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Ok, so I'm getting a computer and I need it to be around the $500 range. I'm probably going to buy from one of the major brands, like Compaq, HP, or maybe even eMachine. Which one is the best? And between BestBuy, CompUSA, and Circuit City, which is the best place to buy a computer? What should I look for when I'm buying one? I'm not going to be playing games on it, it'll be for homework and internet browsing. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
If you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, get a Mac Mini, if you want to go old school, then find an eMac on eBay, you can probably get a good model for five to seven hundred dollars.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Oct 2005
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If you have a friend with a Sam's Club membership, you can do pretty well by getting one of the machines they carry (brand varies, but Sam's Club's corporate buyers are pretty savvy, and they tend to be decently outfitted with memory and monitors at good prices).
Otherwise, at that price range I'd pretty much recommend a Dell. Possibly an emachine, simply because their quality has gotten somewhat better and they do target the low end market.
If you don't mind a CRT, you can get a pretty decent entry level Dell (including monitor and such) for $379 right now, and you can upgrade it from 512 MB of RAM to a full GB (a very worthwhile upgrade) for only $50.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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If you can stand never upgrading, get your computer from Costco. They have a one year no questions asked replacement warranty, and they replace your computer with one of equivilant value; in other words, every year you get a free upgrade. The warranty renews every time you do this.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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You might want to consider looking elsewhere. There are much better options out there than electronic stores can afford to offer.
That said, you could try the Dell Outlet . Here's a good one. You get all that for $369. If you don't already have a monitor, you still have over $100 in your budget to play with.
Posts: 1945 | Registered: Jul 2005
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If I ever get money, I'm going to buy mine from http://www.ecollegepc.com/ because they have free shipping and I emailed their support and the fellow did not try to make me buy the most expensive stuff. That is rather cool, but my computer if I ever get it will be 800 bucks or more.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Rule #1 - Never ever ever buy a compaq if you want a computer that's actually worth the money you spend on it.
Rule #2 - HP is almost as bad as Compaq.
Strangely, eMachines has been building better quality since it was taken over by Gateway. They actually have driver support for their computers now. But, for cheap computers, I'd recommend a Dell. They're selling a system with a 17" LCD monitor for $549 (before shipping, taxes, etc). I'm not a fan of Dell's monitors, though. They're poorly constructed and very low quality at the budget level.
The only thing you REALLY need to make certain of is the amount of RAM available. Any speed processor will run a computer extremely well as long as it has 512 megs of RAM available for the operating system. Most computers come with that now, but there are still many that don't. Everything else about the computer is purely preferencial or task oriented.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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One thing to consider, a new operating system Windows Vista is coming out in January. You might want to make sure that your new system is capable of running Vista.
Posts: 264 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Thanks everyone. So a Dell is sounding good. I'll talk to my dad about ordering one of those off the internet. I really appreciate your help everyone. Thanks.
Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I found out that Dell takes Paypal. But I didn't want to wait, so I bought my laptop from Wal-Mart - it's a Compaq. I haven't really had any problems yet (had it a month), except a key fell off today. I stuck it back on. Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by CaySedai: I found out that Dell takes Paypal. But I didn't want to wait, so I bought my laptop from Wal-Mart - it's a Compaq. I haven't really had any problems yet (had it a month), except a key fell off today. I stuck it back on.
And it came pre-installed with all the worthless crap you could ever not want.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by enochville: One thing to consider, a new operating system Windows Vista is coming out in January. You might want to make sure that your new system is capable of running Vista.
A 500 dollar system will not run Vista well. The more important question is actually, do you want to risk buying Vista before service pack 1 comes out?
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Well my two pennies worth. I can concur on the Compaq=dirt evaluation. It was my wife's Compaq Presario laptop that finally solidified that oppinion. It cost around $2000.00 in 1999/2000? i cant remeber when she bought it exactly. It popped keys, crashed repeatedly and simply couldn't do much f anything except run AOL. And it didnt do that too good either. I got so sick of having to reinstal her software with recovery disks that I switched it to Windows 2000. It became stable after that, but it never really let her do what she wanted to, when she wanted to, and how she wanted to. When the keyboard finally went totally bonkers on it she decided to go out and buy a new one.
Inspite of the fact that I ran several Winows 2000 custom desktops and laptops, I suggesed she buy an Apple because I had always found them to be the most ang for the buck, if you could afford the initial cost. She decided on a G3 iBook an also snagged one of the 10 gig iPods early 2003. She has ever again had to ask me a computer related question and the iPod is still functioning flawlessly long after the predicted end of life for the battery.
The only issue she ever had was the logic board went out. But it was part f a manufacturing defect. Apple provided DHL shipping to and from our front door with a three day turn around. The repair and shipping were completely free.
I returned to the Apple fold tepidly with a purchase f a 1 gig iPod Shuffle. I had forgotten just how well designed Apple products were. Then over the past few months I began relegating my Windows systems to the trash heap. The final straw was when a mirrored drive set completely crashed without any warning taking with it both the original and backups of all my personal correspondence going back to 1998. Lets just say having not one but three drives burn out at the exact same time left a bad taste in my mouth. Having worked on Windows systems for years I was sill amazed at how total the crash was.
Anyway my wife told me she would buy me a computer on one condition. I had to get rid of all my whitebox systems and my laptops. They currently sit in huge pile in the corner of my office.
I could have gotten a G5 Dual Processor tower system. But i thought it was a bit foolish since I really will only beusing a computer for the next few years for personal use instead of work. So I came down to earth and decided to go for something simple. I decided on a Mac mini and was leaning towards an Intel Duo system. But a few things held me back. One was the cost is pretty steep considering its Apple's first venture into the world of Intel. Second was the price differential between the old Mac minni, the Intel Solo, and the Intel Duo systems. Its hard for me to admit it, but at this point in my life I am definately unable to justify being a power geek computer user.
So I decided I'd just get a Mac Mini G4 system. Luck woul have it that Costo has a huge consignent of Mac Mini G4 systems in bundle packages that include the computer and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, as well as a three year Applecare extended warranty. i bouht a really nice flatpanl monitor to go with it as well. All told the bill was just south of $700 tax included. I have to say getting used to using a Apple computer took all of 30 seconds aftr having not used one on a regular basis in years. Its also so darn cool sitting on my desk. What once was a wall of Windows computers and a nest of cables is now a vast open space where I can put a footstool and stretch my legs out. Plus I can type from anywhere in my office, or even in an entiely different room.
Cosnsidering that the rest of our family has been on the buy a system every three years because the last one simply becomes too overwhelmed with viruses or incapable of upgrade and spends an average of $1200 a pop on each on, our costs associated with the iBook and now the Mac mini have been a bargin. I miss having a secondary context button on my mouse, but seeing as I dont have to spend half my time inspecting property pages of programs anymore, it really isn't a major complaint on my part.
As to Dells, you get what you pay for has never been a moe valid statement. If you are a corporation buying high end Dell custom built systems, you seem to do ok. But if I was smart and had charged a fee for every single Dell system I have had to repair, instead of just normal on site charges, I would be a rich man. And as for HP's the blade servers and Proliant systems seem to be fine. But as you drop down into the more consumer grade systems they kinda turn out to be slightly more expensive Dells.
If it were me, I'd get a Mac mini. If that was too costly, Id check out a local independant computer builder and see what he could build as a custom system based on your budget. I'd go with a Dell or HP as a last resort.
Then again there is alway's Ebay. I just saw a G3 iBook with OS X Panther installed going for $39 bucks. It comes with everything it is suppossed to except the power cable/recharger pack. Having more than a few dogs around, I have had to buy more than a few Apple iBook power cables. They were running for $109.00 at CompUSA a year ago. So it is possible that you could equip yourself with a very nice system for under $200.00. Then again I have an unatural distrust of Ebay so take it for what its worth.
Posts: 110 | Registered: Jan 2001
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I also have a Presario notebook, although mine is only one or two years old. It's a good computer. And it's incredibly sturdy. I'm very, very tough on my things, and this computer has been dragged all over the place. My only complaint is that because it's so large (17" widescreen), it's really too heavy for me to handle carrying to and from class. So I'm looking into another HP or Compaq...maybe one of the 14" ones, that might be a little lighter and easier to carry.
posted
You may want to check out a coupon/deal site like Dealnews. They'll often show you the best you can get for your money.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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But I didn't want to wait, so I bought my laptop from Wal-Mart - it's a Compaq. I haven't really had any problems yet (had it a month), except a key fell off today. I stuck it back on. ![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
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The number of Compaqs I've had to fix...
