OK-my computer has really been messed up for the past week so I might get a new computer. But I know nothing about them. I called dell and talked to a lady about a new one and pretty much told her what I do with it and some of the things I would like on it that i know what they are and she emailed me a computer setup

Dimension 4600 Series,Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.8GHz w/1MB cache Qty: 1 Unit Price: $1,226.00
]
DIM 4600,P4,2.8GHZ,533,1MB,INT
256MB DDR SDRAM AT 333MHZ - 2X
DELL QUIETKEY KEYBOARD,104,ENG
17IN(16.0IN VIS)E773C MONITOR,
128MB DDR NVIDIA GEFORCE FX 52FACTORY INSTALLED VIDEO
A940 PRINTER DRIVER FOR DIMENS
40GB 7200RPM ULTRA ATA,DIM,M
3.5IN,1.44MB,FD,212,DIM
DELL APPLICATION BACK-UP CD,FAWIN XP HOME,SP1,ENG,DIM,TIED GENERIC DIMENSION SUPPORT
DELL 2-BUTTON SCROLL MOUSE,DIM
INTEGRATED,INTEL PRO 100M PCI
V.92/56K PCI DATAFAX,INT MODEM
48X MAX CD-RW DRIVE,DIM,2ND BA16X DVD-ROM DRIVE,2200,LTON,DIDECODING SOFTWARE,DVD,CYBERLINTHANK YOU FOR CHOOSING DELL
INTEGRATED AUDIO
DELL A215 SPEAKERS,SIB,DIM
NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2004,
MUSIC MATCH 8.1
DELL PHOTO ALBUM STANDARD
AOL DHS DELL/MY WAY HOME PAGE BROADBAND ICON FOR CONSUMER
MS WORKSUITE 2004,CDWD,OEM,US,
4YR LIMITED WARRANTY NBD NW,DIM,QLX,3YR EXT,DHS (HISOFT CONTRACTS - QUALXSERVE $60 WARRNTY REBATE 49105 NBD,DIM NW,QLX,INIT YR,DHS (HI
$100 MAIL-IN DIMENSION REBATE 49101. Redeem within 30 days of ship at dell4me.com/rebates Qty: 1 Unit Price: $0.00

Dell Black 10 Ft. USB Printer Cable Qty: 1 Unit Price: $24.95

Money 2004 Standard Version for Dimension Qty: 1 Unit Price: $0.00

DISCOUNT/COUPON APPLIED Qty: 1 Unit Price: $0.00

DELL A940 ALL IN ONE INKJET PRADV EXCH,PRINT,STEALTH,INIT,ALNO WARRANTY,YRS 2 AND 3,ADV EX


Subtotal: $1,250.95
Shipping: $15.50
Tax: $17.72
Total: $1,284.17

I dont really know what much of that means-but I want it to be fast with a LOT of memory and I like to play racing games.

How does that stack up for a computer??
Good? Bad?

Thanks

 

IMO most everything looks okay except I would get more memory. 256meg is bare minimum. Also you might want to think about getting a larger monitor. If you don't you probably will later. I am currently using a 20" flat screen. Only reason I don't have larger is the area where my monitor sits will not hold anything larger. Also, once you get above 19" the LCD monitors start to get real expensive.

 

Looks good. It will handle most things you throw at it. KF is right, at least double up that RAM. Its cheap. If you can, go to 1GB and disable the Windows swap file. Things run much faster without that $%*@( swap file. And that $25 USB cable is a total rip off. Go buy one at the local store for $10-15.

Only other thing you may hit a wall with if you do a lot of music, video or **** is that 40GB hard drive. You should be able to double that for just a little $$. Heck, 100GB+ drives are like $150 nowadays...

 

Looks good, get more RAM, at least 512, maybe 1G if it isn't too costly.

 

the specs are fine but I think you are getting ripped off on the price. check out www.gotapex.com . There are many good Dell deals there often with rebates.

 

That looks pretty shady, Brew! How do they provide support or warrenty the PC? I'd stick with Dell directly. You get what you pay for, including service. And since he said he didn't know jack about PCs, that service & support is very valuable. And I didn't see a printer w/ the gotapex, either. Food for thought...

 

Well heck-throw that one out the window



Thanks the for help guys-like I said- I dont know much about computers.

What do you guys think about this Wally World computer?
Is it ok or something I should stay away from?

eMachines W4885 Intel Pentium 4 Computer 2.8 GHz With 17-inch CRT Monitor

Intel Pentium 4 processor, 2.8 GHz
eView 17-inch flat CRT monitor
80 GB hard drive
512 MB DDR memory
56 Kbps ITU V.92 ready fax/modem
10/100 Mbps built-in ethernet
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
CD-RW/DVD combo drive
8-in-1 media reader card
Multimedia keyboard
2-button wheel mouse
Amplified speakers
S3 UniChrome 3-D integraded graphics card (1 AGP slot available for upgrade)
Connections: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 on front), 1 serial, 1 parallel, 2 PS/2, audio in and out, mic-in and out, headphone jack on front, 3 PCI slots (2 available)
Pre-installed software: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Works 6.0, Microsoft Money 2003, Encarta Online, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Media Player, Real Player, Power DVD, Internet Explorer, Netscape, MSN, CompuServe, Norton AntiVirus 2004 included (90-day complimentary subscription), AOL 8.0 service included

Price-$698.00
Here is a pic of it-
Click!

Double the hard drive and memory of the Dell. Both a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor.


Monitor size doesnt really bother me to much-the one I have now is 17 and its good for me-Im sure bigger is nicer though

If you guys have any suggestion that would be cool-Im not looking to spend a whole bunch-that Dell might be out of my
range.

Even just the PCU or tower or whatever you call it would be ok
I have a pretty new keyboard(coffee killed the last one) and a printer that does what I want it to. And my monitor is fine-or can I hook a old monitor up to a new computer?. It works-but it look like its from the 80's (actually 98 )

Thanks for all the help

 

eMachines = ePOS

 

Bartak1, that Dell is a POS RIPOFF!!!!

256 mb ram is super weak. 40 Gig hard drive is awful small. and i had a nvidia gfx 5200 before my radeon 9600 pro and was not impressed but it will do the job. I cant believe they are charging that much for that comp.

ive never used an emachines comp, but i dont like any preassembled computers. it definitely seems like a better bang for the buck. the woarst thing i see about that comp is the POS integrated graphics. it sucks out loud. it might be ok if u dont plan on doing any gaming. and if u do want to play games and u decide to add a vid card, there are frequently problems trying to get it to work correctly.

im not sure how much time or patience u have, but building your own comp is the only way to get a good comp for a cheap price. the only advantage to getting a dell or other is that they are preassembled and preloaded with software and they have support in case anything goes wrong.

i knew nothing about building computers a while back, but i decided to try. there are tons of tutorials that can walk u through it. one good place is

http://www.tomshardware.com/

ive built 3 computers now and my current one kicks a**. i spent maybe $2000 on all the stuff, but i figured out that to buy it from a place like dell would cost approx $3,500. the only thing that sux is paying $200 for stoopid windows.

good place for comp parts:

http://www.newegg.com/index.asp?DEPA=1

anyway, if u do decide to get a premade comp, i would reccomend:

p4 2.26 or higher 533 fsb or higher OR amd athlon xp barton 2500+ or higher
512 mb ddr ram
128 mb vid card or better ati pro series or nvidia gfx 5200 or better
80 gb hdd or higher
cdrw/dvd drive

oh and keeping ur existing monitor , keyboard, mouse and printer is a good way to save $$$
you can search around for barebone kits, but i think dell and gateway might sell jus the loaded box, im not sure

well gl whatever u do. id be happy to help ya if u have any ?'s

 

Wow guys! Remind me to consult ya'll before I buy a new computer. Like Bartak, I know enough to get myself into trouble!! But I am lost in most of the jargon so they could really sell me a whopper!! When I get ready to buy I'll call on your expertise!

 

Smokin' - the guy said he doesn't know jack! Pre-built is the way to go. With prices as competetive as they are, the margins on PCs these days are only 5-7%. While you may be able to build it one for 'significantly less', you don't get the printer, software (not just windows, but look at the other neat stuff they bundle), support, etc.... your paying the higher cost for a reason.

Bartak1 - you can probably get that Dell at a better cost (they always run insane specials) or at the very least get free/cheap upgrades for your RAM & HD. Shy away from home-builts and 'bargin' PCs.

 

Thanks Guys-Im not real sure if I want to make one up myself- i Know I would screw somthing up and end up getting the wrong stuff etc.

Maybe I will call Dell again today and try to make up another one and see if they have any deals going on soon. The only current one was a free CD burner-which I really want.

I looked at my computer last night and its got 288mb ram and it sucks-so I am definatley staying away from the 256.

I might head to a a computer shop later on.

Also-what is AMD Athlon? I see it is on every other computer I look at. How is it compared to a Pentium 4?

How does this sound-
1GB ram
80-100GB hard drive
Pentium 4 2.8 MHz proccesor
CD r/w

But what is a good Vid. card? Is the ATI ProSeries Smokin suggested pretty good? Most of my games are racing ones so its got to be pretty good-and I like to watch some vids on the internet.

Maybe I will call Dell about what I listed above and see what they want for something like that-just the tower. But what do you guys think of it?

Thanks

 

Some of you guys have to remember alot of people buying computers dont need 80GB hard drives, 3.2GHz processors, the fastest video card, etc.

That Dell will do plenty good for most people.
Although, I would also recommend going to 512MB of RAM at least, as XP will use up 256 easily.

That will do alot of your tasks fine.

 

Between the two listed, I'd go for the Emachine. Yeah, they suck sometimes but Dell hasn't been that great recently either. Dell farmed out all their support to India and it sucks bad. So bad they had to return their business support back to the US because all the companies threatend to buy other manufacturers. You are paying a lot for the Dell name on what is most likely a box with the same components as the Emachine.
Get the Emachine, go to newegg.com and buy a nice Nvidia Geforce FX 5xxx graphics card and enjoy the saved cash.

Fritz

 

Well-I called Dell and they dont sell just the tower. The only thing you can take of is the monitor and its only 50 bucks less-so its not worth it I dont think. I got on their site and made up a different one with better stuff(4600model) and it ended up being like 1500 bucks. Way to much.

So now Im back to the eMachine. How bad are they really? It doesnt have to be perfect-just something that ACTUALLY does what I want it to do and doesnt get messed up every day.
My current one is the biggest POS, I am litteraly cussing at it and hitting it about every 10 minutes.

Another thing I was thinking about was just redoing my current computer. One of my friend said he bout Spyware and Adware-stuck it in his computer and it ran way better and faster. Is it worth it to do this then upgrade all the memory? I upgraded the ram once with a 256 chip thing and its not enough-but there is space for 2 more of these things. But-can you upgrade teh hard drive. This thing barely has any. If I did this do you think it would get rid of some of the problems I am having-things not responding-not enough parameters and all these other messages I get, or will it still be a pos that just has upgraded memory?

Thanks for all the help guys