It may finally be time to BUY a new computer

[cheter]

Mine is old. I've had it for at least 9 years. It's been worked on numerous times. We just returned home from a 4 day trip, went to start the ol' gal up and "blue" error screens came up. I've restored it to different dates, about 3 times, more error reports. Now I can't open mail.
Okay the question is WHAT brand of computer do YOU like? I now own a Pentium 3, built by Gateway.

 

[cheter]

Well for the time being it seems to be working fine. I was also getting a lot of AOL errors/messages. I reinstalled an AOL cd, and it seems to be working fine, for now. While we were away is it possible lightening struck close by and effected the system? We do have everything plugged into surge protectors. My son uses ITunes all the time, how say is it? It does cost I think .99 a song. I would hope it would be safe. I try not to open any mail that I don't know who sends it. But, there are always those few emails, your just curious about. If anyone has any ideas what may have happened to our PC while we were gone, please let me know!
Thank You!!!!

 

[Icarus]

Possibly nothing but old age. The MTBF (mean time before failure) of many of the computers components is far less than 9 years, so the hard drive may be getting intermittent failures on the way to it's death, for example. The power supply may be on the way out. Cooling fans may be failing. Those are more likely to fail than the cpu or memory.

-David

 

[GrampyBill]

YEP! It's time. Not only is yours old but it's obsolete. Go to Office Depot (or the store of your choice) and buy one of their cheap ones. HP, Emachine, Gateway - any of them will amaze you after using a nine year old machine. It was hard for me to get rid of my Gateway but now have a cheap Compaq. Has lots of gHtz, tons of Ram, tons of Rom, DVD, flat screen, good sound, and was about $400 with rebates. I can afford to ditch it in 2-3 yearsif need be.

 

[cheter]

Yeah, it's had it's share of repairs, including new harddrive, about 8 months ago, the old one got corrupted by "Norton Go-Back". Like I said it seems to be working fine (for now). Thank you so much.

 

[DaveNV]

Cheter, if you've been using a nine year old machine, you're going to be blown away by what newer machines can do. Speed, power, options - they're going to amaze you. Your first choice of a new machine might not be the last one you'll have, so you need to keep your options open.

If you have a Costco near you, I'd suggest looking there for your new machine. Disregarding their better pricing, enhanced options, and superior equipment for the money spent, the major reason is that you can return it without any questions for up to ninety days. With other retailers (Office Depot, Best Buy, Office Max, or whoever), you have only about two weeks, and then there usually has to be a problem before they'll refund your money.

Your manufacturer's factory warranty will still apply with a Costco purchase, but that ninety-day return policy can't be beat.

Enjoy!

Dave

 

[ricoba]

I got recently got exceptionally good deals on refurbished HP's on ebay.

If you choose ebay, make sure that it's a reputable dealer and that there is a warranty, etc.

 

[BSQ]

Dell seems to fit our needs well, though I'm speaking of laptops. I haven't shopped for a desk top in ages since BubbaQ builds em. He tells me I am the proud owner of a Pimp'd machine. I'll I know is it's pretty.

 

[DaveNV]

I jokingly refer to the desktops I build as "INAC" computers. That started about ten years ago after I ransacked parts from a new Compaq computer I had purchased. I was so fed up with the crippled machine Compaq sold me, I purchased a new case and motherboard, and installed all the Compaq parts into it. CPU, hard drive, memory, floppy, cd-rom - all of it. When I was done I had stepped around the Compaq memory and BIOS limitations, and I had a pretty powerful machine for its time. It served me well for years.

So INAC stands for "It's Not A Compaq."

Dave

 

[BSQ]

So INAC stands for "It's Not A Compaq." Dave

oddly, my former demon possesed computer was a Compaq as well. It wasn't until BubbaQ used no left over parts from it at all, that I quit referring to it as Demon-Possessed. (it did very wierd things at very odd times).

so, we have "BubbaPuters", and yes, I do believe at one time there was some duct tape holding a hard drive in place on the bracket.

 

[CMF]

Costco only sells high end systems.

Cheter, if you've been using a nine year old machine, you're going to be blown away by what newer machines can do. Speed, power, options - they're going to amaze you. Your first choice of a new machine might not be the last one you'll have, so you need to keep your options open.

If you have a Costco near you, I'd suggest looking there for your new machine. Disregarding their better pricing, enhanced options, and superior equipment for the money spent, the major reason is that you can return it without any questions for up to ninety days. With other retailers (Office Depot, Best Buy, Office Max, or whoever), you have only about two weeks, and then there usually has to be a problem before they'll refund your money.

Your manufacturer's factory warranty will still apply with a Costco purchase, but that ninety-day return policy can't be beat.

Enjoy!

Dave

The only problem with going to Costco is that they don't sell the cheap stuff.

I just replaced my machine and picked one up at Best Buy.


Charles

 

[CMF]

I'm returning the Dell.

Dell seems to fit our needs well, though I'm speaking of laptops. I haven't shopped for a desk top in ages since BubbaQ builds em. He tells me I am the proud owner of a Pimp'd machine. I'll I know is it's pretty.

Before I bought the HP at Best Buy, I bought a Dell refurbished from Dell. It was DOA. I spend about 1.5 hrs trying to make the thing work with Dell tech support and no deal. They would have replaced the machine but it would have taken a week to get the new one. So I walked across the street and bough one for the same price of the shelf.

Charles

 

[Big Matt]

They generally have one computer as low as $699 and one as high as $1199 and only two or three in between.

Right now they are pushing Gateway.

The only problem with going to Costco is that they don't sell the cheap stuff.

I just replaced my machine and picked one up at Best Buy.


Charles

 

[DaveNV]

The thing about Costco is their computers are usually bundled with monitors, too. At places like Best Buy and Office Depot, the monitors are extra. So why not get a fancy new monitor to go with your new computer? Costco often gets special machines made just for them, that have faster processors or larger hard drives, that sell for comparable prices to lesser machines sold elsewhere. You sometimes can get more than expected for the price. If I was shopping for a new computer, I'd START at Costco, then compare the nuts and bolts and bells and whistles details of what I found with those machines sold elsewhere. And don't ignore that 90-day return policy - it'll save your bacon more times than not, especially if you find a better deal somewhere else a month or two from now.

Refurbished machines are used for a reason. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it's a pain in the rear. I don't like the idea of buying something another person has already screwed up or broken. But that's just me.

Dave

 

[cheter]

I don't have a Costco Card, what about Sam's Club?

 

[Mel]

Either see if you can get a one-day pass somewhere, or build the membership price ($50) into the price of your computer. Then enjoy membership priviledges for the next year.

Or find a friend who is a member to make the purchase, and take them to lunch with part of your $50 savings.

You can also look at their offerings online first. From what I understand, the online offerings should be pretty much the same as you will find at the warehouses. They have a basic ACER machine going for $399.99

 

[DaveNV]

The machines at Costco.com aren't usually the same as what is being sold in the warehouses. The local stores usually have additional units, and more basic models, where the website usually sells higher end machines, (because they're usually special ordered from the manufacturer at time of order. In the warehouse the machines are already built.)

As Mel says, a membership at Costco isn't that much money. Out here on the West Coast it's $45 for a full year. And if you decide it's not for you, at any point during that year, they'll cancel your membership and refund your full $45. So it's a no-brainer. But you can save so much money shopping there, I think everyone should be a member.

I don't have a Sam's Club here, so can't offer current comparisons between the two stores. I do know since Sam's Club is owned by WalMart, a lot of their merchandise comes from the same sources. If you were to get a brand name computer (not some weird-named no-brand machine you've never heard of that is made in Timbuktooistan or wherever), then it may be a good deal. Just do your due diligence, and you'll probably be fine.

But check the refund policy before you buy. I can't stress that enough. I've been a Costco member (and Price-Costco before that, and originally a Price Club member before that) since 1982. I spend tons there every year, and I know the workings of the place inside and out. I trust them completely, and I've never been disappointed by shopping there.

As I said before, I'd suggest you START shopping at Costco, then use them as a benchmark for what you can get elsewhere. But be cautious - all systems are not the same. Memory differences, CPU speed or models, hard drive size, monitor size or resolution - it can easily make the price difference in a system, as well as affect performance. Be smart, and you won't be disappointed.

Happy shopping,
Dave

 

[MOXJO7282]

Check out this deal at Circuit City. It is the best deal I've seen lately.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-P...85623/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Regards.
Joe

 

[DaveNV]

That's not a bad system for the price. But there are two things to consider:

It has 224MB of SHARED video memory. Shared memory is "borrowed" from system memory. That means you deduct that 224MB from the 1GB of system memory the system has. So you've just dropped your available memory for running programs by 25%. The computer comes with Vista Home Premium, which is a memory hog. So as long as you aren't going to try and do anything specialized, like gaming or running Autocad, you'd probably be able to deal with its speed. I didn't see whether the RAM could be upgraded.

The other issue is the monitor is a standard LCD screen (I presume) because they don't say it's otherwise. Better laptops use Ultrabrite Technology (or whatever is eqivalent in that manufacturer) to present images in a form similar to CRT screens. It makes for a brighter, "cleaner" image, which is especially important if you're going to watch DVDs and do image or video editing.

Dave

 

[cheter]

Not Computer Smart

Okay guys tell what what I need, this is what I do.-
Log on to TUG, banking, etc. Search google, & download pictures from my camera. I mainly use it as a reference machine. Now my son must have a million songs downloaded on this computer. I'm still getting errors that pop up, example-"AOL has encountered problems and will need to close". Other than that it's still running fine. What happened to Windows XP? Down the road if I need to replace this one, my son will get this computer to do his downloading!

 

[Kal]

Yeah, it's had it's share of repairs, including new harddrive, about 8 months ago, the old one got corrupted by "Norton Go-Back". Like I said it seems to be working fine (for now). Thank you so much.

Norton ANYTHING - DON'T EVEN GO THERE! Norton's products are terrible! Go Back alone corrupted my machine. I spent hours on the phone with Norton and even they couldn't get it right. I reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled it to make the machine work correctly. Then eventually my message from Norton was to PURCHASE a new copy as I had reinstalled it too many times. What a waste of a company!

When you're looking at new computers make sure you check out Tiger Direct. I got an e-machine for a novice friend and it's been humming along now for over 3 years with no problem. You can get a machine for as little as $250.

 

[DaveNV]

Okay guys tell what what I need, this is what I do.-
Log on to TUG, banking, etc. Search google, & download pictures from my camera. I mainly use it as a reference machine. Now my son must have a million songs downloaded on this computer. I'm still getting errors that pop up, example-"AOL has encountered problems and will need to close". Other than that it's still running fine. What happened to Windows XP? Down the road if I need to replace this one, my son will get this computer to do his downloading!

Cheter, virtually any computer on the market will handle your needs. You aren't doing anything more than basic "office type" work, so you don't need anything special. Any new machine will work great for you.

A few tips: Download songs to an exterrnal harddrive. You can buy a HUGE drive that connects via USB for just a few hundred dollars. That way your son's song library not only is self-contained, it can be easily moved to another computer. That's handy if/when he decides your machine is too slow, or he wants access to his music elsewhere.

Be cautious of TigerDirect computers. Many are refurbished, some are leftovers, some are factory seconds. A bargain at the cash register is meaningless if the machine won't work right for you. If you decide a basic eMachine will suit your needs, they're available everywhere for low money. This is especially true if you don't need a monitor.

Windows XP was replaced by Windows Vista earlier this year. You don't really NEED Vista for what you're doing, but it has bells and whistles in it that have a certain "wow" factor. I have several computers at home, one of which is Vista, the othes are XP. I'm the Network Administrator for my employer, and the 40+ computers we have at work are all running XP Professional. If your new machine comes with an operating system, either platform will work fine for your needs. If you intend to connect the computer to a network domain, be aware that Vista Home Basic does not have that feature. You need Vista Home Premium to do that. But if you don't need a network domain connection, it's not a problem.

Happy shopping!

Dave

 

[mas]

Newegg

I just built a computer with parts from TigerDirect. Their prices are competitive with Newegg.

I 've had very good luck with newegg's return policy.

 

[MOXJO7282]

That's not a bad system for the price. But there are two things to consider:

It has 224MB of SHARED video memory. Shared memory is "borrowed" from system memory. That means you deduct that 224MB from the 1GB of system memory the system has. So you've just dropped your available memory for running programs by 25%. The computer comes with Vista Home Premium, which is a memory hog. So as long as you aren't going to try and do anything specialized, like gaming or running Autocad, you'd probably be able to deal with its speed. I didn't see whether the RAM could be upgraded.

The other issue is the monitor is a standard LCD screen (I presume) because they don't say it's otherwise. Better laptops use Ultrabrite Technology (or whatever is eqivalent in that manufacturer) to present images in a form similar to CRT screens. It makes for a brighter, "cleaner" image, which is especially important if you're going to watch DVDs and do image or video editing.

Dave

Yeah, I would plug in more RAM, to 2GB, but I'm pretty sure the screen is the ultrabright, as my SIL went and checked it out. If I didn't basically buy the same Toshiba for $699 6 months ago (w/ UB Screen), I would be all over this, as this is a excellent price for what you are getting.

Regards.
Joe

 

[Kagehitokiri]

you might take a look at apple, especially their intel machines if you need windows for quicken/etc.

otherwise id say dell business for service or sony for audio/video.