian]

I always wondered that too Scott.....my wife and I were talking about that a few months back.  When we were in HS, the cheerleaders/class did a cheer along the lines of "95, 95 we're the class of 95...let's go seniors!" or something along those lines.  I always wondered what the class of 2000 said.

Congrats to everyone on their new 'puters too.  We have been wanting to get a new one as well, but are holding off for now.  Our computer now is a little over 4 years old, which isn't terrible at all, and it still works for us I guess.  Hoping to get either a laptop or something with a flat panel monitor....so that it takes up less space.  I've always had Dell computers (at work and home), and have been very happy with them...so I guess we'll look that route if we ever get to that point.  It has been nice reading everyone' suggestions here too.

[Rob L]

Just got my first DVD-rewriter (internal 8x used with USB2 external drive enclosure).

It's giving my newest PC a lot to do with DVD encoding, which it enjoys since it's never been "pushed" so far, and my 3-year old computer is very pleased that it can clear out a few gigs of its HD to DVD-R backup.

[Brian]

For those of you that have one, or the other, or both...which do you prefer:  Laptops or Desktops?

We are hoping to get a new computer sometime in the next few months, and are trying to figure out which route we would like to go.  We currently have a 5 year old Dell desktop, and I've worked with a number of Dells now (with work, ordering/setting up my parents/friends computers), and have had really great luck with them.  With that in mind, we will likely be going with Dell for our computer either way.  I've always been kind of interested in getting a laptop, although I admit it isn't really "necessary" because its not like we're computing on the road or anything .  If we go the desktop route, it will definitely be with a flat panel monitor.  They look nice, and I enjoy the space saving aspect as well.  Anyways, do any of you prefer one over the other?  Some people say that laptops are more "high maintenance" and other say they really like them.  Desktops seem to be a fair amount cheaper, overall, so that would be another selling point to us too.  Plus the fact that my wife doesn't think a laptop is necessary either .  Probably leaning towards a desktop, but I was just curious if anyone had opinions on the subject.

[Rob]

A laptop is great when traveling, but at home I want my desktop.

I just bought a Dell Dimension 8400 2 months ago, thus far I'm quite happy with it.

[Morgbug]

Desktop. 

I seldom go anywhere that actually has a login available to me and most hotels have a work station if I get desperate enough.  I like the ability to upgrade more easily and personally.  It's not that hard to switch components so I like the freedom to do that.  Laptops tend to be somewhat more sensitive to movement than I'd like them to be.  My wife's Dell laptop has given her some grief, all covered by warranty but still a pain.  My recommendation is to go with a desktop unless you really need a laptop.  More stable, more easily upgraded. 

[Jeff]

Well, for the last 4 years, I've been using one of these at home:

VPR Matrix 1600
- 1.6 GHz Intel Pentium 4 (400 MHz frontside bus)
- 512 MB DDR SDRAM
- 80.0 GB hard drive (7200 rpm)
- 16x maximum speed DVD-ROM drive (40x maximum speed CD-ROM)
- 24x10x40 CD-RW drive
- nVidia TNT2 M64 32 MB video card replaced with a GeForce FX 5200 128MB video card 2.5 yrs ago


After 4 years, this little guy is just not pulling his weight anymore - slow response time (partially due to Norton AV 2005  ), slow loading time, Hard Drive is getting full, 512MB is a bit too slow for newer games, etc.

Anyway, I started looking into an upgrade, but after I started adding up what I wanted to upgrade (RAM, Hard Drive space, vid card, DVD writer), well it seemed easier to just buy a brand new PC.  So, over the last 3 weeks, I've been doing a bit of research into stuff I can grab at my price range and last night I pulled the trigger on this set-up from Best Buy:


HP a1250n:
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ dual-core processor (2000MHz system bus)
• 1.0GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM memory (2 x 512MB), expandable to 4GB
• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm)
• Double-layer DVD±R/RW drive with CD-writing capabilities and separate DVD-ROM drive
• LightScribe in-line CD label creation
• HP 17" LCD Flat Panel Monitor
• HP Photosmart All-In-One Printer/Scanner/Copier (2575)

Since it came with an integrated Radeon Xpress 200, I had to spice it up a few notches:
• PNY Verto GeForce 6600 256MB DDR PCI Express Graphics Card


I got everything set up last night.  Tonight I should be able to re-install all my games (SWG, CoH, WoW) and see what this thing can really do... 

[Morgbug]

Congrats Jeff.  Mine is still working great, can't believe it's been a year and half already   Bet Colman still doesn't have a monitor though.  18 billion on toys, but won't drop $300 for a monitor

I should add some RAM though, just on principle.

[Matt]

This probably isn't gonna be very helpful to anyone here, but it's my understanding that Best Buy will be selling a desktop computer for $150, and a laptop (or "labtop") for $250 the day after Thanksgiving.

Not that I would be interested in buying either--they're probably crap, and I can't tolerate the Black Friday crowds--but I just think it's really amazing how low the prices have dropped on computers over the years.

[Nathan]

- 80.0 GB hard drive (7200 rpm)

....Hard Drive is getting full.....

Forgive my stoopid question, and no offense intended, but how you even fill up 80 gigs? What do you have on there? I've been using the same computer since '98, and I've still only used under 5 of my 12-gig drive.

You stockpiled thousands of hours of porn or something?

[Jeff]

- 80.0 GB hard drive (7200 rpm)

....Hard Drive is getting full.....

Forgive my stoopid question, and no offense intended, but how you even fill up 80 gigs?

It looks something like this (estimates):

Video Games (~20-25GB):
Everquest (and a pile of expansions)
EQ2
Star Wars Galaxies (and 3 expansions)
City of Heroes (and City of Villians expansion)
World of Warcraft
KotOR 1 & 2
Battlefront 1 & 2
and many, many, many other VGs that I am too lazy to un-install and then re-install when I want to play them 

iTunes (~21GB):
- ALL of my CDs (over 3000 songs)
- ALL of my wife's CDs (over 1000 songs)

Digital Photos (~3GB)
(again, too lazy to burn them to CDs since my wife does a lot of scrapbooking stuff with them)

All sorts of Software (~10-12 GB)
- Full Adobe plus Adobe Reader
- Photoshop
- MS Office (Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Access)
- Digital Camera software
- all sorts of other crap I have "accumulated" over the 4 years 

I know there is other stuff I am forgetting, but I know there is easily close to 50GB in music and video games alone... 

[Morgbug]

So, I gotta ask, are people stupid?  Here's why...

We picked up a printer last week (finally) and while I was browsing I came across a wireless LAN setup that looked pretty darn nifty.  Regular price was $179 for it with two wireless USB adapters included.  Now that's not a great price but it had a $40 instant rebate (= sale price) PLUS it had a $100 mail in rebate.  I know why they do mail in rebates, most folks forget and they end up ahead of the game.  Well we always mail in.  Shipping was free, so $45 after the taxes.  More than reasonable. 

Here's where we get to the stupid part:
I get three pieces - the two USB adapters for the wireless connection and the base.  On the box is a "difficulty of installation" portion that ranges from one to five stars.  The USB thingies are two stars but the router itself is four stars out of five.  Whoa, I'm not happy seeing that.  I'm ok with computers but c'mon, at my age it could get tricky.  I never used a computer until university and in high school they were doing the punch card schtick, no thanks. 

So I pull out the gear for the router.  Disc, power cord, internet connection cord thingamabob and the router itself.  I look at the manual and go ok, here's what I need to do:

1. unplug the cable connection from the computer
2. plug the cable connection into the WLAN slot
3. plug the computer connection that used to be hooked to the cable box into a LAN slot
4. plug in the power cable. 
5. wait 55 seconds for the router to warm up

That's it.  That rates a four out of five stars??  Honestly, how stupid do you have to be to **** this up.  It took about a minute and a half to gear up my wife's laptop and now she's on MSN in the other room. 

I'm ready for five out of five or maybe I can be a computer tech now.

[TheBlackDog65]

Morgbug, I've been wanting to do the wireless lan in the home. Which one did you go with?
BTW, nice story. One doesn't have to a brain in computers to do this.

[Morgbug]

This one. 

What I can't tell you is relatively how good it is compared to other routers.  We both have been online for a couple of hours and didn't notice any impact really.  Nice and quick with no interference. 

I see the price is down by the sale amount from last week   So the only real savings I had was the mail in rebate of $100.  Prices are CAD as well, so yours will be cheaper.  And that includes two USB 2.0 adapters.  So just the router itself will be cheaper but you have to keep in mind the other computers need to be hooked in somehow as well.