Posted: 7/24/2007 6:43:31 AM EDT
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Hello. I'm currently in the process of deciding whether to upgrade the memory on my old computer (about $250 labor included) or just purchasing a new machine. Our primary uses are surfing the internet, basic word processing, storing personal photos, and occassionally downloading music. Any recommendations on a basic machine for our needs? I don't want to spend $250 on our old machine if we're better off putting the $250 toward a new machine. Our old computer is probably 8 years old but was updated with a newer hard drive and more memory about 2 years ago. We're already running into memory problems. We have a printer. A means of easily storing and/or backing up the photo files would be a good plus. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Corey |
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Well according to this site you can get a new Compaq + printer for exactly $250 after rebate. Only has 512MB RAM, butI'm sure that's upgradeable. An on this page you can get a system for $450 that includes 17in CRT, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD, DVD-RW drive, printer, etc. My $0.02 = Don't spend a cent on an 8YO PC. |
Thanks for the info. How can I best preserve all the photos that I currently have on the two hard drives in my old PC? Corey |
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Burn them all to CD, if youve got a burner. Otherwise, you'll have to hook up the drives in your new systme to move them to the new H/D. Man, if you were close, i'd sell you one of my "old" gaming machines...more than adequate for your needs...
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That better be a hella lot of memory. Prices for memory are not that expensive. If the memory you are getting is cheaper then the tech is jacking you on the labor. Install time to install memory - including testing - should not be any longer than 30 min. IMO they should put the memory in for free for buying it. |
-1 You need to select all the parts, buy them, put them together, rejigger everything when it doesn't work, fight with the store if you get a bad part and they decide to blame you... Building PCs got very, very old about eight years ago. It's just an unnecessary PITA unless you want to build a gaming machine, or something very customized. For Joe Computer User, just buy a PC. Dell constantly has systems with an LCD monitor for under $500. Give 'em your credit card number, and you have a new PC in 2 days. You can't beat that with a stick. |
An 8 year old machine? I'm guessing that you're trying to buy 512MB or 1GB of SDRAM for $250. Sorry, but you're getting fucked. Run away from these crooks! Keep looking at SlickDeals.net for a deal on a Dell package that includes a flat panel.
Several ways: If you have a router, plug both systems in, enable File Sharing and just copy all the files over to the new system. Buy a USB Hard Drive and save all your files off the old machine. Buy a USB Thumb Drive and use it to copy all the files over to the new machine. Take the hard drives out of your old machine and plug them into your new machine and copy all the files over. Whatever you do - don't do anything stupid with the old system until you copy your files over to the new system. I don't care if it totally crashes, just leave it alone and buy a new system. |
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You can beat it with a stick, because what you get from them is the cheapest parts possible. For 350 bucks, I can build a 3.2 GHz dual core pentum D with 1 gb of ram, a 250GB hard drive, a 250mb video card with digital and analog out, with a 450 watt power supply in a mid tower case with a cd/dvd burner. Find that on Dell's website for that price. If I wanted to cheap out, I can drop another 20-50 bucks lower cost on the processor if I go to a 2.8 GHz or a single core, and another 20 or so on the hdd to something under 200 GB. Just crazy not to build it yourself. Now to be fair, you will get jacked another 100 bucks or so for the OS. So if you don't have a copy already it will run you say 450 for the same machine. But I doubt that dell's 500 dollar machine is even in the same class. |