Topic awaiting preservation: just wanted to get your trusted opinion

I am in need of a new computer. I've been pricing parts ( MB, CPU, RAM, etc...) just to upgrade mine.
But, as I was out at BestBuy the other day, thought I would take a look at the computer section.

Here is what I found:

Hewlett-Packard Pavilion

Processor Brand AMD Athlon 64
Processor Speed 2.2GHz
System Memory (RAM) 512MB
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To 4GB
Type of Memory (RAM) PC3200 DDR SDRAM
Hard Drive Size 200GB
Graphics ATI RADEON XPRESS 200
Video Memory 128MB (shared)
DVD with Lightscribe
DVD/CD - Writeable

OS Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Just wanted to see what your thoughts were on this. It fits well into the budget I have for a new computer and is actually a lot more stuff for the money than when I was pricing it out for seperate pieces. Plus this has two DVD-RW one with Lightscribe (sounds cool)

So...since I have had no experience with AMD or HP, just wanted to see what you thought of this package

Thanks in advance!!

Later,

C:\

I think if you said what you're going to use it for and the price ceiling you've got people will go nuts-a-helpin

That's a decent looking computer, excpet the fact that it's HP I'm not usre I understand the video specs, dedicated card and shared video memory, that's confusing me...

What JK said...decent save being an HP Pavilion. Also lose the silly OS.

well main thing I am going to use it for is just some web stuff (Photoshop, coding, etc...) I don't really play games so that's not an issue.

I do a lot of stuff in Quark for the company my girlfriend works for.

My price ceiling is somewhere around the 500-600 mark. Not a lot to work with. This computer is around $629 I think. That's doable.

I was pricing the MB, CPU, RAM, new case and Powersupply. That was right around $500 for that. The motherboard had a onboard sound and video and was an ASUS. I was looking at an AMD64 just like the specs above.

Other than that........that's about it.

My current computer is a freakin PIII 433mhz!!! So anything would be better I guess

So, what is the deal with HP? I have never used an HP I don't think. Currentl I have a Dell at work and a Gateway at the house. Well....used to be a Gateway. Everything's been replace just about on it save for the case and monitor

Later,

C:\



(Edited by CPrompt on 07-25-2005 18:07)

Radeon Express is a chipset for onboard video: http://www.ati.com/products/radeonxpress200/

Shared video RAM == bad

Eats your RAM (you get only 384 of the 512) and performance-wise, well it's not on the card so all requests go through the system bus.

While I've always liked the HP Vectra corporate series (and truth in comments: I was an authorized warranty tech) I've shied away from the Pavilions. They just seem cheesy and are difficult to upgrade.

That said, it might not be a bad deal depending on price and intended use.

you might go to Dell.com and configure around with a Dimension 4700. You can get a hyperthreading p4s with 800mhz front side bus, at least half a gig of dual channel RAM, this make s for exceedingly fast processing. You can get a few different video cards as well that will allow you to have on (graphics) board processor/memory so you don't have to share. You might want to tinker around with the config to see what kind of price you can come up with (small hardrive/video card/ram etc will keep it lower but don't skimp on the p4HT w/800FSB! you'll love it 512MB on the RAM should probably be considered a min as well). After you tinker around and see if it's close to what you can afford you might want to actually *call* them to see if you can drop anything else like keyboard mouse (you can drop the monitor in the config but for the $38 dollar savings I'd rathe have the extra monitor!) etc to whittle down further.

I kinda don't like Dell anymore for the same approximate reason I don't like HP, all the preloaded crap and associated OS/reformat CDs they give you. Last HP I looked at tho (belonged to a friend) had a strange BIOS, or something odd, that loaded before the OS that did a damn fine job of keeping us from what we were trying to do at the time, I don't recall what, but I've been unhappy with their home computing products ever since.

You might build it yourself.

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reisio said:

You might build it yourself.

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I was going to but it seemed to be more expensive for the same stuff as what HP was offering. But, now that I think back I did use an HP to make an email server out of and it was a pain in the ass with the BIOS they had.

Think i'll go back and see what I can put together on dell and save up some more pennies.

thanks a bunch for the advice and stuff

Later,

C:\

quote:

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CPrompt said:

So, what is the deal with HP? I have never used an HP I don't think.Currentl I have a Dell at work and a Gateway at the house.

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Basically, I recommend Dell over any other PC seller -- Dells are cheap, have decent Customer Service, and if you look around you can get all sorts of fantastic coupons.

After Dell, everything else is really the same. AMD is a fine choice, they're quality chips.

It's been said already, but lose the toy OS.

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Website

ok, digitaldeals had a Dell Dimension 9100 with all kinds of goodies. Also had a coupon for an extra $530.00 off.

so, for 769 which is a little more than what i wanted to spend but it has a nice 19" flat scree, P4 HT 3gig cpu, 512 ram, xp home edition and a non integrated video card. sounds like a winner.

thanks for the advice and such

I'm gonna go buy me a new dell

Later,

C:\

step up from a 433 fo sho

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JKMabry said:

step up from a 433 fo sho

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No poo-poo Just ordered it so it's on its way *Should* ship around the first. WOOHOO!!! 19" of flat screen goodness .

Later,

C:\

Ooh! Good for you. I'd still have gone for the DIY option, but with such a leap in performance, you're obviously in for a treat anyway!

I like new computers.

The other day it struck me that laptops nowadays are ridiculously cheap. ...and at this point my current desktop is nearly five years old, so even the bottom-end $500 laptops are twice as good as what I have now (twice the processor speed, RAM, disk space). This is a wonderfully unexpected perk of getting old. I mean I could buy myself the very cheapest there is and it'd still be TWICE as good as what I have now.

quote:

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reisio said:

I mean I could buy myself the very cheapest there is and it'd still be TWICE as good as what I have now.

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No kidding. When I bought my current computer it was top of the line! I took it to a lan party when i first got it and all the computer geeks were in awe. Now.......no one has even heard of a BX440 chipset

and

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reisio said:

I like new computers.

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yeah........me too

Now I just have to get all my stuff off my current hard drive over to the new one, reformat the old drive for Linux only........and figure out how to boot from two different hard drives but that's for a different day.

Later,

C:\

quote:

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no one has even heard of a BX440 chipset

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poor me - 440EX PII/233 - i lust for a new rig

quote:

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Now I just have to get all my stuff off my current hard drive over to the new one, reformat the old drive for Linux only........and figure out how to boot from two different hard drives but that's for a different day.

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except for the linux only, i'm in the process of learning how to do this
and more; and may i suggest Ranish - it was a bit confusing at first, but
well worth the effort

edit: silly me - ive been booting 2 different drives with lilo for the last year or so

(Edited by outcydr on 07-27-2005 21:59)