Computers - educate me please

[shiftbmw]

Gentlemen-

I am soon to be in the market for a new computer. My current is an HP that was top of the line...7 years ago. 2.53 ghz, 512 megs ram, 80 gig hd, 64 megs sdram, a cd burner, and a dvd player.

I want my new computer to be able to do the following:

1)Internet
2)Record and play music well
3)Play basic games...like chess
4)Run drafting software(Pro-E), photoshop, and similar programs.
5)Word, Excel, Adobe etc
6)Watch movies etc

My budget is roughly $300-500.

What do I want and what do I need to know? Do I want/need Vista? What's a dual core processor and why is a new 2.5ghz dual core processor faster than my 2.53 ghz processor from 7 years ago? Do they run 2 in parallel now?

What brands are good and bad? Fry's has HP computers that triple the stats of mine for like 350 bucks. What's the story on these?

What new and hip functionalities are there that a computer from 7 years ago wouldn't have that I might want?

I don't even know where to begin my search so I figured I'd ask. Thanks in advance for the info.

[daniel]

i'd check out dell.com and see how well you can configure a desktop for $500. i bet you can get a pretty nice one. nothing wrong with the computers at fry's except they are preconfigured for you and might have more than you want or need.

[PhillyG]

My bro just built a nasty gaming rig for like 400 bucks. Go to newegg and see if they have any deals. Maybe 3 years ago I coulda gave you a list of parts and you would have a nice computer but I'm outta the flow now.

[danv]

Just about any new computer you would build or buy can do all the tasks listed - although drafting or 3d design programs might benefit from a good video card.

I have avoided vista, and don't regret it. A new version of windows, Windows 7, is not too far away and I hear it will be better than vista.

2 gigs of memory, a dual core cpu, and a big enough hard drive are your main considerations, I think.

Like PhillyG said, newegg.com is good, I've heard good things about zipzoomfly and tigerdirect, too. But buying a cheap dell is always an option. Some of those coupon sites out there (slickdeals.net might be good) sometimes have rebates for cheap dell systems.

What do I want and what do I need to know? Do I want/need Vista? What's a dual core processor and why is a new 2.5ghz dual core processor faster than my 2.53 ghz processor from 7 years ago? Do they run 2 in parallel now?

A 2.53ghz processor processes stuff in 2.53 billion times (cycles) per second. A modern chip of that speed will be faster than your 2.53ghz chip because it does much more work per cycle. The clock speed of a chip (mhz/ghz) alone is no longer a good indicator of its performance

Everything else being equal, a higher clock speed will make a processor more powerful. If you compare different processor types, say an amd chip vs an intel chip, there are more factors to consider.

I can think of a very rough analogy to an engine: the clock frequency is like an operating RPM, and the amount of processing the chip can do in one clock cycle is like its displacement. So you could build a simple chip that can operate at very high frequencies and accomplishes a modest amount of work in each cycle, or a complicated chip that operates at lower frequencies but does more work per cycle. They could have comparable performance but different strengths and weaknesses. Similar to high end horsepower vs low end torque.

The pentium 4 chips were designed for high clock speeds, but in the real world it didn't seem to work out. They were fast in specialized tasks like multimedia processing, but they didn't provide good all-around performance considering the power they drew and the heat they generated. Their performance in mundane tasks like MS Office was worse than older pentium III chips in some cases.

Intel chips after the p4 tend to have lower clock speeds, draw less power, make less heat, and are faster because they were more efficient per Mhz.

A dual core chip is like you guessed - two processors bundled together where there was traditionally one. You almost certainly want to choose a dual-core chip for your computer.

[e34john]

passwird or spoofee usually has deals for dell. Good thing about them is the packages usually come with a 24 inch LCD and you get it all delivered for like $450.

[scabzzzz]

Newegg.com

[Kruzen]

http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-1376258-10549103?url=http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?cs=04&kc=6vaff&oc=brcwann&x=15&y=9&m_2=WE7400&m_5=S2209W&m_16=16DVDRO&m_

$369 + shipping, comes with a 21.5" monitor

[nando]

I used to be big into building computers, but there just isn't as much to be gained anymore unless you are a hardcore PC gamer. several years ago I got a dell with a 24" LCD and haven't regretted it. I just put a 1tb hard drive in it and basically use it as our TV (hulu.com is pretty sweet in HD). as far as the rest - get as much ram, hard drive space, and as big of a screen as you can afford. the rest doesn't really matter (well you want a dual core CPU bare min), especially since you aren't trying to play the latest/greatest computer games.

better yet, get a laptop. :p

[E30 Cabrio]

Go with Windows XP SP3 over Vista if possible.

XP is a better O/S and requires less resources.

[E30 Cabrio]

http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-1376258-..._16=16DVDRO&m_

$369 + shipping, comes with a 21.5" monitor

That's a pretty sweet deal.

Too bad it comes with Vista and that there isn't an option to "downgrade" to XP and get a price break.

I just spent $203.00 (including shipping) for an Acer 21.5" LCD monitor from tigerdirect.com that does 1920x1080p with DVI and HDMI inputs and I'm also using it as a desktop HDTV until the price of 42", 120Hz LCD's comes down a bit, and it's nearly identical to the Dell monitor included owith the deal in the link as I have the same model Dell monitor here at work.

The response time, specs, resolution, picture quality, inputs, etc...are pretty much the same as the Acer monitor, except the Acer has a better Contrast ratio but it's hard to tell the difference.

But the price for the Dell system is like a sore dick - it's hard to beat.

[nando]

There was a dude selling OE copies of XP for $50 shipped. don't know if he still has them but they were legit.

if your old computer still has the XP disk key printed on it you could reuse the license, you just need to borrow a disk to instal from. I just did that with my dell, lost the original dell disks so had to use another XP disk. worked fine despite the key being for media center and the disk being XP pro.

[dsobering47]

Check out Slickdeals.net for some good Dell prices.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?cs=04&kc=6vaff&oc=brcwann&x=15&y=9&m_2=WE7400&m_5=S2209W&m_16=16DVDRO&dgc=BF&cid=7421&lid=197378&acd=10466193-1225267-u0t0f0fp18029c0s558

I just got that setup, minus the monitor, for $320 shipped. Not bad for a pretty fast PC.

[shiftbmw]

Cool, thanks for the info guys. So is Dell really the way to go? Does HP compare? Any other brands that offer good value and reliability?

[Surtr]

I'd suggest a Systemax from tigerdirect.com, but that's cause I don't like OEM computers. They usually use cheap (unreliable) parts, lock the BIOS down and last I checked, almost no OEM computers had temperature / fan speed monitoring. That might not matter to you, but when I was fixing computers it woulda been nice. Systemax also doesn't come with a bunch of bloatware preinstalled. I'm fairly sure they're guaranteed to be AIDS free, too. You should definitely call and ask though, if it's a concern of yours.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Lprice=200&Hprice=499.99&Nav=|c:6|c:2627|c:2630|m:821|&Sort=0&Recs=10

['90 325is]

check out lenovo and acer laptops. theyre both pretty decent computers for a cheap price.