Is it worth it to buy the cheapest PC?

[gonelifting]

The Dell PCs for about $399. My SIL wants to get a new one and only surfs the internet and stores a few pics, nothing else. She has a 5 year old computer now and wants a 15 or 17 inch lcd screen. She's not sure of the size but wants it to be the same size as the one (CRT) she has now.

Any suggestions of some upgrades or should she get the bottom price one? Should she get a Pentium 4 or whatever chip and maybe the memory upgrade?

She uses a cable high speed internet connection. I told her I'd ask here for help. No I won't post pics.

 

[Devastation]

as long as it's a pentium and NOT a celeron, there is nothing really wrong with it. especially for what you listed her doing

 

[gonelifting]

So everything else is OK? I would'nt want her to regret buying it a year from now because she saved $200 and could have bought a $600 PC... Not really sure which things are essential to upgrade.

Leave everything as is and make sure it's a Pentium? She did'nt give me a budget, so she could probably go to $600+ just a guess.

 

[gonelifting]

OK, my mistake. Looks like the P4 starts about $700 and they come with an LCD upgrade for anything over $599. That one sounds good. I'll try thee link...
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_dp_dotw_dimen3?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

[Buddy_Christ]

dell was running a deal on the Dimension PCs for $499 after mail in rebate. if the computer is just being used for basic stuff, it'll be above and beyond what she needs and she won't have any need to replace it for years.

i almost went with the Dimension, but with the upgrades i needed it was going to cost me $699 after mail in rebate. since i don't "need" a new moniter, i built my own for just under $500, no moniter, and better upgradeability.

and yes Dev, i got a Celeron. i have no fear on that either. plus i can drop a 3.4ghz P4 Extreme in this board when they become cheaper.

 

[gonelifting]

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&kc=6V468&l=en&oc=D47SAP&s=dhs

I just configured this with a higher memory and storage to 80G The screen is a CRT but I read they can upgrade free with over $599 purchase? It did'nt say it here though. http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&kc=6V468&l=en&oc=D47SAP&s=dhs

This may be high for her, I don't know. I'll ask. thanks!

 

[evansteve]

as long as it's a pentium and NOT a celeron, there is nothing really wrong with it. especially for what you listed her doing

Even a Celeron would cut it though for what she is doing.

I dont think you will find Pentium 4 Dells for as cheap as $400, and if you want to get a good LCD with it that will jack up the price at least $200 more as well.

In any case, cheap computers are fine and very worth it. The only time you really need an expensive computer is if you are going to be doing some gaming, or video editing, or something like that.

 

[Phaded]

buy a pc on ebay.. with hyperthreading..

 

[Devastation]

dell regularly has dimensions p4 2.8 for $399 after rebate. for that little money i wouldn't wipe my ass with a celeron processor

 

[Fragadelic]

I'll look into it

 

[ChefWide]

GL...

for browsing and minimal image work, go for it. Spring for a few extra inches on the monitor side: no bigger productivity booster than a larger monitor, period.

I am getting a Dell laptop for about a grand, tiny little fucker: 12" screen, 4lbs, free upgrade to 512, really a steal.

Would it replace my workstation? Nah, but thats not its purpose.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

processing power is very overrated, with people tending to buy computers based on cpu speed/architecture and not realising that system bottlenecks are in other areas. for what youre talking about, even a 2 year old celeron is fine.

when youre scraping the bottom with computers, the main thing to avoid are really cheap all in one motherboards made by companies like PC chips (or similar) that are just plain unstable pieces of shit taht will make your life hell, with random errors etc. if dell has come out with the product, you at least know that it is stable and backed by support, so youre ok in that respect.

then there are 3 areas that you should consider putting a little money into - by far the most important is the monitor, because youre looking at the damn thing all day. i wouldnt go less than 17 inches (just no need, theyre that cheap these days) in a CRT or less than 15 inches in an LCD. if you have the space, the CRT is fine, and usually look better - its just that theyre bulkty. the other thing you have to consider is the type of burner (if any) that youll be putting in, becasue really, everyone (pretty much) watches DVDs and listens to CDs, and so you have to work out if youre ever going to be burning anything.

in the past i would also have advised to look at hard drive space, but the days of the 10gig drive are long gone, and the bottom of the line 80gig drive is waaaaaay more than most peoples needs, let alone a casual websurfer

good luck, keep your eyes on dells special offers, sometimes you can really do well out of them

i used to sell computers back in my uni days, thank goodness im not doing this shit anymore, i was soooooooooooo sick of fighting common misconceptions about bloody CPU speed and CD burner speeds etc....yuuuuukkk!!!!

 

[Buddy_Christ]

processing power is very overrated, with people tending to buy computers based on cpu speed/architecture and not realising that system bottlenecks are in other areas. for what youre talking about, even a 2 year old celeron is fine.

when youre scraping the bottom with computers, the main thing to avoid are really cheap all in one motherboards made by companies like PC chips (or similar) that are just plain unstable pieces of shit taht will make your life hell, with random errors etc.

you put it in a way that i probably couldn't, especially with speeds and bottlenecks. that's why i picked the components i did for this new box.

ok, damn CPU needs to show up already.

 

[gonelifting]

OK got a little more info. Thanks for the replies btw. I do want a Pentium chip though...

She does'nt mind spending $600- $700 and wants an LCD screen (15 inch). I asked her about a DVD burner and CD burner, and she does NOT want either. That's pretty much it.

15 inch LCD
Pentium chip... If those two can be done from Dell, I'll do it. Going to look right now and I may post it here.

 

[gonelifting]

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=D47F1&s=dhs

This is $695 with free shipping and free CD burner upgrade and if I understand it correctly, when you get a PC over $599 they upgrade the monitor toLCD but again, I have'nt seen that other than the first Dell page.

So how does this look? It started at $639 and I added a couple of very cheap things to make it $695 like from 40g to 80 for about $16 lol too good to pass up. Stuff like that...

Should I pull the trigger? It's a 17 inch LCD (if the deal stands) I'm sure she'll be happy with it because she wanted a 15 inch.

PS She E-mailed me saying she has a 12 inch. lol I think she may have measured horizontally. ***EDIT*** It IS a 15 inch screen.***

ATDQ! please.

 

[Razorguns]

celoron is more than fast enuff for web surfing and writing essays.

save that money for something really useful such as a larger screen or nicer printer.

dell.com/tv has awesome deals. undercutting everyone. I might snag a laptop myself.

 

[gonelifting]

celoron is more than fast enuff for web surfing and writing essays.

save that money for something really useful such as a larger screen or nicer printer.

dell.com/tv has awesome deals. undercutting everyone. I might snag a laptop myself.

I understand but I wanted something over $599 so she could get the free LCD upgrade. I went with the $639 4700 series and just added a couple of cheap upgrades up to $695. Now she'll get a 17 inch LCD and the rest. How does that look? Link two posts up.

 

[Razorguns]

I understand but I wanted something over $599 so she could get the free LCD upgrade. I went with the $639 4700 series and just added a couple of cheap upgrades up to $695. Now she'll get a 17 inch LCD and the rest. How does that look? Link two posts up.

Bro Bro Bro!

What's wrong with ya foo? Get MORE MEMORY! 256mb is tiddy winks. Memory is one of the most important aspects of a system. Especially with future o/s's which become even more memory hungry. I think Windows 2000 takes up 150mb of memory just by itself.

Get at least 512MB to ensure the system doesn't keep writing memory to cache every few minutes with 10 applications running. 1gig if you really wanna be giving. But 512mb will suffice at least.

 

[gonelifting]

Bro Bro Bro!

What's wrong with ya foo? Get MORE MEMORY! 256mb is tiddy winks. Memory is one of the most important aspects of a system. Especially with future o/s's which become even more memory hungry. I think Windows 2000 takes up 150mb of memory just by itself.

Get at least 512MB to ensure the system doesn't keep writing memory to cache every few minutes with 10 applications running. 1gig if you really wanna be giving. But 512mb will suffice at least.

LOL I just clicked on the link I posted and it does'nt show that I DID change the memory to 512. It was only $32 more for doing that. The next thing up was the 1g and it was $120, so I did'nt opt for that. 512 should be OK. I also chose the 80G hard drive up from the 40G it comes with. Total it comes out to $695 instead of the $639 for the basic setup the link suggests. I got a couple other things too included in that $695... like speakers and stuff. Thanks.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

256 is heaps, dont upgrade more imo, no need.

im running a p4 1.7 with 256 in this laptop, and it plays music while i surf while burning a DVD while recording music off the net. computers these days are WAY overspecced for standard stuff imo.

ask her if she is happy with the deal, stress that the warranty is good, stress that Dell is a good brand etc, make sure she wholeheartedly says "buy it now!!!" before you press it, because people are funny with computers - if you buy something for them and then, in a fit of dickhead logic, they see something worse that they think is better, they get all sour at you. i had customers installing AMD drivers on intel machines, getting errors, and then blaming me. i wanted to cave their skulls in

good luck

 

[vansmack2000]

as long as it's a pentium and NOT a celeron, there is nothing really wrong with it. especially for what you listed her doing

bah, your caught up in the marketing machine of /pentium/ too much. they are basically the same, ive had both with no problems.
Like non brand name drugs, its all good.

 

[javaguru]

I would definitely go with a memory upgrade over a cpu upgrade. I like Dell and have had freat experiences in the past.

 

[gonelifting]

256 is heaps, dont upgrade more imo, no need.

im running a p4 1.7 with 256 in this laptop, and it plays music while i surf while burning a DVD while recording music off the net. computers these days are WAY overspecced for standard stuff imo.

ask her if she is happy with the deal, stress that the warranty is good, stress that Dell is a good brand etc, make sure she wholeheartedly says "buy it now!!!" before you press it, because people are funny with computers - if you buy something for them and then, in a fit of dickhead logic, they see something worse that they think is better, they get all sour at you. i had customers installing AMD drivers on intel machines, getting errors, and then blaming me. i wanted to cave their skulls in

good luck

Nah she'll be cool with it. Hers is 5 years old and she ASKED for a 15 inch. She's easy to please I guess.

The memory upgrade to 512 from 256 was $32. lol That's worth it IMO.

After further reading though, I see that the LCD upgrade is only for the $999 model in the 4700 series. That's too much IMO for her. So I DID end up with the Celeron processor that has the free Flat screen upgrade that was $639 and I added the 512 memory and little stuff for a total of $690 something...

So, that's even cheaper than the original one I was looking at and will be more than enough for her. Free shipping free CD burner upgrade free LCD monitor upgrade... good stuff, 80 gig HD... 512 RAM, for under $700. Good enough, thanks everyone.

 

[TC2]

Nah she'll be cool with it. Hers is 5 years old and she ASKED for a 15 inch. She's easy to please I guess.

The memory upgrade to 512 from 256 was $32. lol That's worth it IMO.

After further reading though, I see that the LCD upgrade is only for the $999 model in the 4700 series. That's too much IMO for her. So I DID end up with the Celeron processor that has the free Flat screen upgrade that was $639 and I added the 512 memory and little stuff for a total of $690 something...

So, that's even cheaper than the original one I was looking at and will be more than enough for her. Free shipping free CD burner upgrade free LCD monitor upgrade... good stuff, 80 gig HD... 512 RAM, for under $700. Good enough, thanks everyone.

See how much less it is with the minimum amount of memory,...you usually can save a ton buy buying memory separately and installing it later yourself.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

bah, your caught up in the marketing machine of /pentium/ too much. they are basically the same, ive had both with no problems.
Like non brand name drugs, its all good.

you used to see a difference back in the days of, say, the 500Mhz processors, where the pentiums had more cache than the celerons, especially when you were playing games

for normal everyday stuff? lol you get 10x better performance by simply running a defrag here and there

 

[chyllaxyn]

can't go wrong with Dell . eMachines maybe a little cheaper but if you want solid equipment and a good warranty go Dell

 

[AristotleBC]

dell was running a deal on the Dimension PCs for $499 after mail in rebate. if the computer is just being used for basic stuff, it'll be above and beyond what she needs and she won't have any need to replace it for years.

i almost went with the Dimension, but with the upgrades i needed it was going to cost me $699 after mail in rebate. since i don't "need" a new moniter, i built my own for just under $500, no moniter, and better upgradeability.

and yes Dev, i got a Celeron. i have no fear on that either. plus i can drop a 3.4ghz P4 Extreme in this board when they become cheaper.

Why would you do that man? You wouldn't get 1066mhz FSB (unless your mobo does support it of course) and by that time you may as well buy a new PC. Especially if the FSB on your PC is 533.

 

[AristotleBC]

256 is heaps, dont upgrade more imo, no need.

im running a p4 1.7 with 256 in this laptop, and it plays music while i surf while burning a DVD while recording music off the net. computers these days are WAY overspecced for standard stuff imo.

ask her if she is happy with the deal, stress that the warranty is good, stress that Dell is a good brand etc, make sure she wholeheartedly says "buy it now!!!" before you press it, because people are funny with computers - if you buy something for them and then, in a fit of dickhead logic, they see something worse that they think is better, they get all sour at you. i had customers installing AMD drivers on intel machines, getting errors, and then blaming me. i wanted to cave their skulls in

good luck

And I thought your political posts were dismal. Don't buy a new pc that will be running Windows XP with less than 512mb of memory. The 512 will be useful and it's generally too cheap to not do so.

 

[gonelifting]

$32 to upgrade from 256 to 512. Easy decision...

$16 to upgrade from 40G to 80G. Easy decision....

 

[GoldenDelicious]

And I thought your political posts were dismal. Don't buy a new pc that will be running Windows XP with less than 512mb of memory. The 512 will be useful and it's generally too cheap to not do so.

youre absolutely right, taking that 0.32 seconds less to boot up and shut down XP totally justifies the expense

i have a 466Mhz celeron based laptop with 32meg ram running XP, playing music and surfing without a hitch, so really, dont get all PC Authority on me, because its a bunch of bullshit. in the real world, for ultra basic users, 256 is overkill....or do we have to treat people like idiots when we sell them computers? like the engineers i had coming to me and demanding extra ram so that they could run CAD, because they were used to the old days where 4meg ram was the norm and you should spend the extra $600 to upgrade to 8 meg

 

[AristotleBC]

I just wanted to pick on you