Replies

1. 
   calvin | May 19, 2010 09:03pm | #1

   If you waited as long as we did.............

   11 years to upgrade.

   Anything,

   and I mean anything, will seem like the biggest technical breakthroug to hit the planet.

   We got an HP 6320.

2. 
   Jeff_Clarke | May 19, 2010 10:10pm | #2

   Lenovo - http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/special-offers.workflow:ShowPromo?LandingPage=/All/US/Landing_pages/ThinkStation/10/E20  - AND there's a sale on through May 26th.

   
3. 
   DanH | May 19, 2010 11:19pm | #3

   Just be sure to get a system with 4GB of RAM.  Disk space depends on what you'll be doing, but generally at least 500GB for a desktop system.

4. 
   Hokuto | May 20, 2010 09:22am | #4

   I built my own computer this past year based on an ASUS motherboard. I wouldn't recommend doing it particularly unless there are (as in my case) specific reasons for doing so. For your likely needs, I'd say get a Dell and be done with it. If you're planning on doing much 3D rendering or gaming, etc., I'd also suggest 8GB memory since it's pretty cheap (this is assuming Windows 7).

1. 
   gfretwell | May 20, 2010 12:02pm | #5

   The only way I would buy a Dell is if I never planned on opening the case. If you want a disposable PC that will be used until it breaks or becomes obsolete Dell may be your box but they are very proprietary so the only place you can get upgrades or maintenance parts is Dell.

   Personally I prefer open architecture machines that I can work on using regular parts.

1. 
   k1c | May 20, 2010 04:34pm | #6

   computer shopping

   Thank you all for the reply.  I will ask just one more question, and that will be it.  I do appreciate the replies even though this post has nothing to do with the site.

   What are your opinions on staying with Intel core 2 duo or moving on to new i-series processors?  As a baseline, I use 8 year old desktop with Pentium 4 and about 750 mb RAM, and only beginning to think that I need a new computer - that is about the power I need.

   By the way, I'm doing all this research for my wife who needs a bit more power in word processing but don't have any need for high power graphics.

   Again, thank you all.

2. 
   DanH | May 20, 2010 04:47pm | #7

   Definitely, unless you're a CPU clocker or whatnot, buy a complete package from Dell or HP or Asus or whoever.  You can't build one as cheaply, and anymore there's no point in upgrading when they get outdated.  Unless it's purely for email and casual web browsing get one with at least 4GB RAM and dual CPUs -- you need that much horsepower to run Windoze anymore.  [Gad!  My first PC had 4KB.]  If you're a gamer or do a lot of graphics work you'll want something a little better.

   Disk size depends on what you do.  If you don't play games and store movies (or thousands of pictures/tunes) on the box then 500GB disk is enough.  But probably most desktops now come with 800GB-1TB.

   Don't forget backup.  Backup boxes are fairly cheap now and moderately inobstrusive -- plug them in and forget them for the most part.

   And don't forget antivirus/firewall.  If you use a good router at home, properly configured, and you practice "safe surfing", you don't really need these, but if you don't know what I'm talking about you'd better have them -- you don't want your box to be used for distributing kiddie porn.

1. 
   k1c | May 23, 2010 01:26pm | #8

   computer

   Thanks for the thorough reply, although I think I got lot more than I was thinking, lol.  The point you made about Windows taking more power is very good.  I was thinking going to new generation processor would be way over powered, but every little thing these days needs more power.  I've looked at some specs in advertizement and they all seem to be selling the new processor.  Again, thank you.

1. 
   gfretwell | May 23, 2010 01:48pm | #9

   If you are just running word processing and spread sheets there really has not been much of any real value since the 4.77 mz DOS box and  font aware printer but Microsoft and the manufacturers have convinced us we needed a thousand fold increase in the size of the hardware and software.

   There is a lot more glitze and flash in the new systems but not really that much extra bang.

   The problem is that as long as the rest of the world falls for the scam, you are forced to because documents created by newer systems simply can not be read by the older ones, not because they are better, just to sell newer systems. The original plan was that a DOCX file would only be able to be read by a Vista system but Vista sucked so bad that people were not getting rid of XP so they had to give out the fix to XP for DOCX. There is certainly no hardware reason why you couldn't work them with W9x machines but Bill Gates wouldn't make any money on that. 

1. 
   DanH | May 23, 2010 02:44pm | #10

   Yeah, the problem is that M$ keeps "upgrading" all of their tools like Office, rendering the older versions incompatible, and other vendors also drink this Kool Aide, meaning that you have to get an updated version of Flash and Adobe and Quick Time and ... every year or so or you can no longer communicate with the outside world.  And you must of course have an updated version of Windoze to support that, and (of course) that new version requires new hardware, since Windoze will crawl (if it runs at all) on the older, slower, smaller stuff.

2. 
   rjw | May 23, 2010 03:27pm | #11

   >>Yeah, the problem is that

   >>Yeah, the problem is that M$ keeps "upgrading" all of their tools like Office,

   Those of us who have usede wordeperfect over the decades are still backward compatible to WP5.1 DOS.

   the latest, 2010 release, is WP X5: http://store1.corel.com/corel/product/index.jsp?pid=prod3670083&cid=catalog20038&skuId=ESDWPX5STDEN

   Check out Ebay for X4 realses for $20-$30

   More features than word, (unless you need almost perfect web page imports)

3. 
   gfretwell | May 23, 2010 05:16pm | #12

   There were capabilities in the old DOS IBM "E" editor (not DOS Edit) that still have not been duplicated in anything from microsoft or any other word processor I have seen.

   I still use it for clipping global path information to M3U files and such.

4. 
   DanH | May 23, 2010 05:59pm | #13

   I agree that WP was (and likely still is) very good.  Among other things, when it did something odd formatting-wise, you could always figure it out from the CODES screen -- a feature that's sorely missing in Office.

   But unfortunately the world uses Office, and WP (and others, like Open Office) was never able to keep up with M$'s constant churn on file formats.

5. 
   MikeSmith | May 23, 2010 06:06pm | #14

   wordperfect

   i've been using wp and quattro-pro since lotus 1-2-3 was the latest and greatest

   i'm currently running the office 12 suite and intend to upgrade to the xp5 suite..

   my wp can emulate  about 12  different wordprocessers

   my newest computer is a close-out hp i-3  i got from staples... the techs  added ram and a gamer card i need for  Chief Architect

   my os is windows 7 Pro

   i buy all our computers thru staples now

6. 
   DanH | May 23, 2010 06:25pm | #15

   There's a good point there -- get the "Premium" or "Pro" version of Windoze, not the Basic.  (And with Vista you wanted to avoid the basic business version, whatever it was called -- not sure how that translates to 7.)  Otherwise you end up missing a bunch of functions.

   (Again, not a big deal for just email and basic web browsing, but important if you want a "full function" box.)

5. 
   Pelipeth | May 23, 2010 06:30pm | #16

   MacBook - And for $99.00 you can get 52 one on one, one hour classes. Can't beat it with a stick..........

6. 
   Jeff_Clarke | May 24, 2010 01:05am | #17

   Dell is not what it used to be :o(

1. 
   th001 | May 24, 2010 08:15am | #18

   My experience - PC's,Netbooks

   I prefer to buy trailing edge technology.  Last years hot models sell for less money and have everything you need. 

   Dell has some decentmodels out there in the middle range. Gateways and HP have had some issues.  Toshibas are pretty good.  I buy every couple of yrs and haven't had any issues.

   Figure out what you need in Screen size, type of use (Work, Games, Graphics, Music)   This will help in determining what you should loo for in a laptop or netbook.

   Laptop deals are out there for about $500

   Netbooks are avaialable for about $300

   You will need to purchase Office related software separately. ~$249

   http://www.compusa.com

   http://www.newegg.com

   http://www.staples.com

   No matter what you buy it will be obsolete sooner than you think.

   Tom

1. 
   gfretwell | May 24, 2010 03:12pm | #19

   I am not a gamer and I don't do complex video editing so I have never seen the need to be on the bleeding edge. You can buy a very capable XP Pro machine with the OS for less than $100.

   I have been transitioning my fleet from W/98 to XP because of that.