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Buying New PC. Suggestions?
OldElmerFudd:
Hmmm...
Lots of good ideas. I've built and re-built 9 machines in the last five years. They're all in service, working fine. Five are shared more or less by Bite-sized trouble and I, and the others are virtually networked to my primary box.
I've used Newegg and Mwave, (even Tiger Direct once or twice), so the links from tinyvillager are nice to see. I agree that Dell is flexible in configuring to a customer's wishes, but their reliability is suspect, IMHO. Worse is HP; their machines are so proprietary as to be nearly impossible to alter. (They rivet drives in place!)
Unless you need to live on the bleeding edge of tech, I've found that it's easier to build solid, robust boxes using components that have been out long enough to get thorughly discussed in their respective forums. I also wait for the inevitable price drop! :Thmbsup:
Frankly, I've learned everything by trying. We was all newbies once, after all...
After I overcame the terror the first time I cracked open a case, it was Wahoo! from there.
OEF
:Thmbsup:
MilesOhToole:
OK, fellas. I've got my order in. Some slight changes from the above setup, though. I decided to go with the 250GB HD and the 9-in-1 card reader. Total, on-site, came to $794.94 plus $209.99 for the monitor.
That brings the total to $1004.93 (minus $50.00 monitor rebate comes to $954.93). Now, the best news of all...my "employee" discount brought the total down to $699.00 for the PC and $190.00 for the monitor=$889.00. Take another $50.00 back with the monitor rebate and it comes to $839.00.
Considering no charge for shipping, the company saved me over $116.00. Now I'm having buyers-remorse...wishing I had poured more money into a better video card or more RAM :D
Thanks again, guys. You're all exceptionally courteous in sharing your expertise and wisdom. I truly appreciate the input.
:Thmbsup:
dk70:
Will be nice Im sure. Many times faster than current 500mhz Dell thats for sure.
Well should you start to get picky with eyecandy demands in the latest games, want monster dual core cpu etc. the good thing is you most likely did a good deal with not much effort, tears or sweat. And computer is easy to upgrade with faster video card and more ram. Best if ram is of same brand/type/model as the one already installed but should be minor problem.
Hard to buy perfect configuration when not sure of needs. May be gaming will bore you? Good you didnt spend too much then 8) Just about adequate for games and perfect for other tasks might be what you want.
MilesOhToole:
Will be nice Im sure. Many times faster than current 500mhz Dell thats for sure.-dk70 (October 14, 2006, 09:15 PM)
--- End quote ---
That'll be an understatement. I'm a kid of a pilot...with flying in my blood. My dad is a WWII vet, who worked on C-47's and B-24's with the 5th AAF in the Pacific. I grew up flying his Piper Cherokee since the age of 8 (no take-offs or landings, of course). I've been hooked on Falcon 4, FS 98, CFS and B-17 The Mighty Eighth. My next purchase will be either a new joystick or Flight Simulator X. I can't wait!!! 8)
Well should you start to get picky with eyecandy demands in the latest games, want monster dual core cpu etc. the good thing is you most likely did a good deal with not much effort, tears or sweat.-dk70 (October 14, 2006, 09:15 PM)
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Couldn't have done it without you. I submitted this query to a number of different forums, but this site is the only one that was actually helpful. Funny that I'm also involved in political debates on certain other (unnamed) sites, and unaware that something seemingly cut-and-dry would cause such diversity in opinion. It's peaked my interest, already.
And computer is easy to upgrade with faster video card and more ram. Best if ram is of same brand/type/model as the one already installed but should be minor problem.
Hard to buy perfect configuration when not sure of needs. May be gaming will bore you? Good you didnt spend too much then 8) Just about adequate for games and perfect for other tasks might be what you want.
-dk70 (October 14, 2006, 09:15 PM)
--- End quote ---
Welcome me to the 21st Century. It's about time, I guess :graduate:
dk70, thanks again.
f0dder:
Couldn't have done it without you. I submitted this query to a number of different forums, but this site is the only one that was actually helpful. Funny that I'm also involved in political debates on certain other (unnamed) sites, and unaware that something seemingly cut-and-dry would cause such diversity in opinion. It's peaked my interest, already.
-MilesOhToole (October 14, 2006, 09:58 PM)
--- End quote ---
Hardware is almost a religion - you will find very biased AMD or intel, NVidia or ATI, fanboys that simply haven't realized "pick the best bang for the buck", but will instead defend "their" hardware religiously...
Fantastic that it went so smooth here, DC is a fantastic place :)
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