Posted on 12/23/2011 8:43:09 PM PST by Former Fetus
Hi! It's me again, the technologically-challenged mom.
My Dell Dimension has been warning me for weeks now that it is about to go to the big junkyard in the sky. Since it is 4 years old, my husband is insisting that I get me a new PC. Problem is, righ after Christmas shopping, the last thing I want to do is to spend more money. But then, I can't get much done with a PC that keeps freezing every 10-15 min!
I have been pricing PCs. Originally I wanted to get another Dell, so as to use my monitor, mouse... But they are not cheap. Earlier today we were at a Walmart Supercenter and my husband noticed an emachine package, PC and monitor, for $400. It sounds good: intel processor with dual core, 3 GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive. But, when I googled emachine, it scared me to death! You get the idea that they don't work, and that every call to tec support costs $199!
So, here is the question: do you own (or know some one who owns) an emachine? Can you give me any feedback?
If it helps, what I need the PC for is mostly word processing (occasional power point or spreadsheet), internet surfing, and storing and organizing photographs. I loved Windows XP, so much that I refused to replace my PC as long as Vista was the only choice. But more than one person has told me that Windows 7 is very similar to Windows XP. And no, I am not interested in changing to a different OS, at my age I have enough trouble just changing from one Windows version to another.
Thanks
I’ve had several of them, never had any problems.
e-machine is gateways “value” line. You get what you pay for.
Your monitor should work with any new computer should you want to keep it.
I suggest Microcenter or newegg.. Stick with the name brands. Staples, officemax, office depot all have huge sales going on. Some are even giving a trade in for your old working (well enough for them anyways) PC.
Do you know what’s causing the crashes? Have you scanned for viruses? Has the registry been cleaned lately? You might be able to get by for a while longer. My computer is older than yours.
You may not be able to use your old mouse and keyboard and maybe not your old monitor as the new PC may not have the right ports (connectors) for them.
Have you ever cleaned the inside of your PC? Dust drawn by the fans can cause overheating and will shut you down.
I have one since 2009, no problems yet. Runs Windows Vista. It is a 1.6 GHz Atlon with 2 gigs of RAM and 160 GB HD. It was the low “Wal*Mart” special. The early ones like from 1999 had power supply problems but that was long ago, but I do remember replacing power supplies in them. I think they are fine now.
Originally I wanted to get another Dell, so as to use my monitor, mouse... But they are not cheap.
You'll be able to use your monitor, keyboard and mouse with any other computer.
So, here is the question: do you own (or know some one who owns) an emachine? Can you give me any feedback?
Cheap hardware.
But more than one person has told me that Windows 7 is very similar to Windows XP. And no, I am not interested in changing to a different OS, at my age I have enough trouble just changing from one Windows version to another.
Windows 7 is more similar to Vista than XP. Windows 7 is Vista, fixed. It works pretty well.
My desktop will be 10 years old this new year. Pretty slow, but it gets the job done.
Very good point. This happened to my mom's pc. All that was needed was to vaccum out the dust. It works fine now.
The dust would cause it to shut off (sometimes after 5 minutes of running or 20 mins or 45).
Worth giving it a try. I have a hunch that's the problem.
Have it dusted.
1) Buy cans of compressed air.
2) take it outside
3) open it up
4) blast it with compressed air
My laptop was acting up until I did this. I’ve done this with many machines. No need for a new machine. Just dust it every few years, and you won’t need a new machine.
Clean it, as the feller upside suggests, otherwise get a refurbished HP desktop (if we’re talking desktop) AMD CPU (less costly), I’ve got one with no problems. For a laptop, I recommend less popular brands such as Toshiba or ASUS.
Stay away from cheap brands, or buy a no-brand assembled computer from a small local dealer with good reputation.
I had one before my Mac (which I have now). I had it for 4 years before it died (but I think a virus killed it). I was happy enough with it.
Get a Mac Mini to use with existing monitor and you will be at peace.
A four-year-old dell should have a USB keyboard and mouse (the connector looks flat and thin). These will work on any computer. Your monitor is likely VGA (plug has a blue face), and is the only common monitor connector; every computer you are likely to buy will be able to use it. Therefore, don’t worry about replacing those. Just replace the main part, the box. The new one will likely come with a new mouse and keyboard anyway, but if you like yours better, you can still use them.
It sounds like you’re not a heavy power user, so don’t bother looking for the latest and greatest. It is very likely that with the new year coming up, right after Christmas you can probably score a deal on a last-year’s model low end machine for not much money.
Look for a computer that has the i3 processor from Intel, and at least 4GB of memory (RAM). Also, it should have Windows 7, but not the “Starter” edition; don’t bother with the “Ultimate” edition though unless it isn’t going to add to the cost, because you won’t use most of what the “Ultimate” version can do.
Brand is pretty superfluous for the level of computer you want, but try to get one with a recognizable name. HP, Dell, Gateway, Acer, Asus, all these are good, reliable machines that will (probably) use fairly standard hardware and a decent hard drive.
Look at Buy.com before you buy anything, they have re-manufactured Dell’s for cheap.
I am using one to type this.
Where specifically do you blast the air, for a laptop?
I heard scary stories.
I won't buy Dell for blacklisted vendor reasons....
They make crap.
But no-one else is doing much better. Forget the keyboard and mouse. Those are fractional costs. Worrying about that is being cheap at the expense of the meat.
And new stuff should have a cordless mouse and keyboard. Bluetooth has grown up. Finally. Sheesh.
I HAD to buy one this year and I wound up with an HP. I HATE HP for what Carlie did to it. And HP/Compaq mix is poison.
But their hardware was working. Only problem I have is the A4 doesn't have a linux driver for sound.
We'll get that reverse engineered. RSN.
/johnny
Try the following before you give up on the old box.
Download, install and run:
- AVG free antivirus
- Spybot search and Destroy
- Eusing free registry cleaner
- Auslogics disk defrag
AMD isn’t really any cheaper nowadays. Especially at the low end.
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