Frys had a quad core HP system with everything my little heart desired for under $900 last week. Wait for it again - it was a real beaut.
When you look at your F@H points here:
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=276174
look at the blue banner overhead for Extreme Deals. You’ll need IE to allow the EXTREMEOverclocking.com site to get click-ponts, but they have some really good deals.
I tend to stay away from Dell consumer systems, especially notebooks.
For what you are doing, get a desktop system. If you want to rack up the points for F@H, get a quad-core system.
In general, buy an AMD 4800+ to get the additional L2 cache.
Buying an Intel Core 2 Duo is even better. Aim for the E6750 and E6850 if you can find affordable systems.
Stay away from Vista if you can. I find it too frustrating to teach folks that are used to XP. It seems that M$ has set up the security features to convince us to stop computing completely.
If you buy a refurbished system get a store warranty. I know, pure profit for the store, but you need a hammer if anything needs repair in 91 days.
Look closely at the new iMacs. Everything you will want, plus an easier time to relearn the operating system.
Best purchase today for Intel quad core:
ZT Affinity 7401Ti Minitower for $799
For Dual 2 Core:
HP REFURB¹: Pavilion a1720n Minitower for $449 at CompUSA.com
For AMD:
HP Pavilion Media Center m7750n Refurbished (AMD 64x2 5000+/2GB Memory/400GB) at Frys for $529.
Add in a decent 24” screen and you’ll be in new computing lands.
If you end up needing more memory, look here:
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory for $62.99 after Rebate, Shipped Free! (from EOC Deals)
And for that 24” flat panel:
Mwave - KDS 24 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor with 1920x1200 Resolution, HDMI, 5ms Response and 400cd/m2 Brightness for Only $379.99!
Or just save time and energy and get this:
I use to live in the big city (Phoenix, AZ) and I loved Fry’s there. Now I am in backwater Maine. I will be going mailorder.
Will the Mac REALLY do everything I need it to do? Including the Windows games I currently play?
Good info ....thanks for taking the time and sharing.
I use a local CPU outlet up in the Panhandle and build what I want for desk top. No real “deals” but I get what I want for multimedia and producing working copies of family documents and pictures etc and no proprietary cow crap infused into it .
I too am educating myself with regards to vista that came on a new HP laptop. I am giving it a fair shake for now as I am trying to learn why M$ is sooooooo fond of it.
But my desk top is XP pro and will stay such I suspect.
Only grief for now with vista is that my favorite firewall zone alarm pro WILL NOT WORK ON VISTA OS !
Tried 3 different times on the laptop and it puked and choked big time every time. Zone alarm claims they are having no problems with Vista ZA version. I have never had a problem w/ ZA until Vista version was added to the mix.
Tabs in Vista are something I don’t like and the security system in vista slows down my broadband to the point of frozen mud at times.
Thus far , giving Vista a fair peek and tweak with my consumer ability and knowledge level......verdict is that it is junk !