Cheap Firebreathing Desktop?

[FinanceDude]

I need one. I doubled the memory to max in my 4-year old Toshiba laptop, and I am sick of the slowness, small screen, etc.

Can anyone help? It is for work if that matters........

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Few months ago I purchased a desktop from this place for gaming.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

Im happy with the results and price.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Here's a firebreather you could put on your desktop :

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Here's a firebreather you could put on your desktop :

That would be a good avatar for you to use.

 

[Bestwifeever]

That would be a good avatar for you to use.

 

[Rustic23]

I don't have a suggestion for a desktop, but when you have your new computer, download a copy of Ubuntu Linux and put it on the laptop. It has Foxpro, email program, Open Office, and a bunch of games and other programs in the latest release. I am using a 4 year old Compaq and it is very good for web use.

 

[TromboneAl]

I assume you've already reinstalled windows and gotten rid of all the stuff that accumulates and slows down the system? Won't help with the small screen, of course.

 

[FUEGO]

Financedude,

I just bought a nice firebreather. Got it from ebay. They have a deal right now where you can click through live dot com search and find the "25% live cashback" link, then buy on ebay through "buy it now" and pay with paypal. A little bit of work, but it amounted to a lot of cashback for me.

I got a new dell Inspiron 530 with intel core 2 quad (Q6600) 2.4 Ghz machine with 640 GB hard drive, 3 GB ram, dvd dual layer burner, a second DVD drive, 19 in 1 media card reader, Vista home premium, keyboard and mouse (maybe some other stuff??) for $539 (free shipping and no tax), but it was $377 after the cashback discount (basically a rebate). If you have a monitor and speakers, you're ready to go. I also bought an el cheapo graphics card to do a little gaming for another $30.

Not the bleeding edge, but close, for basically $400. Includes dell 1 yr on site warranty coverage, too.

If you need the computer, a monitor, and speakers, and don't care about having the absolute most awesome machine ever, maybe check out on of the big box retailers for their $399 or $499 desktop specials to get a good "all-in" price for everything you will need.

 

[clifp]

If you are looking for a gaming computer CyberPowerPC have got pretty good reviews.
Costco and Costco.com generally have some good deals on them and the concierge service that Costco offers is actually worthwhile. My Brother-In-Law was super impressed with it.

Alternatively for online purchase I'd highly recommend checking out techbargin.com
to find coupons. I saved 25% on my HP gaming Desktop I bought back in Sept simply by entering the coupon code at purchase. Right now that have $400 off coupon on a $999 HP Desktop = $599 (with Blueray!) and 20% and 25% off coupons for Dell desktops.

 

[Nords]

I just bought a nice firebreather.

Of course "Fuego" would own a firebreather...

 

[FUEGO]

Claro que si, senor!

 

[harley]

If you are even remotely a techie, you could build one. It's fun, educational, not that hard, semi-cheap, and you get exactly what you want. Parts available from your friendly neighborhood Microcenter. Or online at Newegg.com or many other locations.

 

[FinanceDude]

If you are even remotely a techie, you could build one. It's fun, educational, not that hard, semi-cheap, and you get exactly what you want. Parts available from your friendly neighborhood Microcenter. Or online at Newegg.com or many other locations.

I am about as much a techie as Waren Buffet..........

My BIL could build one, but I am not going to ask him because he complained for an ENTIRE DAY because I asked him to put more memory in my laptop and desktop......

 

[FinanceDude]

Financedude,

I just bought a nice firebreather. Got it from ebay. They have a deal right now where you can click through live dot com search and find the "25% live cashback" link, then buy on ebay through "buy it now" and pay with paypal. A little bit of work, but it amounted to a lot of cashback for me.

I got a new dell Inspiron 530 with intel core 2 quad (Q6600) 2.4 Ghz machine with 640 GB hard drive, 3 GB ram, dvd dual layer burner, a second DVD drive, 19 in 1 media card reader, Vista home premium, keyboard and mouse (maybe some other stuff??) for $539 (free shipping and no tax), but it was $377 after the cashback discount (basically a rebate). If you have a monitor and speakers, you're ready to go. I also bought an el cheapo graphics card to do a little gaming for another $30.

Not the bleeding edge, but close, for basically $400. Includes dell 1 yr on site warranty coverage, too.

If you need the computer, a monitor, and speakers, and don't care about having the absolute most awesome machine ever, maybe check out on of the big box retailers for their $399 or $499 desktop specials to get a good "all-in" price for everything you will need.

Thanks........ Right now, my kids have a nicer computer than I do, but DW won't let me "hock" their computer for work, because it has a 20inch LCD, and all the kids games are loaded on it, AND its in their room......

 

[FUEGO]

I am about as much a techie as Waren Buffet..........

Yeah - don't let anyone trick you into building your own computer unless you like researching and sourcing parts, troubleshooting, and being your own tech support. I almost went down that road with my current purchase, but figured I could get a fully assembled, QC'd, and warrantied machine for about the same (or a little less) than what I could build one for. And I spent enough time researching what I wanted in it, I didn't feel like spending more time researching every little part and connection to make sure I have all the right stuff.

 

[FinanceDude]

Financedude,

I just bought a nice firebreather. Got it from ebay. They have a deal right now where you can click through live dot com search and find the "25% live cashback" link, then buy on ebay through "buy it now" and pay with paypal. A little bit of work, but it amounted to a lot of cashback for me.

I got a new dell Inspiron 530 with intel core 2 quad (Q6600) 2.4 Ghz machine with 640 GB hard drive, 3 GB ram, dvd dual layer burner, a second DVD drive, 19 in 1 media card reader, Vista home premium, keyboard and mouse (maybe some other stuff??) for $539 (free shipping and no tax), but it was $377 after the cashback discount (basically a rebate). If you have a monitor and speakers, you're ready to go. I also bought an el cheapo graphics card to do a little gaming for another $30.

Not the bleeding edge, but close, for basically $400. Includes dell 1 yr on site warranty coverage, too.

If you need the computer, a monitor, and speakers, and don't care about having the absolute most awesome machine ever, maybe check out on of the big box retailers for their $399 or $499 desktop specials to get a good "all-in" price for everything you will need.

Can I get XP instead of Vista? I don't trust Vista yet.......

 

[FUEGO]

Can I get XP instead of Vista? I don't trust Vista yet.......

Short answer is yes. Long answer is you might pay a little extra for it depending on where you buy the computer from. My understanding is that the Windows Vista "Business" and "enterprise" editions come with a free windows XP "downgrade" option, and I know on Dell's website you can specify to have your computer installed with XP, but you are presumably paying for the more expensive Vista business license (this is through their small business sales center).

Microsoft isn't selling any new or OEM windows XP licenses (for about the last 6 months I think). You may find a computer builder that still has some old XP licenses laying around, and they are for sale other places on the internet.

I haven't actually got my computer up and running yet, and I've never used Vista. I'll check it out and see how it goes though. I have considered taking a spare XP license and reinstalling the OS on the new computer if Vista is really as bad as some folks make it out to be. My concern is backwards compatibility with software I use. I hear Vista isn't too compatible with many things still.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Can I get XP instead of Vista? I don't trust Vista yet.......

I run Vista 64bit and 32bit on 2 computers. I have not ran into any issues at all. I do know what Im doing on a computer though

 

[W2R]

I run Vista 64bit and 32bit on 2 computers. I have not ran into any issues at all. I do know what Im doing on a computer though

I love Vista and would never want to return to XP, personally. The only problems I have heard of with Vista, is that some home-brew programs are not compatible with it. (These are programs that Frank uses, not me, so I have no personal difficulties). Vendors of these home-brew programs have mostly done work-arounds by now, from what he tells me.

 

[Moemg]

Dell offers Windows XP free on some of it's models and $99 on the less costly ones . I have Vista home edition and it works fine but what do I know I'm not a techie . Luckily I have a techie daughter to handle my computer problems.

 

[NW-Bound]

About building your own PC, it could be really smooth like Harley described.

Or it could cause you so much grief.

Both have happened to me, and I am somewhat knowledgeable in this, having built and updated numerous PCs for my own personal as well as business uses.

Example: A motherboard had two RAM slots. Got two sticks of RAM to populate both slots. Windows crashed randomly, after anywhere from 2 hrs to 1 day of running. Application bugs? XP updates missing? Graphics, sound, network drivers need download updates? Did all that. Swapped out graphic board to try another one. Software updates all over again. Same thing.

By the way, when it crashed, it was usually with one particular application program.

Took several days to finally suspect RAM problem. Slowed down RAM access speeds. No effects. Ran various exhaustive RAM diagnostic tests, which found nothing.

From a hint found on the Web, pulled one of the RAM sticks. Seemed to work (meaning had to wait a day or two to be sure). Out of curiosity, try each of the RAM sticks in each of the two slots (4 combinations). OK in each case.

So, just can't have both slots occupied! Design errors? Board problems? RAM problems? At this point, got too tired to return the board, and just ran with 1/2 the RAM I intended. Eventually, with RAM price dropping, bought a RAM of twice the density to plug in one slot.

I have more patience and curiosity than most to work this out (Remember that I do my own car repairs). I also have plenty of parts on hand to troubleshoot by trial-and-error swapping.

Even being an EE, I would need expensive logic analyzers and LOTS of time to track down the deficient signal timing of this particular motherboard. This is something to be done by this board's designers, not by the user.

Your mileage varies GREATLY!

 

[clifp]

I gave up building my own PC when I left Silicon Valley. The main benefit is educational, and the ability to get exactly what you want. If you think PC are inherently cool things then worth considering. If on the other a PC is a tool to do something (surf the web, email, play games, compose music, track investment) than IMO it is a waste of time, and real potential for frustration.

Most of my PC building efforts had a day (or three) like NW-bound

 

[Lakedog]

Can I get XP instead of Vista? I don't trust Vista yet.......

When I bought my Dell Vostro laptop a couple of months ago, XP was offered as a free option so I went with XP. I believe they still offer this choice for their small business line.

 

[harley]

About building your own PC, it could be really smooth like Harley described.

Or it could cause you so much grief.

Both have happened to me, and I am somewhat knowledgeable in this, having built and updated numerous PCs for my own personal as well as business uses.

Example: A motherboard had two RAM slots. Got two sticks of RAM to populate both slots. Windows crashed randomly, after anywhere from 2 hrs to 1 day of running. Application bugs? XP updates missing? Graphics, sound, network drivers need download updates? Did all that. Swapped out graphic board to try another one. Software updates all over again. Same thing.

By the way, when it crashed, it was usually with one particular application program.

Took several days to finally suspect RAM problem. Slowed down RAM access speeds. No effects. Ran various exhaustive RAM diagnostic tests, which found nothing.

From a hint found on the Web, pulled one of the RAM sticks. Seemed to work (meaning had to wait a day or two to be sure). Out of curiosity, try each of the RAM sticks in each of the two slots (4 combinations). OK in each case.

So, just can't have both slots occupied! Design errors? Board problems? RAM problems? At this point, got too tired to return the board, and just ran with 1/2 the RAM I intended. Eventually, with RAM price dropping, bought a RAM of twice the density to plug in one slot.

I have more patience and curiosity than most to work this out (Remember that I do my own car repairs). I also have plenty of parts on hand to troubleshoot by trial-and-error swapping.

Even being an EE, I would need expensive logic analyzers and LOTS of time to track down the deficient signal timing of this particular motherboard. This is something to be done by this board's designers, not by the user.

Your mileage varies GREATLY!

See, like I said. Fun AND educational!

 

[NW-Bound]

Yeah!

My nephew, a single (read "rich") pharmacist, spent more than $3K to buy very top notch motherboard + a Xeon CPU, and a multi-processor graphics board to put together his dream machine. He's not a CS type or engineer, but knows plenty about PC building as it has been his hobby.

That was several months ago. His assembled machine kept crashing. I don't ask him anymore the last few times I saw him, not wanting him to feel bad.