Buying a PC need help/suggestions

[bigspenda73]

All I've had in the past have been laptops, one Toshiba which sucked and now a Dell, which after 30 months is falling apart completely.

Anyways, I trust Dell and they usually aren't too bad in terms of support besides talking to men named "Michael" who have thick Pakistani accents.

I don't need a high-performance PC, just something I can play up to 12tables of poker on (I already have a second monitor) can record and save a large amount of Camtasia .camrec files and .wmv video files, can store a large amount of digital photos, and will run smooooooth.

I know I know this thing has Vista on is computer? FWIW I was hoping to spend around $1k.t, but Dell seems to not want to offer XP at all, what do you guys think of this? Is the hard-drive a bit weak? As built this computer is $846.

My Components
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4500 (2MB L2 Cache,2.20GHz,800 FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium -
MONITOR 20 inch Samsung 204BW Widescreen Analog/Digital Black LCD Monitor
MEMORY 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
VIDEO CARD Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 edit
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 Keyboard and Mouse - Arctic Silver
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive Included
MODEM & WIRELESS Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card

[jyms]

This machine is basically what I have (but Gateway) I love the Core 2 better than my old duel core. The only issue will be the Vista. I run XP so my recourses are available to me. Not sure about the Vista.

[will641]

I have a Compaq Presario V5000 (laptop) with a ram upgrade and processing chip upgrade and it works very well for me. A stupid mac user even said that my computer was the best PC he's used. Im sure you could get a desk top equivalent. also AlienWare ive heard is very solid.

And as far as Vista goes...just don't. It is like a king kong sized piece of crap right now. Most computer experts (that I have talked to) recommend waiting at least a year for them to fix all the bugs in it.

[bigspenda73]

So if I call Dell and tell them I want this computer but with XP and they say they can do that, would you scoop it up?

[will641]

So if I call Dell and tell them I want this computer but with XP and they say they can do that, would you scoop it up?

i dont really understand what you are asking...like scoop it up from the dell place in austin or what?

[bode]

look around on the different categories on dell.com, i.e. home, small business, etc. I know through the small business section they had desktops w/ XP as of a month ago.

[bigspenda73]

So if I call Dell and tell them I want this computer but with XP and they say they can do that, would you scoop it up?

i dont really understand what you are asking...like scoop it up from the dell place in austin or what?

lol I meant if Dell was able to give me this same setup but with XP and not Vista would you take it?

[Halv]

-You might want to get a larger (or an extra) harddrive if you're gonna record lots of video.
-Make sure the integrated vid card can connect two monitors. It probably doesn't have 2xDVI so you'll get somewhat poor vid quality on one of the monitors (not sure if this is the case on newer integrated graphics though). Preferably you'll want dual link DVI so that you can hook it up to a 30" later on .
- cordless keyboards/mice used to suck, not sure if that's still the case. Might wanna look into that - mouse cutting out when you're in a big pot will put you on monkey tilt.

If you have a somewhat nerdy friend, have him build one for you - you'll get more bang for buck than a dell and it will be much more configurable and easier to upgrade. You can also spend a little extra on a good case and a more quiet power supply and CPU cooler.

Oh and Vista + wireless is a nightmare.

[uscheese]

I'm not sure they'll get you a machine with xp on it honestly...but start here...great deals on dells

www.cheapstingybargains.com

[will641]

So if I call Dell and tell them I want this computer but with XP and they say they can do that, would you scoop it up?

i dont really understand what you are asking...like scoop it up from the dell place in austin or what?

lol I meant if Dell was able to give me this same setup but with XP and not Vista would you take it?

oh, yeah the wording of it really confused me. well for purposes of this conversation yes i would take xp, but from a logistical stance i would take vista and resell it (if thats possible). and if i think you would have an easy time getting a cheaper price for xp anyways.

[jyms]

If you have a somewhat nerdy friend, have him build one for you - you'll get more bang for buck than a dell and it will be much more configurable and easier to upgrade. You can also spend a little extra on a good case and a more quiet power supply and CPU cooler.

Oh and Vista + wireless is a nightmare.

Not sure about over there, but over here in Canada, the gap has narrowed considerably. I used to build my own for this reason, but this last machine was about as cheap as I could be even if I built it. Oh yea, I could have built faster and bigger, but there was no need. I could not build this one for much less.

[Halv]

Im not really sure how the gap is over here anymore, it's been a while since the last time I considered not building my own. Faster and bigger isn't that important for me anymore either, but being able to pick quieter and more reliable components for roughly the same price is. The generic stuff is where they get you - they usually use cheap-ass cases, power supplies, motherboards and ram.

Of course this is just me showing my geeky side - half the fun of getting a new PC is to actually build it .