Are you happy with your computer?

[Jeff H]

I geuss sooner or later I'll be getting a different one.

I geuss I want to know wich ones to stay away from.

So I can look for the right one.

Also the gotta have goodys and software. What is good to get?

I was thinking of getting a color printer & scanner all in one.

A nice sound system would be nice.

 

[Bigsaint]

Jeff, I have a Gateway and a Dell, both have provided trouble free work (or should I say play) stations for me. The Gateway is a bit antiquated as it's a P-2 450 with 128 Megs of ram. The Dell is a P-2 300 with 128 Megs of ram. Both work well for what I do, but a faster processor would be nice. I bought the Gateway in Dec. of 1998 and the Dell in March of 1999.



Almost all of my add on hardware is Hewlett Packard (scanner, printer, CDRW). Again, no complaints, all work well.



There are alot of kicka$$ systems out there now for low $$$. You might want to see if there is a computer shop nearby that builds them to your specs. You can also do this on-line at most of the major vendors sites.



I would tend to stay away from the all in one printer/scanners/fax. You can scan and fax via the flat bed scanner, get a printer that meets your needs, i. e. , do you plan on printing out pic. s ? My printer is a HP 722c, again, antiquated by todays standards. It works well and works often with a wife that's a school teacher and two daughters that love to print out all of their beautiful art work. The scanner I have is a HP6200C, 1200X1200 DPI and works well.



Hope this helps !!!



Scott W.

 

[WOWZY]

Have had my Gateway PIII 550 for 2 years and it has been trouble free. The best part about the Gateway is, it was $500 cheaper than the exact same equipped Dell ($1787 vs. $2282).



I'm not saying that Dell isn't a good computer. It's well known that Gateway will beat Dells prices hands down.



Good luck in whichever one you choose.

 

[Charley]

Jeff:



Depends on what you want to do mostly. I got a Sony PIII 866 with 256 Meg Ram because I take and edit video movies and that unit has the fire wire connection and software I needed to do that. As it turns out I'll add at lease another 256 Ram and a larger hard drive on top of the 40 Gig I have now. As the others have said there are some really good machines available from many sources that will do many things. I had an all in one fax, scanner, printer, HP, and it did a very good job. I'm not using it now but have an HP scanner, color printer and an HP 11X13" printer both hooked up at the same time to print large scale maps. If you are going to do everyday business, personal applications, and nothing exotic any one you get will work for you but as cheap as ram is there is no reason not to have lots.



I also have one of the new flat monitors and love it but paid the extra bucks for it because my entire setup is only allocated a space of 4' by 3 foot in our fifth wheel which I work out of.



Remember that hardware is something that the longer you work with it the more likely it is to break and software is something that the longer you work with it the more likely it is to work.



Whatever you buy will be old the next day.



Charley

 

[illflem]

I ran a poll here a couple months ago on which computers folks here preferred, build your own came in first, Dell was second. I've noticed that most professionals use HP printers.

 

[pnwradar]

If your computer is only a year or two old, you might try adding a pile of memory to speed it up. I just bought 768Mb for $65 and put it in myself -- although the store would've done it for me for $10 more. Doesn't seem like the same computer, it runs so much better (had 128Mb before, which seemed like a lot).



Another older PC I gave to my Girlfriend (P-233) runs Windows 2000 quite fast, after having 512Mb installed -- cost less than $50 to upgrade, and saved me from having to spend my clutch money on a new PC.



Processor speed is good to have for lots of number crunching and CAD programs, but for what most of us do, lack of (computer) memory is the biggest problem. And with memory extremely cheap right now, there's no excuse for not maxing out your PC.



Mail-order has the best prices, if you're comfy with swapping the memory yourself (try www.memoryx.net). Try a local PC shop if you're not -- prices should be awfully close to mail-order, and the labor should be under $20. Take in your manual, and they should be able to figure out how much/what type memory will fit, and estimate the costs. Best deal is to find out which neighbor's kid is the local computer hotshot, and have him install the memory.



-jon-

 

[JHansen]

I've got an 3 year old Dell (antique by today's standards-P2-400/128MB PC100 RAM/12. 7 GB 5400 rpm hard drive/DVD drive). I haven't had a moment's problem with it. I added a Sony CD burner to it about a year ago-again operation has been flawless. I also have a HP 722C Deskjet-again flawless! The only peripheral to give trouble has been my HP 4100C Scanjet-I got a replacement on warranty and then it gave up the ghost too. Ended up cannibalizing the 2 to make 1 working one.



My next one will be a Dell as well-this one was lease-to-own and it's paid up in 3 months. I use it as part of my business-so I might as well have a new one to write off again... this one will go to my mom.



Jason

 

[Champane Flight]

Gateway

I have a Gateway Performance P111 500. It has been a good computer. The one program I would never do without is GoBack. it has saved my bu!! a few times. I have the trade back program and can go in anytime now and trade up to a newer computer. I am going in next week and checking out the price on my trade,new models,ect,ect. I also have Norton anti-virus,which has been a lifesaver to.

 

[SlyBones]

Assuming you have or can get your own software, I go with the build your own as the first choice. Or go to a place that builds them with quality off the self components. Get a nice case that has plenty of expansion slots and drive bays.



I dont care for the department store kinds where they come preloaded with 20 different kinds of software. Typically you dont get the manuals or the CD's for the software. Just one CD that dumps the preconfigured mess on there. Most of it I dont want anyway. -- The sales folks try and make it sound like a good deal. But when you figure out what a build your own costs, that software is about $500 and you have less machine.



Peronal Machine is Mid Tower case, Asus MB, 256MEG Ram, Pentium III 800, ATI 32MEG AGP graphics, SoundBlaster Live, 40MEG 7200rpm udma66 HD, 8x DVD drive, 32x/8x/8x CDROM burner, Altec Lansing surround sound speakers -- At to that all the basic mouse, keyboard, floppy, modem, etc.

 

[DGFoster]

I got a gateway P3 933 MHZ with all the goodies,GFORCE 3 vidio card, 512 mhz SD RAM , 80 GB hard drive,sound blaster live sound card,and I have all top of the line printer and scanner,and I just upgraded to Windows XP,and all have to say don't get an out dated computer,they are still selling some computers that are out dated before they leave the factory,so make sure you get all updated software and hardware.

I would recomened going to gateway.com and dell.com and compare,as it looks right now Dell has a little bit better deal going,

but at leased a 1. 8 mhz system either pentium or athlon,both are excellent,athlon is cheaper,and is sometimes faster than a pentium,stay away from window millenium.

Win XP is great as far as im concerned.

And get at leased a GForce 2 ultra vidio card or better,an exellent vidio card. And get at least 40 GB hard drive or greater

If you have broadband,make sure you get an ethernet card for your high speed internet.

And make sure your sound card is NOT intergrated in the mother board,you want a card,so it can be upgraded in the future, Sound Blaster live audio card is pretty good,and Turtle Beach make a great card also. Make sure the motherboard is expandable with plenty of slots. . And at leased get 256 mhz Ram,most high end computers now use RD Ram which is real expensive,go with something with the SD Ram,it is real cheap right now,and you can get 512 Cheap.

Just make sure you will be able to update it in the future.

Sorry for so long post,hope this helps. .



PS. Norton anti virus is good to keep you virus free

 

[LBTRS]

Build the darn thing

Jeff,



You can get a much better system by building it yourself. There is a reason those computers are so cheap from the big computer makers. The reason is that they use the cheapest components they can get, a box full of cheap components makes a cheap computer. I build computers all the time and by doing so you get exactly what you want, name brand components and this means you normally are happier with the computer for a longer period of time. My latest computer has the following for right around $1000.



MSI K7T266 Pro2 Motherboard

AMD Athlon XP 1800+

1GB PC-2100 DDR Ram

Gainward Geforce3 Video Card

Soundblaster Audigy

IBM Deskstar 40GB Hard Drive

CD, CDRW, NIC, Floppy, etc.

 

[DGFoster]

You are correct about that in some respect,like motherboards,I want one that don't limit you to 512 megs or ram.

 

[Jeff H]

I don't know much about building computers. Where does one learn about what stuff is and does?

This is sad. I've been building computer parts for ten years now. I still only know basic or slightly under that. I only make the suspension wich holds the head over the disc.

 

[pnwradar]

Originally posted by Jeff H

I don't know much about building computers. Where does one learn about what stuff is and does?

Might start with some online articles:

How To Build A PC

Build your own PC

How to build a computer



Then I'd head down to the local PC recycler (Computer Renaissance, around here) and buy a well used PC for $50 or so. That way, you can crack open a PC and learn about the guts, without the risk of breaking your working one. Talk to the computer guys at work, if you need a copy of Windoze to play with -- for evaulation and testing purposes, of course.



Then, depending on your budget, either (A) upgrade your current PC in small steps -- more memory, larger drive, better video card, etc. or (B) buy the basic components for building your own new box.



In my experience, my local (Seattle area) PC shop can assemble a PC to my specs quicker than I can, and provide a warranty in case something dies in the first month or so. They can also do it for about my cost of individual components -- the cost of a built PC is the same as my buying a box of parts. This may not be true in a more rural region, nor will it give you the experience needed to replace components when you need/want.



Keep in mind that building a PC is a lot like tinkering with your CTD -- you've just become your own warranty station (sorry, I had to work that in somewhere).



-jon-

 

[Bigsaint]

Originally posted by Jeff H

I don't know much about building computers. Where does one learn about what stuff is and does?

You could always take one of those Sally Struthers (sp) home study courses, couple it with the gunsmithing course just in case you get mad and have to put the 'puter out of it's misery



Scott W.

 

[The patriot]

Just got this a month or two ago...

1. 3 gig athlon, 40 gig UDMA HDD, 512Mb ram (upgradeable to 1K bites) CD-RW, DVD, 4 USB's, 1 serial, 2 "firewire" ports, 17" monitor. Windows XP. BTW, C. F. xp has a "go back" like program built in it.

It's a HP, was under $1100. 00. I got the 5 yr in house warranty.

Last one was a HP too, 466 celeron, 20 gig HDD, 64 Mb ram. It was fast enough for my needs, until the Hdd crashed.

Eric

Printer is an old Canon BJ-200e. B&W only!! No scanner...

 

[Bud Fox]

I have 2 dells and no problems. 1 is 2 yrs old and the other is 6 months old. Upgraded the first one to 850 mhz 384 ram. Very easy to work on also. (not that there has been any problems) 2nd one came with ME and I changed it to 98SE. IMO ME stinks

 

[ACoyle]

My litter (all six of them) run from a P II 350 to a p4 1. 5 Ghz. Most everything in between. Some are servers some are workstations. They're all fun when tey get chatting together. Mostly they don't break unless someone gets cute.



No brand names on the fronts, except for the laptop is a Toshiba. All Intel CPU / Motherboard. The rest varies depending on what it is built for.



Andy

 

[Iceman1]

I am sort of partial to Dell with the 4100 p3 866 512 ram at home and Inspiron 800 p3 850 512 ram on the road myself. Another place you might lookover is www.pricewatch.com ... They opened my eyes real quick. Surely there are some good deals lurking out there some where.....

 

[redneckdr]

computers

take a look at www.tigerdirect.com. some good prices on kits start little and work up. soem good deals for around $250-300.