Might be time for a new computer

[country_boy]

Im thinking its getting close for me to buy a new computer. I bought a dell back in 03' with a Pentium 4 windows xp a cd drive and a dvd + cdrw drive. It still works great but, my dad needs a computer and cant afford one.

What is the computer market like nowadays? Ive been looking at macs but thats out of my price range( I think)I am a gamer but, not hardcore. Im basically looking for something under $699 with more ram than I have (currently have 812mb).I can add a cd burner etc later doesnt have to have that right away. I was told vision computers are good, how are dells nowadays?

 

[jake75]

I just bought an HP netbook for 350 and got an external drive for it. I like it. Its small and portable.

 

[country_boy]

Thanks but, Im not a laptop guy. I looked at those too. No need for something portable the farm doesnt have good reception for communication much less wifi.

 

[TimberWolf7.62]

Partly depends on your expertise. I build mine from parts so I go to New Egg Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! They have some ready-built ones, too, but a better source is Computer Shopper Laptop Computers, Desktop Computers, Computer Hardware, Notebooks, Reviews From Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer Look in the middle of the page for their buying guides to budget, midrange, and performance desktops.

 

[Eli]

I'd read reviews here and there and build my own, buying parts from Newegg or Directron. Avoid Fry's for parts and machines unless you really know what you're doing.
And I'd make sure that other machine has at least 1GB of RAM before you give it to your dad.

Eli

 

[Texas1911]

Im thinking its getting close for me to buy a new computer. I bought a dell back in 03' with a Pentium 4 windows xp a cd drive and a dvd + cdrw drive. It still works great but, my dad needs a computer and cant afford one.

What is the computer market like nowadays? Ive been looking at macs but thats out of my price range( I think)I am a gamer but, not hardcore. Im basically looking for something under $699 with more ram than I have (currently have 812mb).I can add a cd burner etc later doesnt have to have that right away. I was told vision computers are good, how are dells nowadays?

Price will be dictated by what games you want to play. If you want good performance out of the games today, you'll have to pony up for alot of processor, alot of fast ram, and alot of video card. That can be done for $1000 or so if you build it yourself. I built my last computer for about $850 all said and done. My video card lasted about 2 years before it croaked, now I got an upgrade.

 

[ohhrico1969]

Im thinking its getting close for me to buy a new computer. I bought a dell back in 03' with a Pentium 4 windows xp a cd drive and a dvd + cdrw drive. It still works great but, my dad needs a computer and cant afford one.

What is the computer market like nowadays? Ive been looking at macs but thats out of my price range( I think)I am a gamer but, not hardcore. Im basically looking for something under $699 with more ram than I have (currently have 812mb).I can add a cd burner etc later doesnt have to have that right away. I was told vision computers are good, how are dells nowadays?

The benefit you have is there are all kinds of computers with many features and lots of RAM and HD space that you could buy anywhere from walmart to microcenter.If you just have everyday computing needs most of them will be more than enough. I'm not sure you even have to spend $699 to get a good computer.

 

[robin303]

Why don't you just build one. Mine is worth $2500 and built it for $900. Can have you one in 3 days the way you want it.

 

[Clockwork]

Im thinking its getting close for me to buy a new computer. I bought a dell back in 03' with a Pentium 4 windows xp a cd drive and a dvd + cdrw drive. It still works great but, my dad needs a computer and cant afford one.

What is the computer market like nowadays? Ive been looking at macs but thats out of my price range( I think)I am a gamer but, not hardcore. Im basically looking for something under $699 with more ram than I have (currently have 812mb).I can add a cd burner etc later doesnt have to have that right away. I was told vision computers are good, how are dells nowadays?

By technology's standards, at any given time any computer 5 years old or older is considered severely outdated, as in dinosaur. The technology that is out today allows companies to produce faster computers at lower costs than ever before. You can get a computer now that blows your '03 model out of the water at a fraction of the cost of what you had originally paid for your current PC. I do say PC for a reason, actually. Macs are great computers but pricey as well, typically suited to intense multimedia applications such as 3D rendering and music mixing.

You can save in the area of $150 to $200 dollars simply by having Linux on your PC instead of Windows. If your father already understands the function of a Windows PC then moving laterally to Ubuntu Linux isn't a difficult thing to learn AND it can save a lot of money, especially if he isn't playing a lot of modern games. Dell has begun selling computers that come with Ubuntu as an option rather than Windows if that is something you are willing to look in to.

Dell still makes good computers but their customer service has been lacking severely in recent years, expect to speak to someone in India or Pakistan if you need to call them for anything. Dell also acquired the Alienware brand, so they make those high-performance gaming rigs now... which is why I would rather own one by Falcon Northwest if I had to purchase a gaming rig instead of building one myself.

Your $699 budget would actually build a strong PC, but does that price include the need to purchase a monitor? Many new video cards don't have the DB-15 connection that older monitors require.

 

[Texas42]

Look at refurbished computers. I got one of the nicer ones from dell, yet not newest dell's gamer models for 700. I don't know a lot about computers, but it did have over 3 gightz hard drive and 4 gig of ram.

I might need to replace laptop. There are lines running down the screen, it is over 4 years old, I've replaced the HD, keyboard, and battery once, and the battery is basically toast right now. I really need a new one, but like you, I don't want to pony up the money. It will probably last me another year.

 

[Rum Runner]

I try to avoid Fry's but usually their "specials" are pretty good.
FRYS.com

Then for games, add a $100ish video card like FRYS.com | PNY

Should do you well and be under $699.

 

[MAJIK_BONE_77]

For $699 you can get a pretty good desktop, I personally perfer HP. I got a HP pavillion a6530f with 640 Gig hard drive, 4 Gigs of RAM, and a 3 Ghz triple core processor for $500 back in october at
best buy. more than what I need but for that price it's hard to beat, didn't come with the monitor but for $500 who cares.

 

[TheDan]

I've always built my own PC's, but when mine died a few weeks ago I didn't want to wait around for parts and bought an open box special from Fry's for $600. 8GB ram, 2.5GHz quad core AMD, onboard ATI 3200, 1TB hard drive... It's a Gateway In the past I've never really liked Gateways, but I'm pleased with this system. The only thing that's a little under powered is the video card, but I'll upgrade that later.

Really, building you're own is the way to go, but it's hard to argue with a good deal sitting on the shelf.

 

[smschulz]

Why don't you just build one. Mine is worth $2500 and built it for $900. Can have you one in 3 days the way you want it.

Your worth part is over-exaggerated but yes you can save money by building one but the real benefit is that you can get it customized to exact specifications. This generally is more effective on the more advanced computers. Building to save money only on the lower spectrum generally does not save you much if at all. I would compare building a computer to building an AR for cost effectiveness vs customization. YMMV

 

[Texasjack]

Be very careful with HP. Bought one for my wife a few years back. It died a week after the warranty expired. Tried to get a new motherboard, but kept getting the runaround from HP. Finally got one of their techs on the phone who told me I could order the part from their supplier, Emachines. If I'd wanted an Emachine, I would have ordered one and saved a couple of hundred off the price of the stinking HP!!!

Better to build your own or have someone tech-savvy do it for you.

 

[Wolfwood]

i agree building your own is the way to go. watch newegg.com and tgerdirect.com for good deals and specials.

for light duty a 3 ghz single core processor should do nicely, and ASUS makes some of the best and most reasonably priced motherboards. 2 gigs of ram should be enough as well. a cd or dvd drive is a must nowadays, and remember if it burns its better. keep your keyboard and mouse, (as long as they are ps/2 or USB [not a giant round plug liek an old CB radio mic(keyboard), or a trapeziod with a bunch of pins (mouse) )

i dont even bother with floppy drives, though they never hurt.
as far as hardrives go, for light duty you cna get by with a 20 gb hard drive. though if you want to save any substantial amount of media (music / video) id go with atleast a 500 gb drive. though you can always get an external later. though they tend to burn out alot faster than internal drives for whatever reason. (i dont really get that, as they are the exact same peice of hardware with a diffrent interface)

a couple of good fans are always good. you are going to need a heatsink for your processor though those usually come witht he processor. as far as a case goes, if yuou arent worried about looks, just gut the case you currently have holding your busted/otherwise useless pc and slap your new hardware in it. that alone will save you anywhere form 50 to 150 bucks.
if uyou look around long wenough flatscreeen monitors can be found for 100 bucks or even less if you go with a refurbished model.

it is a little more work, but you will elarn alot, and it feels good when you put that sucker together with your swiss army knife and a little elbow grease, switch it on and watch it springs to life. defintie nerdgasm for me anyway. never gets old.

OH and a power source. defintaly goingt ow ant one of those too.
for the most part you can generally use your old powercource, without having to much of a problem, especially if you arent using a souped up video card.

as a matter of fact if you arent worried abotu superawesome video/audio performance you can get away with using the onboard hardware that is included built into the motherboard.

if it hink of anyhting else ill post it later. have to get back to work now lol
hope it works out.

 

[WhoDat]

You can find some pretty good deals at the Dell Outlet store...

Dell Outlet - Refurbished Computers - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished PCs | Dell

You can also Google "Dell Coupons", and usually find pretty good discounts, on already discounted Dell systems. Outlet systems tend to already be well-discounted, and coupons tend to sweeten the deal.

Of course, some of us here in Central Texas are somewhat biased towards Dell...

 

[smschulz]

You can find some pretty good deals at the Dell Outlet store...

Dell Outlet - Refurbished Computers - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished PCs | Dell

You can also Google "Dell Coupons", and usually find pretty good discounts, on already discounted Dell systems. Outlet systems tend to already be well-discounted, and coupons tend to sweeten the deal.

Of course, some of us here in Central Texas are somewhat biased towards Dell...

I thank Dell for keeping me busy in my IT & computer repair business.
RB computers are good only if you need something to get by with.
Of course talking to someone in India for your Dell problems is always fun too.
FYI custom or 'clone' as it used to be referred to ~ you get interchangeability of parts where Dell uses proprietary in many cases > making it more difficult and expensive to repair if necessary.
If you are looking for long term performance and longevity then look to current technology aka Intel MB & CPU or Intel based.
.02

 

[RPB]

Old quad core DDR3 computers are pretty cheap, and getting cheaper now that the AMD 6-cores are starting to hit the market.

 

[Wolfwood]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm
hexcores
*drools*