Author Topic: Bought a desktop and monitor today (Read 21,411 times)

kyrathaba · « **on:** August 13, 2011, 12:18 AM »

I bought this desktop and monitor today. Would have got a bigger monitor, but had to get one whose dimensions (including the stand) will fit my computer desk.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2011, 01:09 AM »

Good for you!
Always nice to have a new toy — looks to be good value…

kyrathaba · « **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2011, 01:24 AM »

Quote

looks to be good value…

Yeah, I mean, for $450, I'm getting a Win7 Home Premium 64 bit machine with 6 GB of RAM, and a 22" monitor.

The reason I finally made this purchase is not because of anything lacking in my laptop, but rather the fact that I've been craving more screen real-estate. I'll be going from a 15.6" monitor to a 22". Very nice, especially when I'm watching movies or doing C# development!

zridling · « **Reply #3 on:** August 13, 2011, 03:29 AM »

I'm so jealous. Will have to wait until next summer (maybe) to replace anything here.

Ath · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2011, 10:58 AM »

Hm, you might have liked a 22" full-hd resolution (1920x1080) for even more screen real-estate better then 1680x1050, and the price shouldn't be a problem, as most of them have even the same price

kyrathaba · « **Reply #5 on:** August 13, 2011, 01:14 PM »

Quote

Hm, you might have liked a 22" full-hd resolution (1920x1080) for even more screen real-estate better then 1680x1050

True, but I'm getting old enough that I already have to increase text size in web-browsers and make my Desktop icons bigger than their defaults. So it won't matter quite as much for me.

Shades · « **Reply #6 on:** August 13, 2011, 06:05 PM »

A monitor that has more resolution is always better. Especially if you take into account that Windows (and I assume Linux and OSX as well) allows the default text size to be adjusted system-wide.

By default your monitor uses the normal size (96 DPI on XP SPIII), there is also a 120 DPI option and one option for a custom value.

With these options you can keep optician at bay for some years more

wraith808 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:36 PM »

Quote from: Ath on August 13, 2011, 10:58 AM

Hm, you might have liked a 22" full-hd resolution (1920x1080) for even more screen real-estate better then 1680x1050, and the price shouldn't be a problem, as most of them have even the same price

Same price? Where? I've been looking for a monitor (looking at 24" or 27") and it seems that the big difference in the price points of the lower end vs the upper end is resolution...

tomos · « **Reply #8 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:55 PM »

Quote from: Shades on August 13, 2011, 06:05 PM

A monitor that has more resolution is always better. Especially if you take into account that Windows (and I assume Linux and OSX as well) allows the default text size to be adjusted system-wide.

I've seen major problems on a laptop with the font size increased. Dialogue's [OK] button beyond the lower screen edge, etc.
I realise this is probably more often than not because of the software (rather than the OS) and also the minimal screen height that comes with most laptops these days.

But I certainly wouldn't depend on it.

mouser · « **Reply #9 on:** August 14, 2011, 07:49 PM »

I think if your eyesight is going, a lower resolution monitor might have some advantages, especially in the LCD world where you really need to run the LCD at it's native resolution. Sure you can change the windows font size for many applications, but some you can't, and then there is the case of (web) image sizes, etc.

Ath · « **Reply #10 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:13 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on August 14, 2011, 06:36 PM

Same price? Where? I've been looking for a monitor (looking at 24" or 27") and it seems that the big difference in the price points of the lower end vs the upper end is resolution...

Well, the 22" and 23" monitors offered closeby (next big city that is, 8 km away) in the bigger retail shop, are all between 100 and 180 Euro, where the 100 Euro one is 1680x1050 and only has VGA input, but the 180 Euro model has 1920x1080 and DVI or HDMI interface also. There's a choice in brands like LG, Samsung and Philips.
A 24" is available from around 200 Euro, and has DVI interface, and a 27" full HD can be had for 250 Euro, and comes with DVI as well. But this is all on special offer for this week

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #11 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:22 PM »

At $450 including the monitor that is a pretty good price - I can't really see how the manufacturer is really making a profit either it must be minute (in which case the longevity of manufacturer must be a worry) or they are using REALLY cheap components - in which case the PC is probably a worry.

The idea of getting a larger full HD monitor with no/little extra cost doesn't really seem feasible to me.

kyrathaba · « **Reply #12 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:31 PM »

The PC is refurbished, which accounts for the lower price of the compete bundle. However, I've bought 3 refurbs from TigerDirect in the past 5 years, and they were all excellent.

kyrathaba · « **Reply #13 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:37 PM »

But I think I'll be happy. Here's the short-list of its specs, which I think are more than sufficient to meet the demands I'll place on the PC, as noted in my OP:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS
Intel Pentium E5300 2.6GHz processor
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500
750GB Hard Drive
HDMI, VGA and DVI ports

wraith808 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 15, 2011, 04:36 PM »

Quote from: Ath on August 15, 2011, 03:13 PM

Quote from: wraith808 on August 14, 2011, 06:36 PM
Same price? Where? I've been looking for a monitor (looking at 24" or 27") and it seems that the big difference in the price points of the lower end vs the upper end is resolution...

Well, the 22" and 23" monitors offered closeby (next big city that is, 8 km away) in the bigger retail shop, are all between 100 and 180 Euro, where the 100 Euro one is 1680x1050 and only has VGA input, but the 180 Euro model has 1920x1080 and DVI or HDMI interface also. There's a choice in brands like LG, Samsung and Philips.
A 24" is available from around 200 Euro, and has DVI interface, and a 27" full HD can be had for 250 Euro, and comes with DVI as well. But this is all on special offer for this week

The difference between 100 and 180 euro isn't all that small, though, IMO.

Ath · « **Reply #15 on:** August 15, 2011, 06:27 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on August 15, 2011, 04:36 PM

The difference between 100 and 180 euro isn't all that small, though, IMO

Correct, but the gross of the 22" monitors is between 130 and 160 Euro, the low-life 100 E model I would never buy myself, not even to give away, and the 180 E models are a bit more shiny than the 160 Euro models.

wraith808 · « **Reply #16 on:** August 15, 2011, 08:50 PM »

I'd like to see where you see these prices, if you don't mind. I'm just not seeing it.

My research for this has shown the non-refurbished 24" 1900 x 1080 going for $170, and the non-refurbished 24" 1920 x 1200 going for a minimum of $350 USD, so I want to know where you're shopping!

kyrathaba · « **Reply #17 on:** August 15, 2011, 08:54 PM »

I got them from TigerDirect. Here's a copy of my invoice:

[attach]

wraith808 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 16, 2011, 01:32 AM »

^ thanks, but I meant the monitors that Ath was referring to.

kyrathaba · « **Reply #19 on:** August 16, 2011, 01:34 AM »

Yeah, I realized that after I posted, but thought, "Oh well"

Ath · « **Reply #20 on:** August 16, 2011, 08:26 AM »

Quote from: wraith808 on August 15, 2011, 08:50 PM

so I want to know where you're shopping!

It's at the local "Media Markt" (these 3 monitors pages, sorry, all in Dutch, but the prices and specs you can prolly extract from there)
I've been talking about 22"/23" monitors mostly, but they have a few bargains on 24" and 27" as well.

wraith808 · « **Reply #21 on:** August 16, 2011, 11:55 AM »

^ Unless I'm missing something, all of those are 1920 x 1080?

kyrathaba · « **Reply #22 on:** September 03, 2011, 03:17 AM »

The above-mentioned PC is going to my oldest daughter, as I've replaced it with a better system. I now have a better monitor, too (23" widescreen, versus 22", and better resolution).

New PC is more powerful:

1920x1080 resolution, as opposed to 1680x1050 resolution
Uses DDR3 1333(667 MHz) versus DDR2 memory, and have 8Gb as opposed to 6Gb RAM
3.2 GHz processor, as opposed to 2.6GHz
Quad-core as opposed to dual-core
CPU is AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 650 Processor
Video adapter is ATI Radeon HD 4200

cranioscopical · « **Reply #23 on:** September 04, 2011, 04:50 AM »

Congratulations, you're going strong!

By Christmas I expect you'll have a Sequoia!

iphigenie · « **Reply #24 on:** September 04, 2011, 08:00 AM »

I splurged recently - after years of making do.
First a new laptop (only a little bit better than my old 2007 rock but lighter and smaller) and then built a desktop with what I would call "sweet spot" components. Hence my renewed gaming obsession

Wish I knew what to do with older laptops that I have (all are still pretty good). Happy to put linux on them and donate them somewhere, but how to find who could use them. Hardware components too.

I am throwing away a 2006 15" asus notebook with a dedicated radeon card, but as the battery is dead and the PSU vanished (athough it works with my emergency Trust power supply) I can't quite give away, and a PSU is £50

Also throwing away a whole reasonably good motherboard-cpu-memory from about the same time... *sigh*. Hate waste, but wasting space is no better.