Additional Comp Question

[CardFan67]

Okay I have 2 computers at home and a laptop... It seems that someone is always on all of them all of the time... It is like you have to pull a number and wait in line to get on one... The main is a monster, massive processor, massive vid card killer performance, the laptop is a P4 3.0 and pretty much has to be plugged in all the time, great power and speed but no ability to run on batteries really... The last is an old celeron that is used for on line browsing and that is about all it can handle...

Our place has kind of turned into an Internet cafe...

My wife wants me to go and pick up another desktop, real clear that she does not want another notebook or laptop...

She says she will be the primary user for this one and will not use any of the others...

The main reason she even wants one is strictly for herself and that involves E-mail, Ebay (photo processing and server uploads), Internet browsing... Only thing she is real specific on is it must have at least a 19 inch LCD monitor...

My question is what would you do, buy a basic machine capable of only doing what she wants, or would you add another monster or something in between? I have been looking for a few weeks now and can't really decide on what the heck to get.

 

[Ryanwb]

My question is what would you do, buy a basic machine capable of only doing what she wants, or would you add another monster or something in between? I have been looking for a few weeks now and can't really decide on what the heck to get.

I would just a basic lower end Dell.... if you just use it for internet, photo uploads and light word processing. Besides, the low end models actually come with pretty fast processors now a days. Most of the time i see great deals for upgrades on LCD screens and what not

Check Bensbargains.net or fatwallet.com daily and wait for the next deal. They usually have 2 or 3 a week

 

[CardFan67]

AMD Athlon™ 64 3700+ Processor, 1024MB, 200GB hard drive, LightScribe Double Layer DVD+RW/CD-RW drive, DVD-ROM drive, 9-in-1 Card Reader, 128MB Video, Windows® XP Media Center 2005

Found this at a store near by no monitor - open box, with full warranty for $439... Think I will go with that, the PCClub by my house has a 19" monitor for 229 after rebate... that will be $723 including tax for the whole set up... Have not owned an AMD anything in forever so will be interesting...

 

[Ryanwb]

Found this at a store near by no monitor - open box, with full warranty for $439... Think I will go with that, the PCClub by my house has a 19" monitor for 229 after rebate... that will be $723 including tax for the whole set up... Have not owned an AMD anything in forever so will be interesting...

You could run that machine as a server! (with some more RAM). That is a pretty nice deal

 

[CardFan67]

for sure... seems to be a pretty killer deal... little worried about the open box thing but the manager assured me that they would stand by the full replacement warranty if I have any problems... I can get another $65 bucks off if I want the OS deleted... But I do not have anything with media center on it either so I may give it a go...

 

[CardFan67]

Bought it, installed everything, it's up and running and pretty darned impressive... I opted for a few upgrades...

AMD Athlon™ 64 3700+ Processor
1024MB
250GB hard drive (50 more gigs)
LightScribe Double Layer DVD+RW/CD-RW drive
DVD-ROM drive
9-in-1 Card Reader
ATI Radeon 256MB Video (128 more vid memory)
Windows® XP Media Center 2005

Upgrades cost me 50 more dollars, and I opted for a $289.00 Viewsonic VA902b with no rebate (I hate rebates)...

Complete price with a little crappy desk from K Mart was a total of $820.00 including tax...

The media center thing is pretty cool and the Hi Def is incredible... It came with a small clip from National Geographic and the picture is awesome...

 

[BillsCarnage]

But I do not have anything with media center on it either so I may give it a go...

MCE is XP Pro with a prettier face and few extra features. No need to delete it.