[rhombus]

What tradeoffs you make depends on what you want to do with the computer.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

You need to tell us what you want to use the computer for -- today, and in 2-4 years...

[Eaker]

Dell supports the Anti-gunners.

I assembled mine from parts. All name brand, Intel processor and a board made for Intel.

Works great!!!

Stay safe; stay armed.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

K, If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, buy a MAC. Peace and love, George.

[ALASKA]

Though the gas models are cheaper to run, I'd stick with an electric one.

[RandallFlagg]

Don't go Gateway; their CD-ROMS are junk.

[krb]

Build your own AMD Athlon machine. They rock and are cheap.

A celeron is not the same thing as a Pentium 4. A Celeron is a Pentium 3 (which as actually about 10% faster than a Pentium 4 running at the same clock speed, but its slower memory bus lowers the throughput overall), with half the L2 cache that a real Pentium 3 has. It is designed to be cheaper to manufacture and is marketed to people who want a cheaper computer, and are willing to settle for less performance than the top of the line. A Celeron is plenty fast for 99% of what people want to do, but for the same money, you can just get an AMD Athlon XP that is not the fastest avaliable and save a bundle and get a machine faster than the Celeron. Check out pricewatch. The Athlon XP 1800 at $59 seems to be where the sweet-spot for a deal is.

[Revolting cat!]

Prediction: You'll be advised to build your own and to use an AMD CPU! Or if you don't know how to use a screwdriver, or have no inclination to use one, you'll be advised to buy a no name clone from your local Chinese/Vietnamese/East Asian vendor!

[Wooly]

For a retail computer the only one to buy is a Dell. A celeron processor has less on-chip cache (Memory on the CPU chip) than the P4. This leads it to be slower than the P4. NOw you ask how could a, say 1.7ghz be slower than a 1.7ghz P4, we as far as processing the data they are the same speed, but since the celeron cache is smaller it has to stop processing to refil from the system ram or hard drive more often.
Another way is to check with system builders in your area or if you are handy with a screwdriver and understand the computer you have now, build it yourself. I have built all of my computers for the last 3 years and several more for people I know. There is a lot of information out there on how to. THe advantage to building them is that you get much better componants than the ones in the retail box computers and the ability to upgrade it for a few years in order to keep it current.
A good site is the forums at http://www.pcmech.com/index.htm

[Lunatic Fringe]

Build it yourself- I built a machine comparable to a top of the line Dell for just $600. I used a SOYO Dragon Lite KT-333 motherboard, an Athlon XP 1800, Western Digital 30 GB hard drive, Kingston PC2100 memory (256MB x 2), and a Panasonic CD-Rom. All purchased on sale at various times at Fry's for a total of $600.

[Drammach]

Check out your local computer news(paper)
Or, go out and buy a "Computer Shopper"

I just bought a new system, but went AMD 2100 instead of Intel.
But, that's just me. I don't like Intel.

Too many instances of Intel's willingness to put in backdoors for government surveillance for my liking.

[RnMomof7]

At the risk of getting laughed off the thread may I suggest you go to Comp USA and give the Mac OSX a try..it is an awesome unit..you will pay for it but you do get what you pay for

The G4 is very powerful ..but most users do not need much more than the imac

[Petronski]

Digital.

[VOA]

bump

[TheStickman]

In order to answer your question, I would 1st need to know what you want to do with your computer. Play games and surf the net? Print stylish color graphics or just run office apps?

I use a Celeron 1.3 gig CPU and use my machine primarily as a digital audio workstation and I have ZERO problems. For basic computering without leaning heavily toward multimedia For the $$$ you can't beat an Athlon system. Just be sure not to buy a sound blaster sound card to stick in it and you will love your system.

[Woahhs]

If you don't know enough about computers to already know what you want...you need a Mac.

[Phyto Chems]

Just got my hands on a New Dell 8250 and it is so nice to the old beast i had. No complaints yet....

I wish I had known that they support the gun grabbers, I would have not gotten it from them. I liked the new SDRAM 1066 bus speed, very fast with 512 Megs in ram, it loads and runs fast.

[boris]

Dell is anti-gun. Don't buy a Dell. I recommend Alienware, Pacific Northwest, and ABS.

Here's my letter to Michael Dell:

February 28, 2002 Michael Dell
Chief Executive Officer
Dell Computer Corporation
One Dell Way
Round Rock, Texas 78682

Dear Mr. Dell:

I am writing to you about the recent issue between Dell and Jack Weigand of Weigand Combat Handguns. I have been a loyal Dell user for many years, and have recommended your firm to many colleagues and clients.

I am also a Life Member of the NRA and a shooter. And I support the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

I am writing to express my outrage over Dell’s treatment of Mr. Weigand—and by extension, all law-abiding gun owners. I have followed the story closely and I know the sequence of events. I know Dell has stated that the word, “Combat” in his firm’s name caused his order to be cancelled.

It is not Dell’s job to determine who is a criminal—or potential criminal—and who is “legitimate”. Mr. Weigand is—by all accounts—a law-abiding citizen, a person of integrity, and a businessman whose business serves those of us who cherish the right to keep and bear arms. Suppose I opened a business named “Jihad Child Care.” (I’m Jewish!) Would Dell deny me the ability to purchase one of your computers?

The bottom line is: Dell has lost me a customer—and I will no longer recommend your products to those who seek my assistance in choosing a PC. And I will do everything in my power to spread the story of your shameful treatment of Mr. Weigand to the many gun owners I know.

Sincerely,

Noris Life Member, NRA
Member, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
Member, Citizen’s Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Member, Gun Owners of California
Member, California Rifle and Pistol Association

[hole_n_one]

[Timesink]

As someone who uses both kinds of computers on a regular basis, I must agree that a Mac is a much better choice than a PC unless you have specialized business/industrial needs or intend to spend much of your time using it to play video games.

But since chances are you'll go PC anyway, I'll tell you this much: A Celeron is to a Pentium 4 what a Yugo is to a Hummer. No matter what, do NOT get a computer with a Celeron processor. They're not inherently bad or anything, but they're very weak and slow compared to just about anything else on the market. Since, unlike Macs, PCs tend to need to be replaced every two to three years no matter what (mainly because Microsoft keeps bloating up their software on a regular basis, in order to force you to have to upgrade just to run Windows at a tolerable speed), you don't want to buy a computer that's already on the edge of obsolescence. And that's where Celerons are at this point. Go for a computer with a Pentium 4, or an AMD Athlon, with as fast a chip speed as you can afford.

Or just get the Mac and live in peace. ;)