My old computer is just about dead so Im looking to buy a new computer. The one I want to buy is called an Acer SA10. It has: Intel Celeron 2.8GHz 256MB DDR-SDRAM 40Gig Hard Drive 17"CRT Monitor The deal I want to get is called a "Big Bonus pack" and it says it also comes with .... 128MB Radeon graphics card. Three games. Genius MaxFire hand controller. Now my questions..... 1. Is it a good computer? My last computer was a Packard Bell and it was a falling apart peice of **** since the day I got it. Are Acers good computers in general? 2. I want to take a brand new DVD Burner and my hard drive (40 Gig) out of my old computer and use them as external devices for this new computer. Will that all work ok? The new computer only has a CD Burner. 3. I want to eventually upgrade the new computer to 512 MB's of RAM. Will that work with the specifications the new computer has? Will that RAM upgrade be worth it when I eventually make it? I dont need a super computer, its mainly for the net. I just need a little help because frankly, I dont know a great deal about computer and how they work.
I guess it depends on the price to determine whether or not you're getting a good deal. A setup like this shouldn't cost more than $400-$500 I would think. As you probably know, Celerons are Intel's budget cpu's so you shouldn't plan on doing any heavy processing with this machine. If all you plan to do is use it to surf the net, then these specs should be fine. I would reccomend at least upgrading to 512 of RAM. Memory is cheap these days so you might as well go ahead and do it when you buy the machine. I wouldn't plan on playing the latest and greatest games with this machine though. Does it give any more info as to what model the video card is? (Radeon 9600, 9800, etc..) As for your old drives, you shouldn't have any problems using them on a new box. Assuming they're IDE drives you'd just need to plug them in, set the bios to auto detect, and away you go!
If at all possible, upgrade to the regular Intel processor....the Celerons are ok for light computing....but if you have any dreams of gaming or have alot of programs you want to run....the Celeron will slow you down. as for the adding of your old drives....depends on if there is room in the case. You can add them and the mobo will easily detect them and give you no probs(as long as you do as Harris said)...but some budget systems have small cases that may not have the extra drive bays. also...512 is nice...but if you can swing it...go higher than that...it never hurts to have extra ram.
The new computer will cost me AU$898 Australian dollars which seems pretty good. The next step up....a 512 MB computer would cost me probably AU$1600. The Ad Im looking at doesnt give any extra info on the graphics card. I would hardly ever use the new computer for games. Maybe Age Of Empires 2 or something like that, but that's about it. As for the two drives from my old computer...I put the DVD drive in the old computer myself so I know it should be pretty easy to set up in the new computer. I REALLY want to have them as external drives though. Not only for convienence (Portable Hard Drive sounds good) but because I would guess throwing a DVD drive in the new computer would void the Warranty.
you could get external drive cages that will allow you to convert your IDE to a external. and I cant see why adding a second drive would violate the warranty...but since I normally just build the systems for my clients instead of buying one from a manufacturere....Im not the biggest expert on that. EDIT: here is a convertor for a IDE hard drive http://www.neticamall.com/adwords/P_1346.htm this one supports DVD/CD drives http://www.neticamall.com/adwords/P_1278.htm
It all really depends on what your budget is, mabye 400-500. If thats the price range you are looking at I would look online for dell deals. they usually have whole packages for $499 with coupons and rebates. Try checking out GotApex , they usually post great deals and coupons for dell systems. Also try checking the forums at Slickdeals and fatwallet . As for your other questions, you old hardware should have no trouble when putting it into your new system, and I would recommend atleast 512mb of ram since DDR is really cheap these days. You can actually get 1 gig of Corsair for around $75. If this is mainly for the net, you should be just fine.
WOW.....I didnt realise how cheap it was to upgrade the RAM to 512MB's these days. So if I do upgrade to 512MB's....will this computer handle it? Will it be a good upgrade or will the computer struggle to get the most out of the 512MB's?
If you're running WindowsXP then your computer will utilize the full 512 so it is a very good upgrade to get. You can never have enough memory . the difference between 256 to 512 is amazing, youll be glad you got the 512 or if you have a little extra cash, 2 sticks of 512mb.
if you are just gona play age of empires, you can run it on max video settings, but anything recent, like HL2, Doom3, Farcry and such, you are gona like like crazy unless you have at least 512 megs of RAM, and the RAM is DDR is it not?? the if the Radeon is a 9800 PRO, its good nuff, but anything else wouldnt be sufficent for recent or future games. Personally, just build you own computer with AMD 64bit processor, nVidia 6800GT, 1G DDR2 RAM, and 100Gigs of harddrive.
Extra memory will never hurt. You just need to determine how many slots you have available for extra sticks (most machines have at least 2.) Also need to make sure you buy the correct memory for your system.
This sounds just like my new machine I built a few months ago, except I went the cheaper route and got a 6600GT (Pci Express). The price on the PCI-E 6800's was just crazy at the time.
Cant build my own computer from scratch.....otherwise I would. The new computer will have Windows XP and I wouldnt need it for any new games because I like to get them on the PS2 or XBox.....no need to upgrade again and again that way. Anyway guys...thanks you all for your help. I'll be getting the new computer tomorrow and probably wait a few months before I upgrade to 512 MB's.
Acer??? WOW, that brings back some bad flashbacks from the 80s, I knew they still made notebooks that arent that durrable, but desktops too??? I wouldnt buy one... Acer, from what I know just had a switch in power not to long ago ( if I remember correctly) maybe things are better now, but if your last computer was a packard bell get ready for dealing with some of the same crap you did with the old PB.. I have a few computer nerds that work for me that got Acer notbooks at a hella good price, lets just say you get what you pay for...
Assuming you haven't gone to buy everything already. It bothers me to no end when I see people get (for lack of a better term) ripped off on computers. 898 AU dollars comes out to roughly 684.545 USD, and that is way too much for what you are getting. Acer is also not exactly the most reliable company - refer to Da-Glyde's post. Therefore, I have done a little research in Australian computers for you, and while the website is quite poorly done, by looking at the parts they build with, they will probably net you a better computer at a much cheaper price. http://www.msy.com.au/ http://www.msy.com.au/SYSTEMS/Value1.pdf http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/Big Sale-w.htm Option 1: Hassle Free ($440) Get the AMD XP 2800 Value Pack + $30 Ram upgrade to 512 + $150 XP home + $20 modem: Lets say you use dial-up (who does?) + $15 floppy: just in case (man we don't need this) = $655 + 315 Benq LCD monitor? Final Price - $950 Analysis - Better Parts, LCD Monitor - Slightly More expensive. Trust me with the Athlon XP, I've made both Pentium and AMD systems and the Athlon is generally a better value at equal performance. (Don't get the Celeron). Option 2: Same setup as the Acer - and get it cheaper. $410 - Basic Celeron 2800 Setup + $150 for 17" CRT monitor + $150 for XP home + $10 Floppy Drive $720 + $30 (optional) Ram upgrade = $750 - final price Analysis - More Ram, still better parts, cheaper than Acer. If you have an XP home CD you can take this down to $600. Let me put it frankly - I think the "big bonus pack" is pretty worthless. Of course, you will probably have to install drivers: but this is relatively easy, and they give you cd's to do this. Option 3: What I would do. $440 XP 2800 + $30 Ram Upgrade + Find an Operating System (no winxp, no floppy, no modem, it can still use high speed internet) = $470 Then - buy an LCD monitor - once again the Benq 17" from their BIG SALE link at 315. Pick up everything I can, and then call delivery for the rest. Total Price: 785 Final Analysis: No unnecessary junk, better parts, save $100, get an LCD monitor, no Celeron, better for gaming etc. etc., upgradable, and the list goes on. I don't know what the computer looks like, but what's inside is great. Here's some proof that this is a good deal: http://cybercombat.com.au/product.html They're offering worse items at a higher price. I found this site off of this thread: http://www.ozzu.com/ftopic43321.html Feel free to ask any questions on this thread. Good luck.
Chris, i know dell has a deal out at the moment for about 1100 and that kick butt over your initial deal you posted, drop me an email thru the bbs link and i will send you the deal, if not i would presume it is thru the dell.com.au website Smeg
Why is building your own a computer not an option? For $700 I could build you a computer that would eat up the Acer or any commercialized product. Amd 2800+ barton core - $86 Asus motherboard - $62 Nec dvd burner - $48 Antec case - $60 Ati 9800 pro - $160 Cosair value select ddr400 1 gig ram - $88 WD 120 gig hard drive - $80 total - $584
Obviously you won't know much about the Aussie stores, but Ican tell you STAY AWAY FROM MSY!!! They really don't give a rats a$$ about the customer, which becomes a real hassle should something go wrong. Chris, check out this page about Aussie PC Shops, it lists numersous on line stores to get computer parts from and most offer the option to assemble the PC for you. From personal experience I can personally endorse: * New Computers (VIC) * EYO (NSW) * Beecom (NSW) ; and * Computer World (Concorde, NSW) You will find some shops with the same trading name in different locations will give different prices and customer support, so I would recommend checking out the Aussie PC Shops link above, as it gives heps of testimonies from people that have bought stuff from their stores. Using prices from NewComputers (VIC) I came up with: AMD 2800+ $135.99 Gigabyte MB $93.50 1024MB RAM $198.95 HonLi Case (+480W PSU) $60.50 Sony DVD Burner $78.65 120GB Seagate HDD $117.40 GeXcube 9550 Extreme $141.68 Total $826.67 That was just a quick system build, you could probably find cheaper parts from some of the other companies if you have the time to look around and negotiate a bit and haggle the price a little. *raises hand* I do!! (hopefully not for much longer though)
