Posted on 10/04/2003 2:59:51 PM PDT by mlmr
I am going to purchase two boxes for my children's homeschooling, their curriculum will be almost totally web and cd based with lots video and some interactive work. I have been looking at the E machines at Best buy. I am thinking that 512K and 120MB would do it. I am not sure how fast a processor I need I think the E machines use an Atheron. I am not sure what kind of video card for multimedia cds. It will be going on the network I am installing in my home. Any other tips for buying mid level boxes for short-type people would be appreciaed. I am going to put two of the darlings to bed right now.... I willl be back to check the thread in a lttle bit
If I read one more Ramona book...........
Look, I was just offering the lady an alternative, that's all. Is that okay with you? Something to think about. A decent system at a decent price. What's wrong with that? I'm not steering her astray. I'm not saying she must buy that system, or that she's stupid if she doesn't buy it. In fact, I personally prefer the Dell, and said so. Obviously, you're not going to get something for nothing in this life. So I'm not sure exactly what your problem is.
CyberPower computers are very popular among "short-type" people, which is exactly what the lady asked for. The computers are great for games and you know kids are going to want to play all the hot new games on their new computers. And they are a good bargain to boot. So why don't you want her to know about them? And don't say "plug and play," for crying out loud. The bus and other components on these computers meet the plug and play standard, though it occurred to me later that you were not talking about the standard because you don't know anything about computers -- which, BTW, is no doubt why you like emachines.
So now we arrive here: WHY ARE YOU PUSHING EMACHINES ON THIS POOR WOMAN, hmmm? Do you want to ruin her life and make her kids hate her forever? Are you aware that emachines have zero expandability, lack heat sinks or cpu fans and so have problems with overheating, and use the cheapest, shoddiest motherboards made in Mongolia? (I can say, though, that at least the other components are made in Bangladesh.) And forget technical support.
Finally, have you ever tried to reformat the hard drive and re-install Windows with that stupid recover disk they distribute with the box? If you had, believe me, you wouldn't be touting emachines.
Okay, a lot of that applies to the emachine of old, which was a genuine, pure POS. I'm aware there have been some improvements in the last few years, but I really think I'd rather have a TRS-80, another disreputable machine from another disreputable company. :-P
"While MPC continues to exist on the fringe of the U.S. top 10 portable PC vendor list (according to preliminary 1Q03 shipment totals), the Idaho-based company has nevertheless succeeded in carving out a profitable niche for itself by focusing on the government and SMB segments." IDC, PC Weekly: May 15, 2003
See Post # 170.
At least I contributed something that may be helpful, in lieu of whining about someone that asked for help on this forum.
No. It was ready to go except we upgraded the modem and had anti-virus software installed. The shop does repairs, has a small line of new computers, builds to order and had about a dozen or so refurbished computers there. We told the man what we needed and he pointed out the ones best suited for our needs, pros and cons of each. He's had his store here about 10 years, 3-4 employees, great to deal with. We'll definitely buy our next computer there; either a refurbished or have one built to order.
I have family members who've had them built by a similar business in a near-by town and they've been very happy with those, both product and price.
For the last several years, I've been buying computers for friends, family and work, including various high and low end Windows, Mac and Linux boxes. I always start at Resellerratings.com. The top resellers vary over the years, but whomever is currently highly ranked has always provided excellent systems, with excellent service.
You will find various resellers listed, for notebooks, windows deskside, memory, high end case cooling, software, and even digital cameras. They have some other categories such as pet food and clothing as well, but they are strongest in the computer ratings.
For a typical list, see the following list of 25 entries, which has resellers that rate at least 9.6 (of 10) with at least 30 reviews posted: Computer 9.6 Rating, 30 Reviews. Any reseller on this list will almost certainly provide you with better product and service, and the same or better price, than Dell. Of the main brands, Dell is good; they beat Gateway and EMachines for sure. HP isn't bad.
Then just browse this list of resellers, until you find one that strikes your fancy.
Glancing at this list, I suspect that any of the dealers Envision Computer Solutions, Puget Custom Computers, or Monarch Computer Systems would have the kind of system you seem to be looking for: a Windows deskside prebuilt low end system.
I used Dell boxes at work (along with various others) and while they are ok, Dell does custom select the lowest cost components it can find to fit a certain model, leading to some unusual systems that won't always run all the software I throw at it (such as some prerelease Linux stuff). They will run Windows just fine, so it might not matter to you that they are built more like a Toyota Tercel than a Lexus.
The pre-built boxes from the top rated sites on Resellerratings.com use name-brand, recognized components, resulting in a system that is more adaptable to upgrades and such, which probably matters more to me than you.
But they will compete directly with Dell on price, and beat them on service hands down.
You don't care whether its an AMD (Athlon, ...) or Intel (Celeron, ...) processor. You don't care whether it's 1.9 GHz or 3.1 GHz. My teenage son playing Doom cares, but that's not your need. Any amount of disk is probably plenty; it's hard to find a disk smaller than 40 GBytes anymore, and I for one have not yet managed to fill up that much disk space (well, except at work, where I help manage a couple Terabytes of store ..)
You do want Windows XP, and you do want to bump the memory up to 512 Mbytes. And as someone else noted, you do want to consider purchasing the monitor locally, if you are likely to be at all sensitive to what you see. Well, actually not. I'm not a practiced reviewer of monitors, so I do a separate search for monitor reviews when I need one, and rely on reviews that I find on the Web for them. I trust the reviews more than my own eyes. But most folks don't feel comfortable with that approach.
For a specific example, I see a Monarch 2000+ System Special at Monarch Computer Systems with Windows XP, Memory upgraded to 512 Mb total, and 1 Year Parts & Labor (no monitor) for $522.
If you're a patient penny pincher, you should be able to get this price tag close to $400, somewhere on one of these sites.
My present box is an ABS P-IV. If you want real power, look at Alienware or Falcon Northwest. Ain't cheap but you get what you pay for.
Look at "second tier" makers who have been advertising in Computer Shopper for over 10 years.
--Boris
Or go the the Resellerratings.com site, and custom select your components from one of the top rated sellers there. They will assemble, test and ship, if you like, allowing you to end up with a system that has all the hand picked components you want, without the effort of putting it together.
Beats Dell Computers rating of a big 3.36. Apparently their tech support has been farmed out to India, and that portion of their rating has sunk to a low of 1.73.
Someone buying a computer like the person who started this post, who is apparently not a computer wizard, and not being assisted by a local geek, should pay close attention to the level of tech support that their vendor can provide.
M'am -- I'd recommend you not buy a Dell. I would have recommended so in my earlier posts above, but I hadn't realized how low Dell's Tech Support had fallen.
There is one variant of it that I have recently found a good use for that is as easy as pie. That's Ethernet over your A/C power lines, as an alternative to running an actual wire. I had to avoid interior wiring on one stretch, because I am living in a rental, so I put in a pair of Netgear Model XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Bridges , one on each end.
Order of difficulty to setup: about that of an overly fancy counter top microwave. Order of difficulty to maintain: roughly that of 2x4 inside one of your walls ... well maybe less, as it doesn't burn or provide termite food. Granted, the 2x4 will last longer, and doesn't consume electricity. See also a review at CNET Reviews: Netgear XE102 Powerline Adapter.
So if there's some stretch where you'd rather pay $160 than run a wire, this can be the cat's meow.
With Windows XP, it "phones home" to Microsoft, and will prevent you from running one copy on two machines.
If you want these systems to run for five years, then you pretty much have to get Windows XP. That's the only one that will likely be supported with security patches for that long. The others such as Windows ME and Windows 2000 will probably be end-of-lifed inside of five years from now.
Running a Windows box on a DSL line without up-to-date security patches would be like living in Harlem 20 years ago without a lock on your door.
And if you haven't already, be sure to use a firewall. Something like the Netgear Model RP614 4-Port Cable/DSL Router, available at Newegg.com for $40 after rebate. See this reviewed at CNET Review: NETGEAR RP614 cable/DSL Web Safe router gateway .
Hopefully some of my other posts will be of assistance to you.
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