Good deal on a desktop?

I am positive you can get a better deal than that WITH a brand new 19" LCD from Dell. I'll post details later if noone else does since I'm kinda busy right now.

 

I only have one thing to say. Dual monitors.

Once you have dual monitors you will never want to go back. Especially if you code and test a lot which I am sure you do. It is very worth it.

 

What company still puts floppy drives in their computers?

 

I don't think you're getting a very good deal. Here's a computer with similar specs at half the price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Loaded-P4-Dual-Core-3-4-G-PC-ATI-256MB-video-160GB-HD_W0QQitemZ260079811772QQihZ016QQcategoryZ140076QQcmdZViewItem

The cost difference is over $500, and the only main difference between the two is 512 MB vs. 2 GB memory. The 2 GB RAM should only increase the price by about $150.

Also, you may want to upgrade the processor to a Dual Core 2. They offer much better performance than the Pentium D's at a very affordable price.

 

I think you'll find better deals if you customize your PC on the HP or Dell website. You can go to a place like http://www.fatwallet.com or http://www.xpbargains.com to hunt down some coupons for additional savings.

 

At first glance, this looks like a gaming rig. And that's pretty much all that white-box builders build and sell these days. So do you really need that much raw power?

Also, how long is your friend going to warranty this thing? If there's a power surge, and everything gets fried, will he replace it? I sincerly doubt it. I wouldn't.

Get a computer from a big manufacturer with a 3-5 year warranty.

 

Clutch, this is a much better computer IMO. It's $569 without the 20" monitor, and $769 with it. The speed is 1.86 GHZ, but it is a core duo 2 so you will get better performance than the 3.4 GHZ regular core duo. You can also upgrade the various components on the Dell website.

http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/24948/dell-dimension-9200-desktop-no-monitor-529/

 

while i'm looking to get a laptop, i just had a few general questions about computers and don't wanna start a new thread.

is the core 2 duo the best there is right now? and if it is, why are they only like 1.83 GHz, which i guess is 3.66 GHz. my laptop is over 3 years old and has a 2.4 GHz pentium and it wasn't even the best you could get? shouldn't we have advanced to 6 or 7 GHz by now?


also, on the processors, it has a number like T5500 or T5200, what does that mean and are higher or lower numbers better?

on the RAM, they list something like 667 MHz for the speed i guess. what's considered good for that speed?

and finally, i'm not really a gamer, but i like Civilization IV and can't even come close to playing it on my laptop right now. would any GeForce video card make it playable, or would other specs be necessary to get it to play. or is it hopeless to get it to play on any laptop i would pay for (~$1000).


edit: oh, and is vista gonna suck? XP's never crashed on me and has been great and i'd just as soon get another computer with XP if vista isn't going to be any good.

 

Dell has a promo now for only 999, you get the same config PLUS a 20" widescreen monitor.

How's that?

 

Build one yourself. Here is an excellent article on slickdeals.net on building a high end computer at a cheap price:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=437044

For $854 you get a super computer that can last years.

 

Very interesting thread in that link. Thanks. I have to admit to getting lazy. I would love the performance ot some of those suggestions, without having to build it, lol!

 

Dell Small Business has some good deals on Desktops AND Laptops today. I would say that if you do Photoshop (which I should have known, duh), you want to go with lots of RAM and a good video card as well. Of course, you can add both of those in later, if you want to save money now.

I can't answer the more detailed questions; I stopped paying attention to little niggling details a few years ago. I'm more of a big picture guy now when it comes to computers. I can tell you that the core 2 duo is the best out there right now.

Simulation games like Civ IV don't need heavy graphics power, but they DO need lots of processing power. They are calculating millions of things a second depending on what you do with the game. So a more powerful processor and more RAM will help with that.

I believe that Vista won't suck...there's just no point in it. It uses way more system resources, and older programs won't work on it. So why bother?

 

I agree with the others who said go for the Core 2 Duo, I have one....it's awesome.

This is what I built about a month ago for roughly $1150

Code:

Processor: 	
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs)

Motherboard:
Asus P5N-E SLI

Memory: 	
OCZ DDR2 800 ---2046MB RAM

Hard Drive: 	
(2) Seagate 120 GB

Video Card: 	
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS

Power Supply:
OCZ SLI 750 watt 

Case

DVD burner etc....

 

You can always find some college kids to build it for you. I have many friends who does that for 200 bucks or less. They will build it, overclock it, and install any pirate softwares that you need. And if you take them out for a beer, they might even throw in a couple gig of p*rn for free

 

Based on that, you could get away with just about any video card that they sell. So if there's a 256 MB option, I'd go with it.. just cause it seems like you won't really need the 512? (just don't get anything motherboard-integrated, though that's not easy to find anymore it seems like)

 

whenever one of my buddies need a new computer this is the list i always give them.

 

Clutch - you can email me at Syed_Hadi_Jaffery@dell.com. You can get Dell coupons from http://www.4computercoupons.com/ and I can get you 10 % off additionally. Let me know if your interested.

 

do you have a RIDICULOUS AMD box config?