My wife is looking at getting me a new desktop computer for x-mas. I have been looking and I see that everything in the price range that she mentioned is coming with Windows Vista Home Premium.

I know that people had mixed feelings on Vista when it came out and I am wondering if it would be okay to go with it or should I be looking at a XP based machine? There will be no hardware from my existing set up going to the new one so there will be no compatability issues.

I am currently leaning towards the HP a6212n desktop with the w1907 19" lcd wide screen monitor. The pc has a Pentium Duo Core E2140 (1.6GHz) processor, 2 GB RAM, 320GB HD a SuperMulti DVD drive, blah, blah..... If anyone has suggestions within the $600 - $750 price range, please post up.

 

Dell Inspiron 530 with XP.

 

build one. seriously.

 

Build one if you can, and stay away from Vista. SP1 has not come out officially yet, but from those who have tested it, the comments are that they have actually managed to slow down the system even further. No performanc gains and some loses from SP1.

 

why cat they just make a simple OS thats stable and doesn't hog resources?

 

It was called DOS. Now OSs are extremely complex with millions and millions of lines of code. Plus you have another millions companies that "write" software poorly. You try keeping track of it all. Sheet happens. Its the price you pay for wanting some cutesie-pie graphics interface and an abundance of software applications.

Vista is fine, and very cool to boot. I'd personally order up a Dell to my specs, but that HP you described should be just fine.

 

X2

....or have one built.

PC's you buy from Dell, Gateway, etc are junk....but that's an opinion

 

Vista isnt that bad. Ive had it one a new laptop for a little over a month and the only problem I have had is Internet Explorer decided every few days to crash, and I cant update my Edge on Vista. (Yet!)

 

Don't make me slap you two. The days of superior home-builts are nearly over. Unless your a hardcore gamer, forget about it. General-use PCs are a commodity now and you gain nothing but headaches and a total absence of support if you build it. In addition, its NOT cheaper. Once you buy that LEGAL copy of Windoze it will push you well over what a pre-built would cost with the same version.

 

So who builds a good a custom specd computer nowadays??? Or even a good source of parts because I may consider building it myself. It has been awhile since I have done really any upgrading.

Also I was reading that the Duo Core is the low grade Intel processor similar to the Celeron. Would it be wize to move up to the Duo Core2 ??

Thanks.


ETA:
I see that D posted before I finished this. I know that in the past when I have looked into home building one, I agree with D that it does end up costing you more buy the time you assemble all of the componets. Then you have all of your time for installing your software, migrating files from the old machine to the new one, blah, blah, blah....

 

I also say build one. You would be suprised how easy it is. If you're a bit worried about doing it yourself get your parts locally and have the store put the cpu/fan and ram in. The rest is a piece of cake. We can also help walk you through the rest of it.
XP or Vista will pretty much install itself once it's all together and you boot to the cd.

 

BLEH!


I need a good slappin'

 

You mentioned a budget, but not what you want to do with it. Like I said prior, for general use (Internet, e-mail, office stuff) then that HP is more than sufficient and will serve you well.

Don't build.

Info on CPUs - http://www.intel.com/products/deskto...rocess+desktop

 

Sure its easy. Then you build it, install Vista, start downloading all the updated drivers, install them, go through about 20 reboots... and then enjoy your PC about 3 hours later (start to finish). Problem? Ah just post here since you have ZERO support. Don't forget to buy that anti-virus software! Sure a nice 3-6 month trial would have been included in the Dell, but hey, you got the satisfaction of building your very own Pee-Cee!

...or just make a few clicks on a web site, unpack, and 20 minutes later you're up and running (start to finish).

But what do I know about IT...

 

I'd rather have mine built, or build it myself for pride.

Support? That's what friends are for...